Battlezone Universe

This is just sort of a thread to discuss musical instruments, songs, debate, favorite instrument, etc. I will start.

Well, yeah, I play bass guitar and am self taught. I consider myself pretty good knowing a few songs within a few months, amongst my life's constant chaos. I believe people constantly put down the bass, just because you can't play some guitar solo does not mean it is not a bad instrument. I use a Fender J bass but have my eyes set on the Nixxi Sixx and Steve Harris custom models, and a Gibson cherry-wood EB-O.

And you all? :|

Eeew... Fender...

Eeew... Gibson...

What, yahmaha makes good bases? yeah right.

What do have against Fender and Gibson?

Play a Standard Gibson Les Paul, Fender "Squire II" Stratocastor and an old acoustic my roomate found in the trash with a missing string. Got a Digitech RP70 digital effects processor and a Marshall "Lead 100 Mosfet" amplifier with a 4/12 Jackson cabinet. Dunlop Tortex  .88 mm picks all the way, I go through about 20 picks a week.

Wow.................that is a lot of picks, i hardly ever play with them, not suited for bass.  love Les Paul guitar's especially the new robot model.

There are other manufacturers than Fender and Gibson.  I personally prefer G&L.  Or EBMM's high-end stuff.

I have a Takamine electric/acoustic, which I bought because "Hey, if I'm spending multiple hundreds of dollars on a guitar I might as well get one that doesn't require an amp."

It's beautiful, I love it.

I also play piano, a Knabe. Quality stuff.

QuoteThere are other manufacturers than Fender and Gibson.  I personally prefer G&L.  Or EBMM's high-end stuff.

Granted, but they are the top dogs, and besides, as I said before, i am yet to find an efficient bass made by any other company but the two, being my bass if from Affinity does not count, it is a subdivision of Fender.

You do know that G&L is Leo Fender's last company, right?

I do now, but Fender, though now owned by CBS, remains the most well known

Fender
Gibson
Yamaha
Ibanez

The "Big Four" of the guitar world, along with their subdivision's.

I dont play any of this... but my bands stuff always sounds ok, and they use a bit of this stuff:

Telecaster
Dean Razorback. This thing is enormous.
Line 6 Spider II/III
Ibanez bass... no idea which one. Ive never been a fan of ibanez guitars they always look so thin...

Oh but... Mesa Boogie and ESP for the win.

QuoteIbanez bass... no idea which one. Ive never been a fan of ibanez guitars they always look so thin...

THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Their basses are the most soft I have ever heard, I can hardly ever hear them.

I personally prefer the bagpipe. :-P

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.......electric bagpipes? :roll:

Mesa Boogie amps totally rock!

Actually looking to get a set of pedals, preferably a heavy metal one, plug it up to my bass and see what happens.

What kind of person uses a pedal effect on a bass?

Oh, right.  One who can't play well.

I know a good bass player who uses a line 6 bass pod, not exactly a pedal but it has some nifty stuff built in.

Line 6 Pod? Those things are horrible.

I'd have to say both instruments are equal. Though I don't actually have an electric guitar.

Tanglewood Liberty electric bass
Mountain accoustic (basically a yard of japanese plywood)
Crafter
Simon and Patrick (beautiful instrument)

Quote from: AHadley on November 22, 2009, 05:06:49 AM
Line 6 Pod? Those things are horrible.

yeh his bass does sound like a fart, but thats probably not helped by the amp either lol

I have a Fender amp, Seagull acoustic and 2 Godin electrics. One of the Godin's is a cheap model I bought after I hadn't had a guitar for years and wanted something and didn't have much cash at the time. The other Godin is a better model that I really like and it sounds good. They are not as well known as the big names but they make some really nice stuff. When it comes to instruments anyways it's mostly personal preference. I also still have 3 different effects pedals, a multi effects, old 4 track recorder which I don't use anymore really because I got a newer interface thing (can't remember the name off the top of my head) that plugs into the computer to record straight onto the computer. With the software I can have quite a few tracks. Also a cheaper but decent recording mic. I also kick myself in the ass everyday for not playing as much as I used to when I was younger. I am very out of practice. :(

Quote from: TheJamsh on November 22, 2009, 05:41:33 AM
yeh his bass does sound like a fart, but thats probably not helped by the amp either lol

My bass sounds like that, but that's definately the amp. It's about twice my age :lol:

I do use a pedal, but that's because it has some effects that I can't replicate any other way. My amp doesn't have drive, gain, treble or bass controls on it, nor distortion, which I do actually use for my bass.

VSMIT: for the most part you are right, a bass sounds lik dog with effects. But I have heard some very cool jazz bass that use some effects like wah that sound super.
Dianoga4: What I plug into my pc to record is a M-Audio Fasttrack. They make many different one, mine is for single input.  Comes with a bunch of recording software, but I really only use Audacity which I heard about here at bzuniverse.

