Stoner/Doom Bassists Thread, Part 90: Maxed Out

[cornfarmer]

My old android phone could actually record in stereo, and did a halfway decent job as long as whatever app allows you to set the gain input low for loud times, i.e. Titanium Recorder is what I used. There's another called Field Recorder that can do more stuff, but apps don't matter as much as phone hardware.

That old phone stopped working as a phone because the cell phone company 'upgraded' their towers or some horsesheeet so I was forced to upgrade. My new one is an Essential PH-1 which I got a deal on and I like, but it seems like it can't record in stereo, and it uses USB-C, no headphone jack, which is kind of a hassle itself. I might just use the old phone as a recorder only, because nobody is gonna want/buy it. I also have my old school ghetto blaster which would probably sound cool but it's not convenient to have to dump the tape real-time into the PC.


Meanwhile, I'm about to go score a pretty nice V-4B.

 

[cornfarmer]

Meanwhile, I'm about to go score a pretty nice V-4B.

 

[CRich0205]

just wondering if you have any recommendations of amp heads to use with my set up.

I’m using two barefaced super compacts with an Ashdown ABM 500 but I have a hankering for a tube amp. I use a fuzz pedal all the time (muff with a blender so not too fuzzy)

I’m totally lost with tube amps and how much wattage I would need for a decent live set up. I know I could go out and buy the most watts I can find but that might be overkill. Is 100 watts enough or should I be looking at more? I think I would need to be pushing the tubes hard to get a good tone.

I’m looking at used amps (in the uk) such as

Ashdown CTM100
Orange ad200
Ampeg v4b


Here is a link to my bands album to get an idea of tone/style :

Thanks

First your band sounds rad. My v4b struggled to keep up with a single guitarist and drummer cleanly. If you want clean tube sound and a fuzz v4b is awesome. It had a great OD tone but I was running my synth setup
Through the second channel and it wasn’t clean enough for that. My current svt 2 pro is a monster and sounds glorious. The extra headroom is nice for adding some low end back when I have distortion or something turned on. So I would vote for more watts if you can swing it. I’ve never played an orange ad200 but I think they’re pretty awesome.

 

[chanson]

I'm really liking the bass tone on Eyehategod's Take As Needed For Pain album. Without having access to a tube amp, what pedal would you guys suggest to get a similar tone? The obvious answer seems like a VT but I have limited experience with them.

 

[Novarocker]

Man, that is really cool. Ton of room too.

We went from renting a nice size room in a big warehouse full of them (great for space but constant roof leaks, A/C always breaking - brutal in a building in New Orleans with no ventilation, bathroom out of a horror movie, deafening sound bleed from bands on each side of you, lugging gear up/down stairs every time there is a gig). We moved into a room in our drummer's house. May be kind of tight (standard size bedroom), but it is ours, clean, no sound bleed in/out, and no fear of our gear being in imminent danger of fire (we kept an extinguisher and fire axe in our room in case the damn place went up during a practice - it was a death trap), water, or theft! The clean/bathroom part may not sound very rock or metal, but seriously. The bathroom was disgusting in this building. Way worse than any dive bar we play. Mix that in with the lazy shags that would piss in beer bottles and put outside there room in the hallway or the dude just pissing on the floor of the hallway.

That says a lot when the bathroom is worse than a bad dive bar. I'm surprised that place is in business, although I'm not surprised it is...kinda funny how messed up operations of all sorts find a way to keep going.

Any of y'all record your practice sessions? If you do, how do you go about out doing it in a time effective manner that doesn't eat into practice time or whatever?
I have audio interfaces and condenser mics so i've been thinking about just tossing one up in the middle or the edge of our practice space and just recording it that way on my laptop but like, that takes time to set up and get going and stuff. I thought about getting a small mic for my phone and using that but that seems fiddly.

Right now i'm borrowing one of those handheld zoom recorder things and that works really well and takes no time to setup... but its not a super high priority to get as I need to get some more grindy distortion and moar wattage first.

I'd try out the phone. Are you looking to do anything with the recordings or just something to reference and reflect on? We used mine for impromptu jams and besides needing some notch filtering for some peaky cymbols and a weak kick it sounds pretty good. It even handled the volume too, just the built in phone mic. I'll see if I can find some of the old ones. I always just hit record and set it across the room.

