les paul bass?

[MeYatch]

Anyone ever play one?

I just bought an epiphone les paul bass from ebay, at a price I just couldn't refuse. I've never played one, but I've always been a fan of the look of les paul guitars, I think it works a little less on the bass, but still cool.

Am I going to have significant feel issues compared to my fender jazz?

How about tone?

[MeYatch]

forgot to mention that my decision was made even easier by the fact that gibson/epiphone seems to have stopped production on the les paul standard bass, in favor of a special model, with only three knobs and a flat top. not cool.

[bassist_25]

Mitch, with all the money you spend on buying these cheaper basses off of Ebay, you could have saved up and bought a pro bass like a MIA Fender or a Modulus or something.

It's been a while since I've played a Les Paul bass. From what I remember, the fretwork and neck were really nice, not the greatest electronics and pickups though. Gibson's not really known for their basses. Don't expect a Warwick or a Zon. If you're looking for an old school tone, the LP may be the ticket. I know that the bassist for Scream uses a Les Paul (an Epiphone I believe).

[MeYatch]

Mitch, with all the money you spend on buying these cheaper basses off of Ebay, you could have saved up and bought a pro bass like a MIA Fender or a Modulus or something.

I know.... I'm just so damned impulsive. I just know at the price I got it I can resell for a profit if it comes to that, so it was a risk free trial.

I'm in to old school tone, but its gonna have to rock, if its uncomfortable, I'll just end up reselling it, than bother trying to adapt.

[ToonaRockGuy]

Right you are, Paul, my bass player, Robert Port, has 2 Epi Les Paul 5-string basses and also an Epi SG 5 string. All of them have Bartolini pickups and some custom electronics in 'em.

[bassist_25]

All of them have Bartolini pickups and some custom electronics in 'em.

I thought so. They sounded too good to me to be stock Epiphone electronics. I always dug Port's sound. I'm not a big Ampeg guy, but his tone really works. I dig the BLB cabs too. I like to see guys running gear that isn't everyday. There's a million SVTs and Hartkes sitting on area stages, so it's really cool to see something different.

[MeYatch]

for what its worth, I happen to like the last cheap bass I got, and I didn't get it from ebay, thank you very much (I got it from the bassgear.com classifieds)

[ToonaRockGuy]

I thought so. They sounded too good to me to be stock Epiphone electronics. I always dug Port's sound.

I had band practice last night, and believe it or not, the pickups in his Epis are all standard Epi dual-rail pickups. I had no idea.

I dig the BLB cabs too.

The BLB cabs are custom cabinets built by former Bashful member Brian Bradshaw. They do sound good. Robert also has a 4x10 that Bradshaw did that just pounds.

[bassist_25]

The BLB cabs are custom cabinets built by former Bashful member Brian Bradshaw. They do sound good. Robert also has a 4x10 that Bradshaw did that just pounds.

Do they have aluminum drivers? It looked like they had aluminum drivers in them, ala Hartke or GK's Goldline series. Speaking of custom local bass amplification, Jeff Clapper was once telling me about this local cat who builds really nice tube amps. I guess they had/have some of his amps down at Alley Cat in State College.

Guess I was wrong about the pickups. I am very suprised that stock Epi electronics would sound that good. I have a set of Barts in my Jazz Bass. I'd like to possibly drop a set in my LB75, but I really like the sound of the stock Carvin pickups. The reason I want like a set of Bartolinis in there is for hum-cancelling. Barts are somewhat of a darker sounding pickup, so I really don't know.

[ToonaRockGuy]

Yeah, Paul, the BLB cabs that Robert has do have aluminum drivers. He has 3 BLB cabs and one Peavey 4x12 that's heavy as a mother to lift, LOL.

With the show that BD puts on, I'd stick with the brighter Carvin pickups if I were you. The Barts are in the Ibanez that I got from Port, and there's absolutely no noise at all, but the bass doesn't sound nearly as bright as most Ibanez basses do, simply because of those pickups.

[bassist_25]

Yeah, the pickups sound great. I only use a pick about four or five times a night (Mudshovel is one of them ), but I still about piss myself with joy everytime I hear the pick tone that the bass gets. It's also a slap-machine. Some cats think that they sound sterile, and it's one of those subjective things. What some guys think is sterile, I consider modern and hifi.

I've always been pleased when I let cats sit in and I go and listen to what's coming through the FOH. There's always a lot of presence and punch. It helps too that old sKool has great tone. He doesn't use a smilie-face EQ and instead of trying to make a Marshall or a Peavey 5150 sound like a Mesa/Boogie, he does the right thing: It actually plays a Mesa/Boogie. I bring that up because I've noticed a certain diease amongst guitarists. I call it "Non-Mesa/psuedo-Boogitis." The general medical diagnosis is when a guitarist plays a Marshall/Peavey 5150/Crate GX100/Fender Twin Reveb/ect. and tries to make it sound like a Triple Rectifier. Symtons include smilie-faced EQ settings, unnatural amounts of gain, clipped speakers, and being unable to distinquish any other instruments that have harmonics or fundamentals in the 75 - 150 hz region. Of course, all of these symptoms result in an even greater symptom: A muddy and undefined FOH mix. It's an easily curable diesase though. Generally, the best thing doctors prescribe is to tell guitarists to quit bullshitting themselves and buy a real Mesa instead of trying to make non-Mesa gear sound like Mesa gear.

Wow, I didn't intend to go off on that tangent.