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Upgrading Gear - Opinions Wanted!

#21
Ashdown, markbass, and Mesa are nice. Ampeg tube stuff is always cool for indie. Get something with growl, precision bass and some tubage.

Indie bass is a bit gritty, it can be. Or whatever you want. Play stuff in store if you can.

I'm not the guy to recommend indie bass gear, every bassist I've ever met in my state's indie scene was a flake. I go too far with gear and nobody cares.
On a side note I need to get out of this place.

Good luck!
 
#22
Maybe the term "indie" threw some of you off. This style isn't the same as the early indie rock styles (to my knowledge).

Think Red Jumpsuit Apparatus merged with Coldplay. That's close.

And I'm stickin' to my EBMM quest. Honestly, I don't care about anyone else's sound or what kind of bass sounds good for "indie rock". I'm trying to create my own sound that meshes well with our style.
 
#23
backin82 said:
So, I'm getting back into bass for the time being - just auditioned and got a gig with a local indie rock group and I'm going to do a round of upgrades to my gear.

My current setup:
Fender MiM Jazz - standard, rosewood fretboard (pup switched out with Seymour Duncan hot stack and quarter pounder).
Cort Curbow A5 bass
Hartke 3500 and Acoustic B600H heads
Hartke VX410 and Acoustic 410 cabs

I've found that I can get a pretty good sound with the Fender bass and Hartke rig, though its all just a tad sterile for my taste (in this group). I'd like more volume, but also a more "tubey" sound. The Hartke is actually surprisingly nice sounding, even though its beat to hell and fairly low output.

Items I'm considering, but want to get some opinions first:
I'd love to get a EB MM on this upgrade - its my dream bass, especially for this style. That said,

Which one?

Straight up EB Stingray (new or used)
Sterling by MM?
S.U.B. for less than $300

Personally, I don't see any advantage to getting a Sterling by MM when I could get a used Stingray for not much more. So really its just trying to determine whether or not the extra $1,000 to get the Stingray is worth it. I love them, but that $300 price tag and the fact that I'll be gigging the heck out of it almost make me consider the cheap one.

As for amps, I've played most of the Markbass stuff, and came away impressed with the LM III and the Tube 800. I like the Tube 800, but it seemed to break up pretty easily when hammering lower notes (could have been something like the cab or maybe I was just overdriving the preamp). I've also read really good things about the GB Shuttle 9.0, ShuttleMAX 9.2 and Shuttle 9.2. I haven't played one, but they seem "better" maybe than the Tube 800. However, I don't think I'd ever buy an amp that I couldn't play and my local GC doesn't have any new GB stuff.

I don't want to get a new cab until I get a head that has the output to drive it. I don't want an underpowered nice cab and I don't want to burn up my lower output heads.

It sounds like a ~500W rated cab with a 800W rated head would work for the volumes we'll have.

Any thoughts, guidance, jokes, help, or opinions to get me pointed in the right direction? Thanks!
Click to expand...

A stingray with 1 humbucker is an entirely different beast. You can dial in deep bass like in a P or what you get from the Jazz's neck pickup. I don't think you should get a single hum SR without trying it first. Used vanilla stingrays are great deals, though.

The sterile sound might be caused by the stack pickup and the QP isn't really organic either.

You could also get a separate tube unit like one of the ART preamps before you exchange everything else.
 
#24
uOpt said:
A stingray with 1 humbucker is an entirely different beast. You can dial in deep bass like in a P or what you get from the Jazz's neck pickup. I don't think you should get a single hum SR without trying it first. Used vanilla stingrays are great deals, though.

The sterile sound might be caused by the stack pickup and the QP isn't really organic either.

You could also get a separate tube unit like one of the ART preamps before you exchange everything else.
Click to expand...

I've played the Stingray single H many times. I like it, especially with a maple fretboard.
 
#26
backin82 said:
I've heard good things about the Tech 21, but I'm very unfamiliar with effects/preamp pedals for bass. I usually try to get good tones as simply as possible. I'm not opposed to it, but I'd rather have a solid rig on the back side of a preamp pedal (maybe that's just me being anal...).

After some discussion here, maybe my best bet is to look for a good used EBMM and a solid cab and see what that setup will do with my 3500 head. I'd be interested to see how it sounds with a higher wattage cab.
Click to expand...

The hartke 3500 shoud not have a volume decrease from 4 on up. Something is wrong there. Hoping not the amplifier.
I would not discount that Hartke yet. Drag it down to Guitar center and try it with another cab. You may be very suprised. My 3500 shakes the walls down.

I agree with your attitude on sound as I try really hard to get the sound I want without any effects/pedals. I do like the idea of the Sansamp because if you are playing gigs and you have to use someone elses rig, you have "your sound" in a portable box wherever you go.
 
#28
rootsnfifths said:
The hartke 3500 shoud not have a volume decrease from 4 on up. Something is wrong there. Hoping not the amplifier.
I would not discount that Hartke yet. Drag it down to Guitar center and try it with another cab. You may be very suprised. My 3500 shakes the walls down.

I agree with your attitude on sound as I try really hard to get the sound I want without any effects/pedals. I do like the idea of the Sansamp because if you are playing gigs and you have to use someone elses rig, you have "your sound" in a portable box wherever you go.
Click to expand...

Good to know. I wonder if the bottleneck is my VX410 cab. I seem to get really good tones up to about 4 on master vol, like I said, but then it just sounds bad after that - almost like something (either amp or cab) just doesn't have anything else.

What I like about the EBMM Stingray is just the attack I get as compared to my Fender. I like my Fender a lot, and I can dial in some great tones, but the Stingray just gives me a crisp, tight, and bright sound that I really enjoy.
 

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