The Bass thread

[mr dave]

Originally Posted by ElephantSack

Yeah, I used to play through a similar Hartke head, but when I bought my cabs, the head couldn't handle them, so I upgraded to this.



Thing's a fuckin' beast. I might get my hands on a '71 Blue Line SVT, though in the future. fingers crossed.

didn't Jason Newstead mess up his back by trying to catch one of those after it started slipping off a cabinet a while back?

either way... jealous hahahha

[ElephantSack]

I never heard that story. But I actually got this for a steal. I think they usually go for around $1600, but I got it for just over $700.

[mr dave]

nice, i think it was prior to touring (and a forced cancellation) with Voivod or something, definitely post Metallica.

[littleknowitall]

Originally Posted by ElephantSack

Yeah, I used to play through a similar Hartke head, but when I bought my cabs, the head couldn't handle them, so I upgraded to this.



Thing's a fuckin' beast. I might get my hands on a '71 Blue Line SVT, though in the future. fingers crossed.

Ah way out of my price range :p I had a trace combo before the Hartke, most awful buy I ever made...If you take any advice from me let it be to never buy Trace Elliot, despite their reputation they truly are awful.

[ElephantSack]

^Yeah, I had the good presence of mind to spend the money I was making at the time on actual worthwhile investments. And I'm glad I bought it when I did, because there's no way I'd be able to afford it again right now.

Yeah, in my opinion, Ampeg is the way to go as far as whatever you want from a bass amp. There's the dudes that go with Nemesis or Eden amps, but I think that's more of a status symbol, just because they cost so ****in' much. I was thinking about getting a Sunn amp for a while, but the guy that repairs our amps for us talked me out of it. He knows his shit, so I took his word for it.

[littleknowitall]

Originally Posted by ElephantSack

^Yeah, I had the good presence of mind to spend the money I was making at the time on actual worthwhile investments. And I'm glad I bought it when I did, because there's no way I'd be able to afford it again right now.

Yeah, in my opinion, Ampeg is the way to go as far as whatever you want from a bass amp. There's the dudes that go with Nemesis or Eden amps, but I think that's more of a status symbol, just because they cost so ****in' much. I was thinking about getting a Sunn amp for a while, but the guy that repairs our amps for us talked me out of it. He knows his shit, so I took his word for it.

I'd definitely agree on them being a good make I think for me they were too expensive and they're meant to be having a bit of trouble teething into things in their new home base now since they've moved to China so I was told, not meeting up to their reputation as of recent stock. But that could all be bull**** and I'd still swear by anything they've sold in previous years, What sold me with the Hartke is firstly the damn things indestructible, secondly it has a crackin' sound to it unlike the previous Trace and thirdly I could afford it. They're good amps for they're price, I think they're undervalued personally.

[saddle_sore]

People say playing bass is easier as you don't have to play chords, although that is not strictly accurate - I quite like playing chords on my bass - just check out Lenny from Motorhead! hehe

[ElephantSack]

Yeah, I play a lot of chords. And I play taps and mess around with sweep arpeggios. It's all about what you make of it.

[ElephantSack]

Originally Posted by littleknowitall

I'd definitely agree on them being a good make I think for me they were too expensive and they're meant to be having a bit of trouble teething into things in their new home base now since they've moved to China so I was told, not meeting up to their reputation as of recent stock. But that could all be bull**** and I'd still swear by anything they've sold in previous years, What sold me with the Hartke is firstly the damn things indestructible, secondly it has a crackin' sound to it unlike the previous Trace and thirdly I could afford it. They're good amps for they're price, I think they're undervalued personally.

Yeah. I didn't have a personal problem with my old Hartke. Actually, I play through Hartke cabs. It's just that the wattage of the Hartke couldn't keep the cabs running when I got them, so it was time for an upgrade. I remember my Hartke could bump some serious ass with my previous cabs.

I know I double posted. Whatever.

[littleknowitall]

Originally Posted by saddle_sore

People say playing bass is easier as you don't have to play chords, although that is not strictly accurate - I quite like playing chords on my bass - just check out Lenny from Motorhead! hehe

A perfect example of how yes like most instruments Bass has chords, it's a ridiculous misconception if anything bass chords are much harder to play because you're restricted to 4 strings, they're more inventive; also if you can find me any smarmy guitarist who wants to tell me Bass is easy I want to see them play this for me on Bass.



or this....



If anything guitarists are lazy bassists, I find that guitar is quite straight and uninventive generally in what you play, most guitarists use a pick or finger pick, bass is open to many unique techniques.

For instance Stanley clarke opened us up to Raking, victor Wooten and Marcus miller to double and triple plucking, Larry Graham the double thumb, Abraham Laboriel to Palm slapping and how to implement flamenco styles such as Rasciado into raking type techniques as well as of course great pick bassists like Bruce Foxton, great finger-style players like John Entwhistle, Jean Basello I was watching the other day a french bassist and some of the stuff he was doing I'd still never seen before and it was incredible he was using a palm muted style sort of playing, there's of course great players who utilize muted notes such as Jaco also then you transcend between the Bass guitar and upright bass and open everything up again for bassists like Marcus Miller and James Jameson.
I think bassists go to far greater length to be more creative and inventive on the whole than guitarists where as guitarists just seem to assume in modern rock that the bass has to be just part of the back-line. It's a beautiful instrument and there are so many things you can do with it.

Anyway that's just my two cents, I'll put up some videos for reference to what I've been talking about.

Stanley Clarke - Raking style



Victor Wooten expanding on the double thumb technique



Abraham percussive open technique



Larry Graham (couldn't find anything on the technique specifically)



Just something on Laboriels Flamenco style playing.



John entwistle finger-style solo



A bit of Jaco Pastorius...always a pleasure



I'm tired now but I think I've made my point.