Recording bass guitar and which one to buy

[edwonbass]

Originally Posted by D K

It's the player not the name on the headstock

True! I've heard it said before "tone is in the hands" or fingers!

[Astrain]

Sorry for my late response, today is my birthday so I spent this weekend with my girlfriend and friends.

Thanks EVERYONE for the help, I wanted to order the bass online but from what a lot of you are saying it isnt a good idea , so Im going to wait to my next trip to the USA

Well Now I have narrowed my selection to G&L, fender jazz and Stingray

Tibbon, I guess recording Tony Levin was for sure a great experience, after you said that I went and saw a Peter Gabriel DVD concert , Great musician.

rwhitney, thanks for the effort and time that you spent in uploading the samples


This have been very helpful Thanks again!

[bartrose]

I think the best all around bass that covers most styles of music is the Jazz bass. I just got the Mexican Jazz deluxe for around $550.00 and am very happy with it.

[Nu-tra]

Well in my studio I have an G&L L2000. Fender Jazz basses come through so do P basses and they sound great but the only problem I have is that it's "one" great sound. That doesn't mean it's going to work on everytype of song or music. That L2000 gets me a stingray a pbass and a jazz bass active/ passive with the different switch variations and the sucker is hand made in the original fender plant. I'm not here to bash the fender guys because I love those instruments as well.

[Acoustic Cloud]

My favorite is a Schecter Diamond series Stiletto, active EMG's, neck thru.

That company is the best bang for the buck anymore on the planet, IMO.

Sorry to add to the choices, but they are really nice!

[Tibbon]

Originally Posted by Acoustic Cloud

My favorite is a Schecter Diamond series Stiletto, active EMG's, neck thru.

That company is the best bang for the buck anymore on the planet, IMO.

Sorry to add to the choices, but they are really nice!

Active EMG's are going to give a very specific sound IMHO. Seems to be a little narrow ranged instrument (and many random bands might not like it if they have to play it) for a primary studio ax. I haven't met a Schecter that didn't scream "I play metal" or "I play heavy". At least with a J-bass I can show up at a country session, go to a jazz session, then go to a rock session... and not get weird looks at any of them. I showed up to a country gig once with an old Ibanez 5-string and almost got laughed out of the house by the drummer and guitar player.

[Tibbon]

Originally Posted by Astrain

Tibbon, I guess recording Tony Levin was for sure a great experience, after you said that I went and saw a Peter Gabriel DVD concert , Great musician.

I actually JUST got around to developing the negatives from that session (and that was a while back, thank god for low speed film not fogging much over time). When i get them scanned I'll post some photos.

The main moment I remember was when Tony took a break for a few, and one of the producers came in and was like, "Oh wow, I didn't know that Tony was going to use a fretless on this song... it's soo fluid between notes"... he wasn't using a fretless on that song He's just freaking smooth, and his phrasing is amazing. I can't remember if he actually ended up using a fretless at all, although if I recall he did bring it.

He was rather quick at figuring out some really tasteful parts for the songs, and didn't overplay at all IMHO. That is rare in my experience. I think if Victor Wuten had showed up the same day, he would have played 10x as many notes, 10x as fast... and it would have been not at all appropriate (although Wuten is amazing, just not right for this singer-songwriter session.)

My main thing I wish that we could have done on the session, was to have had the drummer record at the same time as Tony AND to have recorded the basics all to the JH-24. We had two great drummers on the session, but we just couldn't afford to do it this way nor did the schedule work out that way. Would have been nice, but it went in the order of Voice/guitar -> drums -> more guitar -> bass ->extras. Backwards yes, but that's the way it worked.

Tony's a pretty good photographer too, and there's a special on the Growing Up tour DVD about some of his photos. Chill guy. Almost too chill, professonal and modest really. Nice guy.