 

[thombo]

View attachment 3202627

She's a beat! I'll have a V4 waiting for me when I get home today, I'm psyched! For basement jams, my 300T and SVT-CL just aren't getting opened up enough to reach their full sound potential. I'm really amped... ha, get it? Imna open'er up tonight and try to prevent my kids from sleeping. I'll try it our with my still drummerless upstart this Thursday.

To make room, I've also moved a some of gear recently: Two basses, a Fender Aerodyne (I always love them in stores but this one just didn't do it for me) and a Fender Carbonita (I loved the feel and sound, but I couldn't set the pup height where it sounded good but and the strings against the pole pieces), and an Aguilar TH500 (a cool amp that I just wasn't using because, you know, tubes).

 

[Speedor]

Well, that new band with my in-law thing seems to be going surprisingly well. I've met the second guitarist recently, he's my in-law's buddy and seems like a cool enough dude. He's got a practice room in his basement and that's where our practices are going to take place. There's also talk of their friend who's a drummer. We've got our first song pretty much finished except for vocals, right now we're mainly recording demo tracks on computers.

Also, I'll need a new head as my Ampeg Micro CL isn't probably going to cut it, even with an Orange 410 cab, especially with two guitarists tuned to B. I'm thinking Ampeg PF500 or Aguilar TH500 (no $$$ for tubes at the moment).

 

[Grahams Groove]

Current big board for new post-rock side project:
View attachment 3204070

Well, that new band with my in-law thing seems to be going surprisingly well. I've met the second guitarist recently, he's my in-law's buddy and seems like a cool enough dude. He's got a practice room in his basement and that's where our practices are going to take place. There's also talk of their friend who's a drummer. We've got our first song pretty much finished except for vocals, right now we're mainly recording demo tracks on computers.

Also, I'll need a new head as my Ampeg Micro CL isn't probably going to cut it, even with an Orange 410 cab, especially with two guitarists tuned to B. I'm thinking Ampeg PF500 or Aguilar TH500 (no $$$ for tubes at the moment).

If you go the Aggie TH route they just released the TH700. I know a feel people have complained that the TH500 didn't quite have enough when they really pushed them at certain EQ settings, but that extra 200 watts might deliver.

 

[rutrho]

I'd try out the phone. Are you looking to do anything with the recordings or just something to reference and reflect on? We used mine for impromptu jams and besides needing some notch filtering for some peaky cymbols and a weak kick it sounds pretty good. It even handled the volume too, just the built in phone mic. I'll see if I can find some of the old ones. I always just hit record and set it across the room.

Just looking for something to capture what happened to reflect on em and get riff ideas sort of on record before they're lost to the ether and stoner gods forever.

I might just give the phone a shot this coming weekend... We practiced at the vocalists place this weekend and he has the kit mic'd up there and we just threw DI's to the interface and tracked the whole thing. We don't have that luxury at the practice space however. Maybe I'll A/B the phone and a single mic - > my mac next week...

 

[mlove]

Just looking for something to capture what happened to reflect on em and get riff ideas sort of on record before they're lost to the ether and stoner gods forever.

I might just give the phone a shot this coming weekend... We practiced at the vocalists place this weekend and he has the kit mic'd up there and we just threw DI's to the interface and tracked the whole thing. We don't have that luxury at the practice space however. Maybe I'll A/B the phone and a single mic - > my mac next week...

Crazy how far recoding has come.
Used to record rehearsals on a ghetto blaster 20 years ago and we thought they sounded fine. Found an old tape no long ago with a cover of “motor breath” on it

 

[mlove]

I'm really liking the bass tone on Eyehategod's Take As Needed For Pain album. Without having access to a tube amp, what pedal would you guys suggest to get a similar tone? The obvious answer seems like a VT but I have limited experience with them.

As long as you stay away from hifi class d stuff you should be able to get pretty close.
If i were going for it on a budget I’d be looking for a P bass and a old peavey amp. Firebass 700 and 410 maybe?
Then add a little dirty with a rat.

