Bassik GAS

[Mark]

Hi all

I done did it today guys! Im now the proud owner of a new Highway1 Precision Bass MIA. Between getting my chops back after not playing for years and relearning the Guitar. I have also been getting my DAW together and all it takes to learn how to use it properly. In doing this I have learned good sounding Bass tracks will not come from a keyboard/synth at least not for Blues and rock. I hve always wanted to learn the Bass anyhow, so I checked my Guitar brain in at the front desk a picked out a Bass I like. After lots of research I might add.

I went to GC and tried the 51 RI, a couple of J Basses and an American Fender Precision with the S1 electrics. The 51 felt good but it just didnt feel like $629.00 worth of Bass to me. All the J Basses were real nice plus heavy and considering probably more Bass than I need at this time since its just for home recording and learning also more $$$ to boot.There was this Highway1 P bass, Honeyblonde, maple neck, Rosewood fretboard just kept taunting me to take her home. It looked and felt like a lot better built guitar than the 51 RI and it was $40.00 more. They all sounded good but then Im not a Bass player......yet! So I went with my gut on this one. They only had this floormodel in stock and it had just hit the floor so the dweebs hadnt been able to inflict any damage on it plus I got a little off the bottom line for it being on the floor. Gotta say I love this thing.

Now Im getting a whole new appreciation for the thumpier side of the music and am finding Bass playing is a whole lot of fun. Im approaching it with lots of restraint because this aint a six string guitar whole diiferent approach with them, while my Guitar knowledge is a plus the execution is totally different. I did do a little recording just to see how much better it would sound as opposed to the Bass lines I was doing with my TR-61 and boy night and day. I havent tried micing it yet just direct through the mixer but it do sound schweet!

I havent decided if Ill get a little amp for it yet. I have been playing it low level through my Blues Deluxe as I know it can whack my speaker out. Heres a question for you experts. If I was to build myself a nice (matching of course) Tweed speaker cabinet with a good properly rated bass speaker
( one 15", or two 10" or 12") in it would there be any reason I couldnt/shouldnt just unplug my amps guitar speaker and plug in the Bass cab when I want to run the Bass ? Id appreciate any suggestions or pointers you guys may have. While it would be easier to buy a little Bass amp doing it this way could save me some room plus be a fun project I can see it now a Tweed mini stack.

[Spudman]

Cool Mark. Bass is indeed fun. I love not having to think about chords or those extra two strings.
Congratulations! Now you are obliged to show us what she looks like.

[t_ross33]

Cool Mark! Bass is a lot of fun. I still get to sit back in the pocket on a few songs we do live, plus I am going to do some home recording one of these days so I'll need to dust off me ol' 4-string.

Careful with the amp though, the lower frequencies are hard on electronics as well as speakers if the circuits aren't designed to handle them. Check out Behringer. I think their amps are half decent at a reasonable $$. You might also want to look at a bass amp/cab modeller to line in or DI to your sound card/mixer/audio interface instead of mic'ing an amp.

I'm going to try using my Digitech RP-80 for some guitar amp/cab models as well as various effects. Digitech has a BP series of multi effects/modeller pedals for bass. Haven't tried them, but I'm happy with my RP so I assume the BP series are good as well.

Keep us posted!

[Mark]

Thanks guys. I have a Pod-xt live and they have the Bass pak for it. Was considering selling it as Im finding I like the good old fashioned stomp boxes better. I was assuming the major pitfall of running thru the BD would be the speaker not so much the electronics (was thinking of BD as the cousin of the Bassman was my assunption) and I would never be really cranking it but Ill surely check out to see what I can learn regarding that aspect of doing it. Oh yea Ill get some pix up soon Spud!

EDIT: Ifin I do need to get an amph I sure like the looks of the fender Bassman 100, small footprint more power than Ill probably ever need, have to check it out I guess.

[r_a_smith3530]

Congrats on the new bass. No matter what they say, it's darned hard to beat a good old fashioned Precision Bass. You mentioned that you are currently going straight into the board. Do yourself a favor and pick up the best bass stomp box on the market, the NYC Tech 21 Bass Driver DI. You can do some amp modelling with it, plus its good for some great growl. If you check out the Tech 21 site, you'll be amazed to find how many top bass players are using this box.

I've also found the Russian Big Muff Pi to be a darned good bass distortion rig. While it would not be my top pick for a guitar (I prefer Ibanez' Tube Screamer).

Another alternative for an amp is to buy used. More bang for the buck! If you do some searching, you can find Peavey's, SWR's, and even a few Ampeg's in the 100 - 200 watt range for decent dollars. Keep a look out on evilBay and Craig's. Also, check out Music-Go-Round if you're close to one.

If your amp is a well built SS unit, it should be safe to moderate power levels, but valve amps are more sensitive. Of course, by the time you get done purchasing the materials for a high quality speaker cab, loaded with some decent speakers, you could probably buy a good used bass amp.

Any way you end up approaching it, have fun. As a convert from guitar, I just picked up my 4th bass!