About bein’ a bassist who “sings”

I said at talkbass:

As a guitar-player who was a creative writing major, I hadda start singing to get my lyrics used.

As a home-recordist, and then BL, I hadda learn and then improve on bass.

Guitar and voc can be much easier because you can play the rhythm or lead around the voc; think BB King for an extreme example. Of course, doing other kinds of music is not so easy, but you can artfully underplay and drop out, especially if you have a second guitarist or keys, etc.

Doing bass and vocal is often harder if the voc strays off the bass line. I sometimes hafta simplify bass lines to sing over ’em, but you can much more seldom just stop playing. One seldom has a second bassist, after all.Vlayman

Lucinda, Dylan & Petty

A cuppla records to reco:

Dylan, Time Out of Mind: if you don’t know this, you really should. Like Buddy Guy’s Sweet Tea or Miles’ Bitches Brew, it opened a new thing for its creator, a sorta knew way of writing and definitely a new sound for Dylan. Indeed, it was a pretty new sound for us all, Lanois just getting creative like he has before, but swampier and more ambient (with jammy rhythms) – oh, the smoke and mist sound (check out his work with Chris Whitley) …

Lucinda Williams, Bob’s Back Pages …: Ray Kennedy (he worked on Car Wheels … with Earle) with Tom Overby get a little of that Lanois goin’ on, just a little here and there. And it works great here: this is the best of Lucinda’s 4th (so far) covers albums. Her band is smokin’, and they take the Jimi cue of re-arrangein’. (The Petty covers are great too, followed by the Memphis and then the Country – all are really good.)

TMP & the Heartbreakers, Damn the Torpedoes: if you don’t know this, you really should. Like Buddy Guy’s Sweet Tea or Miles’ Bitches Brew, it opened a new thing for its creator, a sorta knew way of writing and definitely a new sound for Petty. Indeed, it was a pretty new sound for us all, Iovine just getting creative like he has before, but bigger and glossier – oh, those cavernous drums (his U2 and Springsteen stuff still works, also) …

Lucinda Williams, Runnin’ Down a Dream …: Overby and Kennedy, but cleaning it up, not as murky as the other Lucinda, nowhere near as 80’s grandiose as the Petty, more Americana.

Also, if ya comment, please tell me, did Jason Isbell ever do a bad record?

Vlayman: *Spit (a e.p.)*

1. Intro-Mean-ReadyYet-Tabitha-Spit-S&M-Outtro_Vlayman 12:13

So this just some Zoom H2 guitar demos what I padded out.

Writ, recorded, mixt, masturd, and sequenced at FetaCentralRecording DDL in Oct., 2021.

Music and all instruments by yo.

Fartwerk by Jose Jones

Notes:
“tabitha” inspired by Mitch, tellin’ me to write abouta adversarial voice on the phone

stuff used:
new Toby bass V, first time I recorded it, into PF50t, SM7b, Brick, dba160XT and VC3Q

gtrs is my Seagull and my Slick tele, amp is a Electar , all gtrs recorded with the Zoom H2

vox is a beta58 into a VC1Q, percussion the same except sometimes witha RNC or RNLA

please play loud enuff yer neighbors hate both of us

released October 17, 2021

all rights reserved

bandcamp;
blog.
I mix with olive juice.

Re Ampeg tube bass amp volume

from talkbass, Wanex said:

Personally I think bringing a more powerful amp is going to be easier than bringing two large cabs, but YMMV.

Here are some figures:

-The decibel change from 1 to 100W is 20dB (V4).
-The decibel change from 1 to 300W is ~24.8dB (SVT)
-The sensitivity of an Ampeg 810E is 100dB 1W/1m
-The sensitivity of two Ampeg 810Es is 103dB 1W/1m​
-A modern V4B weighs 41lbs
-A modern SVT CL weighs 80lbs
-An 810E weighs 140lbs​
So
-A V4 with one 810E will make 120dB with 100W and the components will weigh 181lbs
-A V4 with two 810Es will make 123dB and the components will weigh 321lbs
-An SVT with one 810E will make 124.8dB with 300W and the components will weigh 220lbs
-An SVT with two 810Es will make 127.8dB with 300W and the components will weigh 360lbs
​If a V4 and one 810 meets your needs, your golden. But if more headroom is needed, I personally would rather take an SVT and one 810 than a V4 and two 810s. Also the SVT with one 810 will technically be slightly louder (1.8dB) than the V4 with two 810s.

Re pedals and shite

Some of us was talkin’ ’bout pedals, and giving history and description, comparison, and mods, and description of the mods, and price, and it occurred to me: “Ah, I have a question and comment.”

I don’t think of effects that way at all, I don’t deep-dive, I mebbe take advice but I usually dick with it a few times and find a setting I like and stick with it, go on to the next pedal. Some pedals I set for bass and guitar, or rhythm and lead, and I mark ’em with colored paper dot-stickers, ex., blue for bass, yellow for rhythm guitar – I usually stop with no more than 3 settings per pedal;

For context I have a martini in hand and am listening to a 1983 bootleg of Dream Syndicate songs recorded live that year (June-Sept; *.mp3, some 320), filling inna then current set-list. Pretty ruff performance, good sound, but/and it rocks.