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I love my guitarist, but if he slams my pick ups once more.......?!

#61
Cuzzie said:
@primusfan1989 TC Electronic BG 250w

Bass 2 o'clock, mid 10 o'clock, treble 2-3oclock, of course there is then factoring pedals etc and trying to balance sound with not getting a huge blast when activated especially things like distortion and overdrive.

We have all thought what we really need to do is hire a big room one time and really get a feel for the mix.

Maybe i was being a bit precious when he called my babies farty!
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Start at 12 oclock for all three (nothing on the graphic if there is one) and add only where there is something missing.
Make sure your gain is set so you aren't excessively overdriving the amp - the Starcaster pickups have a LOT of output.
Don't "let him play his amp encourge him to accommodate himself to the mix too - and ensure he isn't eating all the sonic space in the lows - many guitarists do that then blame the bassis when it gets muddy.
 
#62
@danosix he's a good guy, his ears ain't too bad neither.
I can see yours and others points about home playing vs band playing-both completely new to me, but loving the journey of discovery.
I've already rolled off the bass and we'll see how we get on.

I may smash him in the face anyway of he pulls any faces in a face melting school of rock solo with his single beam of light.
He is a big Dio fan...
 
#64
@aprod jazz is a good bass got a beautiful G&L ASAT flying in with a p bass sized neck, as I prefer a baseball bat, thinking this should do the job nicely and give me the variety across all genres with my 3 bases
 
#67
Criticizing a bass player's pickups is an oddly specific thing to do. Did you have different pickups in the bass, at some point? If not, then why is he blaming the pickups?

You should scoff at the inductor in his wah pedal. Say that it isn't to your liking, but that everything else in his rig is fine.
 
#68
Cuzzie said:
View attachment 789761 @xUptheIronsx @Lo-E thanks both

I run straight into my amp aside from the pedals, but I will defo EQ different, I totally get what you are saying about playing alone and not liking the sound and the difference in a band.
I'll get it sorted.

For reference here is the pedal board, only thing missing is an octaves which sits after manta bass and before compressor at the end. Trying to get hit hand working also which is fun.
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yeah. The big difference is I have no pedals. When Iwas younger, I used a chorus and an octave, and no matter what, they always crapped out at shows. Never at home, but always at shows. Since then, my signal chain has always been real simple...punk rock....

I also think that the kind of pups in the current bass are made to sound mellow...like a Hofner-esque type sound(?). It seems to me that the guit player is not astute enough to realize that bass players actually do utilize "other" sounds/pups. Either way it sounds like you have it figured out. the BIG thing is to take what the guitar player says in stride, make adjustments that can keep both happy, and set you home practice tone however you want. Remember that ultimately, the sound guy's take is more important than anyone in the bands....sometimes...
 
#69
Farty implies "lack of punch due to distortion". Mulling in the back of my mind is trying to play hard rock with a slamming clean guitar sound. Much as I like the bark and growl... even for guitar it robs your attack. For bass..... I cannot for the life of me fathom intentionally distorting bass. But therein might lie the source of the problem.
 
#71
Cuzzie said:
I dunno about you guys but.......

I have a Cabronita P Bass and a Fender Starcaster, now i know the Fidelitron is not the highest output pickup, but it has a lovely sound. Similarly the Starcaster has 2 big humbuckers and gives a good rich sound, but he constantly refers to them as being 'farty' and not cutting through the mix, apparently modern music needs more punch, but i do like some subtlety.

Our bases are like our children, and if he offends them, he offends me!

Do i just say 'yes dear' and let him play more loudly like guitarists do, or when my lovely G&L ASAT comes from @ASATMAN in the next few days, do i crank my system, B7K pedal etc. and blow him away.

Whatcha reckon fellas, is he right and are those pick ups are a bit 'farty'?
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ASAT, eh? Crank your #@$&ing Preamp+Treble boost and give him the #&!$ing world.
 
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#72
Cuzzie said:
I dunno about you guys but.......

I have a Cabronita P Bass and a Fender Starcaster, now i know the Fidelitron is not the highest output pickup, but it has a lovely sound. Similarly the Starcaster has 2 big humbuckers and gives a good rich sound, but he constantly refers to them as being 'farty' and not cutting through the mix, apparently modern music needs more punch, but i do like some subtlety.

