new rig- help

[Sasquatch]

i am currently trying to get a new setup and am chasing the sound, so to speak, that phil had around 76-early 80s 5/8/77 scarlet and the eyes from one from the vault are two of my favorites as far as phil's performances go. i love those bombs

anyways, ive allocated like 500-700 for a new bass, and up to 600 for the amp, and it would be great if your suggestions included a higher end, expensive(at the top of my range) and a lower end version, so i maybe can save some money haha

thanks

[BlobWeird]

Hmm well I dont know the brand names or anything like that but I can tell you that he was using fretless at times. You wanna drop them bombs then thats the way to go.

[myoung6923]

I have to disagree - Phil did not use fretless basses. If you are trying to do Phil style playing - fretless is NOT the way to go.

[myoung6923]

http://dozin.com/phil/guitars.html

[strumminsix]

I'm not a bass expert so take this with a grain of salt. But I think Phil's sound especially the bombs came from his speaker configurations. Read the gear book and I'm sure it talks about it.

One of the bassists I play with has a 2x10 combo on top of a 1x15 and he can sound tight and drop mad bombs!!!

As far as heads he uses a Carvin and *loves* it.

Other bassists I've jammed with in "jambands" all love Eden.

YMMV.

[BlobWeird]

myoung ill have to disagree man. Ive got a book of pics and it CLEARLY shows phil usin fretless in 77.

[strumminsix]

myoung ill have to disagree man. Ive got a book of pics and it CLEARLY shows phil usin fretless in 77.

IIRC the gearbook says he used a fretless for a very very short period but preferred fretted.

[tigerstrat]

Phil may have owned a fretless bass, but he never performed with it.

late 70's: switching between his Rick Turner/Alembic Osage-Orange bass (a la The GD Movie) and Big Brown (sometimes known as The Godfather),the "alembicized" Guild Starfire bass
mid79-mid81: Irwin custom "Tiger"(-less) bass (passive P-bass pickups)
late 81: vintage Fender Jazz Bass
82: G&L bass (humbucker pickups)
Dec 82: dawn of the Modulus 6-String Era

My advice: allocate much more of your budget towards the amp than towards the bass. A cheap bass sounds MUCH better thru a nice amp than vice versa! Maybe get a relatively cheap bass and upgrade the pickups.

[Sasquatch]

thanks yea i guess ill go with a jazz bass since he had it for a coupleof years in a relatively good era, what do you think about amps? ampeg, eden, ashdown?

[Sasquatch]

im thinking in the price range of a nice 1x15 or 2x10 i guess

[waldo041]

just my 2 cents, but phil also used 2 amps. one for the high/mid end speakers and one for the low end. he used a preamp that allowed for this. ie.. dual preamp like the alembic F2-B. i would also have to believe he had a buffer to split the signal to accomodate for this.

in my opinion, i believe that a bass rig should concentrate on the frequencies sent to each set of speakers. a pair of 10's will not have the same response as a 15", so being mindful of the seperation either with a crossover or BI Amping is key to dialing in a great bass tone. Much like a 3 way PA system. in fact i always thought that a bass rig should not be approach in the same manner as a guitar rig. but more like a PA system like i stated.

another thing to note is that if you are playing with a guitar player that has a 40 watt tube amp, then you will need double that wattage for bass. bass is a power consumer, and it takes a lot of power to get to those nice low end monster bombs.

just my opinion, hope it helps.

peace,
waldo

[Greg S]

hey bud
i play in a dead band ....
used to use a 4 string M MAN STING RAY BASS
& a svt pro 3 bass head w/ 4 x 10'' cab & 1 x 15''
the sound was o.k. for the mean while .....

just resently pick up a MODULUS Q 6 FLAME WALNUT TOP
& MESA BOOGIE PULSE 600 HEAD RACK & A MESA POWER HOUSE
CABINET = ALL IN ONE CAB , 4X10''1X15'' + HORN , ALL INCLOSED IN ONE CABINET .....

I SAW PHIL USING THIS HEAD ( THE PULSE 600 MESA )
IN 2000 ..... THIS IS ALSO THE SAME AMP THAT
ROBIN SYLVES . FROM RAT DOG USES ......
MAN THE SOUND I'M GETTING IS KILLER ....PHIL BOMBS
GALOR ...WHEN NEEDED .......
ALL TOGETHER IT COST ALOT ....
BUT LIKE THE BOYS IN THE BAND SAY .....IF YOU WANT THE SOUND YOU GOTTA PAY ........
I BOUGHT A NEW Q 6 MODULUS = $ 3,468.73
YOU CAN FIND THEM USED ON E BAY FOR $ 2,200 TO $ 2,400 .... THE AMP I GOT NEW ON CLEARENCE AT A GUITAR CENTER PRO SHOP . NEW CAB & HEAD GO FOR ABOUT
$ 3,300.00 ...I PURCHASED IT FOR BASICALLY A LITTLE MORE 1/2 THAT ....
I HATE TO BRAG ... I KNOW WHAT YOUR GOING THROUGH .
BUT IF YOU WANT THE SOUND YOU GOT TO SAVE YOUR CASH
& PINCH YOUR PENNY'S ....THAT'S WHAT I DID SOLD STUFF , $ 50.00 DOLLARS HERE , THERE ... UNTILL IT WAS MINE ..........
AND YOU KNOW ...I STILL WANT A McINTOSH 3500 amp & A SEPARATE ALEMBIC 2B PRE AMP RACK ... ETC. ETC.
THAT'S THE SHIT PHIL USED WHEN HE PLAYED WITH THE DEAD ....AND SO DID JERRY ...McINTOSH 3500 & 2 PRE AMPED FENDER TWIN REVERBS ...ETC. ETC.
i wish you luck ,,, this is my opinion on this matter ..... do your home work ,, you might even find used stuff that someone needs to get rid of quik ...
for example ... need to buy stuff ... getting divorced ... best offer ....there out there ...
dont settle for some shit your gonna regret 3 to 5
months down the road ......
[/b]

[Phil Lesh101]

Hmm well I dont know the brand names or anything like that but I can tell you that he was using fretless at times. You wanna drop them bombs then thats the way to go.

WOOOOOW Did you just say that Phil Lesh Was Fretless? NOO! Wrong Phil Lesh Did- NOT Use a Fretless Bass Ever while playing with The Dead. How Foolish of you