Vintage Versus Modern

I was in Songbird today checking out some stuff. They had a super old (1960s) Traynor Bass Mate. This this has only one volume and one tone knob, it's speaker is of the type that one might use on a PA system and the back of the cabinet wasn't even sealed. In other words, I suppose it's what you might expect barely a decade after the first viable electric bass design came to market. The effect of this design, combined with the maple-fretboard Precision I played through it was one of a lot of treble and high-mids. I only had the tone control at 50% but that sound was incredibly pronounced. But what a sound it was. There is nothing else quite like this amp's tone - the wonderful tubey high growl. It is of course impractical by today's standards. Insufficient equalisation, no XLR output, not enough power (maybe 85 watts, tops), and it was kind of bulky for all of that too.

But listen to it. Wow. Nothing today sounds like that. No amount of twiddling with a graphic EQ will give you that kind of character in your tone. Nothing modern can ape that sound.

Don't get me wrong, modern amps are wonderful in so many respects. They have all the appropriate inputs and outputs. You can set up the EQ for just about any bass in any situation. They have gobs of power - and often in small packages. Companies like Markbass are doing genius things with super-powerful 1x12 combos. Lighter and more powerful amps are coming in all the time. They generate a huge presence from a tiny box, wonders of technology they are.

But, but, listen to that Bass Mate. It does one thing, but that one thing is sooooo magnificent, sooooo unique.

Vintage?

Modern?

You tell me.

One That Got Away

I had been eyeing this used Stingray 5 at Long & McQuade for a while. Today, before I had a chance to do anything about it, I found out it had been sold. It sounded nice and I think it was a good deal. What I've noticed though is that, if you wait, there will be others. There are a number of great gear deals that I've seen but missed out on ultimately. The only one I still wish I had bought was a 1970s Precision with a Jazz neck. Since it was a Frankenbass it was only $700 - way less than either a Precision or a Jazz from that period sells for today. I would really have like to have that bass. It was cheap because it was useless to collectors, but it had a great sound and it was a joy to play. That SR5 was a nice bass, but nothing to this other one.

My Project Bass

I know I've mentioned this before, but to my knowledge, I've never shared any pictorals. The back story is that this is an '89 Fender Jazz fretless that, when I bought it was stock except for a white pearloid pickguard that I believe was aftermarket. The black finish on the body was ruined by some unknown solvent-animal hair combination (I should have taken "before" pictures, it was as bad as it sounds). Anyway, I stripped off the paint and refinished it with gunstock oil. I chose gunstock oil because it is easy to apply and therefore ideal for beginners such as myself. I was able to pick up some nice pickups and, recently, a pickguard from Talkbass. That's the story, now here are the pics:

Just the body:


And the whole shebang:

Four versus Five

All the basses I own are four-strings. I don't own a lot of basses, but I do own several. From time to time either myself or someone else will wonder why I don't have at least one five-string. I have seen many posts on Talkbass where people try to argue objectively for anything from four strings to seven strings and beyond. I always say that I use fours because typically that's what works for the music I play. If I played prog rock or fusion, that would change maybe. All the same I wonder sometimes about a five.

This feeling strikes me especially when playing in D or Eb, for obvious reasons. But outside of that, I wonder what I'm missing. The thing that appeals to me is that tonally, I like the sound of notes played further up the neck. Playing a low E at the fifth, F# at the 7th, that's what appeals to me too.

Not Using a Pick is Self-Limiting

I'm sorry to read that The Roan is fearful of exploring new sonic experiences. That's right, it seems that there is a fundamental fear of a couple different things here. One, that Jay might somehow be compared to Mark Hoppus. I'm not sure how exactly that would transpire, because I don't recall anyone asking me whether I was hanging out with Mark Hoppus when I was, in fact, hanging out with Jay.

