Bassists of Singletrackworld….

@Edukator. I went all out and got the Zoom B6, which seems to work well through the effects loop on my SWR amp. Haven’t had time to mod many preset patches yet but, to my ear, the SVT sims sound great as does the Markbass amp sim. Getting a lot use use from the Octaver patches, a “Geddy/Chris Squire” style prog bass patch, and a Simon Gallup’esque “Curelike” patch. The on-board rhythm section seems really good too, as does the looper…mucho fun!

Acquired a new (to me) amp today 😎

I’d played a separate Little Mark head and 2×10 cab a few times before, so know that I love the sound.

The same setup, but in a more easily transported combo is great!

I was thinking the 250w head might feel a bit under powered compared to the 500w one I’d played before. But it’s loud enough to rattle the windows 😆 should easily do for smaller venues.

Ooo that’s cute!

Fender + Keanu Reeves. Oh yeah!

I had a moment of madness in Forsyth’s yesterday. Just picked it off the wall and couldn’t put it back… 

It’s a Cort, I don’t know much about them, but it’s fantastic. I’ve been playing a Squier PJ which I thought was fine until I played this. Feels like a proper musical instrument. 

It must be the season for it, my ongoing quest for low end clank has lead me down a dark path and I may have acquired this yesterday.

It’s very silly.

Saw this earlier, could be fun…Geddy Lee tv series – Are bass players human too?

Recently treated myself to a Hofner Ignition violin bass. Was alright straight out of the box but not quite the sound I was expecting / looking for. Did a bit of reading and sprung for some flat-wound Hofner strings to replace the stock round-wound. Wow! What a difference, the contrast is amazing. Like two different instruments, Absolutely love it now.

My current set up is a Warwick rockbass corvette active short scale with TC Electronic BG250 amp and 208 cab. Also have an Ibanez artcore semi hollow body, plus an Squier VM mustang.  I didn’t mean to end up with 3 basses, but that’s the way it goes sometimes.

Strictly a bedroom bassist of several years, but still completely rubbish.  I tell myself it’s the journey, not the destination.

I didn’t find the mustang very comfortable so decided to sand down the body to stop getting a sore forearm. Much better now, but looks rough. Also put piccolo strings on. Just the thing when I want to noodle with all those Ennio Morricone cowboy film scores.

If we are showing and telling here’s my latest edition. It was time to move on the Flea bass and the JMJ Mustang so I replaced them with this.

I picked up this Jackson in the sale a month or so ago.  It’s a lot nicer to play than my old £50 ebay special was!

Nice! Jackson basses are pretty underrated, my daughter wanted a Bass for her birthday and she’s tiny so it had to be shortscale and she was adamant it had to be purple. 

Ended up spending £200 on a Jackson Minion basically because it was purple and wasn’t expecting much but was pleasantly surprised, lovely little thing. Electronics are nothing special but.. £200, and the overall build was really good. 

As someone who is thinking about learning a guitar – is the bass easier to learn for someone with fat fingers who struggles to only press one string on a normal guitar?

Maybe, I guess. The main reason to learn is that the bass is more awesome!

I’m a recent (lockdown) guitarist – I got a bass first (short trip with an Ibanez and then to the Squier Mustang that i still love) – always wanted to play bass as bassists are super cool. Especially women bassists, from Carol Kaye through Tina, Gail-Ann, Kim, Kim, and many many more.

I then also got a six string (Jazzmaster copy from HB)

I find bass way easier even though I don’t have particularly fat finger and there’s some iconic bass lines that are great to turn up loud when no-one’s around.

Next step as well being able to listen to and mimic some bass lines (or cheat and look them up online) would be to understand a bit of practical music theory. I did music as a kid but have forgotten most of it – I can do scales and arpeggios on the bass but knowing enough so that if someone was to say this one’s in F major…. I’d know what chords / root notes go with that and hence then be able to I IV V shuffle around in time with the music rather than having to ‘know’ what notes to play.

Any decent resources anyone can recommend?

FFS someone talk me out of buying a Chris Wolstenholme signature Status Graphite. 

I play a good amount of Muse basslines and they stopped making the CW signature  year or so ago. The maker has just started making them again and I happen to have the asking price of a new one burning as hole in my pocket. He’s my main influence and I am sorely tempted. It’s a helluva price for a bass, but in my heart of hearts I know I won’t settle til I’ve got one. 

You know what to do.

Edit: @wooobob, I had a fondle of your Cort on the way to the Muse gig, lovely thing, very pickupable.

Bad enough this place is always tempting me to buy bikes, now I find this thread. I don’t play but have been bass-curious for a few months. Never played any guitar, but did a bit of high school keyboards for a few years (35 years years ago!). Not great a reading bass scale but some memory of timing   If I’m honest, was reasonable  mechanical player but lacked much flair or imagination but then again I was a teenage boy at the time. Still fancy giving it a go though. 

