You might be working for the same company I do. Maybe telecommunications? If so I’m saving my points for a jazz bass, only 11,000 to go
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Pretty much retired but I still need fuzz
- Thread starter JimmyM
- Start date
I can't believe I'm having to explain this to you, of all people, but here it goes...
Where you went wrong was saying that while you had the money to buy one pedal, you were going to use your rewards to get the other.
What you should have said is that you would buy the one AND use the rewards for the other so you could get BOTH pedals. And then posted pics of both, links are optional but appreciated when used.
That's what any true TB'er would have done.
And to score even more points you could have taken the rewards your wife used for a purse, for yourself instead and got something else bass related.
*Disclaimer: I'm not a marriage counselor and I can't predict the outcome of this last option. Proceed at your own risk. But as a bass player, who's also divorced, I say go for it! She probably has enough purses already anyway.
Hope that clears things up for you
Last edited:
The only fuzz I have, is nestled comfortably between my ears.
Well, I lost interest in your post after you admitted that you sold your MXR M85. And then started whining about having to buy another one. You should know better.
JimmyM, It is obvious you bring the same string work ethic to your new employment. Enjoy the well-earned perks.
Marc
Marc
Well your post didn't go completely ignored. It got me to do a youtube search on the MXR M85. After watching the video below I broke down after twisting my own arm, and ordered one.
They are on backorder though, expected to be back in stock on April 2nd, which is significant because...
- 1) It's my dad's birthday, Happy Birthday Dad!
Sorry I didn't get you anything for your birthday. Like what do you get a man who has a wife 20 years younger than him anyway? - 2) It's my last day on parole!
Last edited:
Yep. We play the cards we’re dealt. It’s not like anybody’s asking us.
Yes indeed. You can put up with nonsense and idiots for money, or do it for free. Since dealing with nonsense and idiots is inescapable I’d just as soon get paid for it.
Early on (after a few years or so working as a professional musician) It suddenly occurred to me (right after my band got stiffed on a three hour gig) that what I was doing wasn’t going to seem quite so romantic or exciting once I turned 30. And I realized I could do something else I enjoyed (or at least didn’t mind doing) for decent money and still do music. And separating my paycheck from my passion was probably the best life decision I ever made. Because I gave me a steady income, medical and other benefits, and a regular deposit into my social security and retirement accounts - something that didn’t seem very important at the time. But years later, when I was eligible to start collecting on it, I was surprised just how much money I’d be getting back.
A straight job also paid well enough that I could eat regularly, live modestly but well enough, and have some extra cash I could responsibly spend on things like music gear.
Best of all, when you don’t have to worry about making a living wage from your music, you can get very selective about the kind(s) of music you want to do and the venues you want to play it in. One of the reasons Loreena McKinnett always self-funded her tours was to retain complete artistic control over how they ran. As she put it (I’m paraphrasing): If the program I’m planning means I’d need to take 30 musicians on a tour to do it right, I don’t need to go with my hat in hand to some promoter and beg him for permission. I can just do it.
Lots to be said for not needing to make money off your music. And if you were mainly in local progger bands like I was back then, you weren’t going to make any money off it after roughly 1978 anyway. This is another example of making virtue of necessity btw.
You do. I never used or owned fuzz until after I retired. Now I own two boutique-y (a John K Ironside and Formula B Soviet Tank) fuzz boxes. Better you’re late to the party than a no show, right?
Last edited:
At the right volume, and that isn't soft but loud enough to feel on the skin, Bass fuzz/distortion overdrive is absolutely Therapeutic. It's a sonic massage and then there's the psychological value of expressing yourself in bass fuzz. The same can not be said of loud distorted guitars unless the high strings are tuned down to a low note.
That's very true, there's just something about a bass cutting through the mix with fuzz, that when it's right, it's unbeatable in sonic pleasure.
Supposed to get cameras for meetings, but it's casual and they never sent the cameras to everyone. Mostly it's answering phones and trying to talk people out of cancelling cable and internet.
Good luck with the software changeoverYou might be working for the same company I do. Maybe telecommunications? If so I’m saving my points for a jazz bass, only 11,000 to go
I'm actually pretty pragmatic when it comes to pedals. I knew fuzz would be a rabbit hole, so I'm trying not to look at the carrots as much as the holes.I can't believe I'm having to explain this to you, of all people, but here it goes...
Where you went wrong was saying that while you had the money to buy one pedal, you were going to use your rewards to get the other.
What you should have said is that you would buy the one AND use the rewards for the other so you could get BOTH pedals. And then posted pics of both, links are optional but appreciated when used.
That's what any true TB'er would have done.
And to score even more points you could have taken the rewards your wife used for a purse, for yourself instead and got something else bass related.
*Disclaimer: I'm not a marriage counselor and I can't predict the outcome of this last option. Proceed at your own risk. But as a bass player, who's also divorced, I say go for it! She probably has enough purses already anyway.
Hope that clears things up for you
But it's such a fun rabbit hole to fall into... and I think that playing fuzz bass has a positive effect on one's consciousness, kind of like meditating.
For me it isn’t so much cutting through the mix as it is putting down a big all encompassing velvet cushion that everything else rests upon. But I date back to the psychedelic rock era, so my fuzz aesthetic was somewhat shaped by bands like Iron Butterfly and Jefferson Airplane.
Now if I could just find another singer like Grace Slick or Janis back in their salad days…
I've used it for overdrive before. Pretty good for darker tones because of its mid response. But definitely not an all-purpose OD to me. I just use it for what it's intended nowadays.
Just about all pedals are a rabbit hole for me. But hey I bet I'll have fun when the MXR M85 gets here!
The only exceptions to the rabbit hole would be my tuner of course, and my Sansamp BDDI and Keeley Compressor Plus. The MXR Phase 90 and Boss CE-5 Chorus Ensemble are about as far as I'm going to go down the phaser and chorus rabbit holes. Don't use them much but when I do they work well for me. And the Broughton HPF only has to come out when I'm not using an amp head with a built in HPF.
One of these days when I finally decide on what I want exactly for bass, I'll build a board. The rest will sit in the studio for use by guitarists who show up with no pedals or crappy pedals, which happens a lot.
Left to Right / Top to Bottom
- Boss Dynamic Wah (AW-3)
- Boss Chorus Ensemble (CE-5)
- Boss Super Chorus (CH-1)
- Fender Yngwie Malmsteen Overdrive
- EarthQuaker Devices "Plumes" Overdrive
- MXR Phase 90
- Source Audio Mercury Flanger (also programmable as a Chorus and Phaser)
- Keeley Compressor Plus
- Tech 21 Sansamp BDDI
- DigiTech Luxe
- TC Electronics Polytune 2 mini
- Broughton HPF
- TC Electronics Skysurfer Reverb
- TC Electronics EchoBrain Analog Delay
- TC Electronics The Prophet Digital Delay
I just got the Boss SY-1 Synth pedal. Wow.
And I think when things get back to "normal", you will on stage again Jimmy.
And I think when things get back to "normal", you will on stage again Jimmy.