The other fear seems to be that bass "will remain stuck in the eyes of most people as the guitars[sic] fat brother" if one plays it with a pick. Unfortunately, if we were worried about this then I guess fingerstyle playing is out too, isn't it Django? The reality is that both guitar and bass have been, and continue to be, played with a variety of techniques. The bass guitar was originally built by Leo Fender (and others) as something that would be part of the electric guitar family of instruments. Why do you think Fender put pickguards on the Precision right from the start in 1951? He assumed that pick-playing was a possibility. Playing with a pick was not invented in 1974 by DeeDee Ramone. Think of the broader family of stringed instruments. Do violinists say to cellists, or double bassists, "Only we are to play arco!" No. That would be insane. There is nothing wrong with multiple instruments being played with a similar technique.

As to pick playing not cutting through, I have never had that problem. I find it very easy to switch from pick to fingerstyle and back. Jay points out that the tone of a pick can imitated by a variety of pedals or equalizer changes. While I don't concede that these necessarily replicated a proper pic tone, even if they did, all of these options would be more expensive than a $1 pick. MXR micro amp? $100+. Boss GEB-7? Maybe $80 used if you look around. Even if you have an amp with a footswitchable EQ, you'd need to buy the footswitch to do that. Even that would be another $25-40 even used. So even if you thought you had the sound, you would have to spend a lot of money.

In short, it's time to end the anti-pick prejudice - it's self-limiting.

Pro et Contra 1: Slap Bass is Overrated

Sure The Roan and I share this nice little blog. But that sure doesn't mean that we agree on everything. So we were talking about it, and we decided it was time to present our opinions on issues out there in the world of bass playing. To start, I will explain why slap is overrated wankery and Jay will offer a rebuttal (I hope). Here we go:

There was a picture in the paper the other day of some guy who had run a marathon while juggling. This is something that undoubtedly require many hours or practice and preparation. The man who did this must have had all kinds of coordination as well as endurance. In short, it was impressive that he could do this sort of thing at all.

On the other hand, I don't think I'd very much enjoy watching some guy juggle and run for three hours. A couple minutes of it would be interesting viewing, but beyond that, I wouldn't need to see the whole marathon. And that's how I feel about slap. Like juggling while running a marathon, slap bass is an impressive accomplishment - but is either one worthwhile beyond the technical precision and the novelty? Many slap players have spent hours mastering the technique. Hearing a lightning fast double-thumb line, the listener has to respect the player. All the same though, I have to suggest that slap bass is not all it's cracked up to be by its proponents.

Slap bass gets lost in the mix very easily. It seems that to do slap and be heard, one needs to employ some kind of boost. That's the first problem, when you're showing off to grade tens in Long & McQuade, it may sound cool. But in a band setting, it's just getting lost. Remember, bass playing is not a competitive sport, it's part of a creative process. If you want to serve that creative process, you'd better be prepared to do what's needed for the music. It doesn't seem like slapping is needed in actual songs quite as much as it is needed for showing off in music stores.

Now what about funk? Or jazz fusion? Yes, more so than in other genres you can justify slapping in these two. At the same time though, there are all kinds of examples of great fingerstyle players in both genres. How often is a player going use this technique in other genres? There are all kinds of things that might make for a better player that might be worth trying. Again, music is an art form, and as a musician, your first job is to participate in creating art. Often times though, the slap riff is more of an incongruous intrusion than a tasteful addition.

In short, I think slapping is an interesting novelty. A bassist can pull out something like Higher Ground and the band can have fun jamming along. But, excepting fusion (which, the last time I checked, is not the most popular genre) how often is this technique really used? Not very often at all it seems. The time spent learning how to master slap might better be spent studying things like theory to learn how to create something other than a percussive assault.

Last Night

Nothing beats playing bass when you have a solid drummer, and two solid drummers, that's what I had last night.

