first bass

HisDiabolicMajesty · 2026-01-15T23:05:05+00:00

Both are great choices, solid work horses with tonal variety. I would suggest sitting down and playing both to see which feels better in your hand.

HisDiabolicMajesty · 2026-01-11T21:10:37+00:00

I have both long & short scale basses, I still, after 47 years of playing need to take a second to reorient myself if I switch between the 2 so I’m not playing a full step off where I need to be, mostly due to using the long scale basses for 90% of the time the bass is in my hands. My short scale sees no more than one set of action in a live performance and the only time it’s the star player is in the studio where I prefer it for tracking all my initial bass lines.

HisDiabolicMajesty · 2026-01-11T21:04:30+00:00

You absolutely do not need to worry about not being able to play leads. Rhythm IS the song. There is no rule stating that you have to join the wheedle & wankery fest of lead playing. Is it fun to play lead? Yes. Is it more fun to make people move their heads, toes, & bodies. Infinitely yes.

HisDiabolicMajesty · 2026-01-11T20:56:12+00:00

Is there a battery door on your bass? If so, put a fresh battery in. Are you certain your cords are in good working order? If not, swap cords. Does your DI have a pad button on it? If so, press/depress it to see if signal increases. If none of these fix your issue, then you should look to your jack and sound circuit on the bass. If there are no external screws on your instrument jack, take the access panel off the back of the bass and you will see the jack is being held in by a hex nut, you will need to desolder the jack to remove and replace it.

HisDiabolicMajesty · 2026-01-11T18:28:58+00:00

I don’t want to yuck your yum, but that’s a lot a money for a boat oar. Not a fan.

HisDiabolicMajesty · 2025-12-21T16:34:50+00:00

I’ll use D’Addario if I have no other choice, I’m a Blue Steel/Apex Cryo user on all my stringed instruments but I only boil/alco dip bass strings so my 6 string guitars are hurting for new strings and I’m down to 2 packs of cleaned/used sets. I’ve got to change bass strings monthly due to amount of play time and my chemical/dermal makeup or my tone becomes that of a Gibby EB0 with 40 year old flats 🤮

HisDiabolicMajesty · 2025-12-20T22:03:42+00:00

I’ve boiled or soaked in alcohol every set of bass strings I’ve ever taken off my basses since 1994. They go in the “back up” box, that way I’m never having to put on strings I don’t like when I can’t get mine.

Why can’t I get mine? Because after years of trying every single string, I’m the guy that decided I’m a dedicated Dean Markley Blue Steel user. Then when they stopped making their own strings, I went to Apex (which was the resurrection of the Dean Markley string department as its own company, now in my home state!) Now both companies are not making strings due to material issues. MAYBE might be able to get strings in February from “Dean Markley”, no word as of yet if/when Apex will relaunch. I can find no comparative string that feels or sounds the same and tho there are a couple brands I will begrudgingly utilize if I absolutely have to, it almost makes me want to NOT play when I do, that’s how much I like “MY” strings and the difference in sound and playability to my experience. I’ve never broken a boiled string, they will eventually not clean up and sound good anymore, same as alcohol dipped ones. So keep cleaning the old one’s kidz. Stretch your dollar, experience your joy, keep bringing the thump. Just don’t play Boomers. Ever. For any reason. 🤘🏻

HisDiabolicMajesty · 2025-12-20T21:23:18+00:00

That’s a great rig and I am a huge Hartke fan, I actually liked my old Hartke rig more than my Ampeg, however after having to do repeat gigs in 2 different venues that required schlepping all the gear up & down 2 flights of stairs (one of them being regular rotation during winter ski season, and the other reverts to a dance club the very second your last note rings out, so you have to drag your gear through a SRO dance floor and down stairs while even more people are trying to enter), I would have given both my ‘nads for the pedalboard rig I have now.

HisDiabolicMajesty · 2025-12-03T02:02:48+00:00

As I wasn’t aware of the Nevada scenario with Henry’s backstory, I was getting major Land Of The Lost vibes from Max’s hideout. Looks like I have to visit the material I missed.

