General Music Chat

I have been in the music buisness longer than I would like to admit. But I am willing to learn something new everyday about music. One thing I have learned is, music equipment can cost a LOT! of money. So I would like to know what are some of the better basses on the market? New & Vintage. Is ALEMBIC one of the better high-end basses? I would like opinions about the low-end basses also. Didnt Stanley Clarke play an Alembic? What is your favorite bass guitar? Thanks everyone.

Alembic is old school

I much prefer MTD, Fodera, Modulus, Zon, Roscoe, Warwick, Warrior.

I can't afford any of the above (well I do have a Warwick corvette) so I bought the next best thing a Carvin. Instead of paying $3500 for MTD I got a fully boated Carvin Icon 6 made from all Koa wood and flammed Koa top specially built for me for $2200.

It's a great to play and you can get most any type of sound to from a PBass to a farty JBass to something Victa or Marcus has.

The great thing I like about Carvin is that they are consistent. Their manufacturing process is superb. When I recently bought the Icon 6, I found out my 1992 used LB76 and the Icon 6 play exactly the same.

Alembic is old school

I much prefer MTD, Fodera, Modulus, Zon, Roscoe, Warwick, Warrior.

I can't afford any of the above (well I do have a Warwick corvette) so I bought the next best thing a Carvin. Instead of paying $3500 for MTD I got a fully boated Carvin Icon 6 made from all Koa wood and flammed Koa top specially built for me for $2200.

It's a great to play and you can get most any type of sound to from a PBass to a farty JBass to something Victa or Marcus has.

The great thing I like about Carvin is that they are consistent. Their manufacturing process is superb. When I recently bought the Icon 6, I found out my 1992 used LB76 and the Icon 6 play exactly the same.
Wow!Beautiful Bass.Good deal Brother!Thats what I,m talking about.Thank You!

I have two.......one is the 'Patriot' Phat Bottom model, made by Deliverance Tub and Still in Kentucky. Great action with the hickory stick. I currently string it with 1/4 pure cotton rope from Wal-mart. I use this one mainly on jazz gigs.

I've recently added a 2 stringer for slapping and popping. I chose the 'White-Lightnin', made by Hilltop Tin Works in West Virginia. I like the ported front (blows away the first 3 rows). I ordered mine with the stainless steel option as it accents the mids and highs. I use this mainly for Rock and Funk gigs.






I hope no one takes this seriously.

Thats awsome gopher! Although I prefer the "White lightninig" over the "Patriot" by far.

ROFL

Way too cool !!!!

best value: mid 80s Ibanez SR 400 or mid 80's peavey dyna bass
my fav: kramer spectre, thumb bass

Geddy Lee Fender Jazz. MusicMan Stingray. Squire has some nice Jazz and P-Basses out now too.

i don't get into the "upper end" stuff because i like the "vintage" stuff more.

and i hate active electronics.

Alembic "old school"???? So what ....they still rock!!!! My personal fave when I played bass (a couple of times when I lost my mind) was a Rickenbacker (talk about old school)


As long as it goes through an old Ampeg SVT amp ....anything sounds good!!!!

Alembic "old school"???? So what ....they still rock!!!! My personal fave when I played bass (a couple of times when I lost my mind) was a Rickenbacker (talk about old school)


As long as it goes through an old Ampeg SVT amp ....anything sounds good!!!!

No dis man, just saying ya date yourself saying Alembic. I personally don't like the string spacing on their sixes and the bart preamps sound better to me. But thats my opinion. SVT amps are great if ya have the space. For me thought thats a bit much for me to lug. I have the SWR goliaths and mobass which does well in festival gigs. 900Watt bridged. yea baby

Thats kool bassplay3r, I also want an SWR. I like the 750watt. Some really good deals on e-bay. would love to have the Goliath III bass cabnet also. I have a Peavy Firebass-700. at the present time. It does the job but a long ways from SWR. in my opinion.

Thats kool bassplay3r, I also want an SWR. I like the 750watt. Some really good deals on e-bay. would love to have the Goliath III bass cabnet also. I have a Peavy Firebass-700. at the present time. It does the job but a long ways from SWR. in my opinion.

I had the 750 watt one and then blew it up (crappy mountain power) when it was under warranty so I upgraded to the mo bass. While the mobass has more power and cool effects I think the tone controls are not that good. My little workingmans 10's preamp has better and easier tone shaping.

Now that SWR is owned by Fender I'm looking for a new rig. Fender just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I've had 5 of them and their 5 strings are terrible. before all ya hate me their 4s are great (if you find a good one), my bother has a squire 4 that kicks but. I just detest their 5's. I also got spamed alot by FMI. The G&L and music man stingrays are a much better instrument.

As to the active electronics. I used to hate those but once I tried the Bartolini NMBT 18V preamp I was hooked. A long while back I bought a Gibson Tobias classic 5 (that had the NMBT). That had the best preamp. I was playing though a lot of amps, into mixers and what not. The bart preamp allowed me to make them all sound great. The Icon preamp is even better since it allows you to sweep the mid freq center so you can find that sweet spot to boost or cut. If you check my profile page you can hear samples of a bart preamp in a Carvin LB76. Please excuse the crappy playing

yeah me too on the Fender deal, I've had the Jazz USA 4-string, A 5-string Jazz. Mexico. 5-string was better than the 4, but strings to close on the 5. seen alot of 4-strings with a bad 'A' string, couldnt get good tunning. String tone uneven. I think Ibenez is a better bass at half the price. They at least use a wider guage of spaceing the strings on their 5s. Hope SWR keeps quality with Fender.