Acoustic Bass Guitars

I was at the Twelfth Fret on Saturday and they had a Larrivee acoustic bass guitar (ABG). I tried it out and I must say that it had an okay sound. That's the thing with ABGs though, the best of them can generate a decent sound, but nothing spectacular to my ears. I don't really see an opportunity to use in one at most gigs where I'd regularly use an electric bass. The suggestion I've had is that they might be good for acoustic-type gigs, but tonally, I think my fretless works best for that. I suppose they look better for acoustic gigs, but that's a silly reason to get a particular instrument. You might wish to use one in some kind of setting where everyone is unplugged, but an unplugged acoustic guitar will drown out most unplugged acoustic basses.

Additionally, you have to be far more worried about the conditions to which an ABG is subjected. If it's got a solid top, you'd better be mindful of temperature and humidity. It's also bulkier. And being hollow, it's just asking for feedback when you (inevitably) plug it in.

So while this Larrivee I saw is undoubtedly a nice bass, I'm not sure that I could find a reason to have such a beast in my collection.

Another Shopping Trip

After going downtown on some unrelated errands I decided to stroll down to Songbird and look at some of the stuff they had there. It was a good choice because, despite them not have much in the bass department that tickled my fancy for some time, today they had some good selections. The first thing that caught my eye was a Les Godfrey Dragonetti. It had a nice sound, almost like a Precision, but with the pickup closer to the bridge (who knows, maybe this is what the Precision Elites sounded like with both pickups on). They also had a USA Lakland 55-94 fretless. It was cherry burst and unlined, a good look if you ask me. The third bass that caught my eye was a bit of a surprise, it was a Peavey Cirrus 5. I had tried a Cirrus 5 on one previous occasion and was somewhat underwhelmed by it. The pickups were kind of dull and uninspired and overall it left me thinking, "meh." That said, I figured I might as well give this one a go too. I was surprised, it had a nice, fairly modern growl. It was something between a contemporary Jazz bass and a Stingray, not a bad sound in my estimation. It was voiced in such a way that everything was nice and clear, thus making chords, double-stops, and harmonics all joys to play. Anyway, right now I hope that all these basses will cancel each other out and I'll end up not wanting any of them... So I can afford school, heh.

Stingray 5 at Cosmo

I played another one of these the other day. This one was quite nice sounding and reasonably priced. The kicker though was that it had one hell of a ding in it and it didn't have a case (it was used). That said, there was much that went in its favour. It was an ash body with a one piece maple neck and fretboard which is a very bright combination. It's a nice antidote in that sense to the alder, mahogany, and basswood bodies and rosewood 'boards that dominate my collection right now. Everything that I have right now does an excellent job of sounding warm and thuddy. (Is "thuddy" a useful descriptor?) I can pull out some nice mid-rangey growl from my Jazz, but that's about the most agressive I can be without engaging the Big Muff. A Stingray would be in another category in that regard. The ash-maple combination would have nice highs, either for a useful slap tone (Jay is laughing at that right now) or perhaps a more agressive, overdriven pick tone. In general, I could make things sound more "modern" I think. At the same time, ash can be bloody heavy and I've noticed that Ernie Ball is one of the worst offenders in the category of heavy-ass ash basses. I've picked up more than a few 'Rays that had a weight that was frankly astonishing and painful. Nothing over a half-hour gigging with these, thank you. This bass however, I noticed was surprisingly light. A nice change.

Geddy Lee

The other night we were listening to the radio and YYZ by Rush came on. Man, that's the most enjoyable Rush for me simply because it's all instrumental. They are all gifted musicians, but man, I just cannot get over Geddy Lee's voice.

Introducing...

...The Roan (aka Jay). In case you didn't see, his first post is here. I asked Jay to come on board because while he too could fit the "average bass player" description, he's probably about as different from me as two players of the same instrument can be. In terms of technique and musical interests, while we definitely have some overlap, there is also quite a bit of stuff that we don't have in common. I think that's going to be good for this blog because we can cover more ground that way. So stay tuned...

Post-Gig

Well, everyone says that we played well, so that was encouraging. The monitor situation was interesting because I think my amp was driving the room and so I had a hard time hearing anything in the monitors whilst I was playing. It was cool to have that much stage volume though, because I could feel the amp vibrating my sandals. Sweet.

