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#1
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Which Bass for sessions? Fender?
Question from the peanut gallery: There's a thread going at alt.guitar.bass
about basses for studio work. It has taken a pro/con Fender drift (surprise surprise). Any thoughts on what's what with a noted "universal" preference for Fender over other brands? TIA --Tom Paterson |
#2
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Which Bass for sessions? Fender?
"Tom Paterson" wrote in message
... Question from the peanut gallery: There's a thread going at alt.guitar.bass about basses for studio work. It has taken a pro/con Fender drift (surprise surprise). Any thoughts on what's what with a noted "universal" preference for Fender over other brands? TIA --Tom Paterson To start with, you have to remember that the 'electric bass' sound was created by a Fender bass. Many of us remember when "Fender Bass" was the generic term for electric bass, and "Bass" meant an upright bass. And it's such a recognizable sound that for many people, if it doesn't sound like a Fender, something is wrong. -- Dave Martin Java Jive Studio Nashville, TN www.javajivestudio.com |
#3
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Which Bass for sessions? Fender?
Fender P Bass with Duncan Pickups.
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#4
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Which Bass for sessions? Fender?
Tom Paterson wrote:
Question from the peanut gallery: There's a thread going at alt.guitar.bass about basses for studio work. It has taken a pro/con Fender drift (surprise surprise). Any thoughts on what's what with a noted "universal" preference for Fender over other brands? TIA --Tom Paterson Leo Fender is widely regarded as the originator of the electric bass. There were others who tinkered around with basses and pickups, but Leo Fender made it famous. For a long time, ANY electric bass was called a Fender bass regardless of who made it. Sort of like any paper copy used to be a "Xerox" copy. So, Fender basses were the bass of choice for many of the innovators, like James Jamerson, Chuck Rainey, Carol Kaye, and others. The originators spawned a new generation of bassists who wanted to sound like the old pros, so they too bought Fenders. The preference for Fender is mostly brand recognition, sort of like Harley-Davidson with motorcycles. Are there other brands out there with better quality than Fender? You betcha. How much do you want to pay? The sky's the limit. But the bottom line - pun intended - is this: it's the player who makes the tone and the groove, not the bass. A great player with a cheap Mexican P-bass and a DI will always sound better than some inexperienced gear-freak with an active 6-string graphite neck-through with an exotic pre-amp and a tri-amped mega-watt rig - given the right engineer of course. AT |
#5
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Which Bass for sessions? Fender?
Having played most of the other old classic basses, I would never hesitate
to use my P-bass for a session, especially if I were in a hurry to plug and play. Even though other basses might play easier or sound better in a specific situation... ....Paul -- ************************************************** ******** "In the analog realm, it ain't "OVER" 'til it's over." "Tom Paterson" wrote in message ... Question from the peanut gallery: There's a thread going at alt.guitar.bass about basses for studio work. It has taken a pro/con Fender drift (surprise surprise). Any thoughts on what's what with a noted "universal" preference for Fender over other brands? TIA --Tom Paterson |
#6
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Which Bass for sessions? Fender?
I prefer Music Man basses if I can get them. Fenders are great, don't
get me wrong, but I prefer the Music Man. Tom Paterson wrote: Question from the peanut gallery: There's a thread going at alt.guitar.bass about basses for studio work. It has taken a pro/con Fender drift (surprise surprise). Any thoughts on what's what with a noted "universal" preference for Fender over other brands? TIA --Tom Paterson |
#7
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Which Bass for sessions? Fender?
Spend a little bit of cash on a Fender Custom Shop P-Bass and you'll
be a happy camper. _____________________ Post indie electronic Meriphew http://www.meriphew.com |
#8
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Which Bass for sessions? Fender?
