Back to Passive: Changing my bass tone approach

Back to passive: changing my bass tone approach.

I’ve been a huge fan of Spector basses for a long time now. Even with one of the far more affordable Korean made models (the Q4 Pro in my case) I’ve always felt like I have one of the most playable instruments that I could imagine. A neck so thin and an action so perfect that I never need to make adjustments. An instrument that feels like it’s an extension of myself and is intuitive with my playing in every way. Well…except the way that the tone answers me back in full-band situations. One thing that I eventually had to come to terms with in regards to my Spector is that I simply had a bass that sounded far better by itself at practice volume than it ever did in a rehearsal space or on a stage. The problem was largely the active preamp, at venues where I was mic’ed I had to cut the treble and mids way back just so the sound of my hand on the frets wouldn’t be as loud as the actual notes I was playing. If I was playing a venue where I wasn’t mic’ed direct I would often times lose clarity and fall into indistinct mud when I hit a certain volume level. I still love my Spector, but I came to the decision that it’s time to go back to passive basses.

The first step was taking the old Peavey Unity Series I learned on back out and putting some flatwound strings on it. The bass is from a run that Peavey did in the late 80’s/early 90’s with both a precision and jazz pickup. I’ve begun playing this bass by keeping the neck pickup all the way up and the bridge all the way down. Roll the tone knob down a little and suddenly I’ve got thuddy Motown goodness spilling out at my command. I had forgotten how much I liked flatwound strings, no unwanted high-end noise and great clarity with reverbs and delays.

I didn’t stop at the warmer end of the tonal spectrum though, it was time to fix my mistake of not owning a Fender Jazz bass. I found a great deal on a 2002 MIM in a great color so I finally went for it earlier this year. It was such a relief to be able to dig in and get that aggressive midrange but without the hot signal from an active preamp. Since I do a looping project as well the Jazz has been my instrument of choice all year and has been a blast to play. Of course I’ve kept roundwound strings on it, so now I’ve got the two opposite ends covered.

I can dance around a Jamerson-like thud or a clear, seer-ing Geddy Lee bite between these two basses and still explore plenty of ground in between. Of course it isn’t really practical to take two basses with you unless you’re going to a recording session, but I’ve found that keeping the bridge pickup up and the tone knob down a bit on the Jazz does wonders for getting warmer sounds as well. The Jazz was mostly what I used during the recording of my band (young) American Landscape’s new album which should be coming out this fall. I found a weapon of choice for cutting through my guitarists’ thick walls of reverb…now if I could just afford a tube head. Not that anyone is likely to care but my rig currently consists of a Sunn Coliseum 300, an Ampeg 8×8, MXR M80 DI, Behringer tremolo/pan, EHX Holy Grail reverb, Ernie Ball Jr. volume pedal, Boss DD-7 delay, and my Boss RC-2 looper. So…passive or active, and how long will it be before I find myself switching back?

Album Review: Trioscapes Digital Dream Sequence

 

Dan Brigg’s virtuoso level bass playing isn’t the only testament to how driven he is as a musician. The fact that he managed to put together a group (whose members don’t live in the same state and had never played together before) that exists on such an elevated level in the midst of him being in an internationally touring band is just as much of one. Prog/jazz/fusion band Trioscapes just released their second full-length LP on Metal Blade but I’ll spare you the intro story I’m sure you’ve heard by this point. If you have even a passing interest in this band you already know this isn’t going to be an easy listen, but in the midst of the chaos these guys have a few new tricks up their sleeves.

While I enjoyed “Separate Realities” I also thought that there was alot more that could have been done in the format this band introduced. While the songs were challenging, interesting, and fun to listen to, they sounded like pieces that were composed once these three monsters got together and realized just what they were capable of. In other words, the whole record seemed set to impress with chops rather than leave a significant impression. “Digital Dream Sequence” stretches some tonal legs that I was hoping for: Dan’s bass for one explores different kinds of ear candy and reaches much farther than his work in Btbam. There’s way more distortion and fuzz present, and at times his tone is downright filthy, but he also mutates with the help of phasers, flangers, etc. and get’s plenty of tasty voices out of his instrument. A big missed opportunity before that is remedied here is Walter Fancourt’s  woodwinds, which flaunt more effect processing and a greater tonal range in general. I realize that’s alot of talk about how cool this record sounds but that brings me to my next point.

