There are some really nice reverb pedals out there, but most of the good ones are fairly expensive. If you mean for recording, most programs will have reverb as an effect already, so you can just add it there.
Pushing the mids up will make your bass stand out in the mix in general.

i bought a dean metalman 2a z. named her Aziza, and i love her like a child.
the problem is, im broke as fuck, and couldnt afford an amp or case (ive been using my line 6 spider III 30w (i know i know :/ ).)
and on top of that i just bought and paid off half of my grandpas old truck. so i have 20 fucking dollars in my savings.

I need recommendations for an affordable bass amp, that is loud enough to play with a drummer and be a prominent instrument in a band. distortion would be nice, but i can try to get a DE ruiner or something if the amp doesnt have distortion.

The cheapest amp that would work in a band is an AcousticB200, which will cost about $350. If you play bass in a band with a loud drummer you need atleast 200 watts.

Not necessarily true at all. Depends on the acoustics of the room more than anything else I think. My basement has insulation on the sides, no walls, so the guitars would kinda get drowned out a bit. The bass could be heard passably through a 50 watt amp, and even a practice amp sometimes.

im borrowing a 16 watt kustom from my friend xD;;. hes in a band (with my drummer) and says its loud. idk i guess ill wait and see, im so fucking broke:c

350? D: that so much, and my basses case, which i still need to buy, is 110:c

Look for used stuff. Craigslist is your best friend if you're broke.

I use a BBE Green Screamer and would highly recommend it. It's technically a guitar pedal but you won't lose much low end if you keep the Tone knob turned down. I use it in conjunction with a Bass Big Muff but that might be a bit too fuzzy for what you're after

Hey man, don't be cheap with your gear. Suffer until you have enough money for something that sounds good.

Recieved the Wood (mahogany) for the sides of the Acoustic 5 string I am planning to build myself. This was the hardest part to obtain so from now on it should go easier and easier.

The bassist in my band just got namechecked by none other than Steve Di Georgio in Bass Musician Magazine. We're stoked! You can read the inteview here http://bassmusicianmagazine.com/2011/10 ... i-giorgio/

Dude, frakking awesome!

digiorgio is the man that inspired me to start playing fretless. my fretted bass doesn't get much use unless I'm playing songs tuned lower than D (fretless is E-C, fretted is B-D)

Why not buy a fretless six string then. That would solve the switching "problem"!

I agree man, DiGiorgio is amazing and an inspiration to metal bassists everywhere!!!

I have been playing bass since I was 14 (I'm 30 now). Only one of my bands is on this website (Feast of Herod, of Indiana). I switched to fretless last year, and I must say, I am NEVER going back!!! Fretless basses are loads of fun, as you can create a much wider assortment of sounds. I mean, it takes a little bit of experimentation to get used to playing fretless in a metal style (death metal is my thing), but it's worth it. I just recorded a 4-song EP with my current band, and I definitely hope to contribute positively to the relatively small pile of death metal bands that have fretless bassists!

I would have to say, however, that going a year without touching a fret can be trying, kind of like going a year without touching a woman. Or a dude, if that's your preference. But again---it's worth it.

As an extremely unexperienced bass player, I'd like someone to enlighten me the ways to develop...Definitely, I find myself trapped in a corner,so to speak, when I practice. Can anyone recommend some arpeggio exercises, for example?.. (P.S. As far as I can judge, such stuff as Bathory's 'A Fine Day To Die' is more or less audible for me, but, as you understand, I am still where I started).

When you browse this thread you will find similar questions by other bassists. Try to work on the stuff recommended there and if that doesn't help you further come back here and ask again.

Hi there people,
I've been wantin' to get a bass for a while now, and thought it might be time already to start searching, any recommendations for starters? The specifics would be:
I'm more interested in getting a warm and sorta damp sound rather than bright and percussive, slapping is something I don't think I'll be doing often, actually the ideal would be to get good enough to be able to play a fretless in a rather melodic-er style. Though achieving that sound surely has it's part in the production, the wood on the body also plays a big role if I'm not mistaken, right?
By the way, to me, squier and jazz bass bodies are awful, if that's somehow avoidable, it'd be great.
Budget should be about 500usd.
I have the chance to get a Epi LP Special bass for 400usd, literally new, which is about 150 cheaper than the price they are sold here, any thoughts in special about that bass?