Gig Coming Up

This Saturday (Aug. 20th) at the Fox & Fiddle at 535 Danforth Ave in Toronto.

Amplifiers

I don't need a new amp right now, but if I did, I'd probably pick up a Traynor YBA200. I played through one if these day and I love the tone. In the meantime, I'm content to stick with my trusty Ashdown though.

Switching Back & Forth

Having played the fretless a bit now, I find it's curious to go between a fretted and a fretless now. The way I'm finding I like to approach the fretless is definitely different from how I tend to approach the fretted basses I've played. On both instruments I still sound like myself, but it's definitely a variation I hear on the fretless.

Stop Looking at the Internet...

...and practice your instrument instead, that's what I'm going to do now.

Losing the Precision Sound

I've talked to a few different people about this, and they've agreed that there's something about new Fender Precisions. More specifically, there is something missing - the classic Precision mid-range honk. It's there, but it seems weakened. My theory is that, in the last ten years or so, Fender has witnessed the rise in a desire for mid-scooped tones. Nothing wrong with that, if that's your thing, but that's not what the Precision is for. So it seems that they've castrated those classic Precision mids, and in exchange, all you get is a wussy sound bass. Now, you could say I'm biased, because I like a strong mids presence, but I know what decent mid-scoop tone sounds like too. I actually really enjoyed playing a Thumb fretless I saw in Long & McQuade once. The thing with the Precision is that it's just never going to be a Thumb, it's the wrong pickups, the wrong wood, the wrong everything. So instead, you're left with a wimpy-sounding Precision, yuck.

More Fretless Thoughts

In some weird way, my fretless is about the funkiest bass I own. Everything else sounds good, but in a very rock sort of way. This one is funky, maybe it's the pickups. Anyway it's interesting, you don't think of fretless as funky, at least I don't.

The Fretless Debuts!

Some backstory:
In 2002 the guitar tech at Long & McQuade tipped me off about a fretless Fender Jazz that was about to go on sale for cheap. Made in Japan, a later investigation into serial numbers would date its construction to 1989. At the time though, all I knew was that it was a used Made in Japan (MIJ) fretless that was going to go on the floor for $175 or thereabouts. Having always wanted to try fretless, I thought this to be my chance to do so at a very affordable price.

Bringing the bass home, I found out how truly disgusting the finish was, it was sticky with little bits of fur or shag carpet or something clinging to all parts of it. The prior owner must have dumped some kind of solvent on it. Or glue. To this day, I don't know exactly what it was, but even holding the bass was gross. I was getting the hang of playing fretless, but this situation could not persist, I needed to refinish this thing. The refinishing become my new project.

Fast-forward nearly three years: OK, I didn't say it was a time-sensitive project... I finally stripped the finish and redid it with gunstock oil. Along the way, I also picked up a set of lightly used Bartolini pickups for it. All in all, despite the leisurely pace of the project, it turned out fairly well I'd say. That said, one big test remained, play the damn thing in front of others to show that me owning a fretless isn't just a waste of ten pounds of wood.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, brings us to last night, where I jammed with a couple guitarists from my work. Apparently I can actually play this thing! Thrilling to say the least! Admittedly, my intonation was brutal at times, but it seems like I can actually do this, which is encouraging. I used to look at fretlesses and think there was no way I could pull that off. but lo and behold, it looks like I may just be able to do this!

Welcome!

My other blog, More Notes from Underground is sort of a personal journal on all kinds of political, artistic, literary and even religious thoughts. This blog though is something where I want to focus on one particular passion of mine, and that is playing bass. I was thinking today and I felt the title "Average Bass Player" appropriate, because that's where I feel I'm at. I've been playing ten years now (wow, hard to believe) and I'd say I'm solid but certainly not brilliant on the instrument. I've played in a number of different settings from potsmoke-filled living rooms to 1,000-seat church sanctuaries. I have done a fair number of things, but I still have a lot of musical goals I want to fulfill. So that's my story, more to follow...