drTStingray
Well-known member
I've had my Classic SR4 for about six weeks now and thought I would give some feedback on using it in gigs - to say this baby is a beauty is an understatement. It is my dream bass. Birds eye and flame maple neck, Coral red body etc etc. It is stunning (check out the Show Us Your Classic thread for pics).
So here are some thoughts, particularly after a very intensive week end of gigs.
I played a gig Saturday at an outdoor festival in Maidstone - it's called the River Festival and is based around events throughout the day, many involving river activities (the river runs through the middle of the town) - it attracts a large audience and there are bands continuously through the day - so we were set up on a floating stage - basically a barge with a fully equipped and covered stage - 8 piece band with brass section, and played a 45 min set at lunch time - songs like Walking the Dog; Night Train; Let the Good Times Roll, to the families and their kids walking by or stopping and watching - so the sounds required range from 60s jazz to soul. The bass sounded great - natural mid scoop (I actually accentuated this with the amp slightly) - the fingerstyle tone is very focussed with thick and warm bass - slap sound (without any adjustment) - basically think Louis Johnson - that is the sound - but not neccessarily the playing of course! Hearing the bass prominently in the mix with this band, with the 5kw house PA and a tight R and B band just sounded so good. The bass gets a lot of admiring comments and looks from other players - they usually ask the price as the second question
and are pleasantly surprised.
On the evening I played a pub gig with the rock and roll/rockabilly band I play in - we have a residency at this place and we get a nice audience so it's a relaxed gig. My main bass for this is my SR4 fretless but I used the Classic for a handful of appropriate songs through the set (eg Little Sister - Elvis; Move It - Cliff Richard and the Shadows) - again, the sound fits the songs perfectly - I was generally using a 'thuddy' bass boosted sound/technique (I was aiming for Jerry Scheff/Jet Harris with slightly more presence - but I possibly got bass boost happy!!). Interesting A/B song to song with the 3 band fretless - the latter definitely has more natural mid, with the mid on centre detent. Different strings may also affect this however (standard as delivered E Balls on the Classic - Rotosound Solo bass on the fretless - I don't want to have to have the board re-done too often, nice as rwound sound!!).
I've also played a gig which included jazz/funk fusion tracks, using the Classic - I was able to get Stanley Clarke-esque sounds from the bass (I've heard it - it's on you tube) but it does retain a distinctive MM sound.
It's a bass which you can put on and play any style of music I could imagine, and obtain a very pleasing and appropriate bass sound easily. It's like having two simple and very powerful tone controls - and they interact by enhancing mids as they are rolled off - it is very tempting to roll that bass control up because the tone is usuable and remains focussed all the way up.
I haven't played much else than this bass for six weeks and it really is a great instrument. Makes playing bass an absolute pleasure. My target sound for this bass was Average White Band from the Shine album - it actually achieves that exactly. My next step is to try out the mutes
I will try and post some links another time as I think the River Festival was filmed. Unfortunately no gig pics right now though.
So my overall thoughts are this is a bass which everyone should have - if you had doubts go and try one - they are awesome
So here are some thoughts, particularly after a very intensive week end of gigs.
I played a gig Saturday at an outdoor festival in Maidstone - it's called the River Festival and is based around events throughout the day, many involving river activities (the river runs through the middle of the town) - it attracts a large audience and there are bands continuously through the day - so we were set up on a floating stage - basically a barge with a fully equipped and covered stage - 8 piece band with brass section, and played a 45 min set at lunch time - songs like Walking the Dog; Night Train; Let the Good Times Roll, to the families and their kids walking by or stopping and watching - so the sounds required range from 60s jazz to soul. The bass sounded great - natural mid scoop (I actually accentuated this with the amp slightly) - the fingerstyle tone is very focussed with thick and warm bass - slap sound (without any adjustment) - basically think Louis Johnson - that is the sound - but not neccessarily the playing of course! Hearing the bass prominently in the mix with this band, with the 5kw house PA and a tight R and B band just sounded so good. The bass gets a lot of admiring comments and looks from other players - they usually ask the price as the second question
and are pleasantly surprised.On the evening I played a pub gig with the rock and roll/rockabilly band I play in - we have a residency at this place and we get a nice audience so it's a relaxed gig. My main bass for this is my SR4 fretless but I used the Classic for a handful of appropriate songs through the set (eg Little Sister - Elvis; Move It - Cliff Richard and the Shadows) - again, the sound fits the songs perfectly - I was generally using a 'thuddy' bass boosted sound/technique (I was aiming for Jerry Scheff/Jet Harris with slightly more presence - but I possibly got bass boost happy!!). Interesting A/B song to song with the 3 band fretless - the latter definitely has more natural mid, with the mid on centre detent. Different strings may also affect this however (standard as delivered E Balls on the Classic - Rotosound Solo bass on the fretless - I don't want to have to have the board re-done too often, nice as rwound sound!!).
I've also played a gig which included jazz/funk fusion tracks, using the Classic - I was able to get Stanley Clarke-esque sounds from the bass (I've heard it - it's on you tube
) but it does retain a distinctive MM sound.It's a bass which you can put on and play any style of music I could imagine, and obtain a very pleasing and appropriate bass sound easily. It's like having two simple and very powerful tone controls - and they interact by enhancing mids as they are rolled off - it is very tempting to roll that bass control up because the tone is usuable and remains focussed all the way up.
I haven't played much else than this bass for six weeks and it really is a great instrument. Makes playing bass an absolute pleasure. My target sound for this bass was Average White Band from the Shine album - it actually achieves that exactly. My next step is to try out the mutes
I will try and post some links another time as I think the River Festival was filmed. Unfortunately no gig pics right now though.
So my overall thoughts are this is a bass which everyone should have - if you had doubts go and try one - they are awesome