For a warm and damp sound you'll need a bass with a body made of primarily Mahogany.
Do you know what the wood type is of that Epi LP special?

Directly quoted from the site selling it:

The Les Paul Special Bass features dual 442R alnico humbuckers for a thunderous low end.
A Mahogany body and Mahogany set neck and Rosewood fingerboard provides excellent tone with massive sustain.
A standard 34 in. scale, 1.65 in. nut width, and black hardware round out this versatile bass.

In that case I think it might be a good starter bass. For that price it isn't a bad buy at all!
If I didn't have the basses I built myself, it would be quite a good buy as a second baas too!

Thanks for your help, I'm probably going to buy it this week, it also comes with a strap and a hard case for free, which is almost worth half of the bass' price already!

Good luck with it!

Are there any floating bridge basses out there? Was just thinking, I love bending and stuff on my bass so was wondering if anyone makes a type that you could smack a wammy bar on? Not sure if there would be a big market for it.

Check this out:

http://store.hipshotproducts.com/cart.p ... oduct_list

Hmm...so I'd have to put my own one together? Fair enough, might look into getting one when I have a bit more cash. Cheers.

If you didn't live on the other side of the globe I would be willing to help you install the damn thing!

Just wanted to mention I got the bass today, it's beautiful, sounds really warm and deep, thanks for your advice Rob.

You're welcome! Have lots of fun with it!

im not able to read all the posts, but been reading for a while and like to thank everbody for the good links and tips, cheers from Guatemala...

Can anyone recommend a decent overdrive pedal for bass?

So, am I doing it wrong because my shoulder aches after about 20 min of playing? It's simple melodeath, but I guess it's just that I need to practice a lot more.

How come your shoulder aches? Are you doing a Pete Townsend style of playing? You should better play from your wrist. (providing it is your picking arm you complain about)

I was going to specify in the post, but I had to go at the time, It is my picking hand that's bothering me, I've only been playing for about a month, doing pretty simple tremolos, and sitting down.

What bothers me is that I never had that problem in the two years I've been playing guitar, either.

When you play guitar you probably put your arm on the bridge to mute the strings. In this manner you are forced to play from the wrist. Look closely to how you are playing while playing Bass. You'll probably notice that you use a different style of playing. When playing with a pick you should use the same approach while playing guitar.
When you play with your fingers it might be an idea to rest your thumb on the pick-up so that you are forced to play from the wrist (again)

I use a BBE Green Screamer. I think it's technically a guitar pedal but it sounds good and you don't really lose any low end if you keep the tone knob turned down. I couple that with a Bass Big Muff and have been very please with the outcome. What type of music are you playing?

You should take a look at this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmE5CfALWTg

I'll check that one out. Style wise I like a lot of different stuff so I want a good all round overdrive that can work for a variety of styles.



Thanks, though it's a bit too thick and distorted for what I'm looking for. I really just want to dirty up the signal a bit, not fully distort it.

Bass and guitar are very different. If you play the bass wrong, you will fuck your body up. Keep your right arm as straight as you can, and extend your left elbow towards the headstock (as if to keep them parallel). Practice perfect technique if you're going to continue to play bass.

That interview with DiGorgio is great! Especially the interesting part of the Death recordings.

The difference between guitar playing and hitting the bass guitar is (at least in my case) the fact that the strings on the guitar are much closer together and easier to strumm. Then again you have to be much more careful and delicate and not overdo the hittings on your strings.
For the bass guitar you have to work much harder to get tone because your left hand has to press much harder (try to relax otherwise your tendons will hurt) as well as the right hand who has to get those heavy strings going.
Main advice: Try to get your arms relaxed and don't try to be a speedfreak on your bass guitar. Yet.

It seems as if there are more metal bassist on the web than anywhere else...