BillyBass

Playing guitar through a bass amp is fine, you will get a perfectly reasonable clean tone. Bass amps differ from guitar amps in a few ways but mainly in their ability to deliver large amounts of clean power. If you want gainy guitar sounds out of a bass amp you need pedals. I don't have a studio 40 so I can't help there.

Santa brought me a couple of pedals:

All personal taste of course but I'm not a fan of tort with blue; the pick guard in pic 3, which came with the bass, works ok. Miami blue is a nice colour. I have a 'Tidepool blue' Mexican Jazz with a maple neck. I would like to change the pick guard because the standard white is a bit boring but I just can't think of anything else that will improve it. My candy apple red P bass was simple, Tort! But blue basses are more difficult to improve.

I'm keen on trying a Fodera, I'm just waiting for an Indonesian built tribute to come out.

In: Balaguer Select series Goliath HH bass Cali 76 Jam Pedals Tube Screamer overdrive MXR vintage Octave Ashdown RM800 In then out again: Electro Harmonix Pitchfork+ Quite modest spending compared to 2020 but I think I'll have to do a pedal clear out in the new year.

Is this an OC-2 clone?

I have occasional use of the chorus effect, or had, until our guitarist pointed out that the chorus effect on 'Come as you are' was on the guitar, not the bass. Bloody spoilsport😒 I'm experimenting a bit with it re thickening up my sound when the guitarist solos, so, no. I won't be selling it. The only thing I don't like about it is the shape. Having a taller and narrower pedal, particularly with top mounted jacks would use less real estate.

I love the sound of flangers, but...I would have no idea how they would be used in a song. What songs would you use it for?

How does the EHX mono sound with sustain? Does it start to glitch when the note starts to flatten?

The band leader got back to me, just bass is fine. Panic over, but thanks for all your advice anyway.

I think I'll ask them. They have a guitarist who also plays keys so I'm not sure what they do about the synth sound for this song. But if I can get away with not opening the wallet that would be the best solution, this isn't a Gas induced purchase.

I have an audition after Xmas. One of the songs I have been asked to learn is 'Take on me' by A-Ha. This seems to be a synth bass line. I know very little about synth bass pedals and I've got zero interest in playing around with synth sounds on a computer. I'm after something that I can tread on and it works. Internet searches point to either the Electro Harmonix Bass mono synth or the Boss SY-1. The EH bass mono synth is just over £100 which is a plus but apparently it has tracking issues? I think I could play 'Take on me' without tracking problems as there aren't long sustainy bits and if I focus on my technique I'll be ok but If I get the gig there will probably be other songs I 'll need the pedal for. The Boss SY-1 looks good but it costs £50 more, is it worth it? Are there other cheaper options?

Had a quick play around with it just to see it works and doesn't need to be sent back. Now it's back in its box and will be reopened on the 25th. Very impressed with what I heard in the couple of minutes I tried it out.

Unboxing photos of my Christmas present:

Well in that case, maybe just 20 years in the gulag.

Your reactionary message has been noted. Come the day of the revolution comrade, you and your Daily Mail reading counter revolutionaries will be the first up against the wall.

Its arriving tomorrow but I'll just plug it in and see if it works and then its back in its box until Christmas morning. I'll post a mini review after Christmas. I have one of those. I bought it during the first lockdown.

Wifey just gave me her credit card so I can buy my Christmas present from her 😍 And I ordered one of these from Andertons: No one needs hand painted pedals from Greece, there are cheaper alternatives. But this is what I'm gassing after and its Christmas so...

That was one thing! Jack went through a few different pedal options with me, as a means to filling out the sound when the guitarist solos and there is no rhythm guitar. He (and his other half @Silvia Bluejay ) also gave me lots of advice about gigging, which is something I haven't done yet.

@Happy Jack messaged me after seeing I live quite close to him and invited me over to his 'studio'. I spent a couple of hours with him today learning from his experience and knowledge, mainly on the subject of this thread. Many thanks Jack, I learnt a lot today

I mainly play root and octave for the outro but slip in a few 5ths when playing G and A, and yes I make use of the glissandos, harmonics and vibrato, though I play a fretted bass with rounds.

Thanks for all your replies. Two songs stand out: Alive by Pearl Jam and Enter Sandman. With Enter Sandman our guitarist plays the lead as opposed to the rhythm at the beginning of the song and I have to fill the gap. It would be better for me to alter the tone, add volume and a bit of hair and perhaps, 'Lemmify' my bit, . That is to be experimented with. With Alive, the original bass part is on a fretless and Jeff Ament doesn't play many notes, he uses lots of sustain. I have to marry the fretless bass bit with the rhythm guitar, particularly the last section, which is a guitar solo with Jeff Ament playing 4 bars E-G-D-A repeated over and over again. Our guitarist is our most experienced musician; over 20 years experience as a rhythm guitarist and he has a wikipedia page about himself. Trouble is, he's a bit lazy and often wings it in rehearsals. He is also new to lead; he mainly tries to copy lead parts but will occasionally go off on one.

Hi all, I'm an inexperienced bassist, less than 4 years playing and am in my first band. We (so far) have a setlist of twenty 90s rock covers that we do with drums, bass, vocals and one guitar. When listening back to our rehearsals I sometimes find it sounds a little empty, particularly where the guitarist is soloing and not strumming chords or where the original song was played with two guitars. I've tried a few things to fill out the sound, such as following the guitar chords with the bass, instead of thumping away on the E string as the original song bassist does and also playing more notes. These work sometimes and sometimes they don't. I sometimes read about other bassists using pedals to fill out the sound. This is something I don't know much about. I have a few pedals and use them for specific songs, e.g. fuzz with 'Song 2' but I don't know much about single pedal use or stacked pedals to fill out the sound on stage. Any tips?

I did this course in 2019 as a relatively new bassist, I'd been playing for less than a year. I think it is one of the best courses for bass out there, it helped me immeasurably. You have to knuckle down and do some quite repetitive exercises for 6 months and you don't learn a single song but you come out the end with the foundations of your future bass playing life well laid. The other really stand out Scotts Bass Lessons course is the 'Harmonic Layering' course, which is one of the courses you can do when you subscribe to SBL.

I've often been tempted by a Tribute Kiloton but put off by the colours available and the weight. The new ones seem to be made of poplar and I'm they will be lighter. The black frost model looks like it would fit very nicely in my bass rack.