ADG and second pickup

[jean_alexis]

Hi,

I spoke with ADG and I think I'm gonna get one of those ADG-8.

In fact I listened to the extract in cinema inferno and loved the guitar sound for the lead, but less the bass sound. As I'm not yet a bass or guitar player, I don't know how much equalization or amp can do.

I know it's hard to guess what will be the sound. As I'm in europe I can not get one of those instruments (and I won't be able to go to belgium in mid july).

They proposed to add a second pickup (to have a middle position) as an option.

So I'm writting here to get an opinion on what would be the sound changes, is it really interesting?

I'm more interested in melodic bass lines and I usually found the stick sound too 'clavi' like.

Thanks in advance for your advices.
May be soon you'll have a new player in the community!

[lemur821]

Have you played other instruments? Most people don't start on a touch style thing. Not that it's a bad idea, just unusual.

I don't quite know what you dislike about the bass sound, since I haven't heard the same recording as you. If you thought it was too thin, without enough bass, you can probably EQ that away, and even have too much bass.

[jean_alexis]

I don't own the cinema inferno CD, I just heard a sample on Ray Aslhey web site.

Well in fact I've been playing piano and singing for a long time now.

I'm just frustrated with the basses of the piano sometimes :), and just want to find a new source of inspiration.

I fact, I also can play some chords on a acoustic guitar, but not enough to call that playing the guitar.

[lemur821]

Well, I've gotten ahold of the sample now, and I think that the bass tone is purely a matter of EQ. In fact, it probably took some pretty heavy EQ to make it sound like that. Lots of highs, the mids down a little, and very little bass is what it sounds like to me. An amp with decent bass is also very important for making an electric instrument sound strong with low notes. Unfortunately, such amps often aren't so good in the mid and high regions. For playing at home (this is with a regular bass, tuned in fifths Bb, F, C, G) I use an old 60 watt PA I've borrowed from a friend in conjunction with a 25 watt bass amp. That way I get strong bass along with biting mids and decent highs. Another solution would be a second, more bassy, speaker to go into the PA, since it has two outputs. I'm a fan of PA type setups, but they aren't necessarily the best. An EQ of some sort, pedal or otherwise, is one of the best effects purchases you can make.

Just trying to give you some hints for the electric instrument world.

Thanks for bringing that Cinema Inferno sample to my attention, I hadn't heard of them before. Pretty cool.

[jean_alexis]

All I have as effects is a computer with GarageBand (provides Amp simulation, EQ, compressor and other fancy effects) and good audio I/O. I think I can get decent sound with that (I have tried a bass on this), at least for a start.

Between the two mics I tried on the bass, the one that sounded better was the one which was farther from the bridge, which is the one that is available on the ADG with one pickup. So I guess I'll go for one pickup.

My fear with tapping techniques is a too strong attack, but I don't hear that in the lead in the sample you heard, neither in the Trey Gunn playing, but he doesn't have the same guitars ;)

Thanks for the electrical instruments world hints, that's what I missed :)

Yes, this sample of Cinema Inferno is very musical.

[rjgoos]

Just a point of clarification. Cinema Inferno was done with an ADG-10, which is a 5ths/4ths instrument like a Stick. An ADG-8 is tuned quite differently, in straight 4ths, or some type of 'crafty' tuning.


RJ Goos

[jean_alexis]

Right,

And I like the idea of having a simple tuning, so straight 4ths.

Now in which direction I still have to decide :)