Necessity Was the Mother of the Bass
by John Montalbano
There's an old saying that states, "Necessity is the mother of invention." The electric bass is one of those inventions that came from necessity. I am sure that there was an official "reason" for inventing the upright bass, and it probably stemmed from the need to complete the frequency spectrum that the earliest composers heard in their heads. The electric bass as we know it today stemmed from the need to compete with the higher volumes of the modern music of the 1940s and 1950s. The upright bass was the only game in town when jazz was born. Drums started becoming more prominent, and with the electric guitar, the bass was easily overpowered unless you had a very aggressive plucking hand. Although the upright bass was and still is the instrument of choice for many jazz compositions, the need was recognized for an amplified bass.
When the rock and roll music of the 1950s hit, the need was even more pronounced. Have you ever watched an old Elvis movie where his bass player is all but beating the living daylights out of an upright? I guarantee it wasn't all for show. It was to be heard. It was during this time that the electric bass really came onto the scene.
With an electric bass, of course, you also needed a bass amplifier. At first you had some fairly low-wattage amplifiers that were designed mainly along the lines of the wattage of guitar amplifiers of the time—around 20 to 50 watts. Although it may have been loud then, when 100-watt guitar amps started coming out during the 1960s and 1970s, electric bass players had no choice but to play through existing guitar amps. Guitar amps were loud enough for the guitars, but they did not have the high-powered low frequency response necessary to pump bass.
Higher-wattage bass amplifiers were then designed to compete with the loud guitars. With bass amplifiers going up to about 300 watts, the amplifiers became heavy and less portable. With the high demand from consumers for high-wattage power supplies, a mass effort was made to make transformers lighter and power supplies more efficient. Soon we had bass amplifiers reaching the 1000-watt mark at less than 50 pounds.
Now we are forced to embrace technology. Take all of the heavy amplifiers, bulky effects and delicate microphones and introduce all of these tools to bass players worldwide in the most portable and fascinating way: software. You may scoff in disgust at the idea, but imagine if you were the upright bass player in the 1950s who refused to give the Fender bass a chance. Unfortunately, you probably wouldn't have been working!
Product Spotlight
IK Multimedia - Amplitube - Ampeg SVX Software
So you are looking for that 1960s whomp of a bass tone for this retro project you are working on. Or you really want a nice, round tube bass tone for a pop ballad. How would you like to have an arsenal of classic bass amplifiers to choose from, with some great mics and all day to experiment?
IK Multimedia has joined forces with Ampeg to put together an invaluable software plug-in suite just for bass players. This software simulates all of the Ampeg classic bass amplifiers for use with most of the popular recording software packages. Not only does it simulate the amplifiers, but it offers the flexibility of microphone placement to vary the sound as you would in a live studio. You can use the factory presets or tweak away until yous lighter and power supplies more efficient. Soon we had bass amplifiers reaching the 1000-watt mark at less than 50 pounds.
Now we are forced to embrace technology. Take all of the heavy amplifiers, bulky effects and delicate microphones and introduce all of these tools to bass players worldwide in the most portable and fascinating way: software. You may scoff in disgust at the idea, but imagine if you were the upright bass player in the 1950s who refused to give the Fender bass a chance. Unfortunately, you probably wouldn't have been working!
IK Multimedia - Amplitube - Ampeg SVX Software
So you are looking for that 1960s whomp of a bass tone for this retro project you are working on. Or you really want a nice, round tube bass tone for a pop ballad. How would you like to have an arsenal of classic bass amplifiers to choose from, with some great mics and all day to experiment?
IK Multimedia has joined forces with Ampeg to put together an invaluable software plug-in suite just for bass players. This software simulates all of the Ampeg classic bass amplifiers for use with most of the popular recording software packages. Not only does it simulate the amplifiers, but it offers the flexibility of microphone placement to vary the sound as you would in a live studio. You can use the factory presets or tweak away until your heart's content to get the sound you are looking for.
This package is great for bass players and producers alike to create or recreate a bass vibe. It also comes with various bass effects that can add a subtle modification or give the bass a whole different voice of its own.
There is nothing like the real thing, but you have to embrace what technology has to offer. To own a studio full of amplifiers is not realistic. To own a host of high-end microphones along with the amplifiers is unlikely. To deny the fact that you will not have to deal with unplanned amplifier noise or bad cables or broken microphones or bad tubes is inhuman! Check out www.ikmultimedia.com.
