Quote from Forum Archives on November 19, 2003, 1:52 pm

Posted by: erinanne <erinanne@...>

I've avoided it successfully for 2 years, but can duck no longer. I
got "the lecture" from my teacher the other night - the "you can't rely
on other people's equipment any longer, you have to be responsible for
your own sound, so go solve it" one.

The problem that triggered that little outburst (a very nice one, but
still, I got the message), was that my bass was fading in and out
during rehearsal the other night, and driving me crazy. Hit a note
soft and it comes out loud, or hit a long note and listen to the volume
boost or drop...

I'm playing a gig on Friday night, the first time my teacher has taken
me out with him. I'm very excited, and a little, well, whoa...
(Interestingly, my bass teacher isn't a bass player, he's a trumpet
player and an awesome jazz/classical musician and composer.)

I'm working on solving the Friday night problem as quickly as I can,
but I need to work on a long-term solution.

My usual approach to stuff I buy is that I don't want to buy three
different ones of increasing quality until I finally buy the best one
which I should have gotten in the first place, as I become frustrated
with the cheap stuff or it fails on me. I prefer to take my time about
it and get the good stuff that is too good for me today but that I can
grow into and will last for a long, long time. I just don't want to
have to spend a lot of time at it, I'd rather play and study...

So, given that I have nothing but a beginner bass (Yamaha BBN4) and a
couple of cables and a little itty bitty keyboard practice amp, how
would you kit yourself out if you were me? Jazz and worship mostly at
the moment, but I suspect I'll need to do rock etc to pay the bills.
Different rigs for different gigs? One rig with lots of adjustments?
What order would you buy gear in?

I'm not asking about the bass, that I know I need to upgrade, but I'm
asking about all the other stuff that supports the sound coming out of
the bass... amp, cab, cable, di, whatever...

Go nuts, but please, tell me why you like x or y... tone, variation,
power, oompf, portability, flexibility, solidity, whatever other
considerations.

I also hope to make a little pilgrimage to Bass NorthWest in the next
month or two for a field trip to try stuff out. What should I spend
time studying and trying and what should I avoid wasting time on, given
that it is, after all, in a foreign country to me? 🙂

TIA... actually, double that, and add a cherry on top 🙂

Ready, set, GO!

e/