What gear have you bought or acquired, simply because you thought you ought to..?

[dave_bass5]

A few more. 

Sadowsky DI. Does it actually do anything? Had it and quickly sold it after finding out it was pants. I read so much about how among it is, maybe mine was broken 🤔

 

KZ IEM's. Didnt like the sound, didnt like the fit. More drivers the better also seems to be a myth.

[fretmeister]

As it happens I really like old flats for rock and metal too.

 

As the guitar sounds have become higher gain, seemingly year on year, adding the now so ubiquitous Darkglass type bass tone just seems to make everything thinner and fizzier.

 

I've been writing and recording with a mate and the guitars sound ace and he wanted a DG bass tone. So we spent a solid day trying all the presets available in the Neural Parallax plugin and then tweaking them and it was getting worse by the minute. Completely lacked any balls. It got a bit better when I swapped to a flats bass as the fizz from the top disappeared but it was still bad.

 

So I went for my Helix instead with a slightly dirtier than expected Motown sort of thing. Like Jamerson / Dunn but with the Jive preamp on it and played with a plectrum.

 

It worked so much better. Rhythm section sounded like a unit, clear separation between guitar and bass, and the narrower frequency range of flatwounds allowed the bass to be a little louder but still not get in the way of anything else. 

 

This is the way!

 

 

[Terry M.]

8 minutes ago, dave_bass5 said:

A few more. 

Sadowsky DI. Does it actually do anything? Had it and quickly sold it after finding out it was pants. I read so much about how among it is, maybe mine was broken 🤔

 

KZ IEM's. Didnt like the sound, didnt like the fit. More drivers the better also seems to be a myth.

Curious what Sadowsky model you tried?

[uk_lefty]

49 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

For those who find flats too dull and unpleasant to handle, I have a jazz with the old 1960s style mutes.

Personally I love flats on a jazz bass. I've got a second jazz bass just for playing with flats... It has La Bella flats and I love them!

 

Now TI Flats... I loathe them! Lots of people on here love them but I just couldn't get on with them at all: sticky, expensive, thin and just did not sound good (for me) at all. I'm sure in the hands of others they do sound just as good as everyone says but for me they are just lifeless, sadly. 

[HeadlessBassist]

3 minutes ago, fretmeister said:

It worked so much better. Rhythm section sounded like a unit, clear separation between guitar and bass, and the narrower frequency range of flatwounds allowed the bass to be a little louder but still not get in the way of anything else. 

 

This is the way!

 

 

See what I did there..?

 

 

[chris_b]

I've bought stuff over the years that I thought would be a good move. Sometimes I was right and sometimes I was wrong, but I've never bought anything because of peer pressure or because "I felt I ought to".

[dave_bass5]

1 minute ago, chris_b said:

I've bought stuff over the years that I thought would be a good move. Sometimes I was right and sometimes I was wrong, but I've never bought anything because of peer pressure or because "I felt I ought to".

Ive never felt that either, but I do get caught up in the hype sometimes, especialy if it's something I feel could benefit me. HPF's definitely one of them.

There have been times where im just reading posts and see a throw away comment of something and it just clicks, I have to get one. Sometimes it works out, sometimes not.

[chris_b]

I'm a fan of the Sadowsky preamp pedal. With my eyes shut I could almost mistake my Cort for a Sadowsky.

 

Flats beef up the tone of a bass. If that's not the sound you're after then they won't be any use to you, but if you want a full blooded thump, to strengthen and reinforce your tone, then flats will be perfect.

[chris_b]

4 minutes ago, dave_bass5 said:

Ive never felt that either, but I do get caught up in the hype sometimes, especialy if it's something I feel could benefit me. HPF's definitely one of them.

 

 

OK. . . .  a few years back, I did buy a Thumpinator, but either it was broken or I didn't have a problem in the first place, because I didn't see or hear any difference.

[Stub Mandrel]

42 minutes ago, chris_b said:

 

OK. . . .  a few years back, I did buy a Thumpinator, but either it was broken or I didn't have a problem in the first place, because I didn't see or hear any difference.

 

That means it was working.

A good hpf gets rid of handling noise and thumps but doesn't touch your actual bass tone at all.

[Boodang]

I've just bought an MXR Band of Gypsies '69 Psych series fuzz because it looked good..... and I don't even play guitar!

[Muzz]

23 hours ago, Lozz196 said:

Jazz Basses  - I`ve learned to love them, but it took me a while (and a good few)

 

Stingray Basses - The third member of the holy trinity, I love how they play, love how they sound when others play them, just not when I play them

 

The Stingray thing? A brother from another mother there, Lozz, I bought three over the years just to be doubly, trebly sure...and I was right. Still don't like Jazzes, tho, but every bass I have has a Jazz width neck, so there's that.

 

I bought an Alembic, an Overwater and a Sei (not all at once, I'm not made of money, it was over a couple of years) just to see what the fuss was about, and I didn't like them much...at least they're the sort of thing that if you buy carefully secondhand you can move on without losing much money for the experience...

[Russ]

Also not a fan of flatwounds. They just feel wrong under my fingers and I'm not a fan of the tone in the slightest. If you like them, more power to you, but they're most certainly not for me. 

 

Precisions - love the tone. P-bass+rounds+pick = legendary sound. But not a fan of the look, dislike the feel, and I've never played one that balanced in a way that I'm comfortable with. 

 

Markbass heads - they were flavour of the month for a while and I dabbled with a Little Mark II back in the day. Found it a bit anaemic and underpowered, and kinda woolly-sounding (and that's with the VLE control turned all the way off). They also seem to break down a lot, and they don't fit them with universal voltage PSUs. Plus I'm not a fan of the gaudy yellow and green graphics. On the other hand, I like their cabs. 

[dave_bass5]

1 hour ago, Stub Mandrel said:

 

That means it was working.

A good hpf gets rid of handling noise and thumps but doesn't touch your actual bass tone at all.

Assuming you had an audible issue with handling noise and thump in the first place. 

This was the issue I didnt have, but was convinced I did. 

Edited 2 hours ago by dave_bass5

[Russ]

1 hour ago, Muzz said:

The Stingray thing? A brother from another mother there, Lozz, I bought three over the years just to be doubly, trebly sure...and I was right. Still don't like Jazzes, tho, but every bass I have has a Jazz width neck, so there's that.

When people get their first Stingray, they always do the same thing, especially if it's a 2EQ - dial the bass and treble all the way up. Then they wonder why all they can hear in a band context is woof and click, with no midrange. So they sell it. 

 

Eventually, they discover that the EQ controls are kinda interactive, as you dial up the bass and treble, it actually sucks the mids out. So you end up only adding a tiny bit of boost to each, and, all of a sudden, you can actually hear yourself in the mix!