"Tom Paterson" wrote in message ... Question from the peanut gallery: There's a thread going at alt.guitar.bass about basses for studio work. It has taken a pro/con Fender drift (surprise surprise). Any thoughts on what's what with a noted "universal" preference for Fender over other brands? TIA --Tom Paterson Fender Precision, Fender Jazz... great tone, hard to make sound bad. -- David Morgan (MAMS) http://www.m-a-m-s.com http://www.artisan-recordingstudio.com |
#9
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Which Bass for sessions? Fender?
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#10
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Which Bass for sessions? Fender?
Question from the peanut gallery: There's a thread going at
alt.guitar.bass about basses for studio work. It has taken a pro/con Fender drift (surprise surprise). Any thoughts on what's what with a noted "universal" preference for Fender over other brands? TIA --Tom Paterson Anyone recommending a new Fender instead of a new G&L should be dragged into the street and shot. Note I didn't say "vintage Fender", since vintage is vintage and shouldn't be compared. Regardless, the best studio bass I've had my mitts on was a '63 Gibson hollow-body (never got the model #, was like an ES335 guitar). There's guitars and basses that sound great, then there's ones with so much feel and tone they bring out the player's best as if they have a soul of their own. That Gibson was absolute magic. "...my preciousssssss..." |
#11
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Which Bass for sessions? Fender?
chetatkinsdiet wrote: But, the Precision is always going to sound decent and is easy to get a good sound with. It's sort of the SM57 of the bass world. It might not be the best, but will always be good. Just to add...that's amped or direct, in my opinion. Yup, I was fortunate enough to get mine when I was 12 and I still play it. And now just plugged into my Bass Pod, it sounds better than ever. -Rob |
#12
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Which Bass for sessions? Fender?
Rob Adelman wrote in message ...
chetatkinsdiet wrote: But, the Precision is always going to sound decent and is easy to get a good sound with. It's sort of the SM57 of the bass world. It might not be the best, but will always be good. Just to add...that's amped or direct, in my opinion. Yup, I was fortunate enough to get mine when I was 12 and I still play it. And now just plugged into my Bass Pod, it sounds better than ever. -Rob Despite what an earlier poster said, there are no better basses than a Fender. There are DIFFERENT sounding basses, but not better. You can buy basses with exotic woods and preamps built in, etc, etc, and they still don't sound any BETTER on a recording than a Fender. There are times when a Fender, at least a P bass, is not the right SOUND for the song, a basses with a little less edge to them might fit the bill better, but this gets into the same area as why a guy uses a Les Paul or a Strat or a Tele on a given song. If you got called for a session the safest bass to bring would be a Fender. Most records in the 60s (you know, the ones we keep raving about up here) were cut with a P bass. Ask Carol Kaye. Today, you still see Fenders everywhere. I liked the sound of a song by a group called PILLAR, a heavy alternate cut, and got in touch with the bass player to ask him what it was. "Fender 5 string Jazz bass, this is rock'nroll" he smiled. So Sixties or 2003, they just keep on going . Fender is the energizer bunny of rock'n'roll. |
#13
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Which Bass for sessions? Fender?
Anyone recommending a new Fender instead of a new G&L should be dragged into the street and shot. Note I didn't say "vintage Fender", since vintage is vintage and shouldn't be compared. Regardless, the best studio bass I've had my mitts on was a '63 Gibson hollow-body (never got the model #, was like an ES335 guitar). There's guitars and basses that sound great, then there's ones with so much feel and tone they bring out the player's best as if they have a soul of their own. That Gibson was absolute magic. "...my preciousssssss..." I have a '96 Fender Jazz bass and a G&L ASAT bass, and the Fender beats out the G&L 90% of the time. _____________________ Post indie electronic Meriphew http://www.meriphew.com |
#14
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Which Bass for sessions? Fender?
Man, if I could know for sure what bass Kevin Gilbert used on Thud
(specifically on Goodness Gracious--a wonderfully thick sounding gurgle on tat song), it would help me sleep at night. I've seen pix of him with a Music Man. I think he must have had some ancient tube pre inline too. -- TAPKAE http://tapkae.com "We're the cleanup crew for parties we were too young to attend" (Kevin Gilbert) |
#15
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Which Bass for sessions? Fender?
