How were you using gear WRONG as a noob?

[Bald-N-Bassy]

Wrong might be subjective. But Ive definitely learned a lot since the early years.
- Scooped mids/Smiley face EQ in a live mix and wondering why I cant be heard?!?
- Turning the basses active preamps to full send and wondering why my input was clipping?!?
- Ultra low and Ultra high on of course, why else would they put them on there!
- Ohms?? You mean to tell me I can't daisy 7x 4ohm bass cabs with my hartke 3500. Running a .125ohm load cranked to 11

Ive definitely blown less speakers and learned a lot about how to sound good both live & recorded.

 

[Ewo]

Had a '68 Tele bass with a _horrible_ dead note problem. (Not a fret buzz; the resonance problem.) Took it to the local music store, where the salesman thought it was a high fret and took a file to it.

Now I know better.

 

[Jefenator]

I did the opposite of cranking EQ; I assumed that if a piece of gear was halfway decent, it ought to work best, set flat.
There may be some truth to that sometimes. OTOH what are the knobs for if not to be turned?
All things in moderation - including EQ hate.

 

[gtirard]

Once I almost killed myself.

We where staying 2 months in a very old house in the countryside, the floor of the rehearsal room was in clay, wet...

the electrical circuit had no ground connection

One morning I woke up and went straight to grab my bass, barefoot on the wet ground. I was stroke by an electrical shock, stayed stuck on my bass a few seconds: my brain was asking my muscles to drop it, but they didn't obey. In the end I was able to drop the bass, but it was one of the most scary experience of my life.

 

[darwin-bass]

I use BOTH pickups on my Jazz bass at the same time









.

 

[Ostie]

My first rig was a T40 into a Dual Showman into a 410 guitar cab. Somehow it didn’t blow the speakers. I later got a Kustom 115 cab.

One time I plugged my guitar into my roommates stereo, because it had a 1/4” input, so it must be okay, right? It never sounded the same, and he was not a happy camper.

 

[J Wilson]

It took me forever to learn less is more.

When you're coming up, you want to learn to play a lot of notes, you tend to shoot for being Jaco or Geddy without ever really wrapping your head around that stuff is great IF you're playing that stuff. But I thought you had to be that guy on everything, so I played 'too busy' for a while. NOBODY ever tells you any damn fool can blast along with lots of notes, but what separates the men from the boys is the ability to self edit in real time, knowing what to leave out.

Play long enough in different styles, and you find that slow ballads in pedal point half notes are far harder than some galloping rock song:. You got to hold a simple groove and there's NO place to hide.

Then it took me several years to use the gain structure to be loud enough: I played hard enough I broke strings. No burred saddles, bum nut, just me framming the hell out of it.

There were more adventures in Bass Ed, but that's enough for now.

 

[S-Bigbottom]

Playing/practicing without an amp for too long.
Then when plugged in ya hear all the bad habits the right hand has. Clicks, and such from plucking way too loud to hear something and no real muting of the strings not being played.

 

[funkmaster p]

Smiley face eq was the default move, rather than setting everything flat and then adjusting after careful listening.

 

[beans-on-toast]

When I started (early 60’s), I didn’t know that there were left handed instruments. I learned to play right handed. Then The Beatles went on Sullivan and I went d’oh!, a left handed bass. By then I thought that it was too late to switch.

It also took me a while to figure out how to set up an instrument.

 

[AGCurry]

1970, first bass gig, in a pit band for a rock musical. I played a Gibson EB-0, which I thought wasn't "bassy" enough ... so I used a "Bass Balls" stomp box. I still have that box, as well as the regret of having used it.

 

[TNCreature]

2 things in my early days:

1. Thin strings, heavy picks, many broken bass strings. I hadn't developed any playing techniques yet.
2. Frying speakers because I didn't understand ohms and compatibility.

And one that I learned much later in life:
The importance of Unity Gain while using pedals.

 

[Stevorebob]

I played bass with a pick. Imagine that. I still do. Imagine that.

 

[S-Bigbottom]

When I started (early 60’s), I didn’t know that there were left handed instruments. I learned to play right handed. Then The Beatles went on Sullivan and I went d’oh!, a left handed bass. By then I thought that it was too late to switch.

It is for the best, you have almost every instrument available to you as a righty.

Though you could have played swords with the righties without turning your back on the audience.

Darn it... now I want to be a lefty.

 

[sonic 7]

I used to just turn all the knobs on my active bass on full, both pickups on 10, bass and treble on 10, ‘cause why would you want less of something? On the amp Id eq all of the mids out ‘cause it sounds cool , until until the rest of the band starts playing.

 

[DrayMiles]

Impedance matching…

 

[gtirard]

Impedance matching…

I wonder what happens when you missmatch impedance?

 

[Turnaround]

Guitarist in one of my bands many years ago built himself an amp and cabinet. He was so proud of it. Then we were on a band getaway for a long weekend and he got quite drunk. He decided to wail on his guitar but all he got was dead silence. He flipped the switch, twiddled the knobs, sweared at the amp and got totally frustrated calling his creation a POS and all. He was about to smash his creation when we had pity on him and pointed out that he hadn't plugged in his lead cord.

Just a lesson on how NOT to use your custom built amp. Or alternatively a lesson on the evils of drink. Or on the value of friends.

 

[Shrubber]

Maybe not quite on topic, but back in the 70's I heard some story that when Ritchie Blackmore got his first electric, he tried to plug it directly in a wall plug......

 

[mrjim123]

This might qualify: playing WITHOUT a high pass filter.

I only got wise to HPFs about a year ago. Now, I won't play without my Broughton adjustable HPF.

There were too many times in the past when my bass tone sucked - it was boomy, muddy, or all of the above (and, no, turning down the bass on your amp is NOT a good solution). This was always due to a boomy room, a bad (e.g., hollow) stage, and/or a soundman who loved his subs too much (and had NO idea what a bass guitar really sounds like).

HPF for the win - best $85 ($85 included shipping from Canada) I ever spent on gear!