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Stoner/Doom Bassists Thread, Part 90: Maxed Out

#54,581
instrumentalist said:
Late 30s vs 50 is like, a dozen or so years? Doesn't sound like too much of a gap to me. But evidently, a real gap for you lot.
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Just depends on the people in my experience. But yeah in the scheme it ain't that much.

br1qbat said:
Well 2020 continues to grind me down. Last week, the day after paying rent [of course!] our practice space informs everyone that they're closing mid-January. Permanently. Sold the building, folding the business. Then yesterday, the guitarist quit the band. Hooray
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Brutal, you'll bounce back though. Duo can be a ton of fun, especially doing some octave stuff.

Any consolation, just got that Ron Swanson. Totally shaging bad ass. Great on its own, but I can see how a blend could be 10x better. Awesome how sputtery and gated it can get. Glad I got this one though, as there's tons of great settings on tone than just the two extremes. Thanks for the recommendation on the super fuzz!

Highly recommended, can be mellowed out if wanted, but the grit and stank is unreal! From wooly chug to honk it's got it. The sting the octave has will definitely help in the mix.

IMG_20201222_165611124.jpg

Don't mind the input not plugged in all the way:woot:
 
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#54,583
My old computer has been slowly giving up the ghost, so I wiped it nearly clean a few weeks ago. Darned if it didn't spring back to life! Now, not as fast as my newer computer, but plenty fast for my random musical musings. May have just stumbled upon my "studio" computer. So far, I've still got my recording programs on it as well as my tab programs and some other basic stuff. Working great! Looking forward to having a nice focused workspace on it.

Other musical thoughts - how much do you think tuning affects a band's overall tone? Or is it technique/gear/effects that take care of the tone. Just thinking out loud here, as I'm nearing 5 different basses in various tunings, with matching guitars so I can quickly jam through various different ideas with instruments dedicated to the tunings. All tunings so far are just "standard" in that all strings are dropped the same amount, but I'll likely add a drop D in there somewhere. I'll have two basses/guitars in standard at any given time too, in case someone wants to jam (and for different tones ,since most stuff IS in standard). I realized that one of my favorite bands (Iced Earth) always tunes 1/2 step down. Now, Jon Schaffer is a phenomenal guitarist (and primary songwriter) with serious chops, but it just makes me wonder how much of his signature tone is due to that small difference vs other factors? Ditto for Mille Petrozza of Kreator, Gary Holt of Exodus, Jeff Waters of Annihilator and so many other guitarists. (Yeah, I was a thrasher first back in the day, and still love that stuff.) I've recently noticed that I definitely get different feelings out of the same patterns on my different guitars. Got me thinking.

Okay. I'll stop rambling now.
 
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#54,584
Is anyone else eyeballing basses right now with stimuli money coming at some point (God willing)? I’ve switched back and forth from guitar to bass several times in this band over the last 6 years. I’m a man of modest means and can’t really afford to collect gear, I generally have to trade one rig for another. I’m currently playing (borrowing) my drummers MIM jazz and that works but I need a bass. I’ve always been a P bass guy. Had an American, MIJ fender, MIJ blazer, sb-2 tribute. Big fan of all those but I’ve always desired a Tbird. The Gibson variety is way outta range but there is the vintage pro that’s got me curious. Just wondering if anyone has played it? Thanks
 
#54,586
Batsquatch said:
Is anyone else eyeballing basses right now with stimuli money coming at some point (God willing)?
Click to expand...

I didn't get any stimulus money the first time around...don't expect to if there's another round. That said, I keep an eye on the TB classifieds like any good consumer but there's rarely much of interest to me in there. With regard to TBirds, don't they balance funny?
 
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#54,587
kleinenenten said:
Other musical thoughts - how much do you think tuning affects a band's overall tone?
Click to expand...
Might as well start at the beginning...would Sabbath's tone have been drastically different if they were in standard tuning? In a literal sense the answer is of course no, to the extent anything they played required lower notes than can be played in standard tuning. But the tuning wouldn't change their songwriting skills, and I'm confident they would've found a way to achieve the same overall tone (in the broader sense) even in standard tuning.

Of course this also depends on what you mean by "tone" in the context of discussing a band as a whole.
 
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#54,589
What's @cornfarmer said, lots of good reports. I've never had a chance to try one, but the non-pros were nice. Not crazy about the finish on the necks personally. I always dig the tone from em, but they can be pretty dark and real thick sounding.

On a side note, I've read numerous places that the single pickup gibson's can do a convincing pbass tone. Not sure if that pickup is in the same spot on the 2 pickup epiphones. The one third pickup I've used in the vicinity of the right spot sounded pretty close, just thicker.
 
#54,590
Novarocker said:
Just depends on the people in my experience. But yeah in the scheme it ain't that much.



Brutal, you'll bounce back though. Duo can be a ton of fun, especially doing some octave stuff.

