Bass Guitar Tone

[David L. Donald]

Of course M.A. was trying to keep up with Eddie Van Hallen live,
if he had no amp he would have been playing air guitar.

[Keith Cordell]

Oh... yeah.

[Tony Prior]

start with a good or great BASS. PUPS matter.

When I played with the BIG Church band in the 90's , 3 services every Sunday, Wed nights, outreach ministry services, Choir backup, Guest ministry backup etc.. over a 6 year period, I burned thru several Basses, but used the same amp. Hartke 350 watt 4x10 half stack . On platform the Hartke gave us the bottom we needed but we also sent a direct to the board for the house system. Did this for 6 years straight.

Fender P bass
MusicMan Sterling
another Fender P with extra PUPS
mid 60's J Bass
62 RI Stack knob J bass

Always played with fresh strings, changed them probably each month.

The Bass that WON the contest was the 62 RI Jbass. Nickel strings ,100,. 80, .65, .45 ended up being the gauge that I used with best over feel for this Bass with the Hartke system. SS Strings just seemed to lose the brilliance in a short time. Keep in mind, I did not use picks and I did become a consistent under the 5th fret player where the JBASS comes alive. Actually any reasonable Bass comes alive under the 5th fret.

It easily took a year or two of consistent playing to come to the conclusion of what worked best for me and how to make it consistent.

I don't think I can say that MY setup works for everyone, Bass is a tough deal, way more involved than a typical Guitar, clean, headroom, round wound tone, sustain etc are all elements over plugging a Tele into a 30 watt amp with a Blues Driver !

good luck, Bass is a great journey

[David L. Donald]

I had a nice Hartke in France,
only sold it because flying it here to Thailand was more than it cost.
It had a tube for one channel and very nice EQ,
and DI built in post EQ.

Got a 1,000w Warwick Extreme, even better EQ
and same DI post EQ,(or pre EQ if I want)
I decide what goes to the PA.
But a 112 floor wedge and a tube preamp
would do fine if the PA is good.

I haven't used more than a pair of 12's
or pair of 10's in 15 years,
never wanted to be louder.

[Walter Hamlin]

I sure did not expect to get this many comments but I certainly appreciate them---every one of them. There are so many opinions that it would be impossibe
to try every configuration mentioned. It seems to me that the bottom line is---use a bass amp. I have always used an amp but the person I am playing for now does not want to use one but instead run it directly through the system. I am trying to convince him to use an amp. Thanks for the help.
I am using a Dean Q5 that I bought practically new from a pawn shop for $90.00. I couldn't turn it down once I had seen what it retails for. It still had the plastic on the keys and and battery cover. I have used my Fenders which are 4 string but wanted to try this one out.

[Scott Shipley]

I play a Hofner Beetle bass through a 4 x 10 Fender Hot Rod Deville tube amp. The amp has been modded slightly, the pre-amp section is now point-to-point rather than on a circuit board (gained about 15 watts). I use an ART MP-1 tube pre-amp, running mono in, and left xlr to the board, and right 1/4" to the amp. Plenty of meat. I usually use a VERY thick pick, and I´m proud to say my flat-wound strings are about 16 years old. If times get really hard, I can take em off and boil em to make soup.

[Ellis Miller]

There certainly is a lot of good information on this thread.

I will only add that bass is probably the instrument that sounds most differently on stage than in the house. This has to do with the physics of the lower frequency sound waves which are much longer - sometimes 12 to 20 feet in length. They don't fully manifest until they are out in the house. I am not suggesting you overanalyze this phenomenon, only that it is helpful to be aware and something to double check as you strive to perfect your sound.

[Roger Haugejorden]

Hi, I have been playing bass for a number of years. I have a jazz bass ( 4 string mind you) that I have played since 69. I have never found another bass like it and believe me I have tried lots. I guess that, maybe over time, a person becomes one with the instrument you are playing, so the sound you get is from experience. I had a peavey 215 that I used for 27 years. The head finally blew up. I still use the bottom because, it's heavy ( 2X15 and made with mbf I believe). I have a new amp a carvin 1000 watt head its good but the 1 x 15 cab and the 4x 10 cab are light. This is quite different does'nt give good Thump. These cabs are light, plywood I believe. Easy to carry but not much boom. As far as putting your bass through the P.A. .....well, I don't think I would ever get what I wanted out of it because people are singing it. Higher freqency and low freqency tend to confuse the speakers. They don't know whether to go in or out. Distort the punch and vocals. Just my thoughts.

[Rick Kornacker]

...rock, jazz, blugrass, and,yes, even country! Works for me. RK

[Rick Barnhart]

Hey Rick K. is that yet another Williams in your stable? Nice.

[Rick Kornacker]

Hey Rick! That is the first Williams I had which now belongs to Brint Hannay, another forumite. Regards, RK

[Walter Hamlin]

Just got in last night from a weekend of tv taping and church concerts. I used a Nemesis 200w 4 spkr bass combo in a large church Sunday night and it would rattle the floors. It was probably the best sounding amp I have heard or used in my 36 years in this and I have used a heap of them. I was using the 5 string and it was super sounding. The sound system mgr was tickled with it and talked about buying one. Do any of you know about this brand and if there is another brand, size, and wattage that will equal it.The church had a full band including a steel player who played a GFI. I was dying to play some but he, the steel player, was not there and I would not touch it without him being there and with his permission.

[Charlie McDonald]

Best bass amp provided me for a show (two stage shows, actually) was a Peavy with an 18" speaker.
That was in the 80's.
I also love a big Ampeg.
For small rooms, my own amp was a pre-CBS brown-face Bassman with a dual Showman bottom (I put a single 15" SRO in it).

Those were the days, my friend.

[Chris Caruso]

I use a Peavey MAX BASS PREAMP with a DPC 1000 power amp. I use a Peavey 210 cab and a Peavey 410 cab. I use the crossover on the preamp. I play a Fender Precision Deluxe 5 string bass. I always have that big stage thump. Depending on the venue I go through the sound system. I use the XLR out on the preamp and use it pre EQ.I have someone play my bass so I can hear it out front. The drummer is also in the system. I set up his kick drum sound too. It definately makes a difference out front. I also use a Peavey Databass amp for gigs that I dont play with my regular band because the first setup rides in the trailer. It gets that great stage sound too. I just bought another Databass amp and will be using two of them in the future to try something different