Setup to get more sustain

[Hutzbordello]

so i have dirt pedals and volume to help to get sustain. but im wondering if there is anything else i can do. I play a LTD Ex-104 and it is a bolt on. Setup is factory, haven't had to touch it.

i guess its a pretty quick question...

[JLS]

Originally Posted by Hutzbordello

so i have dirt pedals and volume to help to get sustain. but im wondering if there is anything else i can do. I play a LTD Ex-104 and it is a bolt on. Setup is factory, haven't had to touch it.

i guess its a pretty quick question...

Try this: "Technique".

[JavierFarias]

a High mass bridge or/and string through.

[dmusic148]

Originally Posted by JavierFarias

a High mass bridge or/and string through.

Neither of those mods will make a bit of difference.
Compression is your friend here, I think.

[allexcosta]

Heavier strings could help a bit...

[maturanesa]

heavy mass bridge

[Pacman]

moved to Setup, since this isn't Technique related.

[Slowgypsy]

I'm always curious about "sustain" questions/comments. Just how long are you looking to "sustain" a note?

[JB696]

Maybe if you could give me a group and song title where the bass player uses this long "sustain". I'll look it up in Amazon mp3's and have a listen. Ten seconds of sustain has always been enough for me, but I must be really out of it as far as the "new stuff" goes. It could be that I'm missing out on something that I could add to my playing. Maybe I could throw this new sound into our Chet Baker set.

[maturanesa]

Originally Posted by Slowgypsy

I'm always curious about "sustain" questions/comments. Just how long are you looking to "sustain" a note?

for me, its not about how much time you sustain a note.
If you play 10 seconds, 5 or 15 is irrelevant...

Its about the volume decay that you get after picking a note...

More sustain = the volume decay slower. And the perception is that theres more air and presence, a fuller, more alive note.

[Slowgypsy]

Well, I'm not sure what you can do to get your "more sustain" but something to consider.... it's a bass, not a keyboard.

[JB696]

I can thump my "A" string real good, walk down the hallway to the kitchen, mix a Bloody Mary, refill the ice cube tray, and walk back to the music room and the note is still playing. I don't have any kind of meter, but I'd guess that in five seconds the volume has only "decayed" about 9.5%. Hardly noticeable to the naked ear and impossible to detect when playing live. Even with old flats, the incredible amount of sustain I have must be because my bass is "special". Maybe there really is something to that "tone woods" thing after all. The really strange part is that I have a bent sheetmetal "low mass" bridge and a PLASTIC NUT!!!!

[JB696]

OK, enough joking around already. This "more sustain" problem is serious business, it comes up at least twice a week. Maybe this is the ticket:

HAMMOND C-3 C-V C-2 A-100 ORGAN PEDALS B C3 CV C2 105 | eBay

[Hutzbordello]

sorry for the late comment. as far as a song goes........try some Bong, or Bongripper, Sleep. i guess any doom metal band.

[JB696]

I'm on it. Not sure if I will be able to work this in with the Chet Baker tunes. "Doom Metal" is all new to me. I'm not really sure what it is. Our chick singer does a bunch of Billie Holiday favorites and we do plenty of Frank Sinatra's big hits as well. I'm thinking the "Doom" stuff would fit in best with the Frank. Maybe some fuzzed out sustain on the end of "New York, New York"?? I've never needed any more sustain, but I'm always open to new sounds and new techniques. I'll go to Amazon and YouTube and check it out.

[SMILEYSIXX]

Here's my formula. Get a big muff. Use my p bass. Turn the tone on my bass all the way back and the volume all the way up. On the muff, sustain all the way up and tone all the way down. I've gotten notes to go on for thirty seconds. And for the record, this is my exact setup for playing doom metal. I play Sleep/Electric Wizard type stuff then go right into Sunn O))). It's a lot of sustain for me.

[JB696]

OK, I went to YouTube and listened to "Bongripper". That one tune, "Satan", is a real toe-tapper, as we used to say. To me it sounds like the bass player is getting the long sustain the same way we used to do it back in the sixties. Just turn and face your amplifier. The note will get louder and louder until you mute it with your hand or turn away from the speakers. The massive vibrations coming out of your stacks will excite the strings on whatever note you are fingering. Of course you need really loud gear to make it work. But from my short listening experience with "Bongripper" I'm guessing that when this music is performed live the volume levels are substantially elevated for the audience as well as on stage. So standing right in front of your speaker cabinets would work very well. On the other hand, for those who don't like that massive stage volume, there must be some sort of pedal that will do the same thing. Maybe somebody will chime in with some pedal ideas. One thing I have gathered from accidentally stopping in at the "Effects" forum is that there is a pedal that can make a bass sound like anything you can think of. I'll bet there is even a pedal that can make a bass sound like a trombone or a dog farting. So probably a new pedal is the way to go.

[LoveThatBass]

Originally Posted by dmusic148

Neither of those mods will make a bit of difference.
Compression is your friend here, I think.

I disagree with you on this one. I put a Babicz Full Contact bridge on my Fender American Special Jazz and I am now getting sustain out the wazzoo!

[SMILEYSIXX]

Thought I'd chime in again on the pedal idea. On my ME-50B (as much I don't like the unit a s a whole), there's a "sound hold" function that the pedal can do. When it's down, it doesn't do anything, but gradually increase it and so does your sustain. Turn it all the way up, turn off the noise suppressor, and kill the compressor. Let it go long enough and it will actually sustain the note without aid of the bass. I played a note, let it go for about 20 seconds, muted the bass and the note continued. To kill it, turn down the bass's volume or just dial back the pedal, it's barely noticeable and if done fast enough, makes quick, smooth transitions with little effort.

[countrybass007]

I always thought the heavier basses had better sustain.