Cover bands - One bass solution

[BigRedX]

Bass Pod XT Pro

[M@23]

[quote name='MoJo' timestamp='1430069795' post='2757703']


I'm starting to ask myself the same question. It wouls appear the majority go with the 'this is my tone' approach. I may have to try adopting the same attitude and see how it goes.
[/quote]

Yeah mate, I just use a good P bass tone, which suits everything my functions band does. Tone pot up or down is as far as I get in shaping the tone.

[rushbo]

As much as I like showing off, I'm with Steve Kilbey of The Church on this..."Any guy who takes more than two instruments to a gig is just showing you his Bass collection". As Bassists, we agonise over nuances of tone, but we're the only people who really notice. As long as the tone suits the song, punters don't mind. I've seen guys play Jamerson lines with a pick and Stranglers tunes with their fingers and it's sounded good. Maybe I'm blessed, as my main Bass for that sort of cover work is an amazingly versatile Mexican P Bass, modded with superb (and cheap!) Entwistle pups and a pup selector switch in place of the blend pot. I have a couple of settings on my Zoom B9.1 for fingers and pick playing with slightly different E.Q settings, too. Get yourself a good, solid Bass sound, don't screw up the groove and the adoring millions (and your bandmates) will love you forever. Possibly.

[grandad]

Tokai SG with flats. Set amp.

Neck pickup or neck and bridge.

Thumb or pick anywhere from near the bridge to by the neck. Mute bridge with palm or not.

That's it, from then on it's fingering, attack etc.

[yorks5stringer]

Years ago I bought a Line 6 Variax 5 String and set up my set list with all the different Bass Sounds marked and I changed them between songs. Did about 6 gigs and no-one came up to me saying "You really nailed that Bass Tone in xxx".

I then swapped between a Jazz and a Stagg EUB and no-one even mentioned the sound, just "What was that weird bass you were playing?"

They were much more interested in talking to and listening to our attractive singer....

Edited April 26, 2015 by yorks5stringer

[Woodinblack]

One bass (actually 2 as I always have a backup), which is either a Squier CV P Bass, a Sub Ray 5 or an Ibanez 5. Next week it will be the new GL Fender Jazz. The guys in the band cant tell the difference, the people in the audience sure as hell won't notice.

[chris_b]

[quote name='Woodinblack' timestamp='1430091110' post='2757945']
The guys in the band cant tell the difference, the people in the audience sure as hell won't notice.
[/quote]

If you stopped playing in the middle of a number everyone in the room should wonder what just happened. If they don't you're doing something wrong.

People in the audience know when the band's sounding good and the band is sounding good because you are, so don't think your sh*t goes unnoticed.

Get the best sound you can. And use it a lot.

Like Jack Bruce told Clapton; I'm here to make you sound good.

[Woodinblack]

Indeed, they know when you are sounding good, but absolutely none of them are wondering why you are playing a bassline that was originally on a P with a J.

[The Badderer]

Agree with all the above sentiments. In a covers band you could spend ages worrying about all sorts only to find no-one will really notice (unless your sound is way off the reservation).

If you're determined to have a few different sounds in 1 night using 1 bass then i'd recommend the Tech 21 VT Bass Deluxe. 6 saveable presets and sounds great and you can have absolute control over some vary varied sounds, you'd easily dial in, Reggae, Soul / Motown, Funk and Rock no sweat.

[The Badderer]

I'd prob recommend a Lakland 55-02 for a 5 string with active/passive control at a decent price, or a Warwick corvette 5 string but they don't come as PJ, but you shouldn't have any issue dialing in a P tone. I didn't know if a Warwick Streamer would have 5 strings and a PJ configuration.

[discreet]

[quote name='rushbo' timestamp='1430081711' post='2757875']
Get yourself a good, solid Bass sound, don't screw up the groove and the adoring millions (and your bandmates) will love you forever. Possibly.
[/quote]

This... as long as your core tone is OK it's much more important that you're playing well. You can have the most appropriate tone possible for a given song, but if you're playing like a mentally-ill yeti wearing mittens then it's all in the bog anyway.

[BobVbass]

[quote][color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]but if you're playing like a mentally-ill yeti wearing mittens [/font][/color][/quote]

but... that's the tone I aim for

I agree with lots of the comments on here - half the time the audience don't even notice I'm playing a bass let alone what tone I'm using. I stick to my P bass, flats, maple - and maybe fiddle with the tone pot if I can be bothered; play my DB on a few numbers - get a sound your comfortable with then concentrate on your playing rather than your knob. So to speak.

[FuNkShUi]

One bass. PJ pickup configuration with active electronics gives me all the tonal options i need.
We play a bit of everything too.

[Happy Jack]

[quote name='FuNkShUi' timestamp='1430125802' post='2758087']
We play a bit of everything too.
[/quote]

Have you tried playing the whole song instead?

[discreet]

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1430133731' post='2758197']
Have you tried playing the whole song instead?
[/quote]

It's probably a medley...