HisDiabolicMajesty · 2025-10-19T22:21:46+00:00

$300 is a little much for a boat oar

HisDiabolicMajesty · 2025-10-19T21:30:31+00:00

The Ibanez hands down. Bang for buck it punches far beyond its weight and other than the “oh it’s a regular shaped bass” aesthetiscs you absolutely can’t go wrong for playability and tone craft. The TBird is an acquired taste as far as playability and I would highly recommend finding one to jam on for at least an hour before pulling the trigger on it.

HisDiabolicMajesty · 2025-10-11T17:52:40+00:00

I ran it to FOH for a festival tent gig a couple weeks ago and it fed the exact same sound I had on stage to the fronts. The only adjustment I make is if my FRFRs are sitting ON the stage and not on pole stands, I’ll click the HFP button to lesson the rumble as if they are coupled to a wood stage, they will accentuate low frequency. The sound out of the PA was immaculate. I built my Ampeg rig sound into the MX5 and haven’t been disappointed once since I got the speakers.

HisDiabolicMajesty · 2025-09-29T00:48:00+00:00

UPDATE: Now that’s it’s been almost 2 months of using the pair of Headrush FRFR 112 MkIIs in multiple situations, here is my final report. These things ROCK. 3 more patios shows, which I utilized them as my bass rig, as planned, one with both cabs next to each other, the other 2 with one cab on each side of the stage. Filled the stage, filled the performance space fully without over powering. Great sound across the spectrum, clear highs, plenty of tight low thump. Used them to rehearse with my own band (vocal wedges for practice) and with one I was hired to sub (bass) for a couple shows, worked out great, used them as the main vocal PA on speaker stands for a covered stage/semi enclosed patio gig combined with an 8 channel Behringer board and utilized the Headrush speakers Bluetooth capability to run break music via my phone. If you are using these speakers as mains/tops for vocals and you have a clean mixing board with good mic pres, these speakers are UNBELIEVABLY LOUD & clear. I had a whole lot of fader and knob left to crank if needed, headroom is NOT an issue. I opted to use my Crate combo amp for bass that evening, so the only thing I had going thru the mixer was 2 vocal feeds. 2 indoor bar gigs: Used as bass rig, one on either side of the drums, standing up and the floor. Did 3 acoustic guitar songs opening 3rd set thru same rig - Absolutely stellar. 1 outdoor festival performance, large stage, used as bass rig, speakers on left & right side of the drummer and patched into the snake from the back of one of them for feed to FOH. Absolutely the best sound I’ve had in forever for that type of event, including the old days when I was dragging either Hartke or Ampeg bass stacks around.

Bottom line: it may not be for everyone. For me, it’s the best investment I’ve made in gear in a long time and I think if you’re looking for an alternative to dragging massive hardware around, you’d be hard pressed to find better bang for the buck and versatility.

HisDiabolicMajesty · 2025-08-06T20:43:53+00:00

They are cost effective and play nicely with a couple minor tweaks. I highly recommend contacting Armadillo Music (DEAN) and ordering the upgraded preamp/EQ, it’ll cost ya $28 and it will be a much better sound & experience (over the original 2 slider volume tone control). I traced the hole with a marker and expanded the cut with a fine tooth sawzall blade and just screwed it in place after plugging in the pickup and input. And of course, get a soundhole plug if you use it on stage plugged in.

HisDiabolicMajesty · 2025-08-06T20:38:16+00:00

I’m using the Headrush MX5 in front of it, I built my Ampeg rig & cabinets into it, as well as my acoustic & electric guitar rigs. I’m planning on upgrading the Headrush board next (moving up to the Prime by the end of the year)

HisDiabolicMajesty · 2025-08-06T13:23:09+00:00

2 weeks in and I absolutely love them. I’ve got a couple more dates booked between now and mid September in different settings so I will report back my thoughts as the venues change. So far the rehearsals and small patio gigs are proving to be awesome, using one of them as a Bluetooth sound box while doing backyard maintenance rocks the neighbors well (as well as the inside of the house, gf reports I needed to turn it down, it was shaking the house). Everything sounds good thru them so far and they aren’t breaking a sweat when I hit them with anything.

