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Please Help. Bass question

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Despised Icon

Jun 21, 2008
4
0
#1
Okay, so before I get started. I'm a drummer, I belong to the pearl drum forums. I personally know how amazing forums can be when you find one with plenty of members, and members that are actually well read about what they are talking about. My bassist personally doesn't really like computers, and thinks that if he comes to a forum for help, he's gonna get bad information. And he's probably a lazy dumbass... Anyway..

My band has recently come across an investor. He's offering to buy us the professional gear we need to play at our best. Now, my bassist is the old drummer. So he doesn't know much about anything when it comes to the bass guitar, just how to play it. He needs a new bass STAT. Only problem is, he can't really decide WHAT bass and which one will be reliable, the best overall product, and will of course fit his sound and playing.

He really liked the top Gibson model when he played it, and he's currently playing with an Epiphone which takes after the Gibson. He was pretty set on buying it, however, someone told him that Gibson has been making poor products for the past 10 years. Does anyone agree or disagree and why?

Also, the sound he is going for is a somewhat muddy sound but not TOO much. He likes to play his bass low usually for the pure look of it. Our band sounds a lot like weezer and we will be aiming for that sound on the recording. I'll be back in a few hours I gotta go out.

thanks for any help you guys can offer!:)
 
#3
Gibson basses can be great for mud- seriously. I had an old Les Paul bass that could be very deep, & the EB-something or other I had back when dinosaurs walked the Earth was also a perfect example of tonal slime.
I would advise your bassist to at least come over here & lurk a bit; there's a ton of useful information, advice & experience, as well as humor, sarcasm & pure crap. The moderators at least try to keep the crap to a tolerable(for most ;))level.
 
#6
the budget is pretty much whatever we need, but we aren't obviously all going to go crazy. If the band makes money, we will have to pay back the equipment so I'm not going to run out and buy a brand new DW kit with Paiste signatures if you know what I mean.

Amp he is pretty much settled on, he's getting a 8x10 Ampeg. The one that is like 5 feet tall and built like a tank?

He loves Fender because really you can never go wrong with Fender, but I think he wants to look a little original and have something unique. He doesn't like the music mans either.

I will definitly direct him to here, but can anyone answer about the quality of Gibsons? He got pretty paranoid when he heard that. Thanks for the replies too!

Btw, i just looked and I believe hes playing the T-Bird epiphone right now, so Im assuming he was looking at the gibson t bird
 
#8
Oh my god.. Where to begin :) If your budget could go above 2000-3000, I would definitely recommend a reputable luthier, rather than off the shelf items. You can talk to the man, define the sound you are after, listen to his ideas, decide on the body shape within reason, etc. I would recommend Valenti. Eventhough I haven't personally dealt with him (I intend to make up for this mistake really soon), by look of it and based on reviews by the long-time TB'ers, that road is definitely worth checking into.
 
#12
Despised Icon said:
thanks again. Last question before I go

Is the Gibson rumor bs or what?
Click to expand...

gibson usually gets a pretty bad rap on here. Mostly because of their poor quality control, neck dive and muddy tone. But if he likes the feel, and the muddy tone is what your going for than its perfect. I would say to just make sure he tries before buys to make sure he gets one of the good ones. Only other advice is to head up to GC and play a lot of basses and find the one he likes best.
 
#13
+1. I don't find many Gibson basses that I like the sound of OR the feel of. Of course, that's subjective, but Gibson has made ONE bass that's consistently good over the years IMHO - and that's the Thunderbird. Sounds pretty good, but it's insanely heavy and not well balanced, and if I was going to own one of them, I'd have to be so totally in love with it that I was willing to ditch every other bass I owned for it. To me, it's that different of an instrument.

Gibson managed to take a great bass company - Tobias - and drive them into the ground until this year. They purchased Tobias right around 1990 with the intent of making the basses themselves, and darn near ruined the name. It wasn't until last year that Tobias started making basses that were worthy of the old name (again, IMHO).

Gibson is a TERRIFIC guitar company. They're not well known for their basses, other than the T-bird. There's a good reason for that if you ask me.

Now, maybe he wants a HOLLOW bass instead...? THOSE can be very unique sounding, and - like you said - pretty muddy with a little bit of top end to them, if done right. But it might be more work than he's willing to put into the instrument, plus playing at the volume I'd expect you to be at if he needs a 8x10 cab might cause problems with that kind of bass. But it's a thought.

It's not that Gibsons are crap per se; it's that they're extremely UNversatile. If you plan on gigging an awful lot, methinks he'd be much happier with a P bass with a maple neck. Plenty of dirt, bump, and sparkle there for ya.

HTH
 
#15
I got lucky, I guess, when I found my Gibson bass. Bought it because I liked how it felt in my hands, and that it had 5 strings. Would never consider it if it were my ONLY bass, but it's a great 2nd, or 3rd. The Tbird pickups are DEEP sounding, not muddy to my ears, but certainly alot darker sounding than any of my other basses, even others with humbuckers. Just throwin' it out there.
 
#17
Hm the 8x10 is going to be rather heavy to lug around :P, what head is he planning to get with it one of the ampeg svt? Often times clubs will be able to mic up your amps so I would maybe look into a 4x10 unless you got the roadie thing covered.

Bass wise, I often found the neck pup on my l2000 to be a bit muddy drive sort of tone with TI flats. Gibson isn't bad just got to try them. The Les Paul Money is a pretty faired price model. Love the blue too. Can't really go wrong though with a jazz or precision, a nice mij or mia will certainly do. Or could even look into a Bacchus!
 

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