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Best Church Bass
- Thread starter Gaetano Paul
- Start date
I played my BB605 at the MLK memorial program today. It sounded great! We did some Civil Rights standards like We Shall Overcome, but we also played some Fred Hammond. I cannot believe how well this bass does the modern tone. You guys may think I am exagerrating, but this bass is a great Ken Smith substitute.
I just got a Ray35, and it is great, but I don't see the Ray35 replacing my Yamaha in church.
I'm kind of falling for mine all over again. Gonna gig it on Thursday at the Jazz Jam at a local bar.
Local store will be dealing Sterling by MM soon - new NAMM pick up. I've thought about a Ray for a 2nd bass and the reviews have been good, but interesting to hear your thoughts about it and church.
Actually, I am kind of interested in the Fender Bassman "TV" amps. They look very cool - old school - but have class D amps. The samples on the Fender site are pretty interesting. Not sure if they are geting these locally or not. Pretty tough to "de-thrown" my GB rig, but you never know.
I think a Ray35 would work just fine in church. It's just that my BB605 really gets that Urban Gospel tone, and that is what I mainly play these days. I played the Ray35 at a rehearsal for a variety show doing show tunes, and classic rock 'n roll/r&b, it sounded great. I was slapping it today at GC,and it gets that Stingay "ping" as well as any US EBMM.
I've completely given up on recommending basses for gospel, worship bands, praise teams and whatever else and I mean that in the best way possible. In the past I'd say Warwicks, Ken Smiths, and any good super jazz but the more I see these bands play, the more I'm convinced that you could play gospel on 4 rubber bands tied along a plank of wood and make it work, lol. These guys play on everything from SXs to Brubakers and still manage to sound amazing so I'm sure you could find a bass or two in that range that you'd love. I would recommend staying away from P basses just because they're not the best at cutting through though they can sound great in the mix.
I just went out and got an Ibanez BTB 405 qm. I really apreciate all your input, good thread guys! I will be posting another church thread so we can talk again. The next one "What does your Church bass set up consist of?"
Grace and peace!
Grace and peace!
Heres the next link in the church bass saga
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?p=8560670#post8560670
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?p=8560670#post8560670
My Lakand 55-01 is perfect for Church no matter what style of songs we play and our sound guys think my bass sounds better than the bass players. I also have a detuner on the B string which I use for a couple of songs. One of the other bassist plays an Ibanez 5er, another plays a Squire 5er which think is a great bass. We had another guy with a Ken Smith which sounded awesome and a Warwick (for some reason the Warwick never cut thru the mix and always sounded fat and flabby). We play everthing from Urban Gospel to Planetshakers, Hillsong, Israel and New Breed to Chris Tomlin, etc. We also do a lot of major productions calling for a variety of tones. Hopefully when my pockets get a little fatter I want to upgrade to a 55-02 and a DJ5 with Chi-Sonics. My dream bass would be a Dingwall Prima Artist which has the best Low B I've ever heard.
pick?
You must be going to a reformed church. You try using a pick at an orthodox service and you'll be crucified faster than you can say, "Lemme's your uncle."
EXCELLENT RESPONSE!!!
(it *IS* the rabbit!!)
BTW, nice handle! Paul is definitely one of the all time greats. I didn't come to that realization until I sat down and learned alot of his material. Sometimes I would just say "wow" after learning it (in admiration of his melodic creativity). None of that Seinfeld slap and pop diarrhea for me. Any under-evolved neanderthal can slap the chit out of a bass guitar. But it takes real brains to come up with melodic bass lines (using different modes) like the Mighty Mac.
I recently purchased a Dingwall Afterburner II 5 string to play at church. Low B is great. Don't expect any help from Dingwall if you buy a used bass. I wanted to purchase a set of dingwall strings and it was like pulling teeth to get the factory rep (via email) to give me the name of dealer that carried them. I gave up on him and tried to join the Dingwall Forum to see if an owner could point me to a dealer. I've requested membership twice now and no response, so I guess they aren't going to let me in.
Anyway, it's a great bass, but I guess if you don't get it directly from them, you are an unwanted stepchild.
Anyway, it's a great bass, but I guess if you don't get it directly from them, you are an unwanted stepchild.
I guess I have always had great response from Dingwall. Sheldon himself usually responds. Maybe they were crazy with the European shows for a bit there. Give them another chance, hopefully you will be surprised. The Forum on the Dingwall site is a good source of info. Jive Sound has the Voodoo strings in stock and they're pretty good about getting them out.
