8-string (4 pairs), picolo, short scale basses , ppl share your thoughts

[JB_From_Hell]

Cheap Trick and King’s X are 12 string bass (4 string with 3 octaves each). The best example of an 8 string I can think of is Pearl Jam’s “Jeremy.”

[ArtieToo]

My first thought was Tom Peterson in Cheap Trick. I'll have to lookup Manowar to hear their usage.

And I'll have to look that up. I know "Cheap Trick", but not familiar with that particular bass sound of theirs.

[beaubrummels]

Funny you mention that. "Quiet Afternoon", from the "School Days" album, was the first thing I thought of when I saw the thread title. Great song.

My first thought was Tom Peterson in Cheap Trick. I'll have to lookup Manowar to hear their usage.

[alex1fly]

8 string sounds really fussy to me. Cool I suppose if you want to devote a lot of time and probably money into a unique instrument. I'd rather have a solid 4-string bass that I could play normally, with an octave doubler pedal, and with a whammy pedal to get you up an octave. More flexibility that way.

Especially if you don't have a bass currently, I'd definitely push you towards getting a regular bass and then doing weird stuff with pedals. A regular bass will serve you forever, while an 8 string bass will fill its niche but won't do a good job as a regular bass. I can see parts of a song benefitting from the octave doubling... but personally I'd want to enable and disable that effect.

Coming from guitar, a regular 34-35" scale bass can seem big, but you'll be surprised how quickly you can adapt. Just play the thing for a couple of days, give yourself time to get used to it and your hands will remember what they're supposed to do.

Mentioned this in another thread, but I have a Squier Bronco bass (30" short-scale) and it totally rocks. Sounds every bit as good as my Fender P bass in a band setting. Build quality isn't as good, but the intonation is great and the tone is solid. Getting made-for-short-scale strings made a lot of difference here (they have different tension ratings than regular bass strings). Easier to get around on coming from guitar. But again, if you're rocking a 7-string guitar now, you're already used to bigger necks, so I'd be confident that you could make the switch to a full scale bass. Something like a Jazz Bass will have a smaller neck than a P Bass.

Piccolo basses are another niche, sort of random instrument. Cool because they're different, but not terribly practical. Again I'd point you towards a regular 4 string bass, and you can put piccolo strings on there at any time.

So if it were me, I'd get a 4 string bass, an octave doubler pedal, and then see if that met my needs.

[Clint 55]

I was thinking that also. If you want trebly maybe stay with regular scale. Let us know if you go with 4 string or 8 string.

[formula73]

I generally think of short scale as kinda thuddy with a strong fundamental. I don’t hear what you’re describing, at all.

[greekdude]

i'll check out this song. thanx Aceman and Mincer and ArtieToo , hey Clint 55 I dont have no bass, only a 25.5" 7-string guitar

[Aceman]

Jolly is the expert here I think...

[Mincer]

Stanley certainly had a weird bass tone, but it worked for him.

[ArtieToo]

This is interesting, and something I know nothing about (other than Stanley Clarke using such a thing).

Funny you mention that. "Quiet Afternoon", from the "School Days" album, was the first thing I thought of when I saw the thread title. Great song.

[Clint 55]

I think it's a really bad ass sound. Should sound good whatever you go with. Do you already have a 4 string bass you can set up treble-y? Then you can focus your efforts on the 8 string for the new one?

[greekdude]

Why do you want paired strings and picolo? Then it's not a bass anymore, it's just a uke lol. Just use light gauge strings for the strings in the proper bass octave and have the paired strings be picolo.

thnx I didnt mean all of those attributes at the same time. I meant the kind of "treble-ie" basses, like in Manowar. What I think I like most is 8-string, in a configuration as you said, 4 standard bass + 4 guitar-tuned (1 octave up ).

But I think that short scale e.g. 30" and standard bass tuning + one good octave pedal (1 octave up), would do wonders.

[Mincer]

This is interesting, and something I know nothing about (other than Stanley Clarke using such a thing).

[Clint 55]

Why do you want paired strings and picolo? Then it's not a bass anymore, it's just a uke lol. Just use light gauge strings for the strings in the proper bass octave and have the paired strings be picolo.

[greekdude]

what I got in mind is early manowar sounds/tones.