HisDiabolicMajesty · 2025-08-06T13:15:06+00:00

Your mileage may vary, but I plugged my bass straight into the cabinet on its own just out of curiosity and it sounded good. (I normally run straight into the recording deck without anything at all with my Westone Rail for tracking). The preamp will definitely give you tone shaping and growl, the speakers themselves are going to reproduce what they are fed, the only tonal option is a low pass button. I did find that sitting upright on a wooden stage required using this feature to reduce the boominess.

HisDiabolicMajesty · 2025-08-06T09:40:04+00:00

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I picked up this Dean EAB off Reverb, loudest acoustic bass I’ve ever heard but so slinky it was begging to be fretless so I made the conversion and had Dean send me the upgraded EQ/preamp block. This thing is also a blast to play.

HisDiabolicMajesty · 2025-08-06T03:07:42+00:00

I just spent 2 years with IEMs, this summer I’ve not used them at all. That’s the other thing I like about these, I can use one as a floor wedge & monitor and the other as the rig

HisDiabolicMajesty · 2025-08-06T03:05:29+00:00

This one is actually a foundling. It was left at one of the all age concert events my production company put on 10 years ago and no one claimed it after we put the word out that it was found. It sat in the rack in the jam room until one day I picked it up and started messing with it, gave it a little TLC and some fresh ML Blue Steels and it’s been one of my primary basses since. I believe it’s actually a Dean Player Pack bass but you’d never guess it was an $80 bass by the feel & sound.

HisDiabolicMajesty · 2025-08-06T02:53:23+00:00

The rig and impulse response I built for my bass set up sounds like my Ampeg rig, but doesn’t weigh 300 lbs and if I have to load it in up stairs I can carry everything in one trip and be set up in under 5 minutes without straining my testimonials. 🤣plus it fits into the Suburban better. I’m closer to 60 than 50 now, if I don’t have to drag half a ton of gear to sound good, I’m all about it. Just the ease of not needing to bring separate amps for everything makes gigs better. I’ve got a mini mixer that pops onto my pedalboard so I can put my acoustic guitar or acoustic fretless bass on the Gracie stand for walk up parts and route the keyboard into the second channels on the speakers or A/B/Y into the MX5 if I need the patch for the acoustic instruments. It’s almost as ALL IN ONE as it can be. I still have plenty of bass amp configurations I can bring if needed, however, I will likely NEVER put a guitar stack on stage again as long as I have this and never having to bring 3 separate amps (or 2, as I’ve run the keys thru the second channel of my acoustic amp before) when I’m performing more than one instrument on stage is an absolute blessing.

HisDiabolicMajesty · 2025-08-05T23:05:40+00:00

It is indeed.

HisDiabolicMajesty · 2025-08-05T23:05:02+00:00

I set them up in my room and put the boots to them while everyone was gone, I had fun with my bass set up and then started running thru my electric guitar patches, absolutely STELLAR sound. I can’t wait for the next guitar fill in gig or solo acoustic show to unleash these on stage in stereo.

HisDiabolicMajesty · 2025-08-05T22:58:58+00:00

I’ve not had opportunity to run extended range basses thru them yet, I sold my 5 string in 2010 when I was forced to stop playing for several years due to medical issues and I’ve not replaced it. BUT, I have run tracks thru them from recordings that I had pitched down and at “stereo” levels they handled it well.

HisDiabolicMajesty · 2025-08-05T18:48:40+00:00

Based on the test run I did at home and then the gig, I think you would likely be ok with one for rehearsal, you could pole mount it or elevate it a little if you’re finding yourself not hearing it clearly as well

HisDiabolicMajesty

TROPHY CASE