Psych rock bass guitar?

[MEKer]

Almost (I said almost) any "regular" bass will work just fine. You are doing psychedelic rock? Your effects are what will make it psychedelic. Just DO NOT get muddy sounding effects so you must try them out before you buy them. The effect should feel like it wraps around your bass note (so to speak), not saturate the note, and still give a good bass tone with mucho psych color to it. BTW: don't bother with the MOOG effects as you'll never remember and get back to settings accurately (I have had several and ended up selling them because of that---just f'in terrible). Plenty of other effects out there that'll work for you.
And, obviously, when not trying to be psych, any regular bass does just fine in that setting.
Just make sure the effect is called for in the song.
Have fun.

 

[NOVAX]

Gibson:
EB13

 

[Korladis]

Gibson:
EB13
View attachment 3059319

Agreed. I've heard one in person, and they sound great.

 

[PrairieThunder13]

Im in a couple psychedelic combos and my main basses are rics - 4000, 4001,4003, 4003s all just fit perfectly - all strung with ti jazz flats by the way. Ive been known to play a jazz bass and a number of cheap japanese knock offs and funky short scale hobos like danelectro longhorns and the like on occasion - its mostly passive bass, flatwound strings, preferably tubes and a lot of vibe to get the psychedelic sound

 

[Bicycledaybass]

Almost (I said almost) any "regular" bass will work just fine. You are doing psychedelic rock? Your effects are what will make it psychedelic. Just DO NOT get muddy sounding effects so you must try them out before you buy them. The effect should feel like it wraps around your bass note (so to speak), not saturate the note, and still give a good bass tone with mucho psych color to it. BTW: don't bother with the MOOG effects as you'll never remember and get back to settings accurately (I have had several and ended up selling them because of that---just f'in terrible). Plenty of other effects out there that'll work for you.
And, obviously, when not trying to be psych, any regular bass does just fine in that setting.
Just make sure the effect is called for in the song.
Have fun.

I'd definitely agree with this. For the most part the psychelic bass I listen to is real smooth sounding or clean tone aside from a couple bands here and there. Occasional fuzz or occasional synth effects. I'm thinking a PJ style P bass after a couple days consideration

 

[pbass2]

the stihls pay the bills

View attachment 3059019Like this spaced-jamming goof?

Good one! But even that's still too...gearhead for today's indie "psych"

 

[D.M.N.]

What's that in the back right?
View attachment 3059262

Uh, not a Fender? That movie irritated the hell out of me with all the gear inaccuracies. Why go to such lengths in the costume department to phone in that part? Jack Bruce with a '72 Telecaster bass and that...jazz thing in the background (not the weirdly hooked headstock). Didn't even have a real strat in that movie.

ANYHOW, psych rock? When we played with Stonefield and Night Beats a little ways back, Stonefield had a Jazz, Night Beats had some sort of hollow body Teisco or 60s/70s import, and I used a Thunderbird. You can kinda get away with anything barring a coffee table...

 

[MattZilla]

the guys in the band were consuming a LOT of psychedelics and I think to divorce that from what they were doing is really not reasonable.

Let the court recognize that Willie Nelson and Bocephus were in Psych bands!

 

[Calexia13]

Of course this guy and this bass is the first thing that comes to mind when I think of psychedelic bass

any obscure hollow body bass from the 60's is pretty psychedelic
early 2000's : reverend rumble fish or pJ bass and that weird melted Vox bass
now: lakland decade, guild starfire

 

[Calexia13]

Then there is this thing.......arguably the most psychedelic bass ever.

 

[zachoff]

Gibson:
EB13
View attachment 3059319

Had no idea this one existed... Now I think I need to own it, at least for a bit.

 

[Karlson541]

If you can get hold on a good one ideally if I were you I would get a bass guitar from the late 60's/early 70's era as those often had some rather trippy visual designs.
The shape and arrangement of controls on some of those basses is instant LSD flashback to the psychedelic 60's.
Otherwise I guess as a second best option, if you can't get hold of the real deal, getting a refinish with some flashy trippy colors and paterns of a Fender Mustang or Squier Jaguar would make for a decent alternative.

Come to think of it you might find a suited bass here as well: Eastwood Guitars

 

[NOVAX]

Then there is this thing.......arguably the most psychedelic bass ever.

View attachment 3069431

Captain! Captain!

 

[DDXdesign]

Had no idea this one existed... Now I think I need to own it, at least for a bit.

They're great, and weigh very little! I like the 2014s better than the 2013s but they're all scarce on the ground these days.

 

[catcauphonic]

When I think "psych rock," i think fuzzed-out, loud, sometimes spacey rock, like Thee Oh Sees, Of Montreal, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, etc.

Psychedelic rock, imo, is more in the vein of Strawberry Alarm Clock, The Doors, Kurt Vile, etc. More "vibey."

Also, I might be totally wrong and an idiot.

i just picked up a few Oh Sees tix for early October. I snoozed (& losed) last time they were in town (cuz Future Islands were playing the same nite, but they sold out in minutes .)

They tour constantly. Things get real bouncy from the get go... i thought the floor might collapse last time at the Crocodile (not possible.)

Usually Tim Hellman plays a Ric, but he's at this pre-noon live radio performance with a Fender P of sorts. They're minus one drummer here, too (waaaay too early for most of em )

 

[El Pelusa]

i just picked up a few Oh Sees tix for early October. I snoozed (& losed) last time they were in town (cuz Future Islands were playing the same nite, but they sold out in minutes .)

They tour constantly. Things get real bouncy from the get go... i thought the floor might collapse last time at the Crocodile (not possible.)

Usually Tim Hellman plays a Ric, but he's at this pre-noon live radio performance with a Fender P of sorts. They're minus one drummer here, too (waaaay too early for most of em )

I love this band

 

[Axstar]

I play in a psych rock band. I split my playing between PJ Mustangs and a range of semi-hollow basses. I started on an Aria TAB-66, which I still have but have converted to fretless. I've owned a Douglas/Shine ES-355 style bass, but sold this on. I've also bought and sold a Fender Coronado and Starcaster.

I've settled on this:

I also have a Jack Casady bass lying in state, waiting for me to finally fix it up.


Being in a psych rock band, I've played alongside a lot of other psych rock bands! One thing I've noticed is the lack of Fender basses in the genre. Usually my Mustangs are the only Fender on the bill. I have seen a fair few Epiphone Jack Casady basses, and Eastwood Classic IV, a Vox teardrop reissue and some sort of single cutaway Hofner reissue.

The pattern here is for shortscale (usually) basses with pickup at the extreme bridge and neck positions. I string mine with flatwounds, but I've seen many use rounds. All these basses look like they came from the '60s, even if none of them did.

 

[Stempelloos]

any obscure hollow body bass from the 60's is pretty psychedelic

This obscure sixties Italian hollowbody was painted psychedelic by a bandmate in 1984.

If you have the resources for it, a Rickenbacker 4005 L "Lightshow" might do.

Or get a more affordable Italia-Rimini-Bass-Pearloid instead

Chowny Bass CHB-1

Duesenberg Triton bass

Eastwood Airline Map Bass

Bartell (Hohner) Bass

Harmony H27

Ampeg Dan Armstrong

Kramer KL8

Magnum Ovation

Yamaha RBX5 A2 5 bass

Hofner Club Bass Paisley

Telecaster Bass Paisley

Etc.

 

[Stempelloos]

Then there is this thing.......arguably the most psychedelic bass ever.

View attachment 3069431

Doug Rowell's lefty version is shaped a bit more sculpturesque

 

[Iridescentone]

Intrigued. Anyone know the story on this one?