Naigewron

Couldn't keep my finger away from the "Buy now" button any longer. In a week's time, this little baby should be arriving at my house. I only have one bass at the moment (a Sandberg), which feels a little risky when gigging. So rather than having two basses that cover the same ground, I figured it was better to go for something completely different. And it's travel-friendly too 😁

This is pretty much what a lot of people here are talking about, as far as I can see. The bass player clearly changes his playing under the guitar solo, but the feel of the song stays consistent. He plays harder, higher on the neck and busier, but he doesn't fundamentally change the mood of the song. I think most people in this thread are pretty much in agreement; it's just a matter of defining what "filling out" or "changing the part" actually means. In the end, it has to suit the music. In some cases, that might mean fuzz, chords and fills, while in others you'll want to really hang back and let the music breathe.

I've had my VM5 for a month now, and it's definitely delivering in a big way. Recorded a "live in the studio" video with it last Saturday, so I'm looking forward to hearing and seeing the final result of that soon. Here's a playthrough of one of the songs from the session that I did from my home setup. Just the VM5 straight into an HX Stomp and into my interface (bass comes in after the first verse).

Surely that depends entirely on context, song, band, style and a hundred other factors? There's no way you can make up a rule like that and definitively say that this is how all music works, every time? In terms of music style, those aren't exactly polar opposites. But let's go with another blues-based artist, and then you can tell Billy Sheehan that he obviously has no idea how to approach a bass part

Not as much as you might think. He obviously did a lot of different things through the songs and years, but Eddie often recorded rhythm guitars that would play behind his solos on the albums. So for the purpose of this thread (guitar solos without rhythm guitar) far from all Van Halen tracks are relevant. Have a listen to "Ain't Talking About Love", for example. In the solo about 2:40 into the track, Michael Anthony actually plays a version of the guitar riff behind Eddie's solo. In "Hot For Teacher", he plays straight 8ths (well, swinging 8ths), but it's a very busy, almost walking bass line, with a lot of fills, in order to keep the momentum and drive up behind the frantic solo.

Absolutely true, but most bands don't have a guitar player capable of taking up *that* much space, both sonically and musically. Or a bass player as good as Michael Anthony, for that matter.

German engineering, inspired by the classics but with a very modern approach. Not designed to be a speed demon, just exceptionally comfortable, versatile and will get you where you need to go.

I agree that single coils can definitely work for a three-piece, but these three pics are all of humbucker-equipped guitars.

Agreed. I feel it's found that perfect balance between very approachable and easy to use, while offering enough depth and possibilities to really make the resulting drum tracks your own if you start digging.

New build. Moved from a pure HX Stomp setup to an HX Effects and an Atomic Ampli-Firebox. The Ampli-Firebox is an amp modeler and IR loader for guitar and bass, and will serve as my DI output from the board (either with or without amp modeling). The AFB is in one of the FX loops of the HX Effects, and the splitter (bottom left) splits the signal right before the AFB and runs one output straight to a separate output on the board, while the other goes through the AFB and back into the HX Effects. It basically functions like a "Through" output for the AFB (which doesn't have one). This means I have one pedalboard output without any amp modeling (for running to a real amp), and one with full modeling and cab simulation (for running direct at home or at a gig). It's a pretty flexible setup. I might replace the AFB with a more bass-oriented preamp at some point, but since I also play guitar it's nice to have an all-in-one solution right there on the board.

Nah, the cheat line is clearly drawn at 13 or more strings.

I'm by no means an expert, and I'm still finding my sound in my current band. We're a four-piece, but the singer doesn't play an instrument, so the question still applies. I tend to go for adding some drive, play a lot of octaves and letting my notes ring out more when the guitar player moves up the neck or plays some sort of lead line. We're not a riff-based outfit, so the guitar player and I basically never play unison lines. This frees me up to create parts that sound good when played under guitar chords, but that can also be "expanded" when he goes for his lead lines to fill the space he leaves behind. In extreme cases, I'll go for the full three-string power chord (root-fifth-octave), but that's only if we want a section to be crushing, and only for slow songs.

That's exactly why, yes

HX Stomp has been my only pedal for the past year (well, the Stomp and a few utility pedals to control it). It's a great platform, and it's really flexible. I'm moving on to an HX Effects as of this week, because my primary need these days is something to go in front of my amp, and I want more footswitches and easier programmability, but I have nothing bad to say about the HX Stomp. The main downside is its lack of switches, which is why I've had to expand it as much as I have, but if you can live with that and create cleverly designed presets and snapshots, you're golden. Here's my pedalboard as it stands today, and is getting ripped apart and rebuilt with an HX Effects within a few days. I'll happily claim that you can't beat this amount of flexibility in such a compact setup.

Yes, as long as you get active ones. Passive monitors need an external amplifier between the interface and monitor.

Being Norwegian, all I can say is "Welcome to our world". I'm generally opposed to Norway joining the EU, but I have to admit that gear shopping would be a lot cheaper if we joined 😄

That's exactly it. I can play sitting down just fine, but it's not as comfortable for my right arm and shoulder. I definitely wouldn't want to have the bass in the same position when playing standing up. I definitely prefer standing up if I'm going to be playing for a little while, especially if I'm rehearsing songs for my band. I was more comfortable sitting down before. However, I've changed my technique to floating thumb, which means that my right arm needs to be in a completely different position. I can't just rest my wrist on top of my bass anymore. Anchoring my thumb on my pickup worked fine for 4-string basses, but as I moved on to 5-strings that was no longer an option. Overall I play a lot better and more comfortably now (and my right thumb no longer hurts after long sessions), but it has definitely affected my seated playing comfort. Maybe I'll gradually find a new position that works better.

I never understood this logic... Why is the seated position automatically the best? I prefer playing standing up so that I can stretch out my right arm a little.

'bout here

Picked up this beauty yesterday, and now I'm wondering why I've ever played any other brands. Wow.

Rhythm section porn My Ibanez SR375EF-BBT and Ashdown Klystron stack.

I'm not first and foremost a drummer anymore, but my primary instrument was drums from about 1988 until pretty recently. I've only made the transition to bass over the last 3-4 years, and I now consider myself primarily a bass player. I don't even own a drum kit anymore. I recorded all the drum parts for our latest album (which was recorded two years ago and came out last week), and I suspect that this may have been my final proper appearance behind a drum kit for the foreseeable future. We've now found a permanent drummer who's about ten times better than I ever was, so it all worked out 😄 I made the transition for two reasons: 1: Having a family and living far away from our rehearsal spaces made it impossible for me to play drums except at rehearsals. Even electronic drums make a lot of noise, and we don't have anywhere in the house where I could set that up and not disturb everyone. With a bass and a little home studio setup I can jam quietly whenever I want. 2: I found out that bass is awesome. Coming from both a guitar and drums background, I feel I have the best of both worlds. I know how a fretboard works, and I know how to play rhythm and groove. I'm loving it.

50% off all Neural DSP plugins (except SLO) for the next couple of days. I'll be picking up Archetype Nolly. Simple and very versatile guitar plugin. https://www.neuraldsp.com

...and throw yet another Valhalla SuperMassive FX track in my project. I'm screwing around with a sort of ambient, drone-y project. I'm not quite sure what direction to take it yet, but I'm really liking this combination of piano with huge reverb pads, electronic drums and a heavily distorted bass track. This is very much a not a final mix (or arrangement, probably), but I welcome any and all feedback. I've played in rock bands (drums, bass and guitar) for 25 years, but I've never been a "composer" of any kind, or even really written songs before.