Tuesday April 6, Lunch Report

I am still getting used to the pacing of this new board format. It is very nice having all of the editing features but subjects do get hidden easier and I want to make sure that you can read all replies very quickly so I am not going to reply to each post, but I want you all to know that I am reading all of them.

Tuesday Lunch: I made my own roast beef sandwich and brought along a bannana. How's that for healthy? I guess not as healthy as a salad, but It sure beats Five Guys. LOL

Replies:
I liked your replies yesterday on bass player communication. We bass players have all been in situations where somebody doesn't get the word on what song is called or what key its in or what they should or should not play to be appropriate for the song.
The mis-communication can lead to train wrecks in performance.

The hardest part of playing bass is knowing what not to play. Bass players are tempted to over play with today’s emphasis on slapping and other solo styles of bass playing.

A good bass part is often simple. It backs up the lead vocal and stays out of its way. It locks with the drummer but does not rush the tempo of the song.
This is hard to do well.

G&L Active or passive basses:
I have been giving my passive G&L basses more of a workout lately and they have done a great job. I have an early SB-2 and a later version and there is something pure about a passive MFD pickup system that is hard to describe.
Even though I do love the active circuit in my L-2000, I do love the simplicity of a passive bass.

Here are pictures of my SB-2s:




Bass Amps:
I run into a number of playing situations where I am using a house bass amp.

How do you approach an unfamiliar amp?
Do you have a favorite on stage placement for your bass amp or a provided bass amp?

How do you deal with a wooden stage and the inherent frequency boost they give the bass?

Do you have a favorite bass to use when using a house bass amp?

For all of you guitarists:

Where do you like the bassplayer to be when you are setting up your band?

Have you ever had to sub on bass?
If so tell us about it?

Have a great Tuesday,
-bassman Bill

Bass Amps:
I run into a number of playing situations where I am using a house bass amp.

I haven't had much experience with that so I'm looking forward to everyone's answers. My limited experience has been pretty good, but that's because so far everything has been in good condition and good quality that I've run across.

How do you approach an unfamiliar amp?

I always set everything to what I think is "flat". EQ knobs in the middle. Boosts/contours/compressors/etc. all the way down. There are always hidden gotchas - I've often used a BBE Bmax which has the traditional Fender tone stack where flat is more like 2-10-2 or 0-10-0 on the bass/mid/treb knobs. But my goal is always start from flat and tweak from there (providing I can figure out what's close to flat, or the natural voice of the amp).

Do you have a favorite on stage placement for your bass amp or a provided bass amp?

How do you deal with a wooden stage and the inherent frequency boost they give the bass?

I'd prefer to put it far enough away from me that I can hear the true sound of the amp instead of just the low end that escapes up to my ears if I'm too close to it. In quieter venues I always tilt up some to get a better feel for the real sound. I also try to make sure the drummer can hear it so we can stay in sync (can you tell I'm always carrying the house with my amp and no instrument monitoring to speak of?). If I can I walk out to the middle of the audience area with a wireless during soundcheck to make sure my level is good. Then I just try and keep it the same throughout the night and ignore apparent changes due to ear fatigue (plug in the earplugs and say goodbye to tone nuances with the loud band).

I haven't had enough experience with boomy wooden stages to have any coherent strategies for dealing with them.

Do you have a favorite bass to use when using a house bass amp?

I like my second gen SB-2. The output is high enough to get the most out of any front end (although you've got to watch out for overdriving it) and plenty of high-end/clarity to try and deal with muddy setups. I also know the low end is not overpowering (as it can be from L2Ks) so it's more friendly to less robust amps.

For all of you guitarists:

Where do you like the bassplayer to be when you are setting up your band?

Have you ever had to sub on bass?
If so tell us about it?

Have a great Tuesday,
-bassman Bill

Nice SB-2's! I really dig that blue one.

I don't know if it's some sort of weird feng-shui thing, but Brian (our bassplayer) always want's to be on my left. We did a few gigs where we switched for whatever reason, and it just felt weird. I also prefer the way we set up, with me on the right. We were joking the other day about me needing more equipment on my side of the stage. Being an upright player, he runs 2 amps. One for the fundamental tone, and another that picks up the "clicky-clack" when he's really going at it. His side of the stage has a ton of stuff, and then there's me with my little combo amp...

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I've done bass duties on more than one occasion. That's why I keep a good bass around. I don't have a bass amp though, so I've always had to barrow one. I subbed for about 6 months in a band back in the early 90's. They fired their bass player because of some substance abuse problems, and I sat in until they got a permanent replacment. I was kind of sad for it to end, but I was busy with my own band, and it was getting to be hard to play in both.

"Where do you like the bassplayer to be when you are setting up your band?"

On the opposite side of the stage. Not anything against bass players I find that way it is easier to make eye contact when improvising and to check I'm in the right key! Personally I like to be as far away from the drums as possible.