Our bases are like our children, and if he offends them, he offends me!

Do i just say 'yes dear' and let him play more loudly like guitarists do, or when my lovely G&L ASAT comes from @ASATMAN in the next few days, do i crank my system, B7K pedal etc. and blow him away.

Whatcha reckon fellas, is he right and are those pick ups are a bit 'farty'?
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Tell him him the 80's called they want their pointy headstock, whammy bar and to many arpeggio's back....:)
But honestly, do what you do, what feels good to you...let him know you appreciate the feedback but you like the sound...if he's a mature musician he will move on..if not than he will likely never be happy with what you do and you may need to simply ignore and keep doing your thang..
 
#73
Cuzzie said:
@Lo-E thanks for that, when I get my ASAT which is more punchy should I still keep the mids as described or does that need a different tinker?
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I apologize in advance for derailing this thread briefly to talk about ASAT basses.

Well, the amp settings will probably be about the same. The bass, on the other hand, is definitely a different tinker. The ASAT, like the L2000, has a pretty steep learning curve at first. ASATs use MFD pickups, which have huge gobs of low end. They also have huge output. If you're not careful with your input gain settings and your EQ, things can turn to mud pretty fast. That's where the bass cut knob comes into play!
The electronics on the ASAT are quirky, so it's worth taking your time getting used to them, but I'll save you a little time here:

First, start with the bass cut knob at around 1/2 and adjust to taste from there. Turning that down to half really helps cut the mud. It took me about two years to figure that out. I was cutting bass at the amp and couldn't understand why everything was still so boomy. :banghead: I'm just a little slow, that's all.

Second, try the bass both with and without the preamp engaged. A lot of players ignore the preamp and run passive all the time with these basses. The two sounds are slightly different. I use both, but usually run with the preamp. It's up to you, but it may behave better with your pedals one way or the other. Experiment a little.

Third, I always used to run the bass in parallel because I thought series was too boomy... until I ran the bridge pickup solo in series. That sound is punchy enough to bore a hole in an engine block!

There are a million other things to try; they're exceptionally versatile basses, but start with the bass cut no matter what. It will make a big difference right away. An old L2000 has been my go-to bass for rock gigs for about ten years, so I've spent a lot of time in the cockpit and I'm still uncovering little subtleties I never noticed before.

We may now return to our previous discussion, and thank you for indulging me!
 
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#74
Cuzzie said:
@primusfan1989 TC Electronic BG 250w

Bass 2 o'clock, mid 10 o'clock, treble 2-3oclock, of course there is then factoring pedals etc and trying to balance sound with not getting a huge blast when activated especially things like distortion and overdrive.
Click to expand...

No wonder your guitarist moan about your bass tone. Your EQ setup is scooped. What he means yours can't cut-through is because he cannot hear you clearly. You sound are too subtle. I play guitar too and I know this very well.

You don't need bigger room to know if your tone work in the mix. If your sounds very boomy when you crank the volume, cut your bass/low frequency. Don't trust your eyes, but trust your ears. Every amplifier or basically every speaker adds more bass as you crank the volume. This happen too in guitar.
 
#75
Damn I feel lucky. My guitarist hates drop tuning and doesn't use a boss metal zone to eat up bass territory. Its not a first over the years, but it's rare ienough to mention. Especially here. If someone told me my pickup sucks, it's not like I'm ditching a bass. More likely to ditch the player.
 
#76
I quit my last band because my spoons/slinky/electric triangle player said my cable was too long when it was really only 49 and a half feet in length. I don't stand for crap like that anymore. Maybe when I was 85 years old I did, but now I'm 98 years old and I've had enough of it.

But seriously, what do the other guys in your band seem to think? Maybe you can adjust something on your amp to fix it?
 
#77
Some strange responses. We often moan about guitarists with their bedroom sounds not sitting will in a band environment. Maybe (or maybe not) just maybe this guitarist has a point and it's worth recording or getting someone who knows their stuff to listen to you as a band and tell you what's good or what needs changing to get the best sound as a unit.
 
#80
I think the arrival of a new bass presents an opportunity to increase the volume on your amp exponentially. When this occurs, you can enthusiastically thank him for all of his suggestions regarding a new bass with "better" pickups and proudly play with newfound "punch." For the foreseeable future.
 
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