Grateful Dead Music Forum

Which of Phil's basses do you prefer, sonically? And why?

I like the Alembic Osage, with either Big Brown or the EBO in 2nd...

Rusty the Scoob wrote:Which of Phil's basses do you prefer, sonically? And why?

I like the Alembic Osage, with either Big Brown or the EBO in 2nd...

why?

I liked Big Red, because I love the sound of primal '67-'69, the resonant frequency and the ways he could make it feed back. 2nd choice Big Brown, a lot less feedback, but very similar tone (same bass after all) and plenty of freaky bells and whistles

tigerstrat wrote:
why?

Easy... I'm a bass player trying to build my next bass. And even semi-planning my 3rd. Your post has me thinking maybe I should build a Big Red instead of a Big Brown for the 3rd. Or most likely some mix of the two, since there's no way Big Brown could be duplicated.

Anyone else?

Rusty the Scoob wrote:

tigerstrat wrote:
why?

Easy... I'm a bass player trying to build my next bass. And even semi-planning my 3rd. Your post has me thinking maybe I should build a Big Red instead of a Big Brown for the 3rd. Or most likely some mix of the two, since there's no way Big Brown could be duplicated.

Anyone else?

I meant, you asked "...and why?" so I tried to talk about my favorite Phil sounds a little bit (not in great detail or completeness) but I was curious as to your own favorites, your "why".

check these pickups out: http://www.hammoneng.com/

I dig the 6-string. I LOVE the tones. I'm a bigger fan of the more "mature" GD, when they were on fire, musically and mentally more mature...I speak mostly of 1989 - 1990 up to Brent's passing. THAT was the "heyday" for me.

Phil would not be dropping as many bombs as the 1985 days, let alone the 1968 days. That old Big Red & Big Brown sounds are fantastic, but they sound more like a young man on a lot of drugs trying to find his way....I prefer the older, more knowledgeable tastemaker.

Jimmie Wilson of Landing Basses (who made my beautiful bass) www.landingbass.com has been building quite a few basses with the Dark Star pickups..just today I played one of his 4 strings with one dark star pickup, the bass had no tone controls, just volume..it was very cool and sounded great..had that old time Jack or Phil sound from the early days

I like to sound he was making in 91, sort of a pharting noise...

causebass wrote:Jimmie Wilson of Landing Basses (who made my beautiful bass) www.landingbass.com has been building quite a few basses with the Dark Star pickups..just today I played one of his 4 strings with one dark star pickup, the bass had no tone controls, just volume..it was very cool and sounded great..had that old time Jack or Phil sound from the early days

No tone control!! Cannot imagine not having one. Kind of a Van Halenish approach.

tigerstrat wrote:

causebass wrote:Jimmie Wilson of Landing Basses (who made my beautiful bass) www.landingbass.com has been building quite a few basses with the Dark Star pickups..just today I played one of his 4 strings with one dark star pickup, the bass had no tone controls, just volume..it was very cool and sounded great..had that old time Jack or Phil sound from the early days

No tone control!! Cannot imagine not having one. Kind of a Van Halenish approach.

TS - I have no tone control on the new guitar ( www.theCAUSEjams.com/photos ) either. I always kept 'em at full tilt anyway. If I want that Stephen Stills "Wooden Ships"-no-treble sound for anything (which I would only ever use during that song), I'll pick up my Stratocaster.

Rusty the Scoob wrote:Which of Phil's basses do you prefer, sonically? And why?

I like the Alembic Osage, with either Big Brown or the EBO in 2nd...

I Personally like his Bule Fret Board less 6-string He Used in1989.
and Red 6-string Quantum-6 Graphite neck 36'' Scale

36" scale? Got any evidence of this?

Rusty the Scoob wrote:36" scale? Got any evidence of this?

I cant find a good Picture of His Blue Modulus so i went a few years back and got an 88 pic of The Same Bass in a Diff. Color
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=htt ... 59&bih=556

Quantums are 35" i thought?

But jeez... as a guitarist... I can't even fathom 35" let alone 36"...

Peace,

Jommy

My personal preference is for the tone achieved with Phil & Friends, with the modulus and Meyers speakers. very clean and very present.

My bass has a 36 1/2' scale.