SPECTOR® Club - Part 68

[Torn Bassist]

Sounds like it would please a lot of P-bass fans!

It was my main bass for a good number of years, I went from the Spector NS2A to the Fender Jazz and P-bass, back to the NS2A that made me want to seek out the NS2 basses.

Used my Spector Euro 5LX for this demo:

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

Medley - did 5 songs in 6 hours by recording rhythm section live and adding vocals/harmonies overdub after.

Hope you like!

You have a great sound and picked a bunch of cool tunes to cover....but....protect your vocalist because the AC/DC is a killer!

 

[sumgruuvz]

These are exactly the setting I used on the most recent show, sounded like a blues bass to me

Yeah, I should just lay down a couple of demo tracks for them, let them hear it. I won't be playing out live with this guy, nor is he a bassist so he really has no leg to stand on, as was said. I think he just thinks he knows what he wants but has nothing to backup his wishes. I'll send a track and keep you updated. Thanks for the input

I hate it when people think fender is the answer. Especially when they know nothing of a bass. You couldn't pay me enough to play those pieces of garbage. Sorry if anyone here plays them, but I despise fenders. Even though my avatar has one, he didn't know better back then and Spectors weren't made yet. But back to the subject, I hope you can get them to "listen" what you have to offer. If not, then it wasn't meant to be. I wish you the best of luck.

 

[Torn Bassist]

I have Fenders and to tell the truth the Jazz cramps my hand with the 1.5 nut so I'll probably be selling it, I do have a 1.5 nut on the fretless but I only play it on a few songs and its a different technique so I'll keep it. The Fender P-bass I'll never sell, even if I haven't played it because of the Spector basses I still like it and it plays great for a 35 year old bass.

 

[spector_boogie]

If i change my volume, i also change the DI volume. We make soundboard recordings every rehearsal and it is somewhat tricky to find a good volume balance e-drum and bass. Sometimes the singer wants it a bit louder or less volume, and then the fiddling starts

Interesting. I guess I haven't tried it but I run Post on the DI and only have that happen when I adjust the Gain, but not the Master volume. I would recommend trying both Pre and Post DI, and then adjust your volume up/down via both the (input) Gain and the Master and see what affects what. Maybe the Master affects the Pre-preamp output signal? I just haven't noticed it but haven't done any serious homework on it either...

 

[spector_boogie]

It's always been my experience Carey with all my amps that even the post setting on the DI is still pre master volume control. YMMV

If you adjust the input volume then yes, the output of the DI will vary. But the master (final) volume should never change the output of the DI. IMHO

This has been my experience with the M6/M9- only adjusting the Gain (at the input) has changed the DI level. Not the Master DI out.

 

[spector_boogie]

You guys talking about the M6 got me searching and I came across this video. It's a demo of the M6 and the guy whips out a Mike Kroeger signature model which I have to say, sounds great. If the link doesn't go right to the part, it is at the 4:02 mark.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=zd5Q8mYutQs#t=242

That's why I just had to get this amp back. It sounds epic with my NS5, and just as great with my Lakland.
I dunno who that dude is, but he has some insanely nice basses- his Sadowsky 5, EB/MM 5 fretless, Mike Lull 5, Spector Kroeger 5 sig, MTD 535 in the back corner, and then some other stuff on the case. Nice and diverse choices.

 

[spector_boogie]

Hey guys. So here's an interesting one: I got a call recently to be a session bassist for some guy's country/rock project. We talked terms and he was mainly happy with my experience and skills, but he absolutely insists that I play a Fender P bass, even after I told him I exclusively play Spectors and am in fact a Spector artist. I don't know what to do. Everything else about the project seems fine, one week to myself in July next year to record all the bass parts (After the drum n guitar parts of course), plenty of time to learn the songs then. I just don't know what to do here. I can't very well go and play a Fender, it's just wrong. I could of course get a Coda, slap a Fender decal on it and hope that he doesn't take a closer look. Or do I try to stick to my guns? Help please!

Session work is tough, no doubt, but if he is just stuck on the old "Fenfer P" thing because "that's how Hank used to do it" or whatnot, simply ask if you can do an A/B test with him and the producer and engineer(s) listening and see what they think. I'm not sure what Spector you have, but as others have said, get one with a P/J config, blend to the P pickup 100%, roll off the Treble to taste, and leave the Bass tone knob flat and go for it.
Trust us, they will DIG that "straight in" Spector --> DI tone.
Back when I had my 80's NS2, I did a demo for our then cover band with just that bass through my Radial JDI and the guy at the board was flipping out about how good it sounded. We added some compression in the software and that was it. These things just have magic when you record with 'em.
You also have plenty of time to discuss this before next summer so just keep a cool head but let your voice be heard too!

