Almost baught an 8 string bass....but??

[dmmi]

So I was playing this 8 string bass at a local music store......but just to clarify it's really a 4 string in a 12 string guitar type style so the 4 adjacent strings to a standard 4 string bass are just doulbed up octaves.......but.....what a cool fat sound.

Anyway, I was thinking about picking up for an alternative sound to my 4 string and am wondering if anyone has had any experience with them or maybe they'll sound like shit in the mix??

Here is a pic.

 

[AudioPhile777]

They don't work really well for metal or heavier rock type stuff... if you plan to use it for something more mellow, you will probably like it... though I will say, I owned one for about a year and a half and used it once...

 

[XnaySaturo]

King's X - Pray. oh yes.

 

[Pxz]

Cool sounds but no really that great for metal i think. Jeremy by Pear Jam is also a good example of an 8 string bass sound .

 

[Russtopher]

King's X - Pray. oh yes.

Yup. So many classic King's X albums were tracked with 8 and 12 string basses on a lot of songs. Love how full those bass tracks were.

 

[muckypup1]

Yup. So many classic King's X albums were tracked with 8 and 12 string basses on a lot of songs. Love how full those bass tracks were.

Doug gets incredible bass tones on a lot of the albums, I fucking love his bass tone

 

[Fabbio]

The low E opening note on 'Wherever I may roam' by Metallica is a 12 strings bass, according to Jason Newsted on the Classic Albums DVD about the Black Album.

 

[Harry Hughes]

Pfft, none of this doubled up pansie shit

When I think 8 string bass, I think more like this :

 

[updog]

^ I seriously can't make up my mind about that bass. Is it sexy or fucking ugly?? haha



edit. actually, the more I look at it, the scale is tipping towards the latter.

 

[dmmi]

Well...it looks like the opinions are mixed down the middle....

When I played it, I found the doubled up strings didn't hinder my playing, so I could still play fast and the riffs I'm used too, so I'm really torn between giving this a go or not....I guess I'll have to get some Kings X for a listen.

Thanks all!

 

[Russtopher]

Doug gets incredible bass tones on a lot of the albums, I fucking love his bass tone

IIRC, for a while a few years back he was using standard 4-string Yamaha basses, and splitting his tone and sending the highs to a guitar head, and the lows to his bass rig to get that grind the 12-string Hamer bass had.

Pretty sure there's pics of him using Behringer pedals to do this back around Ogre Tones when Michael Wagener was offering class on production work using some of the sessions for the students to check out.

**EDIT**

Yup, here it is: