I mentioned here that the worship band has no bass player, and that if I wanted to get a regular gig going with them, playing bass might be the ticket.
If you've read my posts, you know I like "chunky" bass. Jack Casady (Jefferson Airplane/Hot Tuna) is one of my favorites. I like the sound of the bass on the TV shows as they transition scenes, if you're familiar with that.
So, all you bass players, what would you recommend? I imagine one also needs an amp that can handle the bottom, right?
http://www.epiphone.com/Products/Bas...ture-Bass.aspx
That's an Epiphone Jack Casady Signature Bass. It sells new for about 800 plus another 150 for the case. If you can find and play one of these before you bought it, that's be great. Epiphones vary in quality. I am blown away by the Fender Rumble series of bass amps. I have an older 350 watt, and I bought a recent 40 watt model which I use for really small gigs. The amps have surprising thump, growl, and low tones. I think they also make a 100 watt model and a 500 watt model. Each has an xlr out, so easy to hook up to the board. I'm also a fan of Fender basses. I'll take Laker's and others' words that there are better basses, but for a good workhorse, you can't beat Fender. They now have the Player series, mid-priced, and then, and I'm very prejudiced here, the American Professional. 1400, but really worth the price. Precisions can chunk with the best of them.
If we'd known we were going to be the Beatles, we'd have tried harder.--George Harrison
if your hands are up to it, I'd go with the p bass. Thing that I've found is there is a lot of difference between a 1.5 (Jazz width) and a 1.625 (precision width) inch nut. An eighth of an inch (.125) doesn't sound like a lot but it makes quite a difference in feel IMHO.
There are P basses with 1.5 inch necks, but unfortunately they tend to be quite rare and/or vintage. Sometimes known as an A neck. My erstwhile p bass build will be a 1.5 inch nut (with telecaster headstock and rosewood fingerboard). Some day and soon, I hope.
You can buy a precision body and a jazz neck for a lot less trouble than I'm going through. I have to drill the mounting holes and the tuner holes, it is taking me forever.
"If my hands are up to it." Can you explain this? I have small hands, if that makes a difference.Originally Posted by DanTheBluesMan
I have relatively small hands too, and although the Jazz Bass neck is is narrower at the nut, I actually feel more comfortable with the Precision neck. Bass necks are long, so if you really struggle with full size basses, there are plenty of short string basses. Fender makes the Mustang Bass. They're even back in vogue now.
If we'd known we were going to be the Beatles, we'd have tried harder.--George Harrison
I've just been doing some research on "beginner's" basses. I like the idea of the Jack Casady Epiphone bass, but it's $800 (an open box is available at MF for $640). Reading opinion articles leads me all over the map (naturally - they're opinions, after all), but I did land on this Ibanez GSRM20 Mikro Short-scale Bass for a measly $150
Mate it with a Fender Rumble 100 v3 Bass Combo Amp (~$300). Would that be suitable for playing in a direct-to-board small church setting?
Yes, and the Rumble has an xlr out, so that you can go directly into the board.
If we'd known we were going to be the Beatles, we'd have tried harder.--George Harrison
I stopped into my local guitar store today to examine an Ibanez Talman TMB30-CRD (where do they come up with these names, anyway?) on the recommendation of a guy who plays one. I plugged into a Fender Rumble 25, sat down and gave it a whirl. Whee! I likey! They also had a Squier Affinity Bronco Bass and a Jackson JS1X CB Minion Bass. I tried the Squier to compare it to the Ibanez. Nope, the Ibanez felt and sounded better.
But a funny thing happened. As I was eying the basses on display, I saw three used basses. One was a Dean Edge 09 in Classic Black. Curious, I picked it up and plugged it in.
Wow! Even though it wasn't a short scale bass, had only one pickup and two control knobs, it felt and sounded terrific.
For $99.
I couldn't help myself. Firewood costs more.
Congrats! Hope it plays well and you get some great gut rumbling sounds.
If we'd known we were going to be the Beatles, we'd have tried harder.--George Harrison
awesome score
stay away from talkbass dot com, your money will thank you, unless you don't like your money
To that end, I need the right amp. Right now, it looks like the Fender Rumble 40 v3 meets the needs I have, specifically, a LINE OUT jack, so I can plug into the sound board.
Can I play/practice through one of my other (non-bass) amps? I have a Fender Champion 40, a Fender Mustang II v2, and a Monoprice (Laney) tube amp, not to mention my teeny amps, the AMPLIFi 30 and my latest "pocket" amp, the VOX RhythmVOX. I would think I wouldn't get the same rumble, but could I damage the amps by trying?
it shouldn't hurt anything as long as you don't crank it
Yeah, I crossed that path as I was reading and researching. It's a bass version of Strat-Talk, TDPRI, TLP, and... TFF.awesome score
stay away from talkbass dot com, your money will thank you, unless you don't like your money
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