 

[rutrho]

Crazy how far recoding has come.
Used to record rehearsals on a ghetto blaster 20 years ago and we thought they sounded fine. Found an old tape no long ago with a cover of “motor breath” on it

Right? I started playing in jazz band in HS and we recorded stuff on minidisc, and while those were pretty ok quality wise, we didn't have any good mic's so they still sounded like hot garbage.

 

[Jolagh]

Moved my wiring up under the upper deck. Made the board feel alot more clean. Still need to get some zip ties and stuff to really do cable management. Also got a bank switcher so i can get to more presets. And i got the timelord in so i have enough amperage to power the avalanche run.

 

[chanson]

As long as you stay away from hifi class d stuff you should be able to get pretty close.
If i were going for it on a budget I’d be looking for a P bass and a old peavey amp. Firebass 700 and 410 maybe?
Then add a little dirty with a rat.

Am I wrong in thinking this tone just sounds super fat and tubey?

 

[Jolagh]

Got the cable management done. Probably the pedalboards final form for awhile. Going to change the re20 out for a analogue delay as it doesnt get crazy enough in feedback when i need it. Planning to get a flanger and some sort of trem pedal then i think itll be fully complete.

 

[thombo]

Got the V4 today- man is this a side head! It was shipped w/ the tubes wrapped separate. When I put them in, it doesn't sound anywhere close to right- way too fuzzy and way too quite. Since it's a 70's head, I was planning on taking it to my tech for a once over anyway, I was just hoping to get a few days of playing first. Since I can't drop it to a tech until Saturday, I'll try reseating to tubes tomorrow in hopes that it helps. Maybe I mixed up a 12AX7 for a 12AU7 of something dumb like that.

 

[gfen]

Crazy how far recoding has come.
Used to record rehearsals on a ghetto blaster 20 years ago and we thought they sounded fine. Found an old tape no long ago with a cover of “motor breath” on it

I remember in high school when one person in a circle of friends would somehow gain access to a Tascam 4 track cassette recorder, and everyone would try desperately to use it to make something in that little group.. then a month or two later, that 4 track would disappear and magically appear in another circle and the story would repeat.

Oddly enough, I can't recall ever hearing a single anything from any of those sessions ever.

Nowadays, everyone can multitrack with a shaging telephone in their pocket. Jesus. Not only is that amazing, but i'm simultaneously amazed at how old and out of date I am.

Anyhoo, if it was me I'd still consider the H4n/H2n (used, naturally) over an add on mic for your phone because phone interfaces change (shoots a dirty look at Apple's migration in iPhone dock size) but XLR is forever...ish.

 

[hardtop]

Got the V4 today- man is this a side head! It was shipped w/ the tubes wrapped separate. When I put them in, it doesn't sound anywhere close to right- way too fuzzy and way too quite. Since it's a 70's head, I was planning on taking it to my tech for a once over anyway, I was just hoping to get a few days of playing first. Since I can't drop it to a tech until Saturday, I'll try reseating to tubes tomorrow in hopes that it helps. Maybe I mixed up a 12AX7 for a 12AU7 of something dumb like that.

They have that weird tube too, right? Its like a combo tube? Peter has them at VTS for... not cheap

 

[thombo]

They have that weird tube too, right? Its like a combo tube? Peter has them at VTS for... not cheap

Yeah, as it's from the 70's I'm taking it in to VTS this weekend. Apparently these were originally loaded w/ 7027 which are a hifi version of 6550s. The late 70s manuals say you can run 6550s straight up which increases output to about 130 watts. Around TB, some folks say this is bad b/c there is additional heat too. On the gear page boards, some people run 6l6s w/out mods too.

This morning, I texted a friend you know quite well who is V4-obsessed. He also said to take it to Peter too.

 

[hardtop]

Yeah, as it's from the 70's I'm taking it in to VTS this weekend. Apparently these were originally loaded w/ 7027 which are a hifi version of 6550s. The late 70s manuals say you can run 6550s straight up which increases output to about 130 watts. Around TB, some folks say this is bad b/c there is additional heat too. On the gear page boards, some people run 6l6s w/out mods too.

This morning, I texted a friend you know quite well who is V4-obsessed. He also said to take it to Peter too.

It wasn't the 7027's I was thinking of: one of the preamp tubes should be a weird, like two tubes in one or something. 6K11 or 6xxx something. anyway, when they're working right, they're awesome!