Tuning a bass

  • Thread starter Thread starter Michael Jones
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ez_willis said:
An eighteen string bass was actually built by Modulus Graphite for Tom Peterson of Cheap Trick. It is now in the posession of Allen Woody of the Allman Brothers Band. It has a 6" wide neck!"
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EZ, I'd just like to mention that the website where you got this information is somewhat out of date. Considering the fact that Allen Woody (formerly of the Allman Brothers Band and Gov't Mule) is now deceased, it's reasonable to assume that he no longer owns this instrument.

Brad
 
Rokket said:
Too cool. To have a bass as old as I am would be sweet. But alas, I am too poor right now to afford it...
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Yeah, that one was even older than me and, shit, I'm pretty old! It was kind of cool to own it for awhile. But, having owned some of those vintage Fenders during my life, I can't really understand the outrageous sums of money that they demand on the marketplace today.

Like I mentioned, the brand new "60's Jazz Bass" that I bought is, functionally, almost as nice in every way to my original mid-60's Jazz. And, after the mod, it is actually much more flexible, tonally. And it sells for a small fraction of what my '66 would demand in the marketplace. Just doesn't make sense to me. To each his own, I suppose.

Brad
 
Bassman Brad said:
Yeah, that one was even older than me and, shit, I'm pretty old! It was kind of cool to own it for awhile. But, having owned some of those vintage Fenders during my life, I can't really understand the outrageous sums of money that they demand on the marketplace today.

Like I mentioned, the brand new "60's Jazz Bass" that I bought is, functionally, almost as nice in every way to my original mid-60's Jazz. And, after the mod, it is actually much more flexible, tonally. And it sells for a small fraction of what my '66 would demand in the marketplace. Just doesn't make sense to me. To each his own, I suppose.

Brad
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I guess it's the mystique behind the name. And a bit of urban legend. There are plenty of less expensive basses out there that outplay and sound better than a Fender. But it's "not a Fender"....
 
Rokket said:
I guess it's the mystique behind the name. And a bit of urban legend. There are plenty of less expensive basses out there that outplay and sound better than a Fender. But it's "not a Fender"....
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I suppose. I guess I've just never romanticized them. I've probably played about a gazillion old Fenders (but probably not elebendy-seven gazillion of 'em) over the years. To me, they were just old basses. Cool to play and look at, but still just old basses.

The '66 Jazz that I have is abolutely priceless to me, but that's just because of the sentimental value and the history that I have with that bass. I certainly woudn't give two or three GRAND for another one just like it.

Brad
 
Bassman Brad said:
EZ, I'd just like to mention that the website where you got this information is somewhat out of date. Considering the fact that Allen Woody (formerly of the Allman Brothers Band and Gov't Mule) is now deceased, it's reasonable to assume that he no longer owns this instrument.

Brad
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Thanks Brad, I would like to amend my previous post to say-
"Allen Woody (formerly of the Allman Brothers Band and Gov't Mule) is now deceased, therefore the bass in question is either buried with Allen or is now owned by someone other than Allen, like a child or something!" I need to check my research better or my friends will jokingly refer to me as 'Dan Rather'- :D
 
ez_willis said:
Thanks Brad, I would like to amend my previous post to say-
"Allen Woody (formerly of the Allman Brothers Band and Gov't Mule) is now deceased, therefore the bass in question is either buried with Allen or is now owned by someone other than Allen, like a child or something!" I need to check my research better or my friends will jokingly refer to me as 'Dan Rather'- :D
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Dan Rather-not... :confused:

Ok, that was stoopid... :mad:
 
Bassman Brad said:
I suppose. I guess I've just never romanticized them. I've probably played about a gazillion old Fenders (but probably not elebendy-seven gazillion of 'em) over the years. To me, they were just old basses. Cool to play and look at, but still just old basses.

The '66 Jazz that I have is abolutely priceless to me, but that's just because of the sentimental value and the history that I have with that bass. I certainly woudn't give two or three GRAND for another one just like it.

Brad
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I wanted a Dean because everyone was touting them. One of my friends got a Dean 4 string and was bragging all day long about how great it was. It had great tone, no doubt about it. He liked to play through an old Fender Jazzman amp and would overdrive the tone to make it growl. But he would never let anyone touch his Dean.
So I wanted to jump on the bandwagon and get a Dean 5 string (the price was right), until I played one.
I instantly hated the neck. I told the guy trying to sell it to me that I didn't want anything to do with it. And he turned me on to the ESP. I have dragged that bass through hell and back. She's been rode hard and put up wet countless times, and still comes back for more. The only thing I had to do with her was adjust the action when I first bought it, and changed out the 9 volt for her active pickups...
 
oh god...i frickin hate battery powered guitars...i hate wanting to record a bass part, and the batteries are dead...or trying to have a practice and the bass players batteries are dead..wtf

what is the deal with active pickups anyway?

as a person who sometimes plays bass, but isn't a bass player, i don't get it.
 
glimmer_doll said:
oh god...i frickin hate battery powered guitars...i hate wanting to record a bass part, and the batteries are dead...or trying to have a practice and the bass players batteries are dead..wtf

what is the deal with active pickups anyway?

as a person who sometimes plays bass, but isn't a bass player, i don't get it.
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Here is a little info-
"active pickups incorporate an electronic preamplifier circuit built right into the pickup itself.

