How to get a punchy sound on bass

[Joey77]

Does anyone know how I could get a punchy sound out my bass but yet also clear enough to cut through?

Thanks

[joshwilkesbooth]

Can anyone tell me what the best bass is for metal?

Thanks

[SMILEYSIXX]

Low mids. Emphasize 'em. For punch, I use rotosound 77's too.

[rpsands]

Link an example of what you want to sound like

[SMILEYSIXX]

Originally Posted by joshwilkesbooth

Can anyone tell me what the best bass is for metal?

Thanks

BC Rich Warlock. Next question.

[pacojas]

Originally Posted by Joey77

Does anyone know how I could get a punchy sound out my bass but yet also clear enough to cut through?

Thanks

play closer to the bridge and dig in alittle.

[Selta]

Originally Posted by joshwilkesbooth

Can anyone tell me what the best bass is for metal?

Thanks

Uhm... not really... funny in this particular instance. I'm not even going to reward you attempt points.

A lot of this is going to be technique / hand placement. EQ really won't get you "punch", per se. Good cabs help, though there's no hard and fast rule that xx type of cab is punchier than yy.

The above is in my limited experience. Also, for me, rounds seem to get me more punch than flats. But, YMMV, and I'm sure someone has a bass that punches gorillas in the face with flats.

[gumtownbassman]

Originally Posted by Joey77

Does anyone know how I could get a punchy sound out my bass but yet also clear enough to cut through?

Thanks

New strings and hard picks.

What sort of punchy? To me that would be using the likes of an active bass through an Ampeg SVT amp..

[gumtownbassman]

Originally Posted by SMILEYSIXX

BC Rich Warlock. Next question.

???

[Joey77]

alright thnks guys but what did u mean about dig in a little pacojas? Also the sort of punchy tht I like is like duff mckagan (back in gnr days) or flea or even geddy lee's present sound.

[Munjibunga]

Give us your definition of "punchy." As rpsands said, give us a link to a sample. Otherwise, nothing you read here will have any meaning whatsoever.

[SMILEYSIXX]

Originally Posted by gumtownbassman

???

Not sure if you realized, but that was a sarcastic comment to a sarcastic "best bass for metal" question, not the OP's punchiness query.

[Joey77]

This would be a good sample of what I would like to sound like:

YouTube - Welcome to the jungle By Guns N' Roses with lyrics

At the beginning when the bass plays with the bass drum you hear it has a lot of punch yet its very defined and u can hear it very well.

[gumtownbassman]

Originally Posted by Joey77

This would be a good sample of what I would like to sound like:

YouTube - Welcome to the jungle By Guns N' Roses with lyrics

At the beginning when the bass plays with the bass drum you hear it has a lot of punch yet its very defined and u can hear it very well.

Typical 80's Krammer bass tone

Duff McKagan - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Selta]

Originally Posted by Joey77

This would be a good sample of what I would like to sound like:

YouTube - Welcome to the jungle By Guns N' Roses with lyrics

At the beginning when the bass plays with the bass drum you hear it has a lot of punch yet its very defined and u can hear it very well.

You realize a lot of that is kick drum, right?

[gumtownbassman]

Originally Posted by SMILEYSIXX

Not sure if you realized, but that was a sarcastic comment to a sarcastic "best bass for metal" question, not the OP's punchiness query.

Yeah I know

[Russell L]

Aw, I know what you mean---punchy. Well, I had it tonight running the 15" in my Trace Elliot GP7 combo as an extra speaker for my Markbass 121H combo. The best sound I had all night was with the Little Mark II amp set flat while playing my '88 Jazz Bass Special only on the Precision pickup. (Ya'll stop and try to imagine that set-up, think about it). What I think of as punchy has only a moderate amount of lows below 100Hz, or so. On my Trace amp one of the sliders is 100z, and it's the one I boost, not the 50z beside it. I leave it flat. On other amps, it's the knob labelled "Low Mids" that gets used to get punch, but the frequency varies from amp to amp. For instance, I can't get 100z anywhere on my LMII, unless it's caught somewhere in the shape filters (VLE and VPF). Low mid knob is centered at 360Hz. Got to admit, that old inexpensive JB Special has some punch of its own, so you never know if it's the instrument you're playing that is what's giving you punch, or keeping you from getting it.

Everybody wants punch. As a general rule, I'd say start flat and bump up whatever you have for Low Mid, and see what you get (maybe 2:00 on an active knob). Maybe add to that only half as much Low. The High Mids and Highs might be distracting, so you might wanna drop some of them a tad. Besides, when you get through with finding your punch, you will have to begin seeing how the heck to figure your philosophy of how you want your Highs.

About the best I can tell ya.

[SMILEYSIXX]

When I tthink of quality punchy bass tone, GNR definitely is not what comes to mind, but to each his own, I suppose.

[Joey77]

Yeah i know a lot of the punch is coming from the kick drum but it was one of the best ones tht I cud have came up with a sound tht is punchy but at the same time very defined and also plays with a pick. But heres another one that doesnt play with a pick:

YouTube - Rush Geddy Lee Bass solo Quebec 2010

OR

YouTube - Red Hot Chili Peppers- Suck My Kiss

[PaulMacCnj]

A punchy sound to me means....

Use a bolt-on neck bass.
Use higher tension strings.
Use a compressor.
Play closer to the bridge.
Use a pick.
Maybe even use flatwound strings.

I say maybe on the flatwounds because you can still get a lot of punch from roundwounds using the other things mentioned.