 

[spector_boogie]

I hate it when people think fender is the answer. Especially when they know nothing of a bass. You couldn't pay me enough to play those pieces of garbage. Sorry if anyone here plays them, but I despise fenders. Even though my avatar has one, he didn't know better back then and Spectors weren't made yet. But back to the subject, I hope you can get them to "listen" what you have to offer. If not, then it wasn't meant to be. I wish you the best of luck.

P basses to me sound like someone thumping a string against a piece of cardboard. They sound so hollow and lifeless. J's are more okay and P/J's are nicer, but the single P, ugh. I guess before normal people had info about how to EQ a band and where frequencies are supposed to go and all that they worked because they were so scooped, but a solo'd P is one of the worst musical sounds I've ever heard lol. I was recently watching the Smashing Pumpkins' show on Palladia and Nicole I don't think has any of her Titan in the signal, just her P through the Avalon, and on the solo bass parts w/ no guitar it was ruining the song for me when she did that. So weak! Ben Shepherd too- the live SG stuff I've seen on TV, his bass sounds terrible with that clank and clunk of the single P. Blech!

 

[spector_boogie]

This is a good idea. I will try this out next rehearsal and report. Sadly this is thursday next week

I have a spare Sansamp DI that should do the job.

How often do you have to adjust the Master on your amp, though? The DI Level control is to the immediate left of that knob, so I would recommend getting your Master and Gain levels to taste, and then adjust the DI Level out from there? For me I know what to set the Master at usually for rehearsals (or when I was playing most recently lol) and had a close approximation for live shows, so the DI Level was pretty easy to dial in. I had it always at about 11:00 and the soundguy did the rest.

 

[sumgruuvz]

P basses to me sound like someone thumping a string against a piece of cardboard. They sound so hollow and lifeless. J's are more okay and P/J's are nicer, but the single P, ugh. I guess before normal people had info about how to EQ a band and where frequencies are supposed to go and all that they worked because they were so scooped, but a solo'd P is one of the worst musical sounds I've ever heard lol. I was recently watching the Smashing Pumpkins' show on Palladia and Nicole I don't think has any of her Titan in the signal, just her P through the Avalon, and on the solo bass parts w/ no guitar it was ruining the song for me when she did that. So weak! Ben Shepherd too- the live SG stuff I've seen on TV, his bass sounds terrible with that clank and clunk of the single P. Blech!

At the end of the avengers movie, the soundgarden song "live to rise" on the 5.1, the bass comes in and I want to vomit. The only p bass tone I can tolerate is darcys (smashing pumpkins) on the siamese dream and melancholy. Other than that, get that **** off my speakers

 

[worshiprocker]

lol you guys are cracking me up.... Listen to Heaven's Basement... first off, they are a great band. But its a 70's p bass into a 70's SVT (I asked him about it and think the answer was something like that).... modern p bass and svt live and some pedals, it just sounds good. I LOVE Spectors and think they build some of the best basses ever.

It is OK to like other basses. I think the biggest dilemma with the situation is that he only owns Spectors. We all know Spectors sound amazing and probably better in most situations, but even Marty O'Brien used a Fender in the studio for session work.

Heck I say if you can get a bass for the session than do it, session work is fun.... bottom line

IMHO YMMV all that jazz. also I'm thinking about changing out the preamp or pickups (or both) in my Legend X, so if someone is selling something hit me up

 

[djaxup]

How often do you have to adjust the Master on your amp, though? The DI Level control is to the immediate left of that knob, so I would recommend getting your Master and Gain levels to taste, and then adjust the DI Level out from there? For me I know what to set the Master at usually for rehearsals (or when I was playing most recently lol) and had a close approximation for live shows, so the DI Level was pretty easy to dial in. I had it always at about 11:00 and the soundguy did the rest.

It happens that someone will mention "bass is too loud" or "more bass pls" and i need that volume in the room then. The PA is just used to amplify vocals and the e-drums. We also use the mixing board to record the rehearsals, and i noticed that once I change my volume on the amp (using the master knob), the volume also changes on the recording. This only happens when i use post-DI. Feels quite like micing... maybe it's only my M6?

