Customshop "Hank Marvin" Precision Bass

[Dranna]

Dear Dave, Iain, all,

Thank you so much for your answers.

Dave, I don't think I can remove the covers because of the "look" we need on stage, but I will experiment with wedging some foam in there.

When I play live, I use the house system and can usually ask for some reverb. In the practice studio however, I will try Andy's Fender reverb. Iain, you mentioned echo. Should I use an echo? For which pieces? Andy has several of Charlie Hall's echo machines and I might use one of them. But which patch would I use?

Pardon me for asking so many questions. I'm a complete tyro and still getting used to a plectrum.

Warm regards,
Anna

[Iain Purdon]

Hi Anna

In general don't use echo on bass when playing live, there's no need. I add in a touch for Kon-Tiki and one or two of the later "clicky" John Rostill numbers, but it's not essential. The venue acoustic will probably do it for you. The main thing is how you attack the strings. Pick hard and as close to the bridge as you can and you will get a twangy sound (without foam) or a clicky sound (with the foam in place). Make sure your tone control is fully up. By contrast, pluck the strings with a finger somewhere near the neck and you will get a mellow boom. You can make it muddier by turning the tone control down.

For recordings, where there is no venue acoustic, a bit of artificial echo could help on numbers like Kon Tiki but I couldn't say which patches to use, as they were not programmed for this purpose. Trial and error worked for me!

Iain

[Dranna]

Thanks very much, Iain. I will try all of that. I still have to work with damping the strings, the pickwork, and the foam.

I have been quite busy with work, but have left a bass guitar and tiny amp at our lead guitarist's office, which is just a few blocks from my clinic, so we can practice lunchtime! I hope that helps!

Regards,

Anna