Read the thread like a newbie trying to understand gear ratios and suspension settings. What would I actually need to start? No desire to be out gigging and have a young child and elderly neighbours, so no need for a big amp. Also P and J sound more like a sandwich to me. Stuff I like the bass in is 90’s/ early 2000’s punk pop stuff. Think Green Day, Alkaline Trio and (don’t judge too harshly) Blink 182. 

Don’t know enough to confidentially buy second hand or online, so probably physical shop buy. Seen the all in one starter kits but not sure if they are just a BSO ( Bass shaped object). 

Point me in the right direction. 

if green day and blink 182 are your thing then a Pbass is probably a good starting point: P means Fender Precision bass, just like the one that OldTennisShoes has just pictured above, simple controls are great for a learner and the guy from green day plays one.

J means Fender Jazz bass, which is slightly different, they have a different shape neck – but if you are going to shop to try, have a go on all the different shape ones and buy the one that makes you think ‘yeah !’

Ideally see if you can find a passive (i.e. no battery required) ‘PJ’ configuration.

That gives you the classic Precision split neck Pickup as a well a Jazz style bridge one.

Turn the neck pick-up all the way and turn off the bridge and you basically have a P-bass but with the options for more bright, twangy bridge tones down the road if you decide to go that way, keeps your options open.

It’s still a passive so nice and simple, not much to go wrong.

Squire Affinity and Harley Benton from Thomann are both well regarded.
Also worth looking on Gumtree and Facebook Market place for second hand. If going second hand, Yamaha are also a safe choice.

Thanks guys.

@hatter I’m sure that sounds perfectly reasonable, unfortunately it means absolutely nothing to me! Told you I really know nothing.

Also worth looking on Gumtree and Facebook Market place for second hand.

I’m sure there’s great stuff out there, but for me it would be like sending someone into the Pinkbike classifieds for their first bike. I could pick up an absolute dog and be none the wiser.

@clubby

Different configurations of bass pickups give a different tone to your sound. Put as simply as possible (based on the way my mind works anyway…) there are two main  configurations which are both based on the original Fender bass guitars of the “good old days”.

A Precision Bass played with no effects will generally speaking give you a thumpy bass tone, so think hefty bass lines with a little bit of leeway depending on where you set the tone knob. They have one pickup (which is split into two halves) and so the only control over the tone is via a single knob which tends to back off treble rather than add bass.   They’re simple, they’re great fun and sound awesome in all kinds of genres. As another rule of thumb P Basses tend to have a slightly wider neck so  maybe  don’t play quite as fast as a Jazz, but there are plenty of virtuosos out there to whom that won’t make a shit of difference. 

The Jazz Bass style is again based on the original Fender Jazz Bass. That design has two pickups which are (as standard) two single coil pickups spaced quite wide apart. That spacing means that they are taking string sounds from two different places, ie from near the bottom of the neck, and from near the bridge and these can have quite wide tonal variations due to the way the strings behave. The controls are set so you can dial in as much or as little of each pickup as you like, and then there’s an overall tone knob, which gives you a fantastic sliding scale of tonal possibilities. That’s way too much information for a novice (it certainly was when I started!) so the bottom line is that a Jazz is, generally speaking, more versatile, and can be bright and zingy/jangly  if that suits, or you can dial in something that approaches a thumpier tone. A Jazz bass will also tend to have a narrower neck with a slimmer profile, and will suit some hands more than a P Bass. 

Both designs have been copied ad infinitum and there are loads out there that will suit any budget. Some are better than others, but if I were starting out today I would go to a big music store and get a friendly salesperson on your side. Be honest about your budget and tell them what you intend to play. They’ll steer you in the right direction but most importantly let you try them out. 

Whereabouts are you? 

Point me in the right direction.

A Yousician account and some decent headphones. It’s like being in a band. You’ll be flying in no time.

Thanks @scapegoat that makes sense. I’m in Angus, nearest biggish shop is in Dundee and has been there for years, so probably used to complete numpties wandering in asking daft questions. Just a bit daunting for a 49 year old complete beginner. 

Recently traded a Cort Element for a Yam 734a at Promenade in Morecambe.
Both were lovely, but I wanted a more trad style instrument.

The quality and value on both is quite exceptional for the money, with the Yam being nicer overall.
Both Cort and Yam make exceptionally nice instruments.

No worries. The most important thing to bear in mind is that no-one gives a damn how good you are, we all had to start somewhere, so try and overcome any misgivings about trying out a bass in the shop. Be upfront with the salesperson… they want to sell you the right thing so you’ll come back in the future. Get them to set it up properly if you buy one there.

Otherwise, the advice a few posts back about used Squier Affinity basses is good. They are made under the name of Fender for a reason, and you’ll see many of them at gigs simply because they work. Factor in the cost of some new strings into your budget, and maybe even the price of a setup, or the price of a few tools/gauges and a spare hour or two of YouTube setup tutorials if you’re reasonably handy.  Loads of folk buy a bass on a whim, then spend a couple of weeks discovering they aren’t Geddy Lee then let them gather dust until it’s time to move them out of the spare room in time for Christmas. There are bargains to be had but they’ll probably need setting up properly.