Sadowsky makes a 5 string jazz bass that is the best bass I've recorded.
--Lou Gimenez The Music Lab 2" 24track w all the Goodies www.musiclabnyc.com From: ospam (Tom Paterson) Organization: AOL http://www.aol.com Newsgroups: rec.audio.pro Date: 17 Aug 2003 13:13:07 GMT Subject: Which Bass for sessions? Fender? Question from the peanut gallery: There's a thread going at alt.guitar.bass about basses for studio work. It has taken a pro/con Fender drift (surprise surprise). Any thoughts on what's what with a noted "universal" preference for Fender over other brands? TIA --Tom Paterson |
#16
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Which Bass for sessions? Fender?
Tom Paterson wrote:
Question from the peanut gallery: There's a thread going at alt.guitar.bass about basses for studio work. It has taken a pro/con Fender drift (surprise surprise). Any thoughts on what's what with a noted "universal" preference for Fender over other brands? TIA --Tom Paterson For a walk right in, plug it in and play situation you can't beat a P-bass. Very even tone and volume balance. The Music Man is pretty solid also. Ricks never sound right to me. The old Dan Electro longhorns are pretty cool. There'a a guy who comes in here once in a while with a Carl Thompson custom handmade bass. He's had it since the seventies. That thing has a really incredible tone. One thing I've noticed with a lot of kids in rock bands using cheap basses is the fact that it sounds like there's only one note coming out at all times like a drone or an extreme singular overtone. Really drony and unmusical. Anyone else ever experience this? -- -- John Noll Retromedia Sound Studios Red Bank, NJ 07701 Phone: 732-842-3853 Fax: 732-842-5631 http://www.retromedia.net |
#17
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Which Bass for sessions? Fender?
For a walk right in, plug it in and play situation you can't beat a P-bass. Very even tone and volume balance. The Music Man is pretty solid also. Ricks never sound right to me. The old Dan Electro longhorns are pretty cool. There'a a guy who comes in here once in a while with a Carl Thompson custom handmade bass. He's had it since the seventies. That thing has a really incredible tone. One thing I've noticed with a lot of kids in rock bands using cheap basses is the fact that it sounds like there's only one note coming out at all times like a drone or an extreme singular overtone. Really drony and unmusical. Anyone else ever experience this? Yes. The worst offenders I've encountered are those Ibanez Soundgear basses. Blech. A G or G# on the low E string seems to combine with that "drone" and sounds about twice as loud as any other note on the whole damn bass! I mean way to loud to reasonably control with compression. I've always attributed this to body resonance (just a guess) and have yet to find any "cure" other than learning the song and manually ducking the fader whenever those notes appear. Never had any similar problems with Fender, G & L, or my personal fave, Music Man. Jeff Maher Garage Mahal Recording Austin, TX |
#18
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Which Bass for sessions? Fender?
I have a '96 Fender Jazz bass and a G&L ASAT bass, and the Fender
beats out the G&L 90% of the time. BRBR Yeah, I have a G&L ASAT that's just killer sounding. It's perhaps too killer sounding and distinctive. Fantastic bass in every way. The only thing I don't like about it is it being a bit "neck heavy" or perhaps body-light is it. It's got a swamp ash body that's very light and resonant. The strap button just doesn't balance it out very well though. I find myself playing my cheap-ass Fender JP-90 more, just because it is comfortable to hang around my neck. Sounds like crap though. But heck, whoever says, "man that bass player has crappy tone." As long as it thumps and you hit the right notes, pretty much everyone is happy. Nobody ever lost a gig by showing up with a Jazz Bass. -- Dr. Nuketopia Sorry, no e-Mail. Spam forgeries have resulted in thousands of faked bounces to my address. |
#19
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Which Bass for sessions? Fender?
