Bass Gear Reviews & more by Jeff Addicott

Bass

Gear:

Reviews:

Some of these items I use constantly; others have been eBayed a long time ago. They've all been given thorough stage and/or studio testing by yours truly. Hopefully you'll find a few comments of use. More reviews will be forthcoming, so if you like what you read, don't be a stranger!

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Stuff I Use:

Some people spend decades on just one trusty axe. If only I were so lucky... I've been through a whole boat load of basses over the last 5 years, as I restlessly pursue my own personal holy grail on a struggling musician's budget.

For a long time, my main electric bass was a 6-string neck-through Yamaha TRB-6P (with a piezo bridge). It was gorgeous, but that high C never did anything except get in the way. Also the tone was a bit too refined -- too easily buried.

On a whim, I picked up a 1983 Ibanez Musician, which quickly bumped off the Yamaha with it's easy (4-string) playability and it's unique snappy edge. Later on, a modified '76 Fender Jazz and a 1981 G&L L-2000 also enjoyed brief stints as the main bass.

I got back into the low-B with a Fernandes APB 5-string, then an Ernie Ball Music Man 5. They were both cool instruments, but that slightly tight 11/16" string spacing kept bugging me. For my hands, it's got to be the full 3/4"! (Count your blessings if you dig 11/16"; it's a lot easier to find!!) I was also searching for a more solid, chocolatey tone.

Now I've settled on a pretty stable lineup. Each bass is very well suited for its purpose, and it'll take a real major event to make me switch anything out. Currently, I play:

An old (40s or 50s) Kay plywood upright bass: I tried out 20 basses at Hammond Ashley in Seattle and (with the slight exception of a $6000 30-year-old solid wood Yugoslavian bass) this one played and sounded the most like the ideal bass that exists in my head. And I could afford it.

I didn't get an absolute "steal", but I got an instrument that's delivered great sound with zero hassles over hundreds of gigs.
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An older model Biesele magnetic upright bass pickup. The Biesele includes a piezo input, a mixer with a phase switch and a master volume knob, all on the end of the fingerboard. It does a great job buffering the piezo (in my case, a David Gage Realist, also highly reccomended), and I dial in a little magnetic signal when I need a little more electric punch. Works like a damn!!

Kay

Warmoth

A 1988 Warmoth "Wide" 5. Finally, I've found a real 5-string, with 3/4" bridge spacing, a beefy wide neck, big headstock with old-school Schaller tuners, Bartolini pickups & preamp and 1 1/2 decades of history. YEAH!!! Some would call it a cumbersome, non-ergonimic monstrousity. I call it paradise (at least for the first 3 sets).

Apparently, this bass began life in 1988 with a bright purple finish on the body and headstock. (Ugh!!) The preveous owner replaced that with transparent brown. I recently restored the headstock to its natural maple glory.

All that mass of maple, steel and ebony gives the neck a nice even response. The Bartolinis help crank out a smooth, dark vibe. The low B is gradually waking up. A few small repairs and a year of hard playing have done wonders for the sound.

This thing is RUGGED! Last December, I took a big spill and messed up the tuning pegs. One of them busted clean off. The neck held up great, though! Warmoth still sells the Schaller tuners, so I was back in business real fast.

A Yamaha BB5000AF 5-string fretless. The neck stability is suspect. Those plastic knobs are Mickey Mouse! The tuners go out of tune more than any other instrument I've ever played. (Off by a whole step or more when I take it out of the gig bag.)

No matter; this bass sings and growls like nothing else I've ever laid hands on! People rarely pay much attention to the tone of an electric bass, but this one actually gets compliments.

The low B is incredible. Even with flatwounds, it has that swelling sustain and punch that I wish every 5-string had.

p-bass

A 1978 Fender Precision with a one-piece maple neck and an extra Jazz bridge pickup. This is the passive axe, strung with flatwounds, of course! Up close, the body wood looks real ugly. There's lots of knots and weird markings and the finish is stripped and very badly redone. It sure sounds great, though!

Installing a pickguard helped it to look more like a bass and less like a toilet seat with a guitar neck.
Gallien Krueger MB 150S (112 Combo Amp): Very versatile and potent for its size. Everything sounds good, run flat through this beauty! My favorite gigs these days tend to be the ones where this little guy will suffice.
Acme Low B-2 (4 ohm 210 bass cabinet): so THIS is what real lows sound like!! Small, light, cheap and sonically devastating. What more can you ask for? (A bigger power amp, that's what!)
Eden 210 XLT (8 ohm 210 bass cabinet): Big box, big sound. It's a whole different flavor than the Acme, one that still agrees with me (especially the tweeter), and it's easier on my amp.
Stewart World 1.2 power amp: boy oh boy am I ever glad I sprung the extra $100 or so for the lightweight Stewart! 1200 watts bridged into 4 ohms, 1 rack space, 11 pounds, and no apparent compromise in performance or sound (quite the opposite!).
Alembic F-1X preamp: no frills, just super duper tube tone. For live sound, it kills every solid state unit I've ever A/B'd it with. The front panel XLR out is super handy.

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