bass advice

Discussion of newer designs, copies and reissue offset-waist instruments.
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Digital Larry
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Re: bass advice

Post by Digital Larry » Sun Apr 08, 2018 11:37 am

Larry Mal wrote:
Sun Apr 08, 2018 9:00 am
Jazz basses are great too. You can get a Mexican made Fender Precision or Jazz for $300 all day long and that's a great first bass for the money. Probably the two most used basses in the world, and a great place to start either way.

The Jazz bass I guess has more options sonically, whether that's a good thing over the plug-and-play Precision is up to you.
I never liked the wide neck of the Precision. I have a Peavey Foundation whose neck is more in the Jazz width zone. Try both!

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Re: bass advice

Post by spacecadet » Mon Apr 09, 2018 12:51 pm

timiscott wrote:
Sun Apr 08, 2018 9:20 am
To put it in context, It's not the first time I would be picking up a bass to record so scale length doesn't matter. However, it would be the first time I have bought a bass and I was looking at Offsets as I play Jags and Jazzies...
Then get a Jazz Bass. There are more options available as far as configuration than the more limited Mustang bass and they're standard (bass) scale. The necks also feel like the JM and Jag; they're relatively thin. And they're offsets.

I have an MIJ Jazz Bass; I love it. I assume an MIM would be similar and less expensive; I paid a little more for my MIJ both because it came in a really cool color (transparent blue with matching headstock) and because it came stock from the factory with a Badass Bridge II. That's the first and probably only upgrade I'd make to most Jazz Basses, so to have it on the bass from the factory just saved time and about equalized the price (I think I paid about $450 for mine). The stock bridges on most Fender basses are pretty lightweight.

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andy
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Re: bass advice

Post by andy » Mon Apr 09, 2018 9:27 pm

Go for a mustang. It’s a proper bass and you can get great Bass IV tones through a deluxe reverb or something similar.
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marqueemoon
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Re: bass advice

Post by marqueemoon » Mon Apr 09, 2018 10:41 pm

Piling on with the get a MIM P or J advice. Cheap and plentiful used. With recording I feel like you can always thin out a bass if needed but fattening up a bass with eq usually gets messy quickly.

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timiscott
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Re: bass advice

Post by timiscott » Tue Apr 10, 2018 12:49 am

Hi. thanks for that - are you saying that the Mustang would need fattening up when recording?

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Re: bass advice

Post by Beyer160 » Tue Apr 10, 2018 2:34 pm

timiscott wrote:
Tue Apr 10, 2018 12:49 am
Hi. thanks for that - are you saying that the Mustang would need fattening up when recording?
Short scale basses have a distinctive tone that's a little different from traditional bass tone. I find it harder to get them to sit in the mix.

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Re: bass advice

Post by Futuron » Tue Apr 10, 2018 4:32 pm

I found the Mustang 30" that I tried out to be very comfortable - so much easier to fret 4 notes and do licks than the old P or J I have. Firstly you don't have to reach as far away from yourself for the low frets, secondly the frets are closer together so you aren't tearing your fingers apart for the stretchy 'chords'... mostly only issues for smaller people. I'm sure there are many brash experts who believe that no one has those problems with full scale basses.

But it felt cheap, like a toy bass.* And I didn't like its sound as much as I like the Jazz & Precision sounds. But that was just on its own in the booth at the shop, who knows how it sounds in a band.

There's a Mexican Jaguar bass out there, I haven't come across one so I don't know how it sounds. So I would probably suggest a Jazz bass unless the Jag & Mustangs sound good to you (if you are 'serious' about the offset look).



* oh, and light as a feather - whether that's more a plus or minus is up to each person

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Re: bass advice

Post by Embenny » Tue Apr 10, 2018 4:39 pm

Beyer160 wrote:
Tue Apr 10, 2018 2:34 pm
timiscott wrote:
Tue Apr 10, 2018 12:49 am
Hi. thanks for that - are you saying that the Mustang would need fattening up when recording?
Short scale basses have a distinctive tone that's a little different from traditional bass tone. I find it harder to get them to sit in the mix.
I find the opposite. They're generally fatter and warmer. I guess it depends if you want a lot of high end for certain styles (slap funk, metal).
The artist formerly known as mbene085.

