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Stoner/Doom Bassists Thread, Part 90: Maxed Out

#40,481
Traded my epi eb3 for an Arbiter rickenfaker today, heavy but sounded nice! Cant wait for rehearsal

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#40,482
kleinenenten said:
Looking for a decent soldering iron. Nothing too fancy, as I'm not too great at soldering, but the two I've had so far just haven't lasted very long. What's a good middle of the road starter?

Also, as mentioned, I'm not great at this. Any links/vids/articles on how to do this stuff properly would be great as well. Thanks!
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I just use a cheap weller with adjustable heat. It works like a charm and I think it was like $35. A nice iron would be cool, but I've had no issues with mine. You can find them and a variety of replacement tips at Gateway Electronics.
 
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#40,485
scabpicker said:
Hehehe, a far more complex set up. Ever try to get by with just the Marshalls? What's the traditonal-ish bass rig composed of?

After hearing me and the drummer go it alone for about 10 minutes with the Super-Fuzz and the Traynor, my signer commented that it would be a great setup for a bass-drums two piece act.



Very nice, and it looks like you've got a new pal, too. When I bought the Traynor, I felt it had the good parts of a 5150, along with a really nice clean channel for surf guitar. I still wonder if I need a 5150/6505, though.



The current active band is Drawer Devils, very pleased to meet ya! I last lived in Denton in 1998 :). Our next show is a festival/benefit to fight anti-LBGT legistation/free show on the 23rd at the 515 Bar in FTW. There'll be ton of good bands, so many that we're going on at 3pm. At least it's inside.

What heads (bass and gits) do you use? Who do ya play with?




Yeah, even when I was using a crazy Polytone amp that even Polytone support couldn't identify (it was a 2x15 combo the size of a fridge), I knew more gain=good. With the Traynor, gain is always dimed on each channel. Same thing with pretty much every amp before that. If it has a preamp knob, and it's in my possession, it's almost certainly on 10.

That D-180 is kind of what I was thinking of when I was looking around for a gain monster. But they're a little pricey, and it still doesn't quite have the gain I was looking for. I honestly don't know of a modern bass amp that does. I've attached one of the demos I did with the VHT as an example of what it could do and the gain levels I was looking for.That's the bass into a delay, then straight into the amp.



Yep, people pop off with lots of advice that may work for themselves, but they often aren't really taking your situation or goals in mind. I've had several people actually state that they didn't understand my goals, so therefore I obviously didn't, so they were going to substitute theirs instead. Apparently, in their world I was going to want to be in a Motown cover band or something. Then they bloviate on about what would reach their goals for me.


Thanks guys, this place can make you think "Maybe I am wrong. Maybe I want to play mellow Carpenters-style tunes." Some days I do, but it's a rare day.
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I'm getting a mix of different clipping in my D-180. There's the regular gain it does, and then if you use the graphic, and only boost like I do, that'll add another flavor of grindiness to the drive. I'm not sure quite what's going on electrically, but I like it.
 
#40,493
Netherlord said:
Sudden question:

Does anyone here tune to low G standard?

If you do, do you prefer 410 or 215 cab?
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Would really depend on the cabs in question.

As a general rule I hate 410 cabs, though. Not because of how they sound, as there are a huge variety of them. But mostly because they're big enough to be really awkward to carry, but also not tall enough to be comfortable to just roll, and also too short to lever into cars easily. I also hate how they're too short for me to hear them very well if I'm close to them.

I'd probably still use the same 2x15 I use now, even tuned to G. Or possibly that would get me onto the fEarful wagon. I don't know. Or perhaps an Ampeg 810 and just say screw the fundamental frequencies.
 
#40,494
What's one of the most efficient cabs out there that you guys know of?

Right now, I play with Acoustic 106 with stock speakers, and Earth 215 (Peavey rip-off version) with BW on top and Eminence CA154 on the bottom.

Tbh, Earth cab is not that great because it was copied after shallow version of 215 but I'm just keeping it because of BW.

My friend recently got Avatar 410 but still haven't played with low tuning yet.
 
#40,498
More Pharaoh tweaks last night. Lowered the tone and bulldozed the mix. Love that fuzz. Unfortunately our drummer decided to leave the band, and a vocalist we finally got ahold of wanted to wait until she had lyrics ready instead of just showing up and hearing more of our stuff. Up and down practice, really. Sounded amazing, but the members that could have potentially given us a full band didn't show. And that sucks.
 
#40,499
scabpicker said:
And well, other than the EQ's not necessarily in the traditional spot, just about any amp head can be used for bass, provided you use speakers that are made to handle the frequencies.

In that vein, when I was making a demo of a song idea; out of laziness I just plugged my 6W VHT Special 6 Ultra into my GK cab, and cranked it. I loved it immediately. It sounded better than any bass amp I've owned. It was groany, beautiful, soft distortion, and lots of it. I played it that way for a week, made some demos, confirmed that it woulldn't keep up with a drum set with two cabs, then started looking for a bass amp with a lot of gain. My band's probably more Texas Acid Punk (think Scratch Acid/Butthole Surfers-ish) than Stoner/Doom, but I have a Super-Fuzz, and reason to use it. So, tonally we're probably speaking the same language.


It quickly became clear that I was going to have to spend a lot to even get close to the gain of that 6W motherscratcher in a traditional bass amp, and even then it was doubtful. Channel switching to accommodate the best qualities of the Super-Fuzz was going to be a feature that would be hard to come by. Then, I realized that my Traynor YCS-100 was sitting right there. Sure it's a guitar amp, but It's got 100W (you can barely hear the difference between 100W and 200W) and three channels with separate EQ and effects controls: a Fender-ish clean channel, a Marshall-ish gain channel, and a high gain channel that sounds like S.O.D.'s guitar track.

I plugged it in, and wondered what I ever saw in the VHT. It sounded just as good, but bigger in every way. The EQ is funky, but it seems active. Treble/Mid/Bass all at zero = silence. If it's in the wrong place, it's still versatile enough to work. When I used it at practice with a single 15", it was plenty loud enough at 40% on master. My bandmates commented that the low end sounded fuller, without being overpowering. I'll probably bring both the 15" and the 4x10" to the next show just in case, but I would do that with the 500W G-K fusion, anyway. If for some reason the PA isn't adequate, I can always preamp the G-K with the Traynor (the Traynor can run as just a preamp, provided you don't run the power tubes).


So, has anyone else decided that a high gain guitar amp is exactly what the doctor ordered when you are sick and tired of people talking about clean headroom?
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I have one of those VHT special 6's. A pretty decent little amp, sounds good, and is surprisingly loud through enough cab. I did pick up a Peavey VTX MX, which is 95 watts in to my 8 Ohm cab. This is easily a gigable set up for guitar and is honestly an amazing amp.

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Paired with my Dually, its 130 watts. Grindy amazing bass tones.
 
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#40,500
Do any yall play on non fuzzed out distortion/overdrive? I play thru the big muff and it's not really cutting it. I have two guitarist going thru fuzz pedals and when everyone chugs together the fuzz tone is lost. And unless I blend (dry)it the bottom ends drops out as well. The dry setting to me just sounds like a poopy overdrive pedal. So I don't like the pedal and that's probably the issue. However, how much germanium does one band need? Was thinking maybe a good distortion pedal would cut thru better. Idk
 

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