Ibanez SR1200 bass thoughts?

[Hellbat]

Bass pod would obviously be a good choice but I don't know if it does the battery thing. I was going to suggest the pocket pod but the only 'bass' amp in that model is a Fender Bassman.

[markD]

oh, i missed the battery part. yeah, no battery on the bass pod!!

[Sephiroth]

When will Ibanez bring back the Roadbass? It had an RG body and a traditional Ibanez pointed head, and was the only bass from them I really had any interest in

[xenophobe]

hahahaha! that's cool!

regarding bass rigs...i have always enjoyed SWR, eden and trace elliot. lately though, i recognized that i like to put a bit of growl back in my sound, so i want to go back to an all tube bass amp. hybrid stuff is nice, but just doesn't have the grunt. i would love an ampeg, but they just cost way too much. i think i am gonna go back to using a fender bassman 100 like i did when i first started playing bass. that through 2x10's and a 15 was great!! though it was more of an "meat-n-potatoes" type bass sound.

there is a local guy that gigs with carvin stuff and sounds KILLER!!!!

my bassist uses GK and, honestly, he sounds like ass. he uses one of their newer amps through a 4x10 and an 18. it is just too much. he tries to have a ton of high-end and a ton of low-end. it has always been hard to deal with!!

My GK setup sounded like ass. I had one of their nicer heads and a Mesa flight cab... I could never get this combo to sound good. SWR sounds nice, but it's generic SWR sound. You can pretty much tell SWR without even looking at it.

I had an Ampeg PR410HLF pro series cab and a solid state US built Ampeg B5R, one of the first to come off the manufacturing line actually. It sounded pretty ok, but I needed some compression and some clipping so I got a DBX DDP dynamics processor... after weeks, I finally figured it out... added a touch of compression, added a soft knee clip set to the hardest setting, added a touch of noise reduction, and it sounded like god. Played a birthday up in the mountains in Boulder Creek. I took a break after a couple of sets, my friend picked it up and I walked back to the house and then down to the driveway where I was parked and I was just floored... it sounded so amazing ringing through the trees, it didn't blow the guitarist out and it definitely held the drums together... I've never appreciated my nice gear so much until that day...

Oh, I had the DBX set in the effects loop at about 60/40-70/30 mix... for some reason it needed a touch of dry signal, but overall it's the best sounding rig I've ever had and I've had a lot of people come up and ask about it...

[jgcable]

My GK setup sounded like ass. I had one of their nicer heads and a Mesa flight cab... I could never get this combo to sound good. SWR sounds nice, but it's generic SWR sound. You can pretty much tell SWR without even looking at it.

I had an Ampeg PR410HLF pro series cab and a solid state US built Ampeg B5R, one of the first to come off the manufacturing line actually. It sounded pretty ok, but I needed some compression and some clipping so I got a DBX DDP dynamics processor... after weeks, I finally figured it out... added a touch of compression, added a soft knee clip set to the hardest setting, added a touch of noise reduction, and it sounded like god. Played a birthday up in the mountains in Boulder Creek. I took a break after a couple of sets, my friend picked it up and I walked back to the house and then down to the driveway where I was parked and I was just floored... it sounded so amazing ringing through the trees, it didn't blow the guitarist out and it definitely held the drums together... I've never appreciated my nice gear so much until that day...

Oh, I had the DBX set in the effects loop at about 60/40-70/30 mix... for some reason it needed a touch of dry signal, but overall it's the best sounding rig I've ever had and I've had a lot of people come up and ask about it...

It seems that Ampeg may be the way to go. Thanks!

[jgcable]

Been practicing like a mutha. A few hours a night. The bass is really tough on the fingers. So far, the hardest thing for me is dynamics. It takes alot of will power to not use a pick. I refuse to ever use one. So far... I can almost play the bass line in Higher Ground by The Red Hot Chili Peppers, I can almost play Number of the Beast and I can do a pretty convincing Reim of the Ancient Mariner. I can also almost play the bass line to I want you Back by The Jackson Five and my showcase song currently is Play That Funky Music by Wild Cherry. I have been alternating between rock and funk. I have also been playing to anything that comes on the radio. Its really fun. I still think I may be a natural on the bass because I have always been a pretty good finger picker on the guitar. Its sure is hard though and I have a new found respect for bass players.

[markD]

cool!! yeah, the dynamics take a little time...i would almost consider it more "finess" rather dynamics. what gauge strings did you end up going with? and did you get nickel or stainless steel?

[jgcable]

cool!! yeah, the dynamics take a little time...i would almost consider it more "finess" rather dynamics. what gauge strings did you end up going with? and did you get nickel or stainless steel?

I went with D'addario XL's (I use them on my guitars too). I got nickel covered steel roundwounds 45-105.
I was going to go with Stainless Steel but I heard they are even rougher on your fingers. Its amazing how easy it is to put on bass strings. I wish my Floyd equipt guitars were that easy! Regarding dynamics, it sounds like I am slapping every string when I play. I tend to hit the strings with my fingers and almost pluck the notes. I guess thats what newbies sound like.

[xenophobe]

Yeah, some things like overall volume and trying to get fast changes to sound tighter required the settings I described. In a funk or mellow setting, you probably would not want to use any of that, but in high gain epic metal, the compressor/limiter is almost a requirement, it certainly was playing technical death metal, IMO.

And SWR/Ampeg is a personal preference thing. They both sound great. They just sound really different.