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.