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New to bass. Need a quiet amp!

#61
Old Fart said:
That's right. You can change the chord the guitarist thinks he is playing. :)

In my view, nobody has more control over how the song sounds overall, than the bass player. The difference between a band with a good bass player and a band with a poor one, is WAY WAY bigger than the difference between bands that have a good or bad guitarist. The song is the melody, and everything serves that melody. The next most important instrument after the voice is...the bass. To understand this, one needs only to listen to a little album called Come Away With Me by an obscure artist named Norah Jones. the essence of a pop song is the voice and the bass line.
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Norah Jone, obscure? Not to me. Sadly her overall popularity waned early. I hadn't heard Come Away... But oh baby, that bassist sure knew what he was doing. Perfect timing, JUST behind the beat (as it should be), which really was where the pocket was. The solo guitarist was right there too. Imagine had the bass been right ON beat he would have destroyed the whole Gestalt. That's musicianship. BTW... The bass almost sounded like an upright. What a nice sound. The mix guy did a good job too.
 
#63
vindibona1 said:
Norah Jone, obscure? Not to me. Sadly her overall popularity waned early. I hadn't heard Come Away... But oh baby, that bassist sure knew what he was doing. Perfect timing, JUST behind the beat (as it should be), which really was where the pocket was. The solo guitarist was right there too. Imagine had the bass been right ON beat he would have destroyed the whole Gestalt. That's musicianship. BTW... The bass almost sounded like an upright. What a nice sound. The mix guy did a good job too.
Click to expand...

:)

I think the bass player was the producer. And I think he and Ms. Jones were, um, very friendly at that time.

I feel quite vindicated by your comment about the bass being just behind the beat. I heard that feature many years ago, and worked hard to be right "there" just in the shadow of the kick drum. Indistinguishable from being right AT the kick drum, but making darned sure I was not out in front and really wanting to be ever so slightly in the shadow of that kick drum. Just a few milliseconds is perfect. Nobody seems to understand this and I even had a fairly good drummer quit the band because of my timing. He hated this. Wanted me to be out front, I guess. But that's not the way it works.

I also know that a bass player can 'press' a bit. To be in front of the beat slightly is to add a sort of 'anxiety' to the feel of the song. I don't like to do this very often, but it can sort of wake things up when necessary.
 
#64
Old Fart said:
:)

I think the bass player was the producer. And I think he and Ms. Jones were, um, very friendly at that time.

I feel quite vindicated by your comment about the bass being just behind the beat. I heard that feature many years ago, and worked hard to be right "there" just in the shadow of the kick drum. Indistinguishable from being right AT the kick drum, but making darned sure I was not out in front and really wanting to be ever so slightly in the shadow of that kick drum. Just a few milliseconds is perfect. Nobody seems to understand this and I even had a fairly good drummer quit the band because of my timing. He hated this. Wanted me to be out front, I guess. But that's not the way it works.

I also know that a bass player can 'press' a bit. To be in front of the beat slightly is to add a sort of 'anxiety' to the feel of the song. I don't like to do this very often, but it can sort of wake things up when necessary.
Click to expand...

You might have guessed based on my comments as being a "trumpet player". I have played in some pretty high level orchestras, concert bands and musical theater ensembles and have been under the direction of some pretty prestigious conductors. The NUMBER ONE RULE: NEVER * EVER* GET AHEAD OF THE STICK. NUMBER TWO RULE: PLAY WHAT IT SOUNDS LIKE, NOT HOW ITS WRITTEN. Now, I have never had a conductor like this, but if you watch some high level orchestras you are going to see some conductors up to one or more beats AHEAD of where the orchestra is. They are setting style and diction and letting the musicians play together to make it all blend into what the music was intended by the conductor. I'm sure I could play under a conductor like this because listening is the greatest skill of playing, but it would take a few minutes of getting used to.

Sorry to digress. Hopefully this adds something.
 
#66
lavaxtris said:
I have a Rumble 25 and I get what he is saying. The Rumble series of amps have terrible volume pots in them that jump to high volumes very quickly. Just plug some headphones into it.
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When I was searching for my first (and only) bass amp a few years back, I had the opportunity to have several amps here side by side to compare. The Rumbles had a unique sound, but as you say, they have terrible pots. Though super light weight, I found the Rumbles' builds to be kind of poor compared to the other brands that I auditioned (TCE and GK). Do any amps have attenuation features like some guitar amps do?
 
#67
I have a small Mesa guitar amp. 20w into a 10" speaker and it used to get too loud for apartment life. Then I found out that some volume pots are linear and some are exponential. Mine was exponential, so it went from zero to LOUD in a small turn of the dial. I had the pot changed to a linear taper and it helped quite a bit. The amp still gets as loud as it did before, you just have to turn the volume knob a bit farther to get there. Might be worth a look at what you've got.
 

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