Do whatever you like and what makes sense for you. I have been getting by with using just one bass for a while now.
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Stingray 5 as only bass
- Thread starter Jroc07
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- stingray stingray 5
No bass should ever feel lonely. Get a companion for the 5-string...
Plus, imagine having an important gig and God forbids, something happens to your bass. I think it's always good to have a backup.
In my case, I have a P-Bass and a 5-string Jazz. I basically have all the bases covered. (No pun intended)
Plus, imagine having an important gig and God forbids, something happens to your bass. I think it's always good to have a backup.
In my case, I have a P-Bass and a 5-string Jazz. I basically have all the bases covered. (No pun intended)
I guess it matters with how much gigging you are doing and the styles. I say there is nothing wrong with having 2 different strung basses. I mean you can have only one bass that's OK not knocking it. But to deal with the frustration of loving a 5 and a 4 isn't problems a musician should have. There are drummers and guitar players to deal with.
Again, you're certainly entitled to your opinion, but *I* dont' agree with it... Also, this statement is totally false:
"most bass cabs really struggle with notes lower than open E"
Sure, cheap cabs *might* do that, but I've yet to play a Mesa Boogie cab that did - same thing with Bergantino, and any other quality cab I've ever played thru... Truth is, even my Rumble 200 Combo handles my low B string just fine...
Really appreciate all the replies. I'm going to take the common advice and keep the Stingray, and then save up for a 4 string for down the road! Was playing last night and realized that I would definitely regret trading/selling it.
I been playing a Ray 5 exclusively for 20 years. I wanted a 4-string that I could use for downtuned metal, and bought an Epiphone Thunderbird Pro IV for a very nice price. I still play both, but the Epi will probably be my main axe.
This is a very good point. I experienced this when I switched to a 6-string, which was about 13 years ago. I had a 4-10" cabinet made by one of the big manufacturers, and I could hear the cab's response drastically drop off, once I went below low D.
I did a bunch of research, and I eventually revamped my amplification, which wasn't cheap.
Now, with all of the forward thinking cabinet manufacturers, producing incredible cabinets these days, this is probably not a big issue, but it is worth considering, if a player is interested in moving from a 4-string to a 5-string.
An Ampeg BXT-4-10" HL4. It weighs 122 lbs, and I used to use a pair of them. I still have one in my jam room.
Thanks for the answer - I'm not surprised at it, though - it wasn't one of Ampeg's best cabs, and doesn't really support the notion of "most bass cabs struggle with notes lower than E", to be honest...
Ampeg billed them as "Full Range" cabinets built to serve the needs of Victor Wooten and Steve Bailey. I think they're great when you're playing a 4-string and throwing a lot of power into it.
This is and has been an interesting discussion point on TalkBass............whether if a bass cab can do justice to the low B on a bass.
As you already know, most quality bass speakers are rated around 40hz to 45hz. The open E is 41hz and the open B is 31hz. So, most speakers can't produce the fundamental frequency of the low B.
One of my favorite bass cabs is the Acme Low B 210. Even this top quality cab produces the 31hz of the low B @ -6db below flat response. If I am correct, each db is 10% lower or higher in volume. -6db is gonna be 60% lower in volume below flat response. So, even the Acme struggles to produce a "true low B @ 31hz".
Of course, we can fiddle around with the eq and beef-up the low B but then we have to lower the volume or we could damage the speaker since it wasn't designed to really go that low.
Now folks on TalkBass have explained to me that our ears hear the overtones of the B and kind of fill in or make up for the missing fundamental 31hz. If they say so, I dunno. I am a "facts are facts" kind of person and if 31hz can't be produced, then it can't be produced.
Yes, a bass cab will make some kind of low B sound. How much of a true low B it can produce is in the specs.
Once again, for me, my opinion and so what, I don't like the sound of a bass below D. Thus, I suggested to the thread buying a de-tuner for a 4 banger in place of of his 5er.
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I've got an 89 SR5 that I almost sold a little while back. But after coming to my senses, I realized that it's a bass I should be buried with. It's just an incredible instrument and there's no cheap replacement for it that would be able to do what it does.
A Jazz bass, there's a LOT of options for replacement that can be had for little money. And should you become enamored with that, there's a ton of high end replacement options too. But not the same with the SR5.
Again, you're entitled to your opinion regarding the sound of notes below D, because that's purely subjective... The rest of your post is not - where the frequencies of the notes you listed is true, you are in error about how that actually translates to real world use regarding bass cabinets... IIRC, we hardly hear any of the fundamental of those notes, and mainly hear them thru the 1st harmonic - so your point on that isn't valid...
Gottcha...........and your point has been stated by many here on TalkBass.
Going with my ears and what sounds good to me. When I hear the open E of a bass guitar and the bass cab is producing the 41hz fundamental............it is a wonderful thing!
And so, I'd expect the same thing for hearing the open B. If it's fundamental is not there, it's not there. My "imagination" is suppose to fill in the blank?
Tangent..........if I'm buying a set of audiophile stereo speakers, and one set is rated at 40hz to 25,000hz and another set is rated at 30hz to 25,000hz, which set of speakers is going to have better sounding bass?
I realize that the open B on a bass is not played constantly (thank God!) and perhaps it's not all that critical if the fundamental is not produced but still, wouldn't it be nice to hear it's full glory when it is played?
I am so sorry for getting way off the subject of this wonderful person's thread. So anyway, if he likes the tone of a 4 string better but will miss having the low notes on a 5 string.............well, a de-tuner is an excellent compromise, don't we think?
I'm totally cool with 5ers and it's low B. I just wish there were cabs that could do it justice. Although the Acme, Fearful and Bergantino........others also do a decent job with the B. Still falling short.
I'm done.............not saying anything more about this. Sometimes this 5er discussion and it's low B can get into an argument similar to which is the best color in the rainbow. Everybody's opinion is right, everybody's opinion is wrong.
Back to the original topic that this thread was started for...
Last night, I watched a guitarist suffer through a nightmare of a set with an old and popular guitar (Described as early 60s Gibson SG) that suddenly developed a bad buzz that came and went a time or two in every song. And in a Blues Brothers/Motown-style band where guitar is pretty important. I felt sooo bad for him. In the middle of the one-hour set, he was able to call his wife and get his 335 to the gig for the next set...
All to say, it’s a great idea to carry a spare instrument to the gig. So there’s nothing wrong with owning 2 or more instruments for that reason alone. And since you should have a spare, make the spare something you would want to play anyway.
I haven’t carried 2 instruments to a gig in a long time (except when I needed a fretted and a fretless instrument. A rare occurance). But I’m about to start.
Last night, I watched a guitarist suffer through a nightmare of a set with an old and popular guitar (Described as early 60s Gibson SG) that suddenly developed a bad buzz that came and went a time or two in every song. And in a Blues Brothers/Motown-style band where guitar is pretty important. I felt sooo bad for him. In the middle of the one-hour set, he was able to call his wife and get his 335 to the gig for the next set...
All to say, it’s a great idea to carry a spare instrument to the gig. So there’s nothing wrong with owning 2 or more instruments for that reason alone. And since you should have a spare, make the spare something you would want to play anyway.
I haven’t carried 2 instruments to a gig in a long time (except when I needed a fretted and a fretless instrument. A rare occurance). But I’m about to start.
Consider tuning it to E-A-D-G-B or E-A-D-G-C instead. That opens up a lot of possibilities. You might be able just to buy a single string to make that happen.
