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One bass

HunterBrodt

HunterBrodt

Aug 24, 2009
337
1
Boise
#1
I also asked this just in the bass side, but if you had to pick one bass regardless of price to use on most of your session work what would it be?
I'm mostly an upright player but I would like to get a quality electric.

Oh and I dig that stuff you did with brad mehldau, haha I'm sure you were sweating during that session. Mehldaus a beast.
 
#2
I would get an early to mid '70's Fender Precision if you could afford up to $2500 or so. If your budget could stretch into the 4K to 5K range, get a '60's slab board refinished P bass.

Mehldau was an awesome time, but definitely more muso and theoretical than I was used to. He was stoked just to get me to shred and make an absurd racket. I still have huge gouges on the transformer covers on my B-15 where I'd rake my bass neck back and forth on them.

JMJ
 
#4
Second the P opinion, but I admit I'm still looking for the love of my Jazz life. My baby is my '63 P. I also have a modern P that I love too. I think it's called a 50s reissue. (A little deceiving since it is not the Sting bass i usually associate with 50s.) The neck it way chunkier than my 60s one for sure, which you may like coming from the upright world, and it wasn't a heck of a lot of money, actually. Sub $1,000. I'd recommend it to anyone as I've been playing the heck out of it for a couple years.

SlingBass: Your avatar is killing me because I just finished Sling Blade on Netflix!!

What's the name of the Mehldau recording? Last one I bought was Largo. Love me some Matt C drumming.
 
#6
+1 to a good ol' Precision bass... or a Jazz, if you want some more bells and whistles. :) i love them both, though my main bass is a Jazz. i wouldn't spend my hard earned cash on a bass with active electronics, unless i was looking for a modern "preampy" sound. but coming from the upright world, i would think that a good, solid tone that makes your very soul smile would do the trick. in that case, look at some vintage Precisions.
 
#9
OK...I'm gonna the the oddball in this discussion I guess. Perhaps I'm a little biased or unlearned, but I don't get all the hype re the old Fenders and those huge prices.

IMO, I'd go with either an Fbass BN-5 or Roscoe (LG 3005, SKB, or Century). Any of these can easily be be found used for $2500 USD or less. The modern electronics and tonal ranges allow them to emulate old P or J basses and beyond. 5 strings and two octave necks allow the player to meet musical demands no old Fender could even dream of.
 
#10
rodsnhawgs said:
OK...I'm gonna the the oddball in this discussion I guess. Perhaps I'm a little biased or unlearned, but I don't get all the hype re the old Fenders and those huge prices.

IMO, I'd go with either an Fbass BN-5 or Roscoe (LG 3005, SKB, or Century). Any of these can easily be be found used for $2500 USD or less. The modern electronics and tonal ranges allow them to emulate old P or J basses and beyond. 5 strings and two octave necks allow the player to meet musical demands no old Fender could even dream of.
Click to expand...

:)
 
#11
P bass just sits in a mix with anything. There are other basses that have very distinctive voices for particular types of music, but if you're going to cover a lot of different styles (especially in the studio) the P is the one to have.

Although I have a vintage passive P, I'm not one of those who believes it's the only way to go. I've heard all sorts of great sounding, inexpensive modern Fender P's and Fender clones as well.

G&L makes a versatile bass as does Lakland. And of course, there are the high end Fender clones as well.
 
#13
rodsnhawgs said:
OK...I'm gonna the the oddball in this discussion I guess. Perhaps I'm a little biased or unlearned, but I don't get all the hype re the old Fenders and those huge prices.

IMO, I'd go with either an Fbass BN-5 or Roscoe (LG 3005, SKB, or Century). Any of these can easily be be found used for $2500 USD or less. The modern electronics and tonal ranges allow them to emulate old P or J basses and beyond. 5 strings and two octave necks allow the player to meet musical demands no old Fender could even dream of.
Click to expand...

YES!!!
 
#14
rodsnhawgs said:
OK...I'm gonna the the oddball in this discussion I guess. Perhaps I'm a little biased or unlearned, but I don't get all the hype re the old Fenders and those huge prices.

IMO, I'd go with either an Fbass BN-5 or Roscoe (LG 3005, SKB, or Century). Any of these can easily be be found used for $2500 USD or less. The modern electronics and tonal ranges allow them to emulate old P or J basses and beyond. 5 strings and two octave necks allow the player to meet musical demands no old Fender could even dream of.
Click to expand...


Don't forget the wood. That thing's gotta be made from some FANCY wood. It should be so fancy that it doesn't even look like wood. It should look like the surface of the moon, or some kind of polished rock or something. If you're going to have just one bass, make sure you don't forget those two words: "fancy" and "wood."
 
#16
Fodera has some fancy wood. I hear they're making basses from Noah's Ark, and that it sounds amazing. They're list new for $6,000, and you can only buy them two at a time. Ba dum, ching!! He he he. (I kid, I kid. I've played a couple of really nice high end boutique instruments and they were amazing, but not my thing.)

But I did play a Mike Lull bass for the first time the week before Thanksgiving (my friend bought one and we were goofing around before we played or sets.) I don't know how much they are, but they are definitely are like Lakland in the way that they take the classic design and push it in a new direction without forgetting the past and why the original was good to start with. ;^) It was a 4-string, but I'm really curious to some day play on of their 5-strings because of the 35" scale thing. I don't have any flop B-string problems with my MM 5 and my Fender 4-strings that I tune BEAD, but I'm always up for checking out other folks fuss. Maybe their is something cool about it that I haven't tried yet.
 

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