If you can get face-to face lessons do so. If not, then scour the ‘Tube for an established tutor such as Scott’s Bass Lessons, Talking Bass, or BassBuzz . Don’t skimp on technique or  theory and if you can, learn to read music. There will always be someone who tells you just to “play by ear” but that’s a non-starter unless you’re some gifted/neurodiverse  musical ten year old.

for all the discussion of pickups and neck profiles, one of the big differences in a P and J bass is body shape. The J bass is offset, the lower cut out is further back and when I played them side by side in shops the J bass plays better sat down.

The PJ above has a P shaped body; below is a J

https://www.gak.co.uk/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,width=650,height=630,format=auto/https://58eca9fdf76150b92bfa-3586c28d09a33a8c605ed79290ca82aa.ssl.cf3.rackcdn.com/fender-player-jazz-bass-tidepool-maple-neck-722671.jpg

@Clubby I’m in Perth. I’d be happy to lend you a bass and amp to have a play with if you fancy it?

Both Cort and Yam make exceptionally nice instruments.

Cort are the contract manufacturer for a huge chunk of more famous brand’s ‘budget’ lines (i.e. Squire, Ibanez, PRS etc). If your mid-range guitar or Bass was made in Indonesia then there’s pretty good odds it came out of the Cort factory, I’m pretty sure my LTD did.
Obviously the level of attention to detail and craftsmanship varies wildly depending on what a client is willing to pay but the higher end stuff coming out of there is fully worthy of respect.

also, sorry Clubby, I wasn’t trying to confuse.

@oldtennisshoes thanks, that’s a very generous offer, I’ll bear it in mind.

@hatter , no worries, didn’t think you were. Just need it all explained very simply.

Looking at local shops and this kind of appealed.

https://www.kennysmusic.co.uk/squier-affinity-series-precision-bass-pj-pack-with-rumble-15-amplifier-3-colour-sunburst-p431

It’s in the price range where I wouldn’t worry about shelving it if I got bored. Also has the advantage I wouldn’t need to worry about setting it up. Would be able to try first as well. Seems to fit lots of the advice above.

A decent shop might not be as cheap as an internet box shifter, but will do a proper set up before sale.

If they won’t, no matter the price point, go somewhere else, even if it means compromising on colour or even make of instrument.

My small, local shop (Pro Solo in Burnley) sets up every single instrument before it gets hung on the wall. If it can’t be set up properly, it goes back to the importer.
They are successful because Paul has a fantastic reputation and offers proper customer service, not just to those buying expensive gear, but to everyone.
I would say the same of Promenade in Morcambe and Sound Affects in Ormskirk.

I’ve had limited, but positive experiences with Kenny’s in Dundee. Worth ringing them to see if they will match their internet price in store.

That kit on Kenny’s looks ideal as a starter set and having local support for a proper set-up is a plus as well.

Only thing I would mention is that if you’re looking for a bit of of a punk rock vibe then you’ll be wanting a bit of overdrive to give your sound that crunchy/dirty edge.

Most amps have some kind of overdrive built in but the Rumble 15, being the basic one, doesn’t.

So, it may be worth seeing whether Kenny’s can swap it out for a Rumble 25 or 40(assuming you’re sticking with Fender) to get you that.

Or…. you can always add an overdrive pedal down the line.

Overdriven bass is one of the greatest sounds yet invented by man so I wish you luck on your quest.

Thanks everyone for the advice. Went into Kenny’s in Dundee to have a look at the Squier set up. Staff were really good and after chatting about what I was looking for, plugged the bass in for me to make noise with. Left me alone for 10 minutes to twiddle the nobs then showed me some similar ones. Tried a Yamaha next which instantly felt nicer. Little bit narrower neck and felt nicer finished. Couldn’t tell any difference in sound. Tried a Cort next which was too narrow. Never picked up a guitar before but funny how it just felt right or wrong straight away. It was a Rumble 25 they’d plugged into and @hatter was right the overdrive sounded great (in the hands of the salesman). So for just going in for a look, I walked out with a Yamaha TRBX174 (in old violin finish) a Fender Rumble 25 amp and nice looking woven cable for £410. More than the Squier bundle but Iooking online seems pretty good value for what I got.  Watched the first Scott’s Bass Lessons beginners vid and just need some peace to get a chance to practice. Wish me luck.

Sounds like an excellent start. Have fun! 

Fantastic stuff! Enjoy

Great stuff!

Those Yamahas are lovely.

Yay! have fun! Glad you went for an overdrive option, much enjoyable racket-making to be had there.

Glad you went for an overdrive option, much enjoyable racket-making to be had there.

Oh yes. Making a big deep growly noise is all part of the fun.

You said you’re doing SBL, of course that’s important but absolutely obligatory is a few iconic basslines that you can whack out on loud

– The Chain

– Peaches

– Seven Nation Army (not strictly a bassline, burn me)

– Psychokiller

– and drop D tuning for Killing in the Name Of