my tone growls when i dig in....

[MLB]

I love the tone of my bass when i'm playing normal....though when i'm slapping and dig in a little harder it sorta craps out and growls. I would like the smooth tone to remain when slapping. is it a string gauge issue?

[KStewart]

are you playing on steel strings?

It sounds to me like you need to work on your slap technique a bit more. Refine it. Practice. You'll start to feel how much you actually should be laying into it vs. digging in.

[MLB]

yes...steel core strings now....it was actually worse with the synthetic cores. gut was the best, but expensive. just certain notes when i slap aren't as smooth.....sorta dirty sounding.