[mcnach]

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1430092053' post='2757950']
If you stopped playing in the middle of a number everyone in the room should wonder what just happened. If they don't you're doing something wrong.

People in the audience know when the band's sounding good and the band is sounding good because you are, so don't think your sh*t goes unnoticed.

Get the best sound you can. And use it a lot.

Like Jack Bruce told Clapton; I'm here to make you sound good.
[/quote]

Oh, they notice! They just don't know it's the bass that they're enjoying. Or who is playing it.

Confession time: THAT is why I took up bass! The POWER, mwahahaha!
We were at a work retreat thingy, the whole institute, up in the highlands in a hotel somewhere. Three days of science talks during the day, then activities in the afternoon, followed by one night a Ceilidh, another a pub quiz (to recover from the Ceilidh)... etc. One of the guys organising it that year was a drummer and I used to play with him soemtimes (guitar). He said "hey, we have the function room where the bar is available, shall we bring instruments and see what happens? I'm sure a few people can play".
I took a guitar and my amplifer.
During the pub quiz, in another area, we started making noise in the function room. ONly one guy played bass. After 15 minutes he left to get a beer and did not return.
Nobody wanted to play bass!
So after a while I gave someone my guitar and I took the bass. I had already been told that I played basslines on my guitar, so I guess it was fate. Because I used to play with this drummer, it was easy to just jam... the guitarist that took over my guitar was REALLY good, and he just adapted to what the drummer, and I were playing. Then others joined, but we remained the core, and people finshed the quiz and came to where we were... We thought maybe it was time to stop and just play music on the PA, but they asked us to carry on, and we tried to play something danceable. THAT is when I realised the power of the bass. I got hooked. A few weeks later bought a bass, and the rest, as they say, is history.

[ubit]

It's true , most punters won't notice your sound. We played at a party a while back which was in a barn with dodgy electrics. My Ampeg valve amp kept cutting out ( turns out it was the poor electrics) at the break I DI'd straight into the desk, but the amazing thing is loads of people came up to us and said how good we were and how much they were enjoying it, so basically if the people hear a beat and a semblance of in tune sound with a vocal they can recognise, they are happy.
We are playing at the guys wedding on Saturday , so they obviously did enjoy it!
So unfortunately most drunk people can't tell if the bass has a great sound or even if it's in there at all, obviously there will be musos who can tell, but on the whole the vast majority of people haven't got a clue about the subtle nuances of live playing!

[discreet]

[quote name='ubit' timestamp='1430387459' post='2760846']
...on the whole the vast majority of people haven't got a clue about the subtle nuances of live playing!
[/quote]

And why would they? Rock 'n' Roll wasn't about technical ability or sound quality, it was about the visceral joy of primal rhythms and abandoning oneself to them, preferably groping a bird with giant bangers while being off your head on floor polish, or something. The means of production and the drugs may have changed, but the basic premise is the same.

Edited April 30, 2015 by discreet

[ubit]

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1430388872' post='2760876']


And why would they? Rock 'n' Roll wasn't about technical ability or sound quality, it was about the visceral joy of primal rhythms and abandoning oneself to them, preferably groping a bird with giant bangers while being off your head
[/quote]

How true, it's just proving that we here at basschat who spend thaasands on the latest gear to make us sound better than we did this time last year, are just as well using a Squire J bass with a cheap combo for all the good it does to accentuate the sound to the ears of the baying masses

[karlfer]

Speaking on behalf of all mentally ill mitten wearing Yetis..........

P/J. The end.

[Lozz196]

[quote name='ubit' timestamp='1430393080' post='2760928']
How true, it's just proving that we here at basschat who spend thaasands on the latest gear to make us sound better than we did this time last year, are just as well using a Squire J bass with a cheap combo for all the good it does to accentuate the sound to the ears of the baying masses
[/quote]

Not wrong there, the amount of named bands I`ve played with over the last year or two, many have used Squiers, many have used Mex Fenders, all have sounded great. I don`t think any I`ve seen have used US Fenders. Maybe they leave the expensive instruments at home and gig the cheapies I don`t know, but all have sounded really good.

[tauzero]

I use either a fretted 5-string with roundwounds or a fretless 5-string with flatwounds, depending on which I fancy playing. They're basses, they all sound the same.

[discreet]

[quote name='karlfer' timestamp='1430393450' post='2760932']
Speaking on behalf of all mentally ill mitten wearing Yetis..
[/quote]

[Dave Vader]

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1430093998' post='2757960']
you're playing like a mentally-ill yeti wearing mittens
[/quote]

I have lost my mittens I'll have you kniow

[ras52]

[quote name='karlfer' timestamp='1430393450' post='2760932']
Speaking on behalf of all mentally ill mitten wearing Yetis..........

P/J. The end.
[/quote]

I thought it was the Yetis who were mentally ill, not the mittens...?

Agree with you re. P/J though.