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Stoner/Doom Bassists Thread, Part 90: Maxed Out
- Thread starter Korladis
- Start date
The one clip I saw sounded pretty wicked. Let us know how it treats you.
& @Basiroti
I don't have a Ric, but I do have a bass with pups in the same spots and I concur. I can definitely get the Ric treble pup sound, but what really surprised me was how easy it was to get close to a P bass and even a less woofy, more growly and articulate mud bucker sound from the neck pup. Mine has a Tbird humbucker though.
Additionally, I can nail Geezer's early tone with the neck pup. Practically indistinguishable for me. He used a P bass on master of reality right?
I could see people saying the 4001 with the cap on the treble pup giving the bass a Jazz vibe, especially with it having single coils that aren't high gain. But I've been outright amazed at the range of tones I can get.
& @Basiroti
I don't have a Ric, but I do have a bass with pups in the same spots and I concur. I can definitely get the Ric treble pup sound, but what really surprised me was how easy it was to get close to a P bass and even a less woofy, more growly and articulate mud bucker sound from the neck pup. Mine has a Tbird humbucker though.
Additionally, I can nail Geezer's early tone with the neck pup. Practically indistinguishable for me. He used a P bass on master of reality right?
I could see people saying the 4001 with the cap on the treble pup giving the bass a Jazz vibe, especially with it having single coils that aren't high gain. But I've been outright amazed at the range of tones I can get.
Geezer used a plexiglass dan armstrong on master of reality, IIRC. His pbass got destroyed by customs in Toronto. He bought the armstrong as it was the only one he liked in the shop near the venue. He moved on rather quick to all custom basse. Jaydee first, i think. Later 70s, BC Rich.
And he never owned a ric. He had to borrow glenn hughes' (deep purple, at the time) for a festival gig, which is why theres a pic or two floating around of him with a ric.
Jumping in – did Geezer use flats, and if so which ones do you recommend to approximate his tone? I'm looking to put some on my P bass and I've never used them.
I can't answer your question as to what kind, but I'm going to recommend Chromes as they will start out nicely bright and then slowly fade into a delicious mellow sound. It won't be quite the same shock to your ears as going from rounds to mellow flats out of the gate and will give you time to sort of find out how you like them.
Love my chromes too! Geezer played dead ass rounds i think.
I use the medium chromes on my Jazz bass. I have GHS flats on an old peavey patriot. The GHS are very thuddy. The chromes have a tighter mid and less 'thunk'. They are kinda soundwise like worn-in rounds. Mellow, but still with definition. I really love the feel of flats, and the chromes are an amazing string, IMO.
I have two basses that I use back and forth, as the mood hits. One has 4+ year old Chromes, the other GHS Pressurewounds for the last 8 months or so.. I keep waiting for the Pressurewounds to reach the sweet spot, but the Chromes just keep getting better.
...I should probably swap the strings around on the basses so the one I like the feel of more gets the Chromes.
...I should probably swap the strings around on the basses so the one I like the feel of more gets the Chromes.
When I put Chromes on my basses years ago, I remember thinking “Daaaaaang, I sound like Geezer. Awesome!”
I've been curious about trying pressure wounds and I really need to give EB Cobalt flats a go. I've heard they sound real articulate, just not super bright sounding or much string sound.
I mainly use my 4003S with it set on bridge pickup only, without the cap. Sounds like an angry P-bass or a Stingray kinda.
Oh, I didn't know it was a Dan Armstrong on Master of Reality.
I'll third or fourth Chromes. They're the roundest sounding flat in my experience, and can still give a decent edge if you play hard. Rotosound 77s are also really bright for flats.
On a different note, anybody have 1-15 cabs they love? My current gigging rig is a Ric 4003, neck into a GK mb fusion into a Dually, bridge into a Super Bassman 300 into a Sunn 2-15. Sometimes will use the neck to Bassman into Dually and bridge to V4-B into the Sunn. Just thinking of a rig using 2 1-15s for the sake of footprint in smaller rooms. Sounding good is first concern, finance is of second concern...
On a different note, anybody have 1-15 cabs they love? My current gigging rig is a Ric 4003, neck into a GK mb fusion into a Dually, bridge into a Super Bassman 300 into a Sunn 2-15. Sometimes will use the neck to Bassman into Dually and bridge to V4-B into the Sunn. Just thinking of a rig using 2 1-15s for the sake of footprint in smaller rooms. Sounding good is first concern, finance is of second concern...
What are you looking for sound wise? i.e. Darker, fatter, punchier, clean, warm, tweeter(less)?
Yep. Though I was wrong about the Jaydees. He used one in the later 70s (the BC Rich Eagle was early 80s) but for Vol 4 - SBS era he used John Birch custom basses
After fat, punchy, clarity. I don't use tweeters, but am not bothered by their presence if I can cut them off. I run my neck pickup clean and the bridge dirty and mix the amp volumes as needed.
I also had no idea he used a Dan Armstrong. I used to have one that I bought because of a man crush on Greg Ginn. Couldn't ever find a happy place with it soundwise. I was able to tell people it was made of recycled stripper shows, though...
I've had great luck with Mesa cabs over the years. The Mesa stuff is very well voiced for rock and heavier stuff, but it can clean up nicely for funky or jazzy stuff too. Very versatile. You can find some of the older powerhouse and diesel 1x15s for reasonably cheap, but they'll be on the heavier side. I currently use a Mesa Subway 1x15, and it punches as hard as my old Diesel 15 but has slightly more oomph in the low-end. You'll pay for the convenience of a 30 lb cab, but two of them will handle your business.
