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What bass should I get??????

M

MindShape

Dec 11, 2007
9
0
#1
Yo, I'm a student studying piano and music synthesis at Berklee College of Music in Boston. I have recently decided to get a bass, but don't really know much about which one will fit what I'm looking to do with it. I make electronic music, and I listen to a lot of squarepusher(aka Tom Jenkinson), who uses live bass integrated into his electronic productions. I am looking to use my bass for the same idea, running it alongside breakbeats, drum machines, and mostly synthesized sounds and material. I will definately need a at least a 5 string, since electronic music generally has a lot of high end and low end bass. I was looking at the Warwick corvette series and the tone seemed incredible and very well balanced throughout its range. Is this a good decision for my purposes??? I'm not really sure where the hell to start, and seem to get nowhere with the very broad answers people give me that I ask at my school. I came across this forum and it seems to me that if I can't get a good answer here then I should just give up.haha
I also want to get an fx pedal that has a whole slew of abstract fx. Please help me out here...it would be greatly appreciated!
(P.S. If you've never heard Squarepusher...go listen to it immediately...if you are open minded in the slightest when it comes to music you will love this stuff. Check out the album:Hard Normal Daddy...It uses a lot more live bass than some of his other work which is mostly done with a 303 bass module or a SH 101 acid bass module.)
 
#4
Effects wise, the Line 6 PodXT Pro has a huge array of effects, its a $700 rack system.

If you want to get as highend as it gets then you could consider the Roland V-Bass system. It is a large, full effects and MIDI system. You attach the Roland MIDI pickup to the bass and send that into the large V-Bass pedal (which might be annoying, because it is pretty big to me) for maximum versatility. I think this is around $800?


Congratulations on getting to Berklee by the way! I've been to the campus, very splendid. Very expensive too. :p
 
#6
Lots of basses would work for that IMO.

Warwick 'Vette, Thumb, or $$, Spector Euro 5, EBMM Stingray5 HH or Bongo5 HH, basically anything with 5 strings, a neck p/u(preferably a humbucker of some kind), and good active electronics. Try to play a few and see what feels best in your hands and sounds "right" to you.
 
#7
Yeah, I've been doin a lot of looking and I think that I've made up my mind...I think I'm gonna get the EBMM Stringray, though not sure if I want a 4 or 5 string. That bass has a sick tone to it, very funky. I have yet to actually play one though...(I've got exams this week and next so don't really have time)....but after that I'm gonna find one to try asap. I've hear about 90% of people say that they love how the neck feels and it has sweet action too, and only like 10% of people say they didn't like how it plays. Still...I can't wait to try it for myself. Thanks for the advice everyone and thanks for the congrats.
 
#8
MindShape said:
Yeah, I've been doin a lot of looking and I think that I've made up my mind...I think I'm gonna get the EBMM Stringray, though not sure if I want a 4 or 5 string. That bass has a sick tone to it, very funky. I have yet to actually play one though...(I've got exams this week and next so don't really have time)....but after that I'm gonna find one to try asap. I've hear about 90% of people say that they love how the neck feels and it has sweet action too, and only like 10% of people say they didn't like how it plays. Still...I can't wait to try it for myself. Thanks for the advice everyone and thanks for the congrats.
Click to expand...


You have made a very wise decision sir. If you're looking to purchase new, you should look into the dual pickup models. They're incredible basses! :hyper:
 
#9
Alright, cool I will...BTW...any advice on 4 or 5 string, I'm leaning towards the 4 string after thinking about it. Cuz I will basically just be starting to play bass first of all(I've played keys for like 15 years) and I realized that when I'm recording/sequencing I think I could always transpose the waveform if I run across an instance where I want a lower range..eehhh, just tell me what you think
 
#10
SevenReasons said:
Squarepusher records with a Ric i think. But they are a little tough to find. A warwick corvette will more than be suitable for your goals. You might want to check out the Line6 bass pod for effects.
Click to expand...

I have only seen squarepusher play with a 6 string midi equipped warwick, and a four banger jazz bass (not that he doesn't have/play others).



So, if I were you, MindShape, I would definately consider a midi pickup... if you are the knob tweaking type, you might like the world it opens up for you when combined with music software.
 
#11
Actually I've been looking for that info too, and I found out that Squarepusher has 3 basses, a Ric 4001, a EBMM Stingray(which he used to record his "Hard Normal Daddy" album, and a "custom built" six string. Whenever I see a video of him playing, however, its always with the music man. Go to myspace music and search for squarepusher, then scroll down to the blog section and theres a part with a whole lot of videos of live squarepusher shows. You'll see that its always a EBMM...
Yeah I'm gonna look into those midi pickups too...thanks man
 
#13
Sooo, about those Midi pickups. How exactly are they installed? Is there any possibility that they would interfere with the bass itself, its tone or pickups. Can you connect them to any synthesizer? Cuz I have an Access Virus TI that would be pretty sick to run a bass into. What kind of out connection does the pickup have? I look them up and saw the new Roland midi bass pickup, but everywhere I looked provided minimal info on the thing.
 
#14
MindShape said:
Sooo, about those Midi pickups. How exactly are they installed? Is there any possibility that they would interfere with the bass itself, its tone or pickups. Can you connect them to any synthesizer? Cuz I have an Access Virus TI that would be pretty sick to run a bass into. What kind of out connection does the pickup have? I look them up and saw the new Roland midi bass pickup, but everywhere I looked provided minimal info on the thing.
Click to expand...

You might want to take the midi question to the pickup forum, you will probably get a lot better response in there. I think that Squarepusher uses reason with his bass to get all of his crazy sounds, but I could be wrong. I have fiddled with a guitar that had some kind of midi pickup in it at a sam ash in hollywood, and it was pretty cool. As far as the squarepusher thing goes, it may not have it listed that he has a jazz bass, but i saw a video on youtube a while ago that showed him playing his first festival, and he was equipped with a four banger jazz. The six string is a warwick- I am almost 100% positive.

When you figure out what sounds good, shoot me a PM... I am interested in setting up like SP, and doing a one man band type of thing too.
 
#15
Yeah, I just posted a thread on the pickups forum...thanks I'm new to this site and that didn't cross my mind, haha. As for squarepusher and reason...don't think so....I know for a fact that he used Native Instruments Reaktor for 99% of everything electronically based that he's reason from the early/mid 90's on(when ever reaktor first came out) He also used an Eventide Orville/DSP4000 for his processing(He also uses home made algorithms for Reaktor and the Eventide)...If you haven't heard of or used Reaktor...It is kinda like reason(but on steroids) in terms of being an environment where you can just add **** to your hearts content, only Reaktor is not limited to the devices that come with the software package. It is an open ended modular environment, much like Max/Msp, where you can start from the ground up with basic building blocks, connecting them and routing them together. Basically, you can design your own software instruments inside the software, then connect those together....the possibilities are literally endless. Just listen to the squarepusher song "The Exploding Psychology" which was made entirely with Reaktor and you will get a jist of what this software can do. You should go to Native instruments and download the demo, it will blow your mind at the extent that this software goes to. It can be very overwhelming at first, especially if you've had to experience in actual synthesis programming at the modular level, but once you get the hang of it the sky's the limit with that thing. BTW: go to myspace music and search squarepusher...go to the first one with the picture of his new "Hello Everything" as the icon, and scroll down till you see the "You Tubesque" video square and you can watch tons of squarepusher performances...almost everyone shows him playing a EBMM bass...
 

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