Stoner/Doom Bassists Thread, Part 90: Maxed Out

[mpdd]

moog mf drive is on the way, keeping that the 83 L2000, the custom LB100, the orange 115s, and the mesa d180

unemployment sent me an email yesterday, but i usually just ignore them so...

 

[bassboysam]

we have some 18 x 27 inch prints going up for sale if anyone is interested. only 5 of each piece will be available.

The Nacarat Limited Posters (5 images to choose from) from Monobrow

 

[cornfarmer]

trickling out another

 

[Skullie]

Killer tune. Nice Job.

trickling out another

 

[cornfarmer]

work is slow this week

 

[TSmith92]

The Thunderclapper arrived, this thing is amazing. 8.5lbs on the dot with the maple neck and roasted swamp ash body.

 

[Korladis]

The Thunderclapper arrived, this thing is amazing. 8.5lbs on the dot with the maple neck and roasted swamp ash body.

Share pics! And then sound clips!

 

[Novarocker]

trickling out another

Reminds me of fu manchu, especially the tone of the bass and guitar. Nice riffage dude.

 

[Krakob]

Hey all! Hope it's ok with questions here. I'm an intermediate-on-a-good-day bassist curious about subcontra (i.e. C# @ ~17Hz, F# @ ~23Hz), especially in relation to stoner music. Having a really hard time researching it because every thread I've found seems to just contain theoretical discussions, flaming and overall pretentiousness. I understand the basics of harmonics and psychoacoustics in this context, but I'm looking for a bit more concrete info: what would you need to pay attention to when making such a rig? Are there any good examples of this in the more warm stoner genre, as opposed to cold, super-distorted doom?

 

[cornfarmer]

what would you need to pay attention to when making such a rig?

Are you asking about basses (strings/pickups etc.), or amps/cabinets, or both ?

 

[Krakob]

Are you asking about basses (strings/pickups etc.), or amps/cabinets, or both ?

Just about all of it, really. Strings and length seem straightforward enough but I know all too little about electronics. As for amplification, I'm under the impression that they're all mostly fine..? And cabinets, I guess you'll want one with a very low frequency range. I saw that the Ampeg PN covers down to 28Hz, which seems pretty fitting for such a tuning and the genre. But maybe that's just marketing jargon.

 

[cornfarmer]

I've never heard or used any Ampeg PN stuff so I don't have an opinion. Trying to achieve 28Hz at a loud volume would require some thought on how to power it. You'd need more than the cab is rated for.

Overall I don't think there's any real mystery to it. Any bass will work, just tweak the strings/setup to your liking depending on how low you want to go. As for pickups, I don't use anything active. There are plenty of great sounding passive pickups out there, some wound so hot that their output is as loud as any active pickup.

Same with amps, though if you want to overdrive the amp, go with tubes. Most of my amps are solid state, but they're older '70s/80s things that can get acceptably grindy. For cabs, I prefer 15's. More than one preferably, I feel that two 15's are the minimum.

tl:dr version: you could play a cheap P-bass (with good pickups) through a Peavey MK series head though a 2x15 and you'd be fine.

But that's like, my opinion, man.

 

[bassboysam]

to get any real volume you'll need to use a a PA with a subwoofer. no full range bass cab goes that low with any meaningful volume

 

[dukeorock]

to get any real volume you'll need to use a a PA with a subwoofer. no full range bass cab goes that low with any meaningful volume

THIS

 

[Korladis]

Hey all! Hope it's ok with questions here. I'm an intermediate-on-a-good-day bassist curious about subcontra (i.e. C# @ ~17Hz, F# @ ~23Hz), especially in relation to stoner music. Having a really hard time researching it because every thread I've found seems to just contain theoretical discussions, flaming and overall pretentiousness. I understand the basics of harmonics and psychoacoustics in this context, but I'm looking for a bit more concrete info: what would you need to pay attention to when making such a rig? Are there any good examples of this in the more warm stoner genre, as opposed to cold, super-distorted doom?

BONGRIPPER

 

[Jolagh]

Like everyone else has said you need an enourmous amount of power to produce 20hz at a high db as well as a large subwoofer that tend to be both expensive and extremely unwieldy. Most of what you are hearing in bands like Bongripper, Conan, and Periphery is the upper harmonics of the F#. Not to mention alot of places put a high pass on bass around 50hz to leave room for the kick drum anyway. So all of that gets cut off in the front of house mix.

As far as using it in non doom music i cant say its to my taste for the most part at a faster tempo. Even conan has some parts that sound too fast for the low tuning and just turns into a muddy mess imo.

Check out this isolated bass and drum track from bongripper.

 

[CL400Peavey]

I saw that the Ampeg PN covers down to 28Hz,

It doesnt.

to get any real volume you'll need to use a a PA with a subwoofer. no full range bass cab goes that low with any meaningful volume

Not even the best. You could build a system that does, but it makes way more sense to let the PA cover this work. Focusing on that first overtone is the way to do it.

 

[Krakob]

Thanks for all the input!

As far as using it in non doom music i cant say its to my taste for the most part at a faster tempo. Even conan has some parts that sound too fast for the low tuning and just turns into a muddy mess imo.

Check out this isolated bass and drum track from bongripper.

I'm looking for something more along the lines of slow - mid tempo stoner or stoner/doom. Om and Al in general but lower, really. I find plain doom too distorted in all too many cases and that might be the issue, or at least one issue with a muddy tone. 'The Low C# Theory' has some great grooving at reasonable pace but it's improvisational jazz and no distortion whatsoever.

Can't wait to check out the track once I get home!

It doesnt.

The product sheet says it does. Do you disagree or was there a misunderstanding? Actually wondering, I reckon that might come across as a rude/aggressive phrasing.
Ampeg: Pro Neo Series - PN-115HLF

 

[CL400Peavey]

The product sheet says it does. Do you disagree or was there a misunderstanding? Actually wondering, I reckon that might come across as a rude/aggressive phrasing.
Ampeg: Pro Neo Series - PN-115HLF

All that says is Freq Res: 28hz - 10 kHz. That doesnt tell you anything. It could be -50db at that frequency. Ampeg's (and most other retailer's) specs tell you zip about the performance of their cabs.

Follow up:

The manual says -10dB which is still a massive reduction, and doesnt tell you from what point.

 

[bassboysam]

at -10db you won't hear those frequencies as all the higher freqs are going to be quite a bit louder. Also there is a good chance that the amp you use will have a high pass filter that is cutting those low frequencies to begin with.