danplaysbass

A (semi) Completed Rig

Dan — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 21:12:27 +0000

In the same line of thinking as the last post I have continued my quest to build up a respectable bass rig. I figured 2 things:

My bass amp is stinky and I don’t really want to buy another one now.
When I play I either record direct or I play into a decent PA.

So I decided that to get the sound I am looking for I would tailor it on a pedal board. I have added a few new things since the last post.

I picked up a Dunlop 105Q bass wah pedal from eBay and I just a few days ago got a Boss CEB-3 bass chorus pedal. They both fit nicely on my board and give me a whole array of new sounds to play with.

The chorus provides a volume to the sound (as in space volume, not loudness volume). It will give me the same sound you hear on the intro to Seinfeld plus many other possibilities.

The wah, well i hope you know what that does. I was experimenting combining the wah with the distortion earlier today. Its very fun!

I have one final piece to add. I am going to build a dual channel true bypass looper. Since neither the chorus pedal nor wah pedal offer a true electrical bypass (meaning the signal still runs through circuitry) I thought it would be a good move to eliminate buss and any potential tone sucking. I already ordered the parts and they should be here soon.

Some New Gear

Dan — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 20:43:04 +0000

We’ve been going through our house over the past few weeks trying to clear out some junk we don’t need in preparation for our new baby. I also decided that I would look through some of my music gear and evaluate what I need and don’t need and offload the unneccessary. In return, I thouht it would be cool to use the money I get to upgrade some of the setups I already have. Coupled with some birthday money and a little creativity I was able to put together a respectable bass rig.

The centerpiece is my new MXR M-80 bass preamp/driver/DI. I used it for the first time this morning at church and I was blown away. I gives my bass the meat it was missing! It also has a distortion channel, which I see coming in handy for some future recordings.

I decided to couple this with my existing volume pedal, wireless receiver, tuner, and my future reprogrammed wah pedal to make a killer bass pedal board. As you can see, there is plenty of more real estate on the board so we’ll see if anything gets added in the future.

A New Worship Song

Dan — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 02:08:00 +0000

When I first started my “Worship EP” project I thought I’d go through and cover a few songs that I love and that would be the end of it. It seems that God would rather I continue this project. A While back I wrote and recorded a song called “A New Life Begins”. This was written for my daughter just before she was born. Since I have another due to be here within the next few months I thought it would be fitting to write her a song too.

I have gone through several partial songs but never came up with anything I really liked. I finally came up with a Bm7 to G progression that I loved and I knew this was it. As I strated to write lyrics the song took on a new life. I started thinking about how amazing new life is. Then I thanked God for all that he continually does for us. I said “God, I am forever amazed, and I worship you.” With those words this song transformed into a song meant to worship our God and King. I hope it ministers to your heart.

Lyrics

Teach me o God to cherish the little things
Like the laugh of a child or the song of the summer birds
For you formed in your hand all of these awesome things
Forever amazed I worship you

Teach me o God to ponder your every word
Because the Word became flesh and conquered sin and death
Forever in debt my life is yours
Forever amazed I worship you

Teach me o God to live as the Spirit leads
To follow clouds by the day and flames by the night
I am saved by your grace a sinner now clean
Forever amazed I worship you

Help me o God when I walk through the desert land
Though I feel all alone your amazing love is there
I will never go thirsty for I’m full of living water
Forever amazed I worship you

Hear me o God as I lift my praises to you
Heaven is wonderful no words can describe
Forever amazed I worship you
Forever amazed I worship you

Back In Action

Dan — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 21:25:08 +0000

After a nearly four year hiatus I am back in action playing again publically. Over the past few months I have been filling in as a bass player at my church, Calvary Fellowship Church. I was recently offered a permanent rotation in the band and I’m really excited about that. I didn’t realize just how much I missed playing.

My bass has been acting up lately so I took it in for a tune-up. It ended up needing some neck and fret work but now it plays just like new. Couple that with the new strings and this bass is ready to record again. Stay tuned for some new music…

Welcome to the new danplaysbass.com

Dan — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 17:27:39 +0000

I figured it had been a long time since I’d updated the last site. I decided to retool everything based on the wordpress platform. Much of the content has simply been ported from the old site but there are some new things out there including an updated Bio, some new music, and more!

This is still a work in progress so sit tight while I try to update all the content.