Country Bass

bassmandan5 · #1 06-28-2010, 08:29 PM

Hello everyone, I just registered with Talk Bass. I played blues for the last 6 years and I'm now in a modern country band. I play a Spector Euro 5LX and my rig is a Eden WT800 w/4X10 XLT 8 ohm cabinet. I'm using the bridged mono set-up. Does anyone have any ideas on how to set this head up for a killer country tone? I'm not very good at this and will welcome any input. Please help. Thank you! Dan

JimmyM · #2 06-28-2010, 11:15 PM

twist knobs until pleasing tone comes out. it's really that simple. and no enhance knob or whatever they called that mid-scooping knob.

Sartori · #3 06-28-2010, 11:17 PM

Exactly, anything that's really just a fancy mid-scoop will make the tone into something I wouldn't think would work that well in a country group.

seanm · #4 06-28-2010, 11:25 PM

A good clean blues tone will work great for country.

Thunderthumbs73 · #5 06-28-2010, 11:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bassmandan5

Hello everyone, I just registered with Talk Bass. I played blues for the last 6 years and I'm now in a modern country band. I play a Spector Euro 5LX and my rig is a Eden WT800 w/4X10 XLT 8 ohm cabinet. I'm using the bridged mono set-up. Does anyone have any ideas on how to set this head up for a killer country tone? I'm not very good at this and will welcome any input. Please help. Thank you! Dan

I would say a lot of the tones that would work for blues could work for country. What killer tone works for one environment may not work for another. I am not going to say "adjust this knob to be ___, and this one to be____". I would say clear, not boomy and woofy bass would probably be good, and also something that is not too overly boosted on the treble. Seems like you have the gear to do the job, and that's an important (and expensive) part which you already have taken care of. I think killer country playing, though, can make up for descrepancies and learning curves in dialing in killer country tone, though...

Me and my gear? I leave the amp at a flat with no boost to any one frequency spectrum over another to start with. And I adjust for the space I am playing in if/as needed. Ditto for (active) basses.

bassmandan5 · #6 06-29-2010, 06:23 PM

Thanks for the help! I really appreciate the input. I have a gig this Thursday night, I will use all of your ideas. Can't wait!!

Genericbassname · #7 06-29-2010, 06:31 PM

I used to play in a country band, I always tried to get my tone thumpy but not woofy. I played an old p-bass with flats, which helped a lot, but isn't very helpful for your setup. I'd say keep everything pretty even on the amp, maybe pushing up the lowest and highest frequencies a tony bit and dialing back most of the treble on the bass itself, if that makes any sense.

Rick Auricchio · #8 06-29-2010, 08:25 PM

I think it's more what you play than the actual tone. If you play an appropriate bass part, the bass sound right, even if the tone isn't perfect. If you play the wrong stuff, no amount of tone will make you fit the song.

Two words: Don't slap.

chuck3 · #9 06-29-2010, 09:46 PM

I find using flat wound strings to be helpful for getting good country tone. If I'm just playing country, I'll use (if not an upright) a 51 P bass reissue with Chrome flats. The tone is "clean" but at the same time very round and full, not penetrating. Amp-wise, it depends, but just lay off the highs and high mids without being boomy.

Thunderthumbs73 · #10 06-29-2010, 10:02 PM

I think of much "Modern Country" as even sort of an alternative rock or 80's/90s rock with some country stylings (harmonies, banjo, piano, etc...) added in the mix to keep it palatable to more traditional country music audiences.

In a case like this, no reason why (for instance) a bona-fide 5-string Sadowsky Jazz bass running through an Aquilar or Trace Elliot rig wouldn't sound perfectly fine.

newbold · #11 06-29-2010, 10:18 PM

Lots of Stingrays in New Country.

Big, fat, aggressive, present.

T40Chump · #12 06-29-2010, 10:22 PM

I like mine to be fat with some boost in the low mids, but you can do whatever you want to. It's your sound after all. Experiment.

Bo

JimmyM · #13 06-29-2010, 10:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rick Auricchio

I think it's more what you play than the actual tone. If you play an appropriate bass part, the bass sound right, even if the tone isn't perfect. If you play the wrong stuff, no amount of tone will make you fit the song.

Two words: Don't slap.

agreed...unless your band plays a lot of exile

will33 · #14 06-29-2010, 10:47 PM

In country, you want to have big presence in the lowmids/high bass. Remember, there are likely several intsruments above you in timber and they're all played clean or close to clean. Nowday's country uses an OD pedal now and then on guitar but in my book, that's not country anyway, more like bubblegum pop with a fiddle player.

Anyway, coming in strong in the upper bass range to middle and a little upper midrange makes a big bass guitar presence while staying out of the way of the kickdrum and higher frequency instruments.

Funny an Eden rig does just that, if you'd look at the response curve, it looks like an upsidedown smileyface, more like a frowny face. Couple that with a P or a Stingray and there's your country. Or if you're going the opposite way, take a jazz bass and plug it into a tube head and a 215.

That would be more like "pre-Exile".

Tim Skaggs · #15 06-30-2010, 07:11 AM

If saying you are in a modern country band also indicates you are playing the latest country songs, any bass tone settings thought to fit country music are out the window. You should probably be trying to emulate 70's Southern Rock bass tone or even something more "modern". Country ain't quite as country as it once was......

Chasarms · #16 06-30-2010, 07:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tim Skaggs

If saying you are in a modern country band also indicates you are playing the latest country songs, any bass tone settings thought to fit country music are out the window. You should probably be trying to emulate 70's Southern Rock bass tone or even something more "modern". Country ain't quite as country as it once was......

I was was thinking just this.

4Mal · #17 06-30-2010, 11:50 AM

If it were trad country -or even Outlaw country I'd tell you to lose the Spector and get a PBass or a PJ ... modern country isn't really country though ...

FWIW - I use a WT-800 and dial up a mild scoop using the Enhance countrol. Maybe up to 9 or 10 o'clock on the dial. Then I tailor the mids to my liking using the EQ. As my cab's are fairly neutral, my settings will vary from your's - not to mention I play Fender 4 strings for the most part.

Non-Eden-ite's don't really get the Enhance thing - it's just another tool... you don't use it in place of the EQ, you use it with the EQ ...

To me getting good country tone is like anything else... what does the kick sound like, what else is there in the low end and how do I fit without stepping on that stuff. Under a dry kick, up and over a lively one ? I try to find my sound in the context of the overall band. I don't use the same tone in every setting.