An End of an Era…

For those of you into equipment, this post is for you. It contains severe bass and audio geekery. For years, I’ve been using Velvet Double Bass strings on my beloved Jakstadt double bass. About a month ago, I made the switch to Thomastik Bel Canto strings. I might be retiring the Eric Lane bow in favor of something a bit heavier and punchier soon as well. I’d love to retain the bow, but it is a question of dollars. Every now and then, I get the urge to sell the Jakstadt and buy something smaller…I’m currently coming out of one of those urges.

Our M-Audio 410 has been a workhorse, but the preamps are rather dull sounding, and without a way to monitor the input, we are constantly getting snaps and pops in our audio. The 410 will soon be retired, replaced by an Apogee duet. Thanks to our friends in Unavox, we have a great mic for Sarah’s vocals: not the most expensive, but it fits her voice very well. We’re thinking about an extensive monitor upgrade as well.

Right now, the Spector Bass Guitar has been converted to a piccolo bass. Now, for years, I resisted the very idea, thinking that a piccolo bass was, well, a guitar. However, after some research (namely, listening to Stanley Clarke), I decided to see how the strings feel.

Well, with some of the Effects I use, it feels like playing a bright 8 string bass with really great feeling strings. So I’m looking to get a small necked, fast playing bass I can permanently convert to a piccolo bass. This means I can add another instrument to my resume: double bass, electric upright bass, bass guitar, and piccolo bass. Of course, to me, it really is all just one instrument: bass.

I tend to fuss over my gear from time to time, but not make very many changes. But this time, I’ll be spending some coin on some serious upgrades. All in the name of making some incredible music with Valentine Wolfe, various orchestral bass sections, and my life in general.