It was a fun trip, but here I am again, back at the beginning.
Who’d a thought?
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Is it just me?!
- Thread starter lbbc
- Start date
It was a fun trip, but here I am again, back at the beginning.
Who’d a thought?
D
Deleted member 165050
Guest
I am passive bass only. And no frets neither. But I do go through a fairly well-populated pedalboard...
I absolutely love the simplicity of the P-bass and other passive designs. One volume, one tone.
They’re all plug and play for me. I run all active basses flat, all passive basses wide open. If they don’t sound good like that I don’t buy them.
I go through phases where one bass will be my main for awhile, then for reasons unknown, another will take its place. This usually works its way through the stable, though not necessarily evenly. Just picked up and restrung the '68 P for the first time in ages, and it's like putting on your favorite pair of jeans. I put the old strings on in 1980 when I bought the bass and they were just about shot. Recently purchased a Fender Modern Player Tele that's like new and those humbuckers are so powerful that it's like an earthquake. Fantastic! Then I'll come home from work and put on some jazz to unwind to and out comes a fretless... See where this is going? The only thing I can't seem to come to grips with is an active bass. There are many players who create fabulous masterpieces with them, but not me. That's why the LB70 just sits in its case most of the time.
It's all passive for me. Two Fender Precision basses and a Gibson EB-3 for me. I like the simplicity of all three of mine. I'm 69 and I've gone through a lot of different basses and guitars over the years, but I wound up finding the sound I like the best, Precision and EB-3.
Nice instruments definitely come at a price of added headaches.
Just like a nice car. Scared to park it at the supermarket. Always looking for dings on the door, etc.
Just like a nice car. Scared to park it at the supermarket. Always looking for dings on the door, etc.
Tone quest is an endless enigma
However each of my basses has its’ own voice serving a unique space in my tonal palette and independent of my various amps
I believe my 99 Am Stand Fender Precision can do most of what is required whether performing jamming or recording
Regardless when music calls for low B or fretless ?
For newbies I’ll impart that stringing ANY bass with a fresh set of round wounds will be an aural epiphany for a few weeks until the zing dies out; even a bass with humbuckers and strung with rounds will sound as close to Chris Squire as you’ll get regardless of which bass you own and flats will last forever but they’ll never sound like round wounds
Those of us with one bass; I wish you every happiness success and enjoyment
However the rest of us won’t be happy until we own 5 basses and their fretless or 5 string counterparts thus at least 10 basses and half strung with flats ; others with rounds
Then your amp / cab has its’ unique voice. ( I own 5)
Can you DO IT with one bass and amp Yes but you’ll always wonder what if?.....
However each of my basses has its’ own voice serving a unique space in my tonal palette and independent of my various amps
I believe my 99 Am Stand Fender Precision can do most of what is required whether performing jamming or recording
Regardless when music calls for low B or fretless ?
For newbies I’ll impart that stringing ANY bass with a fresh set of round wounds will be an aural epiphany for a few weeks until the zing dies out; even a bass with humbuckers and strung with rounds will sound as close to Chris Squire as you’ll get regardless of which bass you own and flats will last forever but they’ll never sound like round wounds
Those of us with one bass; I wish you every happiness success and enjoyment
However the rest of us won’t be happy until we own 5 basses and their fretless or 5 string counterparts thus at least 10 basses and half strung with flats ; others with rounds
Then your amp / cab has its’ unique voice. ( I own 5)
Can you DO IT with one bass and amp Yes but you’ll always wonder what if?.....
I'm happy when the notes in my head fire all the appropriate digits, with aural awesomeness as my feedback for a job well done...
... to me, passive-aggressive, or pro-active, it matters not...
... to me, passive-aggressive, or pro-active, it matters not...
It's just you! Out of all humanity! You, and you alone!
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I have four basses and wish i could narrow it down to one but i can’t. I love all of them. I grab whatever one I feel like playing. Usually the precision with my metal band and I was favoring the jazz with my jam band but I brought my Rick yesterday and it was awesome. I honesty do not have GAS for more basses.
I prefer passive for the simplicity. The bass I'm playing now has two humbuckers but I'd like just one humbucker.
I love simplicity, but I can't stand hearing any buzz when I take my fingers off of the strings. And I sure as heck am not going to keep my plucking hand anchored on the tailpiece all night, when playing tapewounds! So... I'm not going to ever ditch the batteries ( favor Invalid Link Removeds due to their ability to be pretty quiet with NO STRING GROUND ) - but I don't care for a lot of EQ on board, as long as there are two pickups.
If I have two pickups I like just the three knobs: "volume, volume, and a passive tone" (treble roll-off).
A single pickup bass either gets a "Invalid Link Removed" pup with the pull-pot ( two pups in one!) or else (depending on the bass) I will tack on either an Invalid Link Removed or Invalid Link Removed control, along with a passive tone.
In either case, three knobs is plenty for me...
...Been there, too. Three times so far, back at passive.
One tone enter, one tone leave.
my NS Design CR5s have a very musical, useful (to my ears) two band eq. Despite that- I leave them set flat (at the detente) all the time. My amp is set nearly flat as well with the bass knob lowered to accommodate the room.
it always sounds great to me. so even a fancy-pants bass can still be just grab n go. just my two cents.
it always sounds great to me. so even a fancy-pants bass can still be just grab n go. just my two cents.
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I tried a couple of actives, and went back to the simplicity of passive basses. I'm doing somewhat the same with my amp. I set up the amp at a higher level, and adjust on the bass. It works well with a Gibson SG Std. anyway.
I've got a 3-band preamp equipped bass, but it sounds like I want it to completely passive.
If it weren't for those holes that would be left in the controls area I'd gut it & make it completely passive.
If it weren't for those holes that would be left in the controls area I'd gut it & make it completely passive.