Any consolation, just got that Ron Swanson. Totally shagging bad ass. Great on its own, but I can see how a blend could be 10x better. Awesome how sputtery and gated it can get. Glad I got this one though, as there's tons of great settings on tone than just the two extremes. Thanks for the recommendation on the super fuzz!

Highly recommended, can be mellowed out if wanted, but the grit and stank is unreal! From wooly chug to honk it's got it. The sting the octave has will definitely help in the mix.

View attachment 4099122
Don't mind the input not plugged in all the way:woot:
Click to expand...
I have a kit-built superfuzz, basically the same as the Swanson Afaik. My only dirt pedal. I love love love mine. And yeah, clean blend via a boss line selector and wow! I also run the tweeter off on my cab which tames some of the super high frequency fizz.
 
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#54,591
Novarocker said:
What's @cornfarmer said, lots of good reports. I've never had a chance to try one, but the non-pros were nice. Not crazy about the finish on the necks personally. I always dig the tone from em, but they can be pretty dark and real thick sounding.

On a side note, I've read numerous places that the single pickup gibson's can do a convincing pbass tone. Not sure if that pickup is in the same spot on the 2 pickup epiphones. The one third pickup I've used in the vicinity of the right spot sounded pretty close, just thicker.
Click to expand...
I also found the modern RIC 4003s with both pickups on full tone all the way up to be quite p bassy to my ears. More lows [like a full on jazz] but the RIC bridge pup is much more central so it has that pbass feel. Alone it lacks low end imo.
 
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#54,593
lucas303 said:
I didn't get any stimulus money the first time around...don't expect to if there's another round. That said, I keep an eye on the TB classifieds like any good consumer but there's rarely much of interest to me in there. With regard to TBirds, don't they balance funny?
Click to expand...
Typically T'birds neck dive due to the lack of upper horn. Locating the strap lock at the base of the neck on the body can rectify it to some extent. I live with it as is as it doesn't bother me too much.
 
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#54,597
Batsquatch said:
Is anyone else eyeballing basses right now with stimuli money coming at some point (God willing)? I’ve switched back and forth from guitar to bass several times in this band over the last 6 years. I’m a man of modest means and can’t really afford to collect gear, I generally have to trade one rig for another. I’m currently playing (borrowing) my drummers MIM jazz and that works but I need a bass. I’ve always been a P bass guy. Had an American, MIJ fender, MIJ blazer, sb-2 tribute. Big fan of all those but I’ve always desired a Tbird. The Gibson variety is way outta range but there is the vintage pro that’s got me curious. Just wondering if anyone has played it? Thanks
Click to expand...
I think I'm good with basses, but have been thinking of adding another guitar to the stable, or upgrading some pickups. We'll see. No rush either way, and they'll have to be decent deals since neither are necessary. I've got a local deal on an Ibanez RG7321 for a steal, but the guy's availability is terrible.
 
#54,598
Just for funsies, and because no one asked, the current state of my Dingwall...

IMG_20201223_140710a.jpg

P-tone pickup in the neck position, stock FD-3N pickup in the middle position. I've removed the stock bridge pickup. Also waiting on a new pickguard because the NG2 pickguard mine came with covers up the neck position.

The FD-3N in the middle position sounds really, really good by itself. The P-tone in the neck position sounds a bit fatter, but also very good. Obviously at times it's good to have that fatter sound. I'm still trying to figure out what I want to do about that empty bridge pickup cavity. (And just to be clear, I'm the one that added the yellow masking tape...there's nothing that sloppy coming out of the Dingwall shop.)
 
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#54,599
@br1qbat yeah I never use my tweeter, plenty enough highs without. But yeah I need to try it with a blend, I can only imagine how sick it sounds. I noticed the open E in std tuning can lack some initial bite but it has tons of punch which is fine. That tone knob really makes the pedal I think.

That 4003 bridge pickup is something else. I wonder if the lack of low end on its own is due more to placement on a Ric. The one I put in the pbass spot is fat as hell. Not mudbucker fat though hahaha. After building this bass I totally get what Sheehan was on to with his basses.

My uncle has a patriot with the ferrite pickups. Those things rip! If that's what an MFD is like, I need to get one
 
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#54,600
Novarocker said:
@br1qbat yeah I never use my tweeter, plenty enough highs without. But yeah I need to try it with a blend, I can only imagine how sick it sounds. I noticed the open E in std tuning can lack some initial bite but it has tons of punch which is fine. That tone knob really makes the pedal I think.

That 4003 bridge pickup is something else. I wonder if the lack of low end on its own is due more to placement on a Ric. The one I put in the pbass spot is fat as hell. Not mudbucker fat though hahaha. After building this bass I totally get what Sheehan was on to with his basses.

My uncle has a patriot with the ferrite pickups. Those things rip! If that's what an MFD is like, I need to get one
Click to expand...
I had a patrioy. Cool little bass. Those super ferrites are sleeper pups.
 
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