Just bought a used bass...

Yesterday I bought an Ibanez Bass Guitar to have to lay down some simple bass tracks, and give my music a little more depth. I did the usual shopping around and made the rounds at all the local music stores....Found an old beat up Epiphone for $120, a new Fender Bronco for $149, a used Fender Squire Jazz for $129 and my Ibanez GSR 200 used for $99. My goal was to stay under $100 and still get something to kick around the studio.... I probably should have bought the Fender Jazz, but I liked the Ibanez just a tiny bit more, and it was within my planned budget. It sounds great in Sonar X1. So I did okay. The Ibanez is black and in mint condition.

The Ibanez has active pickups so it requires a battery every once in awhile, and you can't leave it plugged in or else the battery runs down...on the other hand I get a really great strong signal that records nicely. Here's a pic...
 
http://www.zzounds.com/item--IBAGSR200

It's a nice bass.

Well mine is a newer one, I looked it up and it was made in 2008. So it's only about 3.5-4 years old. It's in like new condition and I got it for half of the new price. Whoever had it must have just stuck it in a closet, as there's no wear on it at all. Having a nice looking bass kicking around won't hurt anything.

It's holding it's tuning very well, and sounds good in the X1 test recording I made. I just did a direct in to my Fast Track USB interface and it recorded perfectly. It's got a nice deep rumbly sound to it that'll work good with my music. It really does add a lot to the over all sound. 

They say it's an active pick up, I'm just wondering if it's got a small pre-amp circuit as well....??? I'll have to keep a few spare 9 volt batteries around, just in case. I put a fresh batterery in last night, so I should be good for a while.

djwayne


Another reason I went for the Ibanez over the Fender was the type of string each had on it...the Ibanez had really nice flat wound strings where the Fender had cheap looking regular strings. I always wanted a bass guitar with flat wound strings.

 
You can change the strings Wayne
 
 
Unless you're name is '57Gregy' apparently
 
 
Looks like you picked up a cracking bass at an excellent price though - very nice.
 
 

Ya I know you can change strings wise guy, but a decent set of flatwound strings for a bass can cost between $30-70 bucks. The Ibanaez doesn't need a new set anytime soon. So that's an extra expense I don't have.

djwayne


Ya I know you can change strings wise guy....

I knew that - hence the "" smiley.

Mind you, it is nice to be called 'wise' once in a while

SteveStrummerUK

djwayne


Another reason I went for the Ibanez over the Fender was the type of string each had on it...the Ibanez had really nice flat wound strings where the Fender had cheap looking regular strings. I always wanted a bass guitar with flat wound strings.

 
You can change the strings Wayne
 
 
Unless you're name is '57Gregy' apparently
 
 
Looks like you picked up a cracking bass at an excellent price though - very nice.
 
 

Hey! I changed the strings.
After owning it for 10 years.

I just did some more test recordings....I used an old professional guitar cable I bought many years ago. I dug it out of my closet and am using it for the bass. I was using some patch cables but they were making not so funny noises. The guitar cable works nice now. I tried making recordings playing the same bass pattern but with different pick up settings and tone control settings, it sounds best with everything turned up with both pickups on. I added a little compression to it and it sounds great !!

Sonar Studio has been working flawlessly for me thruout my testing !! It really has been a pleasure to work with it.

:)

Woah ho !! I found an hour long bass guitar lesson from Flea, the bass guitar player from the Red Hot Chili Peppers. It starts out going over the basics of the bass guitar, plucking techniques, stringing the bass, scales, practice techniques...and just a bunch of good vibes...well worth watching....you can watch it too...on You Tube...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Avf2S5MOEeg&feature=related

craigb


Does it give you tips on how to jump around the stage like a chicken with its head cut off too?  I hear that's important for bass players...  (It seemed that way with Flea too.)

No, he just gives you the basics on how to get started playing the bass. Lots of good tips on fingering, practice techniques...stuff that I found to be very useful. He's rated one of the best bass players out there, so getting to spend an hour with him on video was pretty cool in my book.

Well I'm not planning on playing out, I'm just going to be using the bass for practicing , recording and just plain fun. I'm not a big fan of active pickups but I'll learn to deal with them. This guitar sounds great so that's the benefit of them I guess. This is a very nice guitar for recording.

I still can't believe I got a nice looking and sounding bass for $99 bucks !! I thought I was gonna get a real piece of junk for that amount of money, but I did good.

Somebody spent some time on this guitar setting up the action and intonation. Nice flat wound strings...It's nice.

Depends on what kind of sound you want. I've heard that some guys keep them on for years as they develope a certain broken in sound. If you want a fresh sound you have to change them sooner. I've known guys who never changed their bass strings simply because they are so expensive. I'm not planning on changing my strings anytime soon. If it sounds good...don't monkey with it.

I priced them out last week and they go for between $30-70 for a four string set, depending on brand. Having a nice set of strings was definitely a factor when it came to buying my guitar.

By the way, I also have watched a few of your video's regarding working with Sonar X1 and learned a tremendous amount of information, you saved me a lot of grief !! Just finding that "All" selection switch made a world of difference to me,  screensets is another one of my favorite things.....Thank You !!

Speaking of bass guitar sounds... I was looking for that Sienfield slap bass sound, I did a google search to see if there was some sort of special effect used...what I found was that they use a slap bass patch on a keyboard with no effects, but a little bending. They don't use a real bass at all !! LOL !! I thought it sounded a little too polished.

Regarding special effects, in a different video, Flea mention one he used called a Envelope Filter FX25 by DOD. I don't think they are made anymore but you can find them on E-Bay.