Creating My Own Tone??

TheDpac1 · #1 06-07-2007, 09:05 AM

I have been playing for around 20 years, mostly garage rock, punk and heavy rock. I finally have an amp with some tone shaping capabilities and need to work on my tone. I am looking for fat and punchy, like Geezer (Sabbath) with a little distortion, with real fat bottum, and enough meat on top for the growl.

I know tone is totally a personal thing...

Any hint's on not getting Bad tone?

Any thoughts on a process for working this problem out? Just start twisting the knobs?

Thanks!
Darren

blankstare77 · #2 06-07-2007, 09:10 AM

A "bad tone" is only bad when it doesn't suit the ensemble or blend well. If it sounds good in the mix, it's not bad.

Just find something that you like, that people like, and that compliments the ensemble.

Usually by boosting the mid frequencies you gain more prominence. After that, you can mess with your tone as much as you want.

Definitely start twisting the knobs. Explore a bit. First explore within your bass pickups. Then explore within the amp. The bass pickups affect the source of tone whereas the amp frequency levels dictate how the sound is shaped. So, in essence, fiddle with your bass pickup levels, find what you like, then fiddle with the amp levels, then find what you like.

JLW · #3 06-07-2007, 09:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheDpac1

Just start twisting the knobs?

Do that.

Make sure you do it in a band setting with everyone there though.

You've probably heard this 1294332594394 times on here, but what sounds good in your room sounds bad with the band.

Koki · #4 06-07-2007, 10:34 AM

It's all is in fingers.. I can get the tone that's good to me with any bass and any amp.

JLW · #5 06-07-2007, 11:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Koki

It's all is in fingers.. I can get the tone that's good to me with any bass and any amp.

You can get a rough estimate, yes.

But you can't make a P bass sound like a Stingray (or vice versa), no matter how you play it or what you do.