 

[Betrayer_Bass]

I hate it when people think fender is the answer. Especially when they know nothing of a bass. You couldn't pay me enough to play those pieces of garbage. Sorry if anyone here plays them, but I despise fenders. Even though my avatar has one, he didn't know better back then and Spectors weren't made yet. But back to the subject, I hope you can get them to "listen" what you have to offer. If not, then it wasn't meant to be. I wish you the best of luck.

Yeah, that's one thing that irks me about the whole situation, he doesn't seem willing to see what the *professional* bassist's thoughts are, just his own opinion. I dislike Fenders as well, for comfort and sound reasons.

I have Fenders and to tell the truth the Jazz cramps my hand with the 1.5 nut so I'll probably be selling it, I do have a 1.5 nut on the fretless but I only play it on a few songs and its a different technique so I'll keep it. The Fender P-bass I'll never sell, even if I haven't played it because of the Spector basses I still like it and it plays great for a 35 year old bass.

Same reason I don't like them, weird necks that make my hands hurt. A good friend of mine had a classic Precision, it was well setup and everything but I couldn't get through two songs on it without having to massage my hands back to life after. And they've all been rough instruments for me.

Session work is tough, no doubt, but if he is just stuck on the old "Fenfer P" thing because "that's how Hank used to do it" or whatnot, simply ask if you can do an A/B test with him and the producer and engineer(s) listening and see what they think. I'm not sure what Spector you have, but as others have said, get one with a P/J config, blend to the P pickup 100%, roll off the Treble to taste, and leave the Bass tone knob flat and go for it.
Trust us, they will DIG that "straight in" Spector --> DI tone.
Back when I had my 80's NS2, I did a demo for our then cover band with just that bass through my Radial JDI and the guy at the board was flipping out about how good it sounded. We added some compression in the software and that was it. These things just have magic when you record with 'em.
You also have plenty of time to discuss this before next summer so just keep a cool head but let your voice be heard too!

I will do an A/B test at my home studio to let them hear. And you're right, it's along ways off so I have plenty of time.

P basses to me sound like someone thumping a string against a piece of cardboard. They sound so hollow and lifeless. J's are more okay and P/J's are nicer, but the single P, ugh. I guess before normal people had info about how to EQ a band and where frequencies are supposed to go and all that they worked because they were so scooped, but a solo'd P is one of the worst musical sounds I've ever heard lol. I was recently watching the Smashing Pumpkins' show on Palladia and Nicole I don't think has any of her Titan in the signal, just her P through the Avalon, and on the solo bass parts w/ no guitar it was ruining the song for me when she did that. So weak! Ben Shepherd too- the live SG stuff I've seen on TV, his bass sounds terrible with that clank and clunk of the single P. Blech!

Yup, the sound is awful. Like wet noodle. Do not like it at all.

lol you guys are cracking me up.... Listen to Heaven's Basement... first off, they are a great band. But its a 70's p bass into a 70's SVT (I asked him about it and think the answer was something like that).... modern p bass and svt live and some pedals, it just sounds good. I LOVE Spectors and think they build some of the best basses ever.

It is OK to like other basses. I think the biggest dilemma with the situation is that he only owns Spectors. We all know Spectors sound amazing and probably better in most situations, but even Marty O'Brien used a Fender in the studio for session work.

Heck I say if you can get a bass for the session than do it, session work is fun.... bottom line

IMHO YMMV all that jazz. also I'm thinking about changing out the preamp or pickups (or both) in my Legend X, so if someone is selling something hit me up

The problem with the situation isn't really that I own only Spectors, I have Warwick, Washburn and Jackson basses too. It's mainly that my preferred bass is my Euro (for many, many reasons, as you all know) and I'm a Spector artist so I'm somewhat obliged to play them on every project.

 

[LimaGuy]

Used my Spector Euro 5LX for this demo:

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

Medley - did 5 songs in 6 hours by recording rhythm section live and adding vocals/harmonies overdub after.

Hope you like!

Great Spector sound! Did you get that using the RH450?

Thank you. I used the 'flat' RH450 setting with a hint of Tubetone - the tube sound emulator. Then took the post into the DI straight to the board.

Great tone Dave.

