Is the SSII versitile?

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FunkyBassist

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I have never owned the SSII but have owned the SSI-5. I have heard plenty of clips of the SS2 and have played it once at GC.

It occurs to me that the tone would work great in rock but not so much in pop, blues, ballards, etc. Do you guys agree?

Can you point me to a clip where the SS2 has been used to play, say, a Phil Collins or Jill Scott song?
 
I used to play in a pop rock band, with ocasional covers (phil Collins too) and SSII was my weapon of choice.
 
I have not played either Streamer (would like to though) but I thought that playing any style of music is all about your technique and how you EQ your bass and amp. I play a Thumb 5 string on all styles of music - country, soul/R&B, reggae, blues. I'm always told that my bass and rig sound great! I used to think of a Thumb bass as a metal or rock bass only.

My 2 cents/euros/pesos/yen.... lol


Dave
 
dave2 said:
I have not played either Streamer (would like to though) but I thought that playing any style of music is all about your technique and how you EQ your bass and amp. I play a Thumb 5 string on all styles of music - country, soul/R&B, reggae, blues. I'm always told that my bass and rig sound great! I used to think of a Thumb bass as a metal or rock bass only.

My 2 cents/euros/pesos/yen.... lol
Dave
Click to expand...

My bruddah from anuddah muddah! :d
 
Florin said:
I used to play in a pop rock band, with ocasional covers (phil Collins too) and SSII was my weapon of choice.
Click to expand...

Maybe all the clips I've heard, the SSII has been EQued for rock.

I could imagine if you cut some of the aggressive mids and highs, it will almost sound like a Ken Smith--but fatter, more aggressive, drier. Do you agree?
 
Owning one, I can say that there's no way to make a SSII sound like anything other than a SSII. While it's not necessarily my 'home tone', it's definitely a sound that will work wonderfully in a setting where the bass needs to be up-front and busy. That's a key concept.

However, I'll argue that chances are, if it's not the setting mentioned above, nobody cares about the tone anyway... so I guess you can't lose, can you?
 
FunkyBassist said:
Maybe all the clips I've heard, the SSII has been EQued for rock.

I could imagine if you cut some of the aggressive mids and highs, it will almost sound like a Ken Smith--but fatter, more aggressive, drier. Do you agree?
Click to expand...
I actually boost the mids almost 100%, but play close the neck.
thefitz said:
Owning one, I can say that there's no way to make a SSII sound like anything other than a SSII. While it's not necessarily my 'home tone', it's definitely a sound that will work wonderfully in a setting where the bass needs to be up-front and busy. That's a key concept.
Click to expand...
I think you can make the SSII to sound anyway you like. You can always cut mids and boost lows on a ssII or whatever you like to do... It is easy to tame a strong sounding bass, it is harder to make a weak bass to cut through.
 
Can you guys point me to clips where the SS2 has been used for such music--pop, adult contemporary? All the clips here use the SS2 in a rock setting
 
That sounds pretty good.

Now, is the SSII more aggressive and punchy than the Streamer LX? I have the LX-4 and love the punchy tone and feel like I can tame it, make it more versitile. Is that also true of the SSII?
 
I recently installed the Steve Bailey system in my SSII fretless, and I'm shocked to report that a generous mid-scoop (which I NEVER do with onboard electronics - let alone on fretless!!) rounds out the tone of the SSII considerably. Without the scoop, it's uber aggressive - if you have your amp EQ'd for, say, Fender-style sounds and you plug in an SSII, your brain will explode ;)

I think this has a lot to do with the wood - afzeilia vs maple. And obviously, more bands of the EQ provides more flexibility.
 
I have a SSII too and I boost the high and mid playing in a metal band... really cool when enhanced with little dist.

but If I use it flat or boost the lows a bit it can be really round and smooth, pbass like especially if you put more of the neck pickup IMO
 
JPMorin said:
I have a SSII too and I boost the high and mid playing in a metal band... really cool when enhanced with little dist.

but If I use it flat or boost the lows a bit it can be really round and smooth, pbass like especially if you put more of the neck pickup IMO
Click to expand...

the lows can be shaky, especially when down tuned... may I add it has it's own voice and caracter in the mids... which you may like or not...
 
With the right technique, strings, eq, amp/cab coloring, fx, etc you can make any bass do what you want in any situation, IMHO.
 
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