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Re: bass advice

Post by Beyer160 » Tue Apr 10, 2018 4:51 pm

mbene085 wrote:
Tue Apr 10, 2018 4:39 pm
Beyer160 wrote:
Tue Apr 10, 2018 2:34 pm
timiscott wrote:
Tue Apr 10, 2018 12:49 am
Hi. thanks for that - are you saying that the Mustang would need fattening up when recording?
Short scale basses have a distinctive tone that's a little different from traditional bass tone. I find it harder to get them to sit in the mix.
I find the opposite. They're generally fatter and warmer. I guess it depends if you want a lot of high end for certain styles (slap funk, metal).
I find a P bass fat and warm, Mustangs just sound plinky to me- the low end on them is too boomy, and there isn't enough midrange for articulation. I find that for bass guitar, what I really want is low midrange- kick drum rules the bottom octave. My $0.02, anyway.

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Re: bass advice

Post by timiscott » Wed Apr 11, 2018 2:15 am

Wow - thanks for all that! (Especially those who don't feel the need to instruct me in which end of a bass I should blow in... I've known people who've earned millions from music who are less patronising than some on here!)

Overall, I'm trying to think it all through. I play indie stuff - lots of jangle, twang and fuzz - not especially heavy but not lightweight pop either - the rockier J.Marr solo stuff is close-ish - so I'm not sure what would sit well in that and, as has been said, it's different in a mix compared to sitting on an amp in a shop. I love Barry Adamson's sound with Magazine and he mostly uses a Jag live.

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Re: bass advice

Post by windmill » Wed Apr 11, 2018 5:05 am

I reckon you need a MiJ bass

All the offset goodness and full scale to boot.

:)

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Re: bass advice

Post by Mickster » Thu Apr 12, 2018 5:38 am

timiscott wrote:
Wed Apr 11, 2018 2:15 am
Wow - thanks for all that! (Especially those who don't feel the need to instruct me in which end of a bass I should blow in... I've known people who've earned millions from music who are less patronising than some on here!)

Overall, I'm trying to think it all through. I play indie stuff - lots of jangle, twang and fuzz - not especially heavy but not lightweight pop either - the rockier J.Marr solo stuff is close-ish - so I'm not sure what would sit well in that and, as has been said, it's different in a mix compared to sitting on an amp in a shop. I love Barry Adamson's sound with Magazine and he mostly uses a Jag live.
The Jag with roundwounds will get you there, and be the most versatile of the options discussed due to the switching / active / passive angle. Plus they look cool as all hell 8) As said above, they are EMF noisy IME but adding some copper shielding in the cavities takes care of most of this. Not an issue playing live.

Btw I see no-one being patronising here, just people sharing their honest experiences and opinions on bass stuff. Go back and read yr OP. If not feeling patronised is a thing then how maybe give people some more context about yr question & experience level so they can better tailor their advice and avoid you getting offended?

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Re: bass advice

Post by Larry Mal » Thu Apr 12, 2018 5:56 am

Mickster wrote:
Thu Apr 12, 2018 5:38 am
Btw I see no-one being patronising here, just people sharing their honest experiences and opinions on bass stuff. Go back and read yr OP. If not feeling patronised is a thing then how maybe give people some more context about yr question & experience level so they can better tailor their advice and avoid you getting offended?
Yeah, I wonder if I'm one of the patronizing ones. Not sure, and I'm not really all that interested to find out. I was going to write some differences about the short scale vs full scale basses and how they might sit in the mix, but I'd hate to come across as an asshole, so I think I'll decline to participate in this thread any further. Best of luck.
Back in those days, everyone knew that if you were talking about Destiny's Child, you were talking about Beyonce, LaTavia, LeToya, and Larry.

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Re: bass advice

Post by sears » Thu Apr 12, 2018 6:52 am

writing in complete sentences doesn't make someone patronizing
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timiscott
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Re: bass advice

Post by timiscott » Thu Apr 12, 2018 8:30 am

love irony...

But can't help but think that men arguing about the length of their bass neck is asking for an observation or two.

Thanks to all though - having done a bit more research, I think I'm going with the jag option; it's the sound I'm after AND it looks cool. AND there are some strong advocates for it on here too. Disco!

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