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Stoner/Doom Bassists Thread, Part 90: Maxed Out
- Thread starter Korladis
- Start date
Man I have been away for a minute. Got caught up playing drums on occasion with a neo-soul collective. I will have a pedal to review back on (a Chinese triangle and ram’s head muff clone). Other than that, I got a made-in-China Fender Modern Player Jazz V. I have no idea why they only made this bass for a year but it’s no joke.
While there is still a mystery as to what transpired on a business level, Earth amps were a continuation of the Plush brand, started in NYC around 1968. Even though they had the tuck’n’roll covering that many confuse for Kustom, it was a different pattern and the speaker cabs were different. Earth ended up cloning Peavey and original Sunn designs (cosmetically) before disappearing by the mid-70’s. I have a padded Earth PA head, four channels, and even that works great for bass.
Idk about the B-2000 or the PA but my G-2000 is almost a straight clone of a Dual Showman.
They all were, except some larger Plush amps that used 6550’s instead of 6L6’s…
Here’s something I came across…
An Untold History of Earth Sound Research Amplifiers | Pedal Haven
What happened to the Earth Sound Research amplifier company? We interviewed a few ex-employees and fans to find out. Take a look!
www.pedalhaven.com
My PA head looks like this, except it’s white…
Then the Plush predecessor…
Not a whole lotta difference.
Here’s the main page of the somewhat antiquated site concerning Plush…
Meant to respond to this when you first posted to save time and maybe money. The sharkbite or whatever their called piping pieces work amazing on copper and pex piping and require zero plumbing experience (besides being sure to shut the water off) and just a cheap pipe cutter that also requires almost no experience. I've done a lot of repairs and shut off valve adds/replacements with that stuff.
Those Earth PAs look sweet!!
Thanks for the back story and pics too guys.
I'm so on the fence about snagging one. More looking at the 4 strings, but i wouldn't be against a 5 though. Always wanted to really give one a go.
Thanks for the back story and pics too guys.
I'm so on the fence about snagging one. More looking at the 4 strings, but i wouldn't be against a 5 though. Always wanted to really give one a go.
If you get one, make sure it’s the 2014 satin version. The earlier ones with the non-offset pole pieces don’t have the coil switching functionality in stock condition that the satin finished ones do.
I got it because there was no excuse for me not having a J-bass given various styles I play and this can do more than just vintage J tones. And now that I have had a couple days to dial mine in, it’s an unexpectedly great for throwing out lows and low mids in neck humbucker mode. Honestly it’s perfect for early desert rock stuff.
Yeah, my dad is good with just about anything, thankfully. We were able to fix it all for about $10 with some copper tubing and a new valve. Yay for Black Friday deals, I guess? That's when we did it, so we got to use a 50% off coupon. But it's all good to go now! I installed the icemaker yesterday, so we'll see if we get ice today...
EDIT - Less than 5 minutes later, and ice just dropped in the bucket! Success!
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So I'm HM2-curious. I see a lot of doom-related effects companies make variations of it. I'm not into death metal, so I'm not particularly interested in chainsaw toans. I've watched a lot of demos but I'm still not sure if it's something I can use. I do like Belinda Butcher though. So I'd love it if y'all HM2-lovers tell me about it, why you like it, and what you use it for. Thanks! 
I'm the opposite - I love it. While it's not the "best" tone for most things, it's one of my favorites. I like it because it always cuts and I'm always present in the mix. The best I've found for bass is the Bear Amps Heavier Metal. It's a pretty unknown pedal company from Missouri, and honestly, the tone out of the mix is underwhelming. But in the mix it absolutely rules for bass. I use the classic "Swedish chainsaw" settings and have plenty of girth as well as cutting, but without being obnoxious. I also have the builder's tweaks engaged, so that helps. But even on guitar, I only remove one of the tweaks, and it's still amazing.So I'm HM2-curious. I see a lot of doom-related effects companies make variations of it. I'm not into death metal, so I'm not particularly interested in chainsaw toans. I've watched a lot of demos but I'm still not sure if it's something I can use. I do like Belinda Butcher though. So I'd love it if y'all HM2-lovers tell me about it, why you like it, and what you use it for. Thanks!
If you're looking for something more budget-friendly (and likely faster turnaround, last I knew Bear Amps had a 6 month wait...), you may find an old Arion Metal Master for cheap. They're a great bass-friendly HM-2 clone, and are likely my favorites after the Bear Amps. Also Dunwich has made a few that are well-respected for bass players. I like my Dunwich DIY HM-2, but I think it needs to get looked at as one knob doesn't seem to function as it should.
I concur on @kleinenenten experience, especially on the Arion for on the chaper side. I'd also look at the dungeon master and heavy weapon (my pref with the parallel and versatility). They cut well and have a more muff breakup but with the hm tone stack.
Hmm, the Super Bassman had a problem tonight. Static-y sound that crapped out and had no volume. Checked the auto-bias display on the back. Looks like two tubes can't be biased (flashing orange), and the rest are worn and need replacement (flashing green). They're five years old, so that's not completely unexpected. And hey, it worked just fine being the backline for three different bands this weekend.
Brought it home, and will go through it to my limited ability. Hopefully it just wants a new set of power tubes. If it's not that, hopefully it's a simple fix.
Fortunately, the guitarist for one of the other bands that shares our space apparently has a bass amp habit. He has three that he's interested in moving that are just sitting around the practice space. One of my guitarists is his bass player, so getting permission to use one was no problem. One of the ones he had around was a Trace-Elliot GP12 SMX, and I always wanted to play through a Trace-Elliot bass head (Dave Riley used them on the Big Black records he was on). So, I tried it out.
