First Bass Rig - Feedback

[Streakor]

Hello everyone! I’m a guitar player that is looking to buy his first bass rig so I can write bass to an album I’m working on, and also so I have a nice bass rig that friends can play on when we jam.

I have really nice guitar gear (play teles through a stereo rig of a matchless and a twin reverb) and was looking to get a good entry level bass rig started.

The rig is...

- Fender American Professional P Bass (if you recommend a different fender p bass please let me know. Not interested in active electronics atm).

-Ampeg V4b reissue head (pretty set on this head. Was going to get an SVT but the weight and power is just too much right now)

- Ampeg 212AV cab (not really stoked on buying another heavy 212, but don’t want to blow out the speakers on my guitar cabs. Heard this is a solid cab)

- Sansamp Tech 21 bass driver v2 (need something for grit/overdrive. Seems like every bass player uses this pedal)

-Darkglass B7k (want for heavier tones, is this overkill since I’m already getting the sansamp? Thinking I may need to get one or the other but want both).

-any other pedals I should look at? I have a green Russian big muff I can use for the rig as well.



If you recommend that I look at anything else please let me know. I play heavier rock, Midwest emo, skramz, post rock type music. Every time I dig a bass tone it seems to be a p bass through an svt or a fender bassman head).

I also plan on writing in open tunings. On guitar standard string gauge is 9-10, I play heavier sets 11 or 12s. Can you guys give me a rough idea of the string sizes to look at? Like if I’m tuning down a half or a full set, which size should I Look at? Was thinking of replacing the stock fender set with DR strings. Use DR on all my electric guitars, not sure how they stand up on bass.

Sorry to jam all of this into one post. Any feedback or discussion is welcome! Hope to learn a lot reading this forum.

 

[hrodbert696]

I'll answer the last bit first - DR's DDT strings are made specifically for drop tunings, and are good strings all around, so you might start there.

I would bear in mind that you probably don't want your bass to simply recreate your guitar sound, but lower. It will likely work better if you think of it having its own place in the mix. This brings up the tuning issue itself - there are certainly bassists who use different tunings. But some of the uses for them on guitar don't apply the same way on bass - you probably won't be playing a particular chord that's impossible or difficult in standard tuning, for instance. I would recommend against assuming you'll retune the bass and then compose to the tuning; compose the music and if the bass has to be tuned to play the music, do so.

The Ampeg setup should be great, and you can't really go wrong with a P bass. Unless you want something that's not a P bass, of course.

Pedals-wise, I would say the Sansamp and the B7K are kind of redundant. They're both basically EQ/DI boxes that you can get dirt out of, more so the Darkglass than the Sansamp: it has a separate distortion function, whereas the Sansamp you can basically just push the drive if you want grit. For me, if I had the B7K I probably wouldn't bother with a Sansamp, while if I had a Sansamp, but wanted Darkglass' flavor of OD, I would get a B3K, the cheaper cousin.

Speaking of grit, and the bass having its own place in the mix, again you may find it's better not to have the bass follow the guitar's sound too closely here too. John Taylor used to say that in Duran Duran they would only have one instrument using effects at any given time - gritty bass if the guitar was clean, clean bass if the guitar was gritty. Sometimes you hear a recording where you think the bass is really dirty and then when you hear it isolated, it turns out to be pretty clean, and what you were hearing was how it interacted with the rest of the mix. None of this is a fixed rule - there aren't any rules - but just to think about.

 

[Streakor]

I really appreciate the response. Everything you said made great sense.

Think I’m going to choose the sansamp or the Darkglass, not both. Leaning towards the Sansamp atm.

 

[Haans]

None of this is entry level, by any means. It's a pro level setup, perfect for gigging or studio work. Why on earth would you call this entry level?

 

[pcake]

None of this is entry level, by any means. It's a pro level setup, perfect for gigging or studio work. Why on earth would you call this entry level?

i don't see that he did call it entry level. he said it was his first bass rig, no?

 

[Streakor]

Sorry “entry level” for this circumstance is being able to play shows. I could see “entry level” being a squire combo pack. Poor choice of words I don’t usually buy gear unless I can gig or record with it, that’s my end goal.

I bet you’re fun at parties.

 

[Haans]

@pcake

I have really nice guitar gear (play teles through a stereo rig of a matchless and a twin reverb) and was looking to get a good entry level bass rig started.

I hate parties. I would love that rig, though.

 

[Haans]

Consider a Barefaced cabinet. Much louder, much lighter. Sounds lovely. I would not bother with the SansAmp, as the overdrive in the V4 would most likely do it. It will not be clean at loud volumes. The B3K did nothing for me, but sounds like it may be great for you. Or just get the B7K for more versatility.