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Stoner/Doom Bassists Thread, Part 90: Maxed Out

#21,281
kleinenenten said:
I'll give you his reasoning, but I'm not sure you guys can handle it. They killed him, get this, because he said things that they didn't like. Because, you know, the government is the government. (That's basically his explanation for anything government-related.) And apparently they think a satirical parody heavy metal band is a legitimate threat to their rule? I don't know, the guy's nuts. Good drummer, but his head isn't exactly on straight.
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Tell him you found a baby bigfoot/alien/chupacabra etc., and are bringing it to the next practice. When he shows up say, man the effer broke out of the cage, but shite since you are here we might as well jam right. If he is crazy enough you may be able to tweak and reuse this ploy and have a steady drummer.
 
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#21,283
Actually I found out last night that it is our drummer that is the practice problem. He also does all of the booking and actually does quite well at that. ****ing double edged blade I tell you.

On the bright side, I vented to the lead player and we ended up getting together to work on new material. He totally agreed with me that we need to practice more, and if not practice still get together to write. However our discussion of tone was opposite of what I wanted to hear. His perspective in a nutshell is that the bass should be felt but not heard. He doesn't really want to hear any attack and the concept of a bass cutting through the mix equates to Geddy style cut with no middle ground. I was told that between bright and clanky and murky mush, to err on the side of mush. My perspective doesn't mean much as I have zero recording experience and very limited stage experience to their vast expanse of both. Pretty off base. Probably not quitting for the time being but I will not deal with this forever.
 
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#21,285
Turkeypills said:
Actually I found out last night that it is our drummer that is the practice problem. He also does all of the booking and actually does quite well at that. ****ing double edged blade I tell you.

On the bright side, I vented to the lead player and we ended up getting together to work on new material. He totally agreed with me that we need to practice more, and if not practice still get together to write. However our discussion of tone was opposite of what I wanted to hear. His perspective in a nutshell is that the bass should be felt but not heard. He doesn't really want to hear any attack and the concept of a bass cutting through the mix equates to Geddy style cut with no middle ground. I was told that between bright and clanky and murky mush, to err on the side of mush. My perspective doesn't mean much as I have zero recording experience and very limited stage experience to their vast expanse of both. Pretty off base. Probably not quitting for the time being but I will not deal with this forever.
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Ugh, that's disappointing about the tone discussion. If you're considering walking away at some point anyway, this might be a good time to pay him a little lip service, then eq your normal tone anyway (or maybe back off the treble a tiny bit as a token compromise). Chances are the dude isn't listening to your tone that much when the full band is roaring along.

That's what I'd do anyway.
 
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#21,287
Also tried out the new half of the VEGA rig last night. Ric into the Vulcan + 218, like usual, and the Rat>Muff>BF2 board into the Bass 300 + 810. Sounded great, uber punchy and cut through nicely but something was missing. It was that low bass, I need to compliment my guitarist already full bassy tone. I switched the 810 back to the 1820, much better, it was like I was playing a bass again. I guess I just need to stick to 18s for DAT PHAT BASS. So much simpler setup for VEGA now, which makes me glad because GH and PVYHenge is anything but.
 
#21,289
Turkeypills said:
Actually I found out last night that it is our drummer that is the practice problem. He also does all of the booking and actually does quite well at that. ****ing double edged blade I tell you.

On the bright side, I vented to the lead player and we ended up getting together to work on new material. He totally agreed with me that we need to practice more, and if not practice still get together to write. However our discussion of tone was opposite of what I wanted to hear. His perspective in a nutshell is that the bass should be felt but not heard. He doesn't really want to hear any attack and the concept of a bass cutting through the mix equates to Geddy style cut with no middle ground. I was told that between bright and clanky and murky mush, to err on the side of mush. My perspective doesn't mean much as I have zero recording experience and very limited stage experience to their vast expanse of both. Pretty off base. Probably not quitting for the time being but I will not deal with this forever.
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I vote play your rig the way you want as long as you ain't effen the band mix. If he stays a pain, click on a murky pedal when the songs starts and click it off when he ain't looking and back on at the song end.
 
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#21,292
Lazarus.Bird said:
Yeah, we make sure we practice at least once almost every single week, and try to jam twice a week if we can. If you let yourself slip into practicing less than once a week you run the risk of just turning into a garage band.
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Yep. Get comfortable and poopie starts to slip.

The jam that's separate from practice is huge as well - that goes a long way toward tightening up the band, coming up with new riffs and ideas. Tried to push for that in the last band to no avail.
 
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#21,299
The_Janitor said:
Ugh, that's disappointing about the tone discussion. If you're considering walking away at some point anyway, this might be a good time to pay him a little lip service, then eq your normal tone anyway (or maybe back off the treble a tiny bit as a token compromise). Chances are the dude isn't listening to your tone that much when the full band is roaring along.

That's what I'd do anyway.
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This is also the conclusion that I came to. He has a good ear for tone, but wants this band to be dominated by guitar tone. I listened, smiled and nodded and said "**** you I'll do what I want tonally" in my head. To be honest they can't really afford to lose me so I am definitely in the power seat no matter how much he wants to think otherwise. They have struggled to keep a consistent bass player over the last 2 years and basically begged me to keep them as my priority ensemble. I am not the best bassist in the world by any means(relatively mediocre from my cynical realist perspective), but I am better than anything else they have come across. They know it and I know it.

My tone is loud aggressive and exceptionally dirty. Really I don't think he cares one way or the other as long as it isn't excessively clanky and I can keep my rig from feeding back. I don't know if a gate is the solution or what. It seems like half of my pedals play nicely and the other half want to squeal like it is their sole purpose. I really just have to do some full volume knob tweaking, but that is not possible in a 2nd floor apartment.
 
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#21,300
Turkeypills said:
This is also the conclusion that I came to. He has a good ear for tone, but wants this band to be dominated by guitar tone. I listened, smiled and nodded and said "**** you I'll do what I want tonally" in my head. To be honest they can't really afford to lose me so I am definitely in the power seat no matter how much he wants to think otherwise. They have struggled to keep a consistent bass player over the last 2 years and basically begged me to keep them as my priority ensemble. I am not the best bassist in the world by any means(relatively mediocre from my cynical realist perspective), but I am better than anything else they have come across. They know it and I know it.

My tone is loud aggressive and exceptionally dirty. Really I don't think he cares one way or the other as long as it isn't excessively clanky and I can keep my rig from feeding back. I don't know if a gate is the solution or what. It seems like half of my pedals play nicely and the other half want to squeal like it is their sole purpose. I really just have to do some full volume knob tweaking, but that is not possible in a 2nd floor apartment.
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What helped me reign in dirt was putting my gate (an older ISP Decimator) first in the chain.
 
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