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Old player needs young ideas


Mailman

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I've been playing for about 30 yrs. I've always just plugged in and went for it. But, here lately

this cover band I joined plays everything from Rush to Yes to Skynyrd. I'm trying to get the orginal sound that each bassist uses. What effects do I need? Boss effects processor?

 

Old embarest fart

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Well, Mailman, welcome to the Lowdown.

 

A bit more of your story would help us get a better picture of where you are and where you're looking to go with your sound. Chances are you don't need tons of new equipment to get the sound you want.

 

What style(s) of music have you been playing for the last 30 years? What's your current gear setup consist of?

...simply stating.
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Trying to faithfully replicate multiple bands in a cover band can be a real handfull. Even a multieffects like the Boss have drawback as the look fragile (my opinon only), you can only save a limited number of settings without having to reprogram the damned thing between sets, then you don't get any beer, no time to chat up the ladies, the guitarist and the drummer get the good looking ones, the only one left has an overbite and smells of cheese and then life REALLY starts to suck.

 

Unless you are playing some kind of big market thing, for the small club gigs, just a good overdrive (Boss OBD-3), a good equalizer (rack, amp or pedal), and an axe that has dual pickups and a mid sweep on the front (Special P's, for instance). It would be nice to be able to stomp once for Geddy, twice for Flea, thrice for Sting and four times for Geezer, or pour beer and meth on it for Lemmy, but for small venue why bother? Better to just play well.

 

Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn

 

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I'm in my 36th year of playing, and I've come to the conclusion that there has to be some of your own sound in the mix, even with covers. Some bands demand you go 100% with the record, but if they're not working or if there's a compulsive-obsessive directing the muusic, then move on to something else. I can do 100%, but I expect to get paid accordingly if I have to put the extra time/effort memorizing someone else's exact lines. Frankly, I can often improve on most of them.

 

On the sound, my suggestion is start with a Line6 Bass POD and fool around with the different settings. The original non-XT PODs are being cleared out or sold by players looking for the XTs, but I think you can get a lot out of the original model and save a couple of hundred on the price. Catalog the sounds you like and use them as a guide when shopping for other, more expensive options.

 

Most here will tell you to go with boutique pedals and/or racks, but I bet they got there like I did, through time, experimentation, and a few thousand dollars investment. Unless you have that kind of money handy, take your time and develop a sound that you'd enjoy playing with. Otherwise, it becomes more like work.

 

Welcome to the party, and just in time for New Year's! Hope you enjoy it here.

:wave:

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I had a Boss GT6B (I think that's what it was called), and it was built like a tank. It had a lot of factory set sound banks that covered some of the artist you mentioned (Rush, Yes). It also had a lot of useful user programmable effects, such as compression, noise suppression, distortion, and chorus. It also modeled different brands of different effects.

I'd say it was a good all in one for live, and home recording.

"Start listening to music!".

-Jeremy C

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Greetings Mailman and welcome to the Lowdown!

 

It would help us to give better suggestions if we knew what type of gear you are using. However, you could cover all the sounds that you are concerned without using effects. The key to the Squire/Lee sound is boosted treble, stainless steel roundwound strings and a bit of overdrive. Pluck the strings closer to the bridge. Chris Squire (Yes) has always played with a pick, Geddy Lee (Rush) is a fingerstyle player buy will sometimes use his fingernails for a brighter sound.

 

If you are wanting to incorporate effects the ones most commonly used buy these players are: overdrive/distortion, chorus, flanger/phaser and delay. A simple multi FX unit will have these effects or you can readily find individual stompboxes used. Check local music stores and ebay.

 

Having said all that, I have played songs by both of these bands without using any effects and done just fine. So the effects may help you to more closely imitate the original line (the fast phaser used in Yess Starship Trooper for example) but you can play the song without it.

 

I regret that I have to disagree with my forum brother, Fred the Bass Player in that when you are playing tunes from bands like Rush and Yes it is best to try to get your basslines as accurate as possible. Even non-musicians tend to know them and expect them, (watch the Rush in Rio DVD when the entire 60,000 member audience sings YYZ!) if you play it slightly different they may not notice, but it better sound pretty close or they will.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Cheers

Nothing is as it seems but everything is exactly what it is - B. Banzai

 

Life is what happens while you are busy playing in bands.

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Originally posted by basshappi:

I regret that I have to disagree with my forum brother, Fred the Bass Player in that when you are playing tunes from bands like Rush and Yes it is best to try to get your basslines as accurate as possible. Even non-musicians tend to know them and expect them, (watch the Rush in Rio DVD when the entire 60,000 member audience sings YYZ!) if you play it slightly different they may not notice, but it better sound pretty close or they will.

The thing that separates this kind of music from the jam band music is in the details. Fudging your way through this material will make you sound like a hack. When orchestras play Beethoven, they don't fudge their way through it.

 

Yes, a lot of this will be in your fingers. I've played a lot of this with next to no effects. Occassional flanging/phasing may come up. A nice overdriven sound with some edge always helps. Hit the strings hard.

 

The Skynyrd material doesn't need much.

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God Bless all you guys. Thanks for the quick response. My main bass is a 72 Ibanez (Lefty) Yes, I'm a lefty, but I'm actually

right handed-long story. I just play through a Peavey TKO-115 and my only pedals are a Boss Flanger & EQ. I also have a Carvin acoustic fretless I use for Pink Floyd and a acoustic set we do.I was thinking about buying a Carvin head/cab set-up. Is the Bass PODxt pro worth the money? Is the Tone Works Pandora any good?

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Originally posted by Fred the bass player:

I'm in my 36th year of playing, and I've come to the conclusion that there has to be some of your own sound in the mix, even with covers. Some bands demand you go 100% with the record, but if they're not working or if there's a compulsive-obsessive directing the muusic, then move on to something else. I can do 100%, but I expect to get paid accordingly if I have to put the extra time/effort memorizing someone else's exact lines. Frankly, I can often improve on most of them.

Fred, why oh why do I know exactly who you're referring to in this post?! ;)

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"My concern is, and I have to, uh, check with my accountant, that this might bump me into a higher, uh, tax..."

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Hey Mailman, I am also a righty that plays lefty! I would be very interested to hear your story, feel free to PM me if you don't want to put it out on the forum.

 

Cheers!

Nothing is as it seems but everything is exactly what it is - B. Banzai

 

Life is what happens while you are busy playing in bands.

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Check out the Tech 21 Sans Amp Bass DI or rack mount equivalent. Both offer lots of great sound options; no pre-programs, though; you'll have to get familiar with the thing and get your own sounds.

 

Personally, I think it is kind of pointless to try to copy someone else's sound exactly, no matter how good or famous they are; make your own music. Those people got famous because they made unique sounds and music; why shouldn't you too!?

 

Guy

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The Digitech BNX3 would allow you to setup 65 different patches for emulating the original bass tone of the songs. I have one and it's a fantastic multi-effects unit. Every patch can actually have two amp/cab models that are easy to change between or blend together. There are a number of overdrive/distortion pedal emulators to choose from, chorus, phase, flange, delays (stereo, mono, etc), bass synth, envelope filter/auto wah, octaver, whammy pedal, and a few of the other Digitech noise-makers.

 

As I understand it, the Boss GT-6B is also an excellent multi effects pedal.

 

Coupled with a tonally diverse bass (Jazz bass or a P/J bass would probably give you the most options), either one of these should give you ample options for reproducing recorded bass tones.

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