Scooped sound for hard rock?
 

This is quoted from a bass player article by Bryan Beller on how to cut through in hard rock/metal. Full article:http://www.bassplayer.com/article/st...bass-tone/4810

And the relevant video: http://www.bassplayer.com/video.aspx...8001&section=2

It seems to contradict with the idea of using mids to cut through. Doesn't turning both pickups on yields a mid scooped tone? And the "single bridge hum bucker" basses ( i guess he's referring to music mans here) have lots of mids that is regarded as good for getting heard in a mix. But he said in the video that these basses are too midrange and the frequencies are all taken up by guitars. All this seems to suggest a mid scooping tone. Could someone explain the contradiction? Thx

Many bass players feel this way. However, they don't know what the engineer then does to the sound to make it work. Yes, you need mids to be heard, and yes, Stingrays are great for rock. The important thing to remember is that he has his tonal goals, but that doesn't make them "rules," or appropriate for any particular other player.

The mid scoop is pretty considerable with both pickups set even on a Jazz Bass. It's probably the biggest reason that type of setup is preferred for slap style. I use both pickups set even for slap and for smoother finger style things. Otherwise I'm rolling a bit off one pickup or the other to add some presence to the sound. More front pickup gives more of a P-Bass (ish) sound and more bridge pickup is closer to a Ray (ish) sound, depending of course on where you pluck the strings. I can see the two pickup scoop could be beneficial in hard rock, for giving the guitars some room.

He the goes on to add things like little a hair to the tone to help you cut. Ect.

Ultimately it has to do with what frequencies are vacant by the other instruments.... the mix.