I’m glad to hear more textural/etherworldly woodwind sounds and more contorted, ear-candy bass but at the end of the day this is still an album that will hold a 80% audience of musicians. I’m not saying that non-players won’t listen, I’m just saying that when an album is composed as structurally and rhythmically unhinged as this one is it’s really only meant for a certain kind of person. Yes there’s some groove and some riffs you can sink your teeth into. And yes this albums’ listening experience can be wild and immersive, which I wish that more people cared about, but the musicianship is still the main focus. Don’t get me wrong though, I thought that the album’s second half gets to stretch out pretty nicely and I still greatly enjoyed it, but I hope this album’s growth shows that next time around there will be even less emphasis on the jaw-dropping. Still, whether it’s to nerd out on in awe with your friends or to throw on for sheer aural escape, “Digital Dream Sequence” delivers where you want it to.

NAMM 2014 Picks

I may not be enough of a gear-nerd to follow NAMM like a hawk each year, but inevitably there are always going to be some items of interest I get excited about and I thought I would share a few here.

New Earthquaker Devices pedals:

I’ve had chances to hear Earthquaker Devices products in action and it’s no wonder that they are one of the most hyped stompbox manufacturers out there right now. I can’t afford to buy pedals anywhere near as much as I would like but rest assured effects like the Rainbow Machine and Organizer have been on the top of my wish-list for the past year or more. Well, time to put even more strain on your finances and decision making because Earthquaker just unveiled two new awesome effects; The Pitch Bay and Terminal.

I’m a sucker for a good pitch-shifter, and the Pitch Bay also packs in distortion and a polyphonic harmonizer to make sure you’re getting you’re money’s worth in out of this world weirdness and sonic experimentation. The Terminal, on the other hand, is the true fuzz-lover’s fuzz. But hell, take a listen for yourself and see what you think.

http://earthquakerdevices.com/pitch-bay-polyphonic-harmonizer-and-terminal-fuzz-at-namm-2014/

Spector unveils new Dan Briggs signature model bass:

This one takes the top prize in “holy crap!” and “it’s about time they finally did that”. Dan Briggs’ bass playing in Between the Buried and Me is already the stuff of prog-metal legend as far as I’m concerned, but it was his tone on the Trioscapes’ debut record Separate Realities that cleared up any unlikely misconceptions regarding his bad-assery. It was through him that I first heard about Spector,  now I love my Q4 Pro like a child and it’s not even one of the more expensive models. The full specs aren’t available as of yet, but it’s based upon the NS 2000 5-string and will have a figured maple top,  EMG-HZs and a TonePump Jr. Preamp. More info will be available soon and I’ll likely be salivating over this one for a while since it’s supposed to carry a $1,999 price tag upon it’s release (I can’t remember if that’s list or not but I hope so). With it being built to his specs I don’t doubt that it will sound amazing, as Dan’s tone in the aforementioned record strikes the perfect balance between modern active sensitivity and old-school passive growl when he digs in with distortion engaged. This thing should be close to everything I would personally want in a bass if his range of clean and effected tones on his recording portfolio are an indication.

New Digitech Bass Whammy:

I’ve hard praises sung for Digitech’s whammy pedal for years but I’ve never owned one for myself. Looks like I might need to change that soon because this thing sounds pretty rad, especially the chord modes and the extra pitch-shifting intervals such as 10ths.

http://www.guitarworld.com/namm-2014-digitech-introduces-bass-whammy-pitch-shifter-pedal

Although I’ve decided I’m definitely either going Ampeg or Sunn tube with my next amp, I’m also digging the new Orange OB-1K. It’s a 1000 watt solid state bass amp that sports a look similar to the Orange tube guitar heads such as the Rockerverb models.

Oh, and Hiwatt bass! Man I wish…maybe someday.

That may not be much but like I said, extensive Namm coverage for all things bass-related isn’t really my thing. These few items I just talked about however, are.