Bass Rig's Almost Together

[r_a_smith3530]

Well, I've been putting in beau coup hours at work, and that has left me with a limited amount of free time. I've been trying to keep up with my practicing, which hasn't left me much time to post. I have reached one of those points in my playing where I'm at an impasse, so beginning next Wednesday, I will be taking lessons to help get me back on track.

Anyway, now to the subject of my post. I've always had somewhat of a picture of the bass rig I've wanted, and I am happy to say that I am close to reaching it thanks to the recent addition of a few pieces of equipment.

I'll start with bass guitars. Most of you are familiar with my Mahogany G&L L-2000 and my Fender Frankenbass, and I recently posted abount my new SX fretless jazz. In the past few weeks I've also been fortunate to grab up a "de-fanged" 1993 Peavey USA Foundation 4-string, and up until Wednesday, this was my "deal-of-the-year." I've already picked up a set of Schaller tuners for it and will be ordering a Schaller roller bridge this coming week. I am really coming around to D'Addario XL Chrome flats as my all around utility string. Their combination of feel, tone and price is hard to beat. Anyway, the Peavey's already been graced with a set!

Now for amplification, and my deal of the year. I stopped by one of our local guitar shops last week to inquire about lessons, and my eye lit upon an amp that piqued my interest. I asked Buddy, the store's owner about it. He said it needed a little bit of TLC and that's why it wasn't on the front room floor. I asked how much he wanted in its present shape. Well, I ended up loading the Peavey Mark IV 400BH head in my car that afternoon. When I got it home, I pulled the back panel apart, repaired the power cable, and replaced the grommet where the cable passes through the chassis. A fresh fuse completed the repair, and I now have an amp with mucho headroom, all for $100.00, plus a few bucks in miscelaneous parts/supplies that I had lying around the house. For the present, It is going through my Crate 4x10 cab, but I am looking for a Peavey 1810 cab to complete my amp setup.

Ah, sound reinforcement! I like the distortion provided by my Russian Big Muff and would find it useful on things like Black Sabbath's "War Pigs," but for most applications, I find myself levitating more around my Tech21 Sansmp Bass Driver DI. It has so much really tasty tone that,with the exception of max distortion, it has everything else I've tried beat hands down. I have a Boss TU-2 tuner in my line to make certain that when I play an off tune note, it is because I didn't fret my toofless basses correctly, and not due to my instrument being out of tune. For other effects like chorus, delay, flange, and reverb, I am now turning to a Peavey DeltaFex Twin. It includes 7 reverbs, several delays, chorus, phaser, flange, and a Leslie speaker effect. Lots to play with! Last, but certainly not the least, is my Peavey CEL-2 Compressor. It does what it's supposed to do quite well, thank you very much!

Well, that's it for the present. As I mentioned above, I want a Peavey 1810 (single 18" matched with a pair of 10's) cabinet. My dream amp is a Peavey Classic 400. Unfortunately, they are fairly rare, as most folks who have them don't want to part with them. Um, other than those, I am still looking for "my" T-40, probably Peavey's best bass ever, and a blues machine extraordinaire!

[SuperSwede]

Hi Rob,

Nice to hear from you again! I bet that you get thunderous bass sound from that rig. Awesome

[Katastrophe]

Sounds good, man! Post a sound clip if you get the chance.

BTW, we're gonna have to change your nickname from "Sporty Rob," to "Thumper," or something.

[r_a_smith3530]

Sounds good, man! Post a sound clip if you get the chance.

BTW, we're gonna have to change your nickname from "Sporty Rob," to "Thumper," or something.

Hey, one of these days (hopefully after the election), I'll get a chance to start posting regularly again.

One of my co-workers keeps talking about helping me set up something to be able to record, but we haven't been able to hook up schedules yet.

Speaking of sound, this amp is a monster and I love it! I'm still playing through the Crate's 4x10 cab and have re-thought what I want in a speaker setup. I've decided, for maximum useability, that I want a single 15 incher, and a 2x10. This way, if I'm doing a small gig backing up someone in a coffeehouse or other smaller venue, I can use the 2x10 cab alone, and won't be drowning the place out in bottom end, but if I do something larger, I can either use the 15 alone or both cabinets together.

I found some parts for my Peavey bass (it's a 1993 BTW). On eBay, I scored a deal on a brand new set of Ovation by Schaller bass tuners. These are the same as the regular Schallers except for the Ovation logo. They even came in the same orange box. At a local guitar show a couple weeks back, I found a Schaller roller bridge for $25.00. This is going to be a weekend project.

Other than that, I've returned to taking lessons. I always wanted to learn how to read music, and I'm doing that, applying it and some theory to the bass. It's a bear, but it is also fun. Things like the circle of fifths is starting to make so much more sense.

Well, that's it for tonight. Catch you all later.

[Tone2TheBone]

Good to hear from you Rob. I need to bond with my bass again, I've been neglecting it. :\ Always enjoy reading your enthusiastic bass posts!