Jennifer Clark - Double Bass, Bass Guitar

Transcribe! Software

Blog page - with thoughts, e.g. reproducing fundamental, band setup, high F string, Amplifying through PA/monitor

Peavey Grind 6/Cheap Yellow Bass/Dean Bass/Hohner Jack/

EUB/Double Bass

Bass Pod XT Live - effects => solution looking for a problem

Hipshot D-tuner

Eden CXC110 Combo Amplifier

In 2005 I had been looking for a combo that was light and small enough to be trundled around town on my suitcase trolley, yet at the same time be powerful enough to work with jazz combos and big bands. Previously I had used the Laney RBW200, which sounded ok but was too heavy and bulky, and had tried the Gallien Krueger MB150, which was light but not powerful enough when used with a medium to loud drummer.

In my opinion the CXC110 offered the best solution to these requirements at the time; it delivers 220 watts into an excellent sounding 10" speaker with coaxial horn, and gives plenty of bass response. The sound is incredibly infectious, and really draws you in. This combo, by itself, is able to handle all of my jazz and acoustic gigs comfortably, and works well with double bass, EUB, and bass guitar - the input socket can deal with the high impedance usually required with the piezo pickups found on acoustic instruments.

A great feature of the CXC110 is that the amplifier section can easily be removed from the speaker enclosure, so if you wish to use it with another speaker, this can be done without having to take the whole combo with you. There are outputs for three speakers, and the amp will deliver 220W into 8 ohms, 330W into 4 ohms, and 420W into 2 ohms.

I wrote a review of my experiences of this combo which can be found on the Eden website here. For more information about the CXC110 look here on the Eden website. This combo continues to serve me well, however If one requires a combo to fit similar specifications nowadays, it is possible to find even lighter equivalents utilising weight-saving devices such as neodymium speaker magnets. The Eden ENC110 is one such device.

Eden D112XLT Speaker

I had been using the Eden CXC110 combo successfully for gigs of small to medium volume levels, but when the volume became louder, for example with a rock or blues band, the CXC110 was pushed just a little out of its sweet spot. An extension speaker seemed like the logical solution, and I thought it would be a good idea to get something more powerful than the 1x10 in the CXC110. I did not consider a 1x15 because I don't like the tone they produce and they are too heavy; however, I thought  the 12" speaker in my old Laney RBW200 had some very excellent points, so a 12" speaker seemed like a good choice.

Strings

String choice amongst bass players appears to be very subjective, so there may be little point in me stating my preferences. Nonetheless, here they are.

Flatwounds are useful for a full bodied, thumpier tone, and can be far more versatile than most people think - indeed, for many years I played a large variety of music using nothing else. Played with a pick you can get a 70's "car chase film music" effect, or a sound characteristic of much of Carol Kaye's work. Fingerstyle can give a Motown sound, or the closest you're ever going to get a bass guitar to sound like a double bass. I will always have a fondness for flatwounds; they produce a true bass sound (as opposed to a "guitar one octave lower sound") and used properly will sit well in the mix, i.e. they will have a presence without having to be too loud and overpowering. Other advantages are virtually no fret noise, and they last for years.

The flatwounds I use are five string set of Rotosound Jazz Bass 77's, RS 775LD, gauges 45-130, with an additional 35 for the high 'C' string on my six string bass. You can here them on this recording from my demo page. They can rock as well as swing... Steve Harris of Iron Maiden also uses them, and you can't argue with that.

Roundwounds tend to produce a more aggressive, less refined and scratchier tone. I currently use a P-Bass clone with Seymour Duncan Quarter Pounder pickups strung with Rotosound Swing Bass, and with a bit of distortion it sounds immense. Brilliant for a soul/rock/jazz trio where you get to rock out a bit. For more refined work I have a Peavey Grind 6 string bass with EMG CS pickups, and this is strung with Overwater strings, giving a very articulate and clear sound, useful for soloing or melodic work.

For double bass and EUB, use of the bow dictates that the strings must be flatwound. From my perspective, the major tradeoff is to do with the sustain of the string; short sustain is good for when you play predominantly bowed (arco) style, e.g. classical music. In this case it is desirable that the string should stop sounding soon after you've finished bowing it - with the bow it is not possible to use the right hand string muting techniques commonly found in pizzicato playing. Long sustain will lead to a mushy blur of notes in this case. However, longer sustain is useful for jazz and other styles where the double bass uses mostly pizzicato, where it produces more "growl" and increases the amount of "bass energy" per given note. I find this very useful, particularly when playing without a drummer, as it the long sustain allows you to say more with less notes.