Quote from: Axeminister on November 22, 2009, 09:33:16 AM
VSMIT: for the most part you are right, a bass sounds lik dog with effects. But I have heard some very cool jazz bass that use some effects like wah that sound super.

Indeed, I should have specified.  Any effect that drastically changes the sound (e.g.: Heavy Metal, Overdrive, Synth, Flanger, etc.) sucks for bass.  Some compressors sound good.

How does me wanting to get a heavy metal pedal mean I do not play well? I have only been playing a few months but consider myself to have some skill playing my bass. I wanted to get one, or least try one, to see what the sound differences would be when i played some songs.

It masks the sound way too much.  By using one of those pedals, it means that you're counting on the effect to cover up how you play.

I just looked and the thing I use to connect to the computer is a Tascam US-122L Audio Interface. I can have 2 mics or a mic and guitar plugged in at the same time and record them both at the same time. It came as a package with a Tascam LD-74 condenser mic which I think sounds pretty decent. The package came with Cubase LE software for recording which seemed to work pretty good. I haven't use the stuff in a while but want to get back into it and at least fool around with some recording.

No one said i would perform for people with it, i would be sure to be well skilled in the song before doing that.

Bass never really needs pedals. A compressor or a good EQ if you have a particularly crap one will make it sound nice. Compression is nearly always added to bass in mix-downs, so it will improve the sound somewhat. Bass is what 'fills' all that space between guitar and kick drum, so whatever you do it will effect your bands sound a little more than you think.

Unless your Steve Harris, then you could only play bass and the song would still rule.

Quote from: iron maiden on November 22, 2009, 07:32:50 PM
Unless your Steve Harris, then you could only bass and the song would still rule.

wha?

Iron Maiden's bassist, he is the bass God.

Only to you.

Flea is much better.

On the contrary, he is what got me started on bass.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Harris_%28musician%29

And yet my statement doesn't change.  Oh wonder of wonders!

Death has some cool bass

This song is awesome.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wpfz5Vnr-_A

The bass does sound preety good, from what i could hear, had it turned down to low, but what is with the vocals, i could not understand what on Earth he was saying.

If the bass is too loud it can kill the song entirely. It's not meant to lead the piece, except in a few rare circumstances.

And from what I've heard of Iron Maiden and Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Fle is much better than Steve Harris.

How long have you played bass, Iron Maiden?

A few months,  I know 4 songs and may be forming a band with some friends.

Get more experience under your belt before you play in a band.

It would not be a label band or anything of the such band, we will just be doing a few covers that I either know, or am learning the tab to. Sort of like a garage band of sorts.

I wasn't talking about only a label band or any kind of well-known group.  I was talking about a band in general.

Psh. Get together with a couple of your friends and play. Have some 3-hour jam sessions to 12 bar blues. That's how you get better, by just playing.

I started when my first band was short a bassist - so I switched over to it and started learning.

Which is why I am joining this band, my friend who is the drummer has a brother who plays bass, but could not get his act together. When my friend learned that I play, he asked if I would like to join and I agreed, simple as that, if I fail, I fail, depends where apple falls.

I've been playing drums for over a decade. Used to play piano for several years. Playing guitar for 2 years now. Played cello last year. Picked up bass this year. Will pick up violin and vocals in the future (hopefully soon).

Music is huge in my life. It's one of my biggest passions, and it's also my part time job.

On a note, finished tracking drums for our EP today. Not the tightest i have ever done but good enough.

I used to play the brass basses, i.e. baritone, tuba, Sousaphone (basically a tuba) and Rhodes bass keyboard in jr high and high school.  That's 6 years in band, looong ago in a galaxy far away.  Even got a J.P. Sousa award for the high school band geek tenure. 

Nowadays I dabble in keyboards, vocals, softsynths (VSTi's, SF's, MIDI, etc), sample trackers and DAW's (record/mix), though it's been awhile since I've done those too, a bit rusty right now.  Might be assisting as a stand-in sound tech (mixer) for a band this New Years Eve, if I'm not busy. 

I used to play baritone (euphonium). Epic win.

Quote from: sabrebattletank on December 10, 2009, 02:52:23 PM
I used to play baritone (euphonium). Epic win.

Technically they are 2 different instruments (bore construct), but for the purposes of playing technique (valves, pistons, fingers, embouchure), they are somewhat similar.  The baritone I used in school was special, it was dented at the bell and the first round.   :oops:

Aarghh, flashes of the slow dull numbing pain of the Sousaphone sitting on my left shoulder during marches just came back to haunt me. 

I know, I only put euphonium in parentheses to differentiate it from the baritone sax, which is what some people think stand-alone "baritone" means.