I just wanna know all about basses

[dNA]

Been focusing on home recording and honing my production/composition skills, but I'm just feeling my bass is pretty miserable. It's an Ibanez BTB 450 - it's a basswood body w/ quilt maple top and bartolini pickups and pre. I don't like the wide string spacing, I find the tone to be very midrangey, and it doesn't sustain so great. i essentially use the sweepable midrange to minus out as much low mids as possible to get a sound i find usable.It's not a terrible bass, but it doesn't inspire me to play at all and I feel like I'm fighting it to get sounds I like.
So I know that after I'm done w/ my tele i'm going to start saving up for a bass build and I want to start doing my homework now.

In terms of bass sounds, my favorite bass sounds would be stuff off Radiohead's "In Rainbows" and Modest Mouse's "The Moon and Antarctica." I know Colin Greenwood's using a p-bass and I'm always amazed at how much versatility he can get out of one pickup. But I'm learning more and more just how much you can do with your fingers alone to shape the sound.I've seen some live vids with the bassist on a MusicMan and was really impressed at how rounded and full the sound was with only a bridge position humbucker. Again from what I read about Fenders, I think a P-Bass sound is more my style (though I prefer the jazz aesthetic a lot more.) Passive also sounds like my bag, but i don't know.
Versatility is important - if for no other reason than the fact that i'm still "finding my voice" as a bassist and need to explore the possibilities. Though I do like generally more mellowed out sounds, I like to be able to get more aggressive sounds, and like to get some added clarity and attack if I'm playing with a pick. the one thing that sounded nice on the BTB would be to strum a power chord on the A and D strings.

Suggestions or just direction to good reference material would be great. More than just knowing instrument X would be good for me, I really want to understand how the different elements (body wood, neck wood, fretboard wood, pickups, active/passive, scale length, bridge) influence the sound. I know to get a feel for what kind of neck I want I'm going to have to go to some music shop (there's nothing within a 30 minute drive of where I'm at now that carries any real stock) and just spend a while trying things out.

anyway, any help is much appreciated!

reference material:
[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZT_nrrpe8c[/youtube]
sound w/ a pick:
[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0tsoPEEdrs[/youtube]

 

[Finch]

im still a novice at the bass thing, but I can say that the MM pickup is a very nice pickup, you can get them in alot of different flavors if your willing to drop some cash on high end brands.I have the alnico Basslines MM in my bass, and its got a nice funky 70's stingray sound to it.

Don't overlook the EMG routes either. there are a wide variety of EMG pickups, some that even mimic the traditional p&j sounds.

The only thing I don't like about my bass, is it weighs a ton, its not bad straddling a knee but on a strap its a beast, but mine is also a BK body with Wenge neck, so thats not too unusual. The plus side is my electric feels light as a feather now compared to what the bass weighs haha

 

[whyachi]

If you want versatility, while a lot of it comes from your playing style you really can't go wrong with a P+J setup. Though, really, "generally more mellowed out sounds, I like to be able to get more aggressive sounds, and like to get some added clarity and attack if I'm playing with a pick" screams passive P bass to me. I'd point you towards a rosewood fretboard and an alder or ash body - they sound pretty similar.

The Seymour Duncan Quarter Pounder I just got is proving fantastic for being able to get a huge variety of sounds out of. The Fender Mark Hoppus P sounds exactly like what you might be wanting to build - QP pickup, J body, P neck, P pickup. Though I'd suggest adding in a tone knob. If you like the Stingray tone, you might use a passive P pickup plus an active EQ, old Stingrays use 2-band EQs and a lot of guys at the EBMM forum swear it adds to the aggressive tone more than the standard 3-band, but I haven't tried it.

For scale length, 34" is standard and it works just fine for most people, but 32" can be pretty darn comfy to play on for me. Warmoth is making a 32" bass soon.

Go for lightweight tuners since Warmoth necks are heavy - I've got Hipshot Ultralites (3/8") on my P and it balances fine. The bridge is just the opposite, as the general rule is get the heaviest one you can find to help with sustain. There is a reason those Badass bridges are so popular (and expensive). You might look at going with a string-through-body bridge if sustain is a problem area for you, but I don't really think its necessary.

 

[dNA]

thanks guys! Are all MM basses active? I thought maybe a MM in the bridge and a J in the neck, but obviously if one is meant for active and the other not..
I do like the change in tone that i get when moving towards the neck pup on on the BTB - it kinda hollows out and gets a more articulated stringy sound, while the middle position is smoother and more traditional. Is that generally what neck pickups add or is that specifically the style of these bartolinis? This BTB is an upgrade from a cheaper model i had for years, but it seems to be fairly similar.
i know it's stupid -but i don't like the look of the P-Bass pickup with another pickup.  :tard: so if i could get similar sounds with a more aesthetically pleasing look, i'd do that. But the Mark Hoppus bass does sound like a pretty good design and that doesn't sound like a bad starting point.

 

[baskruit]

thanks guys! Are all MM basses active? I thought maybe a MM in the bridge and a J in the neck, but obviously if one is meant for active and the other not..

An MM Stingray has active electronics yet passive pickups. The cheap MM's a.k.a. OLP basses are all passive. In other words: MM pickups can be used passive.

 

[line6man]

thanks guys! Are all MM basses active? I thought maybe a MM in the bridge and a J in the neck, but obviously if one is meant for active and the other not..

No, there are countless passive basses with passive MM pickups, however, the traditional MM tone has a lot to do with the preamp, because the preamp is not transparent. Even when set flat, it colors the sound.

J-MM seems to be a fairly popular combination.

I have no idea what you're talking about with "one being meant for active and the other not"?
Both pickups work fine in either active or passive configurations.

 

[dNA]

thank you thank you thank you guys

I have no idea what you're talking about with "one being meant for active and the other not"?
Both pickups work fine in either active or passive configurations.

I guess it comes from my not totally understanding active vs. passive setups. Because i know some pickups are active pickups in that they do not work without a pre-amp (i.e. EMGs, if i'm not mistaken), while other configurations are actually just passive pickups running into an onboard pre-amp.


About tonewoods:
My dad has some big slabs of walnut and I was trying to get a j-bass template to cut our own j-bass body. i know walnut is used in a lot of boutique basses, but from what I've seen the only people who play those kinds of basses aren't really playing the kind of stuff I'm interested in. Am I better off just playing it safe and sticking with the traditional tonewood combinations? For aesthetic purposes, i'd like to know what I can substitute for the standard tonewoods for a different look. I'd love a neck that was all brown instead of maple, and I'd stick it on a light blue body. If not, the traditional look still totally works for me anyway.

 

[dNA]

somebody want to do me another photoshop favor and superimpose the f-hole from this bass:

onto this body:

i'm just addicted to the hollowbody aesthetic.

 

[whyachi]

You'd be cutting it yourself if you wanted that F hole on that body.

 

[dNA]

yeah i know. i just don't like the traditional F-hole look that much.
it's all just speculation anyway. i won't even be done my current build for a few months, so starting another one probably wouldn't be til winter. but a guy can dream, right?

 

[Mor Paul]

 

[whyachi]

SOLD.

 

[dNA]

:rock-on: thanks Max! Is it alright if i start PMing you every time i get an idea or is that crossing the line?
i'm definitely considering something to that affect down the line. i'd move the f-hole down like a centimeterish, just so the curve is more or less parallel to the curve of the lower bout.

 

[Mor Paul]

Sure. Not all might happen, but I'll do what I can.