In both active and passive pickup designs, the coil interacts with the first circuit it is connected to. The circuit that a passive pickup "sees" could be the input of your amp, an effects processor, a wireless transmitter -- you name it. Each different type of circuit can affect a passive pickup's tone in various ways. Active pickups remove this variable, since the pickup's output always "sees" the same circuit (the built-in preamp). This makes for consistent performance, regardless of what the guitar is connected to. Active pickups can also drive longer cable runs without losing tone. Active pickups require a power source, typically a 9-volt battery installed on the guitar itself. (EMG reports that a typical 9v battery should last about 5,000 hours.)"
 
ez_willis said:
(EMG reports that a typical 9v battery should last about 5,000 hours.)"
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I've had mine in my bass for about a year and a half so far... ;)
 
Rokket said:
I've had mine in my bass for about a year and a half so far... ;)
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well, either the bass or the batteries here suck...this bass is on it's 3rd battery and it's been less than a year...maybe those 12 hour practices have something to do with that...

anyway, whoever designed the bass i have here is not too bright, there's no separate battery compartment...it's in with the volume and tone controls and you have to unscrew the back panel to change the battery...

maybe if i had a good active bass instead of this one my opinion wouldn't be so skewed...
 
glimmer_doll said:
well, either the bass or the batteries here suck...this bass is on it's 3rd battery and it's been less than a year...maybe those 12 hour practices have something to do with that...

anyway, whoever designed the bass i have here is not too bright, there's no separate battery compartment...it's in with the volume and tone controls and you have to unscrew the back panel to change the battery...

maybe if i had a good active bass instead of this one my opinion wouldn't be so skewed...
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It's possible. Mine has a separate little door you just unlatch and change out the battery...

And 12 hour sessions will kill it quick. So will leaving a chord plugged into it. On most of them, the pickups go active only if they are plugged in.
 
Purge said:
What's all this talk about "tuning"? I didn't know that was necessary for a bass. Isn't it just a bunch of low shit that nobody pays attention to anyway?
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Okay, if yer in a band, sometime during a practice have the bassist sit out for a song. How long will it be before the song starts falling apart? And people do pay attention to that "low shit," or they wouldn't be dancing. The bass lays down the dance groove, or in the absence of a bass guitar in a song, there's always some low(er) frequency picked out (consciously or not) that establishes how people dance/groove to it.

"House of the Rising Sun," as The Animals performed it, is barely danceable 'cause the bass is only playing the root notes of the melody. Add a couple of extra notes, to swing the bass line a bit, and people can dance to it, although it'd be a slow dance, unless ya kicked up the tempo a notch or two.

Matt
 
Bassman Brad said:
Then, of course, there's the "piccolo bass" which is ALSO used for solos. But I don't know how they are tuned.

Brad
(edit for spelling)
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With your mention of "piccolo bass," and Ipdeluxe describing the tuning as "an octave up," that's probably what Bert Kaempfert's orchestra did. From what I've heard, this sound was quite unique to Bert Kaempfert and His Orchestra, but since I don't have any other 60's swing jazz to reference, I dunno for sure.

Matt
 
I'm starting to think that people don't appreciate a good joke anymore, or even a bad one for that matter, anyone else?
 
Unsprung said:
Okay, if yer in a band, sometime during a practice have the bassist sit out for a song. How long will it be before the song starts falling apart? And people do pay attention to that "low shit," or they wouldn't be dancing. The bass lays down the dance groove, or in the absence of a bass guitar in a song, there's always some low(er) frequency picked out (consciously or not) that establishes how people dance/groove to it.

"House of the Rising Sun," as The Animals performed it, is barely danceable 'cause the bass is only playing the root notes of the melody. Add a couple of extra notes, to swing the bass line a bit, and people can dance to it, although it'd be a slow dance, unless ya kicked up the tempo a notch or two.

Matt
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Ummm, he was kidding..... :) ;)
 
ez_willis said:
I'm starting to think that people don't appreciate a good joke anymore, or even a bad one for that matter, anyone else?
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Oh well it is all possible eh :)

Okay some new ideas to bring us back to tuning:

Anyone here who has some experience with the Buzzfeiten tuning, is that an improvement for the intonation on your bass or................?

And as for that great song: "House of.............." Well it is an excellent one to preform as a basssolos piece, this will not only make people dance but dop their jaws at the same time too.................

It is not to hard to do really and I dearly recommmand it to all of you :)

Enjoy,

Eddie

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I dispute the claim that all the threads are about Jimistone. I have made so many threads over the past 24 hours that have nothing to do with him that it's just insulting. :)
 
noisedude said:
I dispute the claim that all the threads are about Jimistone. I have made so many threads over the past 24 hours that have nothing to do with him that it's just insulting. :)
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Jimistone???? Who is that?? One of those famous 60's bassplayers or.............? Wasn't he the one who knew how to turn a Fuzzbox upside down so he could make it all go........................... :confused:

Oh well, perhaps in anohter life he may do it all again, who knows ;)

Eddie

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