Brent Nussey-bass stuff

<body background="image001.gif"> <div align="center"> <p><font size="6" color="#501464">Bass Stuff</font></p> <p><br> </p> <p><a href="http://www.brentnussey.com/Marconi2.jpg"><img src="marconithumb.jpg" alt="" height="231" width="158" align="left" border="3"></a><font size="4" color="#501464" face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular">My main bass was made my Antonio Marconi in Veneto, Italy in 1892. It has a big dark sound that I just love. The bass used to have a machine C-extension, but I had it removed, for now. I've had this bass all of my adult life, I bought her the day after my 19th birthday, and she's served me well.</font></p> <p><br> </p> <p><br> </p> <p><br> </p> <p><br> </p> <p><br> </p> <p><br> </p> <p><br> </p> <p><br> </p> <p><a href="http://www.brentnussey.com/Live1.jpg"><img src="image012.jpg" alt="" height="178" width="110" align="right" border="3"></a><font size="4" color="#501464" face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular">This is my workaday bass. Before I had this bass, I used to have stress all the time when I was out gigging. You never knew when some drunk or clumsy person might knock your bass over or something on a break. With this bass, I don't have to be sick if something happens to it. I replaced the tuning machines myself.</font></p> <p><br> </p> <p><br> </p> <p><br> </p> <p><br> </p> <p><br> </p> <p><a href="http://www.brentnussey.com/Mybass.jpg"><img src="stickthumb.jpg" alt="" height="193" width="53" align="left" border="3"></a><font size="4" color="#501464" face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular">This is my practice bass. I built it myself, using the neck of an old plywood bass that had collapsed. It has a nice big ebony fingerboard. I built it along similar lines to <a href="http://www.merchantbass.com/">Bill Merchant's Vertical Bass</a>. The body is hollow, and the bridge is mounted on spruce springbars, to have some of the give of a real bass top. I only use it for silent practice, but I have taken it out twice on gigs which were outside in the winter. Sounds like a stick bass..... If you're not a hardcore do-it-yourselfer, I can't recommend Bill Merchant's basses enough. They're the only ones that really feel like an acoustic, I think</font><font color="#501464">.</font></p> <p><br> </p> <p><br> </p> <p><br> </p> <p><img src="bowthumb.jpg" alt="" height="71" width="377" align="right" border="3"><font size="4" color="#501464" face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular">My bow is a German style bow by Lamay. I bought it from my teacher. I used to go to my lessons and have all kinds of problems getting my bow around the instrument. So I tried my teacher's bow, and WOW! Night and day. Eventually he decided to sell it to me. If you have this experience, it's time to get a better bow.</font></p> <p><br> </p> <p><font size="4" face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular"><img src="AKGthumb.jpg" alt="" height="144" width="57" align="left" border="3"></font><font size="4" color="#501464" face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular">I'm not a pickup user. I haven't tried any that sound right for me. A big part of the sound of acoustic bass is the way the air moves around the instrument. I want to try to capture that. Microphones are a pain though. After lots of experimentation, I use an AKG C3000. I mount it on a short mic stand with a boom. The mic has a very complex design, but the long and the short of it is that it sounds great, is durable, and works even in difficult situations. Unfortunately, this mic isn't made anymore, it's been replaced by the C3000b, which doesn't sound as good to me, and the C4000b, which is a great mic, but a little more expensive.</font></p> <p><br> </p> <p><br> </p> <p><font size="4" color="#501464" face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular"><img src="TubeMPthumb.jpg" alt="" height="188" width="194" align="right" border="3">I have an ART TubeMP. I use it mostly when there's no phantom power for my microphone, or if I have to deal with some kind of impedance mismatch. It works well, for what I use it for.</font></p> <p><br> </p> <p><br> </p> <p><br> </p> <p><br> </p> <p><br> </p> <p><br> </p> <p><br> </p> <p><font size="4" face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular"><a href="http://www.brentnussey.com/bow_stand.html"><img src="Bow_standthumb.JPG" alt="" height="118" width="84" align="left" border="3"></a></font><font size="4" color="#501464" face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular">To keep my bow handy while I'm playing, I use a bow stand I made myself, based on the design of one Ray Brown used many years ago. Instructions on how to make your own are</font><font size="4" face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular"> <a href="http://www.brentnussey.com/bow_stand.html">here</a>.</font></p> <p><br> </p> <p><br> </p> <p><br> </p> <p><br> </p> <p><font size="4" face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular">I</font><font size="4" color="#501464" face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular"> use D'Addario Orchestra Strings, Bernadel or Art Craft Dark cello rosin, and bass bags by Jacques Gagnon at <a href="http://www.cremonasia.com/">Cremonasia</a>. I own a couple of amplifiers, for situations where there's no (usable) PA, or when the leader wants a "just bass" monitor, but I can't really recommend them. It's just a make-do kind of situation for me.</font></p> <p><br> </p> </div> </body>