Detroit Rock City Isolated Bass

Noseferatu · #1 08-26-2010, 07:43 PM

I'm a big KISS fan and Detroit Rock City was the first song I ever learned to play on bass, and for that I will forever be grateful to Gene Simmons.

I stumbled upon this and was very excited to hear it.

And I thought I would share it. Pretty tasty.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=er9aMAunGgs

BrainDamaged · #2 08-26-2010, 07:47 PM

Dude this is so cool... I love KISS! I've got posters and all that. Gene might not be a virtuoso bass player, but his lines fit and really gave KISS rumble. And he wore real big shoes - what's not to love about real big shoes?

Jim Campbell · #3 08-26-2010, 07:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Noseferatu

I'm a big KISS fan and Detroit Rock City was the first song I ever learned to play on bass, and for that I will forever be grateful to Gene Simmons.

I stumbled upon this and was very excited to hear it.

And I thought I would share it. Pretty tasty.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=er9aMAunGgs

there seems to be a lot of this stuff popping up on youtube.... ben orr from the cars lines have been isolated and posted

Alvaro Martín Gómez A. · #4 08-26-2010, 08:01 PM

I was a true Kiss freak during my teenage years and I'm so glad to hear this recording. Very cool. Thanks for sharing!

Johnny Crab · #5 08-26-2010, 08:05 PM

IIRC, any song that has been put into the "Guitar" games can have the tracks ISO'd because they are put on the disc that way. Great find and suggest you archive it before the YT police pull it.

thedude77md · #6 08-26-2010, 08:08 PM

His lines do fit and are great for the music. I like that it's a little sloppy too... reminds me that my slight sloppiness is OK (I play rock music) and I am a bit too critical of myself. This feels right though not virtuoso playing

Noseferatu · #7 08-26-2010, 08:08 PM

Believe me, I did.

Noseferatu · #8 08-26-2010, 08:11 PM

Just found a couple more. Live ones and another studio one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jR5jC3f_ZUk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgKz1...eature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtubD...eature=related

zachoff · #9 08-26-2010, 09:36 PM

That bass has no sustain at all.

Lesfunk · #10 08-26-2010, 10:17 PM

I love that bass line.

I wonder who played it?

Gecko 5 · #11 08-26-2010, 11:15 PM

I've got to say...This is embarassing.
I've been playing bass for 25+ years...I've never understood bass distortion.....Now I get it.

Its not me, but I get it

thedude77md · #12 08-27-2010, 12:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gecko 5

I've got to say...This is embarassing.
I've been playing bass for 25+ years...I've never understood bass distortion.....Now I get it.

Its not me, but I get it

Yup. I didn't either until a really raucous band enlisted me a few years ago. I happened to have a Bassman 300 Pro and used the distortion channel for the heck of it one rehearsal.... totally fit the bill. It's all about what it sounds like in the mix.

KJung · #13 08-27-2010, 05:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gecko 5

I've got to say...This is embarassing.
I've been playing bass for 25+ years...I've never understood bass distortion.....Now I get it.

Its not me, but I get it

I was thinking the same thing. Most of the guys using this distorted type tone live (and on clips posted on TB) sound very thin... distortion and nothing else. This clip almost sounds like the bass is double tracked... one track dirty and one clean. You can hear a very deep, clean, sustaining bass tone underneath that grindy mid and treble that delays quicker than the fundamental of the note.

This tone is rarely achieved IMO. I know very little about Kiss (other than I saw one of their first US gigs opening for Rush at the old KSHE Kite Fly in ST. Louis and they were boo'd off the stage

), but it seems Gene was running a splitter or something to get a clean and dirty signal combined (similar to what Squire achieved with his 'Ric-o-sound' stereo tone).

That bass tone sounds great for that context.

jschwalls · #14 08-27-2010, 05:37 AM

awesome, this is the song that made me want to play bass.. I can remember sitting on the floor for hours trying to learn the bass part.. just about destroyed the 8 track tape..!!!

hahah

Noseferatu · #15 08-27-2010, 11:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KJung

I was thinking the same thing. Most of the guys using this distorted type tone live (and on clips posted on TB) sound very thin... distortion and nothing else. This clip almost sounds like the bass is double tracked... one track dirty and one clean. You can hear a very deep, clean, sustaining bass tone underneath that grindy mid and treble that delays quicker than the fundamental of the note.

This tone is rarely achieved IMO. I know very little about Kiss (other than I saw one of their first US gigs opening for Rush at the old KSHE Kite Fly in ST. Louis and they were boo'd off the stage

), but it seems Gene was running a splitter or something to get a clean and dirty signal combined (similar to what Squire achieved with his 'Ric-o-sound' stereo tone).

That bass tone sounds great for that context.

Agreed, it sounds great. I've noticed that in rock, alot of times, a bass will sound much better in a mix if it's distorted than if it's clean.

As for the signal, yes that is likely what he did. He did the exact same thing when they would play live from 1973-early 1975. He would have one SVT running clean tone and another one running the grindy/distorted tone.