I honestly loved it as a keyboard/organ amp, and asked how much he wanted for it. The highs and lows were both fantastically clear with just enough drive, really made the Reface YC sound wonderful. The price he reported back was a bit of a bargain (Like I said, he has at least three he wants to sell, and I know he's looking at buying another already. He really does have a habit.), and I was really thinking about getting it.
So, I plugged the bass into it (it doesn't have two inputs like the Super Bassman, so that was one strike against it already). Hmm, lots of great sounds here, but not the one I'm looking for. I fiddled around with the various parameters it has to adjust, and it has a lot of them available. It always sounded pretty great, and it could totally nail the clean Big Black sound all by itself. But to get the sound I really wanted, I had to at least give it some Fuzz War on really mild settings. Giving it more Fuzz War really sounded nice, too.
But if I have to use a pedal before the preamp to get all the grind/gain I prefer, do I want to use this particular amp? Nah, I'm going to fix the Super Bassman, and probably grab a Bassman 800 to use regularly eventually. If I do grab it, it's not because it's a pretty good bass amp, it'll be because it is an awesome keyboard amp. We plugged the keyboard into the PA for one song that I play both keyboards and bass on, and in comparison it sounded like hot armpit through the PA.
So, I guess the moral of that story is: if you do meet your heroes, don't be surprised if you find out they're actually much better at something else.
Brought it home, and will go through it to my limited ability. Hopefully it just wants a new set of power tubes. If it's not that, hopefully it's a simple fix.
Fortunately, the guitarist for one of the other bands that shares our space apparently has a bass amp habit. He has three that he's interested in moving that are just sitting around the practice space. One of my guitarists is his bass player, so getting permission to use one was no problem. One of the ones he had around was a Trace-Elliot GP12 SMX, and I always wanted to play through a Trace-Elliot bass head (Dave Riley used them on the Big Black records he was on). So, I tried it out.
I honestly loved it as a keyboard/organ amp, and asked how much he wanted for it. The highs and lows were both fantastically clear with just enough drive, really made the Reface YC sound wonderful. The price he reported back was a bit of a bargain (Like I said, he has at least three he wants to sell, and I know he's looking at buying another already. He really does have a habit.), and I was really thinking about getting it.
So, I plugged the bass into it (it doesn't have two inputs like the Super Bassman, so that was one strike against it already). Hmm, lots of great sounds here, but not the one I'm looking for. I fiddled around with the various parameters it has to adjust, and it has a lot of them available. It always sounded pretty great, and it could totally nail the clean Big Black sound all by itself. But to get the sound I really wanted, I had to at least give it some Fuzz War on really mild settings. Giving it more Fuzz War really sounded nice, too.
But if I have to use a pedal before the preamp to get all the grind/gain I prefer, do I want to use this particular amp? Nah, I'm going to fix the Super Bassman, and probably grab a Bassman 800 to use regularly eventually. If I do grab it, it's not because it's a pretty good bass amp, it'll be because it is an awesome keyboard amp. We plugged the keyboard into the PA for one song that I play both keyboards and bass on, and in comparison it sounded like hot armpit through the PA.
So, I guess the moral of that story is: if you do meet your heroes, don't be surprised if you find out they're actually much better at something else.
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Thank you guys for your thought on the HM-2. I had been considering a few: Boss HM-2W, Magic Pedals Modded HM-2, DiD Doomsaw, and a few others. I'll check out the ones mentioned. Cheers!
No problem. The HM-2w is no slouch, either! I just feel the Metal Master has a bit more heft in the low-mids or something. And if you can find one, the Throat Locust is great for HM-2 adjacent tones, which may be more your style given you said you weren't big into the Swedish death metal thing. Or did I make that up...?
I did finally pare down my clustershag of a pedalboard. Gone are all the things I thought I might need sometime, someday and gone is the thinking I’ll be able to hit something on the second row with any accuracy. I’m still not quite set on the British as my pre-Muff OD but it is growing on me. One day I might have to add a second wah at the front of my chain…I love the obnoxious filth nasty Cliffish kinda ROARAWAH I get having it last in the chain but sometimes I would like a little more subtle Geezery sound.
Not often, but now and then.
Not often, but now and then.
Nice, solid setup! I've heard a lot of good things about the demon wah, never heard one really.
What patch cables are those? I dig how they're flat, but can fit without blocking the power plug like pancake ones do on those 125 enclosures.
Bummer to hear about the bassman problem. I'm starting to hear a ring on my Vox, hopefully it's a tube i have a spare of, but i know I also got a minor issue with something hopefully just tube related on my Ashdowns. One gets some odd noise here and there, no cutting out though. And the other tends to get a bit of a smell almost like something is overheating, but I can't track down the source. Might be something from my cab instead for that one.
I'm alright with it though, I mean after 10 years on 1 and 3 on the other, I've only had a couple issues now and each time they've just corrected themselves, or been a tube on its way out. I'll take that any day.
I'm alright with it though, I mean after 10 years on 1 and 3 on the other, I've only had a couple issues now and each time they've just corrected themselves, or been a tube on its way out. I'll take that any day.
The WD-7 is just amazing. It can do any wah sound you want with all the controls and operating modes…it’s amazing on bass since it came out during the drop chuggachugga nu metal era and doesn’t cut lows. It’s awfully complex and probably hard to fix so I bought myself a backup as soon as I could. I don’t use it often but when I do, it’s there. It’s been problem free for practice and shows for the last couple years.
They’re SP400 squareplugs on CA-0678 cable from BTPA.com. I always end up needing different lengths than everybody sells pre-made so I make my own.
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