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#20
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Which Bass for sessions? Fender?
"Jeff Maher" wrote in message
ink.net... Yes. The worst offenders I've encountered are those Ibanez Soundgear basses. Blech. A G or G# on the low E string seems to combine with that "drone" and sounds about twice as loud as any other note on the whole damn bass! If they have a cheap bass, they probably have never taken the time to properly set it up, or paid someone to see it up and adjust the action for them. Maybe the cheap bass companies even set the E string lower to make it boomier, thinking that these kids want a boomy bass guitar, who knows? ~j |
#21
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Which Bass for sessions? Fender?
I've got a 96-97 active Fender Jazz and dropped a set of Bartolini pickups
in it. Best-sounding bass I've ever touched, bar none. "meriphew" wrote in message om... Anyone recommending a new Fender instead of a new G&L should be dragged into the street and shot. Note I didn't say "vintage Fender", since vintage is vintage and shouldn't be compared. Regardless, the best studio bass I've had my mitts on was a '63 Gibson hollow-body (never got the model #, was like an ES335 guitar). There's guitars and basses that sound great, then there's ones with so much feel and tone they bring out the player's best as if they have a soul of their own. That Gibson was absolute magic. "...my preciousssssss..." I have a '96 Fender Jazz bass and a G&L ASAT bass, and the Fender beats out the G&L 90% of the time. _____________________ Post indie electronic Meriphew http://www.meriphew.com |
#22
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Which Bass for sessions? Fender?
In article om, Jason
McClelland wrote: "Jeff Maher" wrote in message ink.net... Yes. The worst offenders I've encountered are those Ibanez Soundgear basses. Blech. A G or G# on the low E string seems to combine with that "drone" and sounds about twice as loud as any other note on the whole damn bass! If they have a cheap bass, they probably have never taken the time to properly set it up, or paid someone to see it up and adjust the action for them. Maybe the cheap bass companies even set the E string lower to make it boomier, thinking that these kids want a boomy bass guitar, who knows? ~j Different basses for different jobs. a fender bass set up with P-J pickups is most versatile. Precision gives you that duck dunn jamie jamerson jerry jermot gordon edwards kind of thng and a jazz bass gives you more of the jaco thing. now for super hi end boinking the music man is the one as well as a gibson ripper. they have that super sharp attack. a sadowsky is really just an incredibly well built fender perfectly set up with great electronics. well worth it. the other ones (the hi tech ones) have their use too the stanley clarke alembic sound. there you have it. of course theres the chris squire rickenbacher sound and all sorts of variations. but 90 % of the time a nice p-j bass will do it. |
#23
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Which Bass for sessions? Fender?
"Jason McClelland" wrote in message
gy.com... "Jeff Maher" wrote in message ink.net... Yes. The worst offenders I've encountered are those Ibanez Soundgear basses. Blech. A G or G# on the low E string seems to combine with that "drone" and sounds about twice as loud as any other note on the whole damn bass! If they have a cheap bass, they probably have never taken the time to properly set it up, or paid someone to see it up and adjust the action for them. Maybe the cheap bass companies even set the E string lower to make it boomier, thinking that these kids want a boomy bass guitar, who knows? ~j I agree. I had a cheap-o p-bass copy that boomed on the G & G#. Had it set up (neck had to be re-shimmed) and the boom was gone. It actually sounded decent afterwards. Darryl |
#24
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Which Bass for sessions? Fender?
Joe User wrote in message ...
Is Schecter a bad word around here? I've heard very good reviews on the Stiletto series. I'm a guitar player and am looking for a not-too-expensive bass for recording. Thoughts on the Schecters? I've got an older Schecter B/4 from the 1980's (back when they were still a semi-boutique company...this bass was like $1800 new!) that's basically a Fender Jazz Bass. But it is the best sounding Fender Jazz Bass I've ever heard. |
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