The TC Electronics Heads work great as DI's.
I use the BH-250 for all my recordings directly into ProTools.

 

[peledog]

Thanks Sam! I realized that I listed the Euro 5 instead of the Rebop 4. DOH! I've had 3 gigs, a recording session and two rehearsals in the past week - I got confused. lol

 

[johnsonabq]

It happens that someone will mention "bass is too loud" or "more bass pls" and i need that volume in the room then. The PA is just used to amplify vocals and the e-drums. We also use the mixing board to record the rehearsals, and i noticed that once I change my volume on the amp (using the master knob), the volume also changes on the recording. This only happens when i use post-DI. Feels quite like micing... maybe it's only my M6?

Maybe a test would be in order here. You say you don't put the bass in the mix, yet it must be going through the board in order for it to be recorded, correct?

Then maybe try this. Without the band playing, send the bass through the PA so you can hear it coming out of the PA speakers. It doesn't have to be loud. With the DI set to pre (pull the DI level knob out) turn your master volume all the way down. You should still hear the bass coming out of the PA with no sound from the bass rig. Keep the Master off with no sound coming from your bass speakers (only PA), now go to your DI Level knob and push it in. What happened? Did the bass stop coming out of the PA or did the bass seem to get louder because now your EQ settings are being added to the signal going to the PA.

I have never personally used an M6 but I find it hard to believe that MB would design this amp to include the master volume in the DI's post setting. That defeats the purpose of the DI as it's supposed to give the FOH or recording engineer full control without your changes to your personal monitoring levels affecting him/her.

Ideally the bass and guitars should be going through the PA with the back line only used for personal monitoring of the instrument. This would result in a more even distribution of your bass through the house. Otherwise your bass will be at one level on your side of the stage and another level on the other side of the room. (OK, bass frequencies are omnidirectional but tone is not)

Hope this helps.

 

[johnsonabq]

...so the DI Level was pretty easy to dial in. I had it always at about 11:00 and the soundguy did the rest.

Yeah I imagine that the purpose of the DI level is to help with mixing boards that don't have an input pad.

 

[Torn Bassist]

lol you guys are cracking me up.... Listen to Heaven's Basement... first off, they are a great band. But its a 70's p bass into a 70's SVT (I asked him about it and think the answer was something like that).... modern p bass and svt live and some pedals, it just sounds good. I LOVE Spectors and think they build some of the best basses ever.

It is OK to like other basses. I think the biggest dilemma with the situation is that he only owns Spectors. We all know Spectors sound amazing and probably better in most situations, but even Marty O'Brien used a Fender in the studio for session work.

Heck I say if you can get a bass for the session than do it, session work is fun.... bottom line

IMHO YMMV all that jazz. also I'm thinking about changing out the preamp or pickups (or both) in my Legend X, so if someone is selling something hit me up

Agreed. I like Fenders as well as Spectors so I might be more open to this situation, I do know that when your hired to perform for someone they always have there requests and I play for different band leaders that most of the time are just cautious/concerned about the musician having a different idea about how they want to do things rather than following the performers vision.

Yeah, that's one thing that irks me about the whole situation, he doesn't seem willing to see what the *professional* bassist's thoughts are, just his own opinion. I dislike Fenders as well, for comfort and sound reasons.

Same reason I don't like them, weird necks that make my hands hurt. A good friend of mine had a classic Precision, it was well setup and everything but I couldn't get through two songs on it without having to massage my hands back to life after. And they've all been rough instruments for me.

I will do an A/B test at my home studio to let them hear. And you're right, it's along ways off so I have plenty of time.

Yup, the sound is awful. Like wet noodle. Do not like it at all.


The problem with the situation isn't really that I own only Spectors, I have Warwick, Washburn and Jackson basses too. It's mainly that my preferred bass is my Euro (for many, many reasons, as you all know) and I'm a Spector artist so I'm somewhat obliged to play them on every project.

It sounds like you should pass on this recording project.

 

[iceboxbass]

I hope you let PJ know what a lousy dealer this guy was. It wasn't Bass Central was it?

PM sent

 

[iceboxbass]

I had a similar experience when I ordered my old Stingray from said dealer...it was supposed to take 3 months...it was halfway thru the 4th when I contacted them and still got static from the guy I talked to...

Todd is my go to for custom orders...every other purchase will used items!

Yep...good/bad way to loose valuable customers that are spending thousands of $$$$.