Walk me through these tones

[oniman7]

The whole time I've been playing bass, I've always loved bass sounds that are growly, gritty, punchy, bright and metallic. I was day dreaming about gear earlier and was thinking about different combinations.

So I was wondering how you thought the original bassists might get these sounds. Gear, mixing, effects, styles, etc. Have some fun with this too.

I'm thinking of an Ernie Ball with a Musicman bridge position pickup, some sort of tube amp (SVT?) and maybe some overdrive or just highly driven tubes. I'm also thinking an Ibanez could work.

Symphony X - Domination - YouTube

Ambient Metal Constructions 2 - YouTube

Breaking Benjamin - Blow Me Away (Audio) - YouTube

Disturbed - Indestructible [Official Music Video] - YouTube

Killswitch Engage - The End Of Heartache - YouTube

Porcupine Tree - Time Flies - YouTube

Anyways, this has been bugging me for a while, so tell me what you think.

[Catbuster]

I have always got that tone via GK amplification, sometimes a bit of drive if you don't want crystal clarity (Duff McKagan on Use Your Illusion II,) and steel rounds, particularly Rotosounds; on an aggressive, focused sounding instrument. Think a P/J with a set of aggressive pups (Dimarzio Model X pickup) or StingRay.

The EQ is pretty simple, boost the high mids all the way, low mids slightly shy of 3/4, and do the same with the treble.

[oniman7]

Thanks, sounds like I'm definitely on the right track! I'm looking at an Ibanez Soundgear/Ernie Ball Musicman Stingray (the Stingray's more a dream bass than something I'll actually afford any time soon), as well as GK amps and D'Addario Pro Steels.