'03 SC Signature Standard 5-string

[rv_bass]

What is the scale length is your bass, and have you tried Alembic stings?  They have a moderately bright sound to my ears.  That might work for your B string.

[hieronymous]

What is the scale length is your bass, and have you tried Alembic stings?  They have a moderately bright sound to my ears.  That might work for your B string.

Missed this post! It's the standard Alembic short scale. I've got it set up the way I like it right now, though I think if someone else played it they would be horrified! Maybe when I run out of my custom Bs I should get it worked on and set up for a different set.

[hieronymous]

I might have said this in a recent post - I used to use a lot of effects, but I've been enjoying the sound of my SCSS with just a touch of compression and EQ that I just haven't wanted to use any other effects. But then I started messing around with stuff, and then I realized it was Bob Moog's birthday yesterday so I went all out!

The bass track here is Z.Vex Mastotron fuzz into Moog/Big Briar MF-101 lo-pass filter with the frequency cutoff being controlled by the Moog/Big Briar CP-251 signal processor sample & hold, recorded into my Zoom H6 (normally I would record direct into ProTools but had the Moog stuff spread out where my computer normally sits!) - here's the setup:



Then I ran that into the Moog/Big Briar MF-104 analog delay and recorded that into ProTools. Finally, overdubbed the Moog Sirin doing the bass pedal synth parts - that was probably the part I worked on the most, had to figure out what I was doing on the bass lol.


Bonus points if you recognize what the emblem is based on!

[OJ Dorson]

It seems that somewhere in this thread, you switched back to BEADG after having Alembic get you setup for EADGC... I always think I'm going to love EADGC much more than BEADG, so would you mind sharing more about why you went back?

[hieronymous]

It seems that somewhere in this thread, you switched back to BEADG after having Alembic get you setup for EADGC... I always think I'm going to love EADGC much more than BEADG, so would you mind sharing more about why you went back?

Yes, when I got the bass it was just standard BEADG. I had been playing an Ibanez 6-string and starting to mess around with simple chords, so thought I'd continue with this bass. Alembic made new saddles and a new nut. It never really clicked though - I don't think the instrument liked it either - when I decided to try BEADG again it was like all was right with the world and the bass was born again! I personally don't need the high C string. I don't use the low B string that much, but it's nice to have it there - you never know!

Have you played a bass tuned EADGC? You can always just experiment with a set of strings without changing the nut and saddles. A long-scale instrument might handle the change better. Short scale has its challenges that differ from long IME.

[OJ Dorson]

It seems that somewhere in this thread, you switched back to BEADG after having Alembic get you setup for EADGC... I always think I'm going to love EADGC much more than BEADG, so would you mind sharing more about why you went back?

Yes, when I got the bass it was just standard BEADG. I had been playing an Ibanez 6-string and starting to mess around with simple chords, so thought I'd continue with this bass. Alembic made new saddles and a new nut. It never really clicked though - I don't think the instrument liked it either - when I decided to try BEADG again it was like all was right with the world and the bass was born again! I personally don't need the high C string. I don't use the low B string that much, but it's nice to have it there - you never know!

Have you played a bass tuned EADGC? You can always just experiment with a set of strings without changing the nut and saddles. A long-scale instrument might handle the change better. Short scale has its challenges that differ from long IME.

I've got a six-string Orion Fretless and have liked the upper limit, whereas with any five string I've had I've just not touched the B much. Years back I had a five-string Ken Smith Burner (really beautiful walnut top/back!) and didn't care about the B, even though it sounded wonderful. I have a five string now made by a luthier in Idaho and the B has got great sound, too, but I'm tempted to switch it up using the old strings from my Orion which I just replaced.

[hieronymous]

I've got a six-string Orion Fretless and have liked the upper limit, whereas with any five string I've had I've just not touched the B much. Years back I had a five-string Ken Smith Burner (really beautiful walnut top/back!) and didn't care about the B, even though it sounded wonderful. I have a five string now made by a luthier in Idaho and the B has got great sound, too, but I'm tempted to switch it up using the old strings from my Orion which I just replaced.

Sounds like you should give it a try! Like I said, you can experiment without changing out the nut/bridge saddles until you're sure. Have fun and good luck!

[hieronymous]

I've been experimenting with my AleM-85, working on my interpretation of Phil Lesh, and for technical reasons (trying to track down some static) gave the SCSS a go:

Playing with a Telefunken graphite pick. You can hear Phil's original bass track mixed in - pretty gnarly tone he's got going!

Plan on working on my Phil Lesh-interpretation manifesto - can't copy the guy but working on incorporating his approach to my style.

[rv_bass]

Sounds great! 

[hieronymous]

Sounds great! 

Thanks! I feel like I'm cheating a bit since Phil himself is pretty present in this mix, which is actually only one channel - that's why Jerry is missing! Wanna play like this live with a band!

[edwardofhuncote]

Enjoying these. Reminds me I need to get back to work with that pick!

[hieronymous]

Another one with the Telefunken pick, this time with some Moog phaser (MF-103 moogerfooger)

[hieronymous]

Here's Vital Transformation by Mahavishnu Orchestra - this one takes some endurance!

[rv_bass]

Very nice! 

[hieronymous]

I've been inspired by the recent Tech21 Geddy Lee MP40 SansAmp pedal - it's basically like his YYZ pedal which takes a mono signal, puts it through two channels, once clean and deep, the other with drive on the high end, then spits it back out mono. One thing I've been doing is bass covers of Rush songs from Moving Pictures, the album whose 40th anniversary the pedal is celebrating (MP40, get it?) - decided to do one of them with my Stanley Clarke Signature Squared - Signature bass through a signature pedal!