stoner/doom bassist thread part 2: suspicious smoke

[NKBassman]

I've never tried my VT bass direct into a poweramp, only as a pedal, but I like it.

I used an RBI/poweramp for years though, which is essentially a BDDI in rack format, and it always worked real well for me. Soundguys love it too.

 

[Lazarus.Bird]

I'm likely going to grab a VT and a power amp as my backup rig. Here is an interesting thread: http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f15/tube-challenge-iii-ii-svt-vs-vt-462767/

 

[Mattosaur]

Are any of you guys on Google+? I'd like to start building up my "musicians" circle, and I love almost everything I hear out of this thread, so I thought I'd check here.

I'm [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

 

[Lowest End]

Are any of you guys on Google+? I'd like to start building up my "musicians" circle, and I love almost everything I hear out of this thread, so I thought I'd check here.

I'm [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

Just added you!

 

[Jason!]

I use a VT Deluxe and an SVT-300. Wouldn't mind picking up an SVP-CL for the full on SVT, but the VT does pretty well.

 

[Lazarus.Bird]

As un-doom as this is, after years of playing as hard as I freaking can I believe I've finally learned to play with a very light touch which has helped my technique a lot.

Huge show for us tomorrow in Burtonsville, MD with Confused Little Girl, APE! and Admiral Browning. If anyone is in the area they should come out!

 

[bassboysam]

As un-doom as this is, after years of playing as hard as I freaking can I believe I've finally learned to play with a very light touch which has helped my technique a lot.

Huge show for us tomorrow in Burtonsville, MD with Confused Little Girl, APE! and Admiral Browning. If anyone is in the area they should come out!

Yeah I took a few lessons a couple of years ago and that was the first thing I learned. It is amazing how much easier everything becomes with good technique, especially the fretting hand.

 

[NKBassman]

My right hand is like Godzilla in Chinatown, because for years I was trying to get as pick-ish a tone as I could without playing with a pick, and it sounded good in the band I was in. Now I've got a completely different rig and different gigging situations, so I've been trying to focus a lot more on playing with a lighter touch, and the tonal nuances are so much nicer. Now I can go from thump to grind just by varying technique.

 

[Lazarus.Bird]

Yeah i used to play as hard as possible all the time but now realized I can do lighter gauge strings on my bass use a lighter technique and play much faster. I still dig in hard on the heavy parts but it's nice to let the amp do the work.

 

[bassboysam]

That was another aha moment, light gauge strings. I don't play anything heavier than 100s and sometimes I'll go to 95s. Im tuned half a step down, sometimes down to C# and it still works for me.

 

[Lazarus.Bird]

Yeah I use D'Addario Chromes regular lights with a 100 E. Sometimes I have a couple oops moments where I accidentally pull the string off the fretboard but for the most part I love them.

 

[JoeVictim]

I have to say I am an avid believer of bigger strings for lower tunings to keep tension. Using .105 for drop D (D'Addario) and use .112 for drop C. (Circle K's)

Do you guys feel the tension loss is worth it?

 

[Lazarus.Bird]

I currently tune all my basses to a half step down (that's what Billows plays) but my last band was a blackened death thrash thing (so angry this fell apart after 2 shows. our singer was the founder of maryland deathfest we had awesome tunes and infinite connections but that's a whole other story...) where I think we tuned to C# standard and I believe I was using a 105 as my E string. I never really understood the whole using heavier strings for lower tunings. With a proper set up I never felt like I needed heavier strings. Maybe it's just a personal preference thing.

Here's a youtube video I made two years ago when I was trying to find bands after moving to MD. I believe this is tuned to C standard. You can see my E string bending pretty far but that's a combination of how heavy handed I played at the time and the 105. I never had issues with string tension. ‪Christgrinding Avenue Bass Cover‬‏ - YouTube

Man do I miss that Ibanez!

 

[father of fires]

I am playing in C standard now and I found that I much prefer to tune up a low B to C to keep the tension.

 

[JoeVictim]

In a nutshell, the thicker the guage, the tighter the tension. So generically speaking, a .100 string will have X pounds of tension to reach E tuning. A .112 string tuned to E will have say X + 2 pounds of tension. The thicker string is starting tighter. So as you detune from E, the .112 guage will start loosing the extra tension and still remian tight while the .100 string will get floppy faster.

 

[Lazarus.Bird]

Oh I understand that. I just meant I don't understand all the threads about what gauge string to use with what tuning as I never had any issues

 

[JoeVictim]

Oh I understand that. I just meant I don't understand all the threads about what gauge string to use with what tuning as I never had any issues

Sorry, I am used to everyone I talk to being dumb to the subject matter. (I am at work, not implying anyone here is dumb)

Proper setup can do wonders.

 

[NKBassman]

I play in C standard and currently have my bass strung up with Rotosound Drop Zone 65-130. Needless to say, I like heavy strings.

I think as my right hand got stronger over the years of hammering the strings as hard as I could, I naturally started using heavier gauge strings to compensate. I typically string my E-tuned basses with 50-110s.

 

[zachoff]

I use EB Power Slinkys because they're cheap and available and I tune to C as well. It can get floppy, but I have super high action so it doesn't get clanky unless I'm playing super sloppily.

 

[ampegfuzz]

Circle K drop standard 118 tuned to drop C on my ric, love them. just wish I didn't have to order them though the mail and could just pick them up at a store. but I use 105 on my grabber tuned drop C but it just feels right on that bass.