![]() The last component of the bass chain is an Avalon U5 DI. The preamp function of the Darkglass is always engaged the overdrive function I only use for the gritty bass sound in “Don’t Stay”. After that the bass goes through a Deluxe Big Muff which I’ll occasionally use for dirt during interludes followed by a Darkglass Vintage (V1) pre/overdrive pedal. The great thing about the Empress comp is that it has a parallel control which I have set to approximately half compressed signal and half dry. The bass signal-path goes from the ABY box to an Empress Compressor that’s always doing 4-6db of gain reduction with a medium attack and fairly quick release. The acoustic signal then gets preamped by a custom DI box made by Midnight 30 which models a Boss FA-1 a unit made popular by The Edge in the early 80s. From there the acoustic signal hits a Keeley Compressor Pro which I have knocking off 1-3db with the soft-knee and auto function engaged (which overrides both attack and release times). Doing things this way saves space in addition to avoiding the potential confusion of having three patch cables in front of me during guitar changes. The cable hits a TC Electronic PolyTune before going to an Old Blood Noise Endeavors ABY box. I use a shared 1/4” for both acoustic (which I only use on “Ahead of Myself”) and bass. I think I last changed them in April it’s probably about time. ![]() The strings are DR Hi-Beam Stainless Steel Round Core 45-125. The only time I’ll mess with any onboard settings during the set is for “Joyful” when I’ll usually roll the tone knob back to 3/4’s or so. In terms of onboard controls I run the bass exclusively in passive mode (there’s a toggle for active and passive) with the volume at max, both pickups full-on and the tone control all the way up. That all said, instead of messing with scale length on their Elite Series basses Fender has helped alleviate the age-old 5-string problem by simply adding a dedicated B-string string-tree. There is an argument to be made for 35” scale basses demonstrating a marginally more natural presentation of lower frequencies than their 34” counterparts, but general playability trumps a minute improvement in resonance in most situations for me. ![]() ![]() Compare the frequency distribution of a Fender bass (typically 34”) verse a Gibson bass (often 30.5”) and the differences become blatantly obvious. It’s worth mentioning that scale length undoubtably has a huge impact on the timbre of an instrument. The tension on the B-string was perfect but the tension on the G-string was way too taut. I owned a 35” scale Ibanez 5-string 10 years ago and it was awful. Ibanez, Specter, Warwick, Lakland and others have all experimented with 34” scale on their 4-strings and 35” scales on their 5-strings. Since extended range basses came into vogue sometime in the late 1970’s/early 1980’s bass makers have attempted to rectify this issue by playing with scale length. A low level of tension also has the tendency to lead to poor intonation because the player can easily send the pitch sharp by inadvertently bending the string. The result is uneven attack throughout the instrument because the B-string isn’t recovering (as in snapping back to strings resting position) as quickly as the higher-pitched strings do. My biggest issue with 5-strings (and I’ve owned many) is that the tension of the low-B tends to be inadequate. I think Fender did an excellent job in designing this bass.
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