I have subbed on bass a few times I tend to enjoy it. Mostly it takes people a time to get over that I play finger style.

I'm a guitar player but I LOVE playing bass! I think I'm actually better on bass and really try and not overplay as a lot of 6-stringers do.
On bass I prefer the left side as it feels more natural to turn toward the center of the stage and keep eye contact with the drummer.
On guitar I'm usually on the right side.
My bass rig is a little different since the only paying gigs I play bass for are little jazz combo deals. I play a fretless jazz bass into a Centaur Acoustic amp. It's actually like
a keyboard amp or mini-PA. With a single 15 and a couple tweaters it doubles well as a small bass amp or acoustic/vocal amp. It seems to work best on the floor though I sometimes tip it back.

Hey Bassman -

Though I have two G&L basses, I can't play them worth a damn so I don't have much to add here.

I did want to comment that I love the natural wear on your first-style SB-2. Did you buy it like that, or have you enjoyed the hell out of that thing for many a year? - ed

Tuesday Lunch: I made my own roast beef sandwich and brought along a bannana. How's that for healthy? I guess not as healthy as a salad, but It sure beats Five Guys. LOL


The hardest part of playing bass is knowing what not to play. Bass players are tempted to over play with today’s emphasis on slapping and other solo styles of bass playing.
A good bass part is often simple. It backs up the lead vocal and stays out of its way. It locks with the drummer but does not rush the tempo of the song.
This is hard to do well.

G&L Active or passive basses:

Bass Amps:
I run into a number of playing situations where I am using a house bass amp.

How do you approach an unfamiliar amp?
Do you have a favorite on stage placement for your bass amp or a provided bass amp?

How do you deal with a wooden stage and the inherent frequency boost they give the bass?

Do you have a favorite bass to use when using a house bass amp?

For all of you guitarists:

Where do you like the bassplayer to be when you are setting up your band?

Have you ever had to sub on bass?
If so tell us about it?


-bassman Bill

B-man, sounds like my kind of lunch. Maybe instead of a Bannana some home made, cooked in grease potato chips, from the Minnesota State Fair.
It is hard to beat a good, solid bass player who is precise and simple. If the bass player and the drummer do not have a groove the rest doesn't happen. Everyone should do Low-Ender work at times just for a sanity check.

I like my L2000 fretless but the lead player thinks it is zoomy. I have only used it at a practice once and it takes some time to become perfectly on pitch so you tend to slide in a bit. So it is my problem and not the bass. In the meantime it will be my Stingray 5.

I Like active. If I am using a house amp I will generally set it flat and go from there.

I am the Bass player but I have to sub the lead work sometimes. We now have a good bass player available sometimes so I will be doing some fill/lead work. I am looking forward to that. It will make me better guit guy and when I was young, the lead player always seemed to get the women. I had to be sly.

Wooden stage, I adjust as needed. I will be using two amps this year (2-15s/4-10s) and I always run through the PA. I like more sound at lower volumes.
I am always on the left as the lead player and I play off each other and it is easy for me to see. The only time you have a problem is when they ask you to set up behind the stage backdrop. That is serious!

We have started a song over due to a trainwreck. Most of the time we knock their socks off with old rock and roll. if it happens, we are all older that dirt and we tell the crowd that we basically had a brain fart. They love it. We also tell them at intermission it is time to take our meds. We also let them know that most bands have a tour bus, we have an ambulance. Its amazing what works when you get old. You young dudes are under a lot of pressure. Tell me that the White one is worn from you playing it. They are all beauties. Time for a Geritol -- Later --- Darwin

Thanks for all of the replies.

The wear on the white SB-2 is not from me. I rescued it from a punk band player a couple of years ago and it was real dirty and worn. The back of the neck has no finish on it at all, which makes the bass very confortable to play.

I normally keep me basses looking as good as possible.
More on this in Wednesday's report.

Thanks

How do you approach an unfamiliar amp?
Do you have a favorite on stage placement for your bass amp or a provided bass amp?

It's so rare. I haven't played through my own equipment on stage in years, which is a total shame because I do soooo much at the amp level.

How do you deal with a wooden stage and the inherent frequency boost they give the bass?

Again, the least of my concerns. Nothing will be perfect when I play.

Do you have a favorite bass to use when using a house bass amp?

I favor a familiar bass over how it sounds (well, within reason). I was caught at the end of a night at a local club about 3 weeks ago, and the bass (some sort of Ibanez) was odd up the neck for me, and I had to focus to nail the octaves sliding up (12 frets up, then back down). For whatever reason, the octave up wasn't obvious to me. Had it been my Martin, I wouldn't even have to be looking, let alone adjusting.

In all seriousness, I'm ill prepared almost every time (it's not planned), and other people's amps absolutely pale in versatility from what I run, so I don't expect much, and thus am not disappointed.