From frets to fretless; rock and metal HELP!

ZebZeppelin · #1 11-10-2011, 08:10 AM

So, I recently bought my first fretless bass, making me a total newbie on a fretless. I have a few problems, not regarding intonation since it has lines in the fretboard (with some more practice in the dark, I won't need them no more).

Thing is, I play a lot of metal, and need a few suggestions in how to use it well. I LOVE the sound, but I haven't got a clue on equalizer settings etc. I try to get a similar sound to that of Obscura's Cosmogenesis album and Augury's Fragmentary Evidence. Here's a sample of the sound I am pursuing; Augury- Simian Cattle - YouTube All help and info will be greatly appreciated.

Also, I want any advice you can give me, going from fretted to fretless. My bass is a Woodo b6 6-string, (Specs: walnut body, 35" maple neck, ebony fretboard, neck-through, string through body, d'Addario strings, kent armstrong active/passive-switchable pups) too tired to post image at the moment, but will link to their website if desired

Thanks in advance, Cheers

AmadeusXeno · #2 11-10-2011, 12:19 PM

Sounds like boosting your mids and keeping everything else flat on the EQ should help you get closer to that tone.

paradigm_shift · #3 11-10-2011, 01:04 PM

Theres delay or double tracking on that augery bass. Sounds like chorus as well though that may be a symptom of the above

paradigm_shift · #4 11-10-2011, 01:23 PM

The thing with fretless in metal is its really about finding the gaps between what your up against . Theres no one EQ that is going to work, typically its mids and typically low mids will work well for cutting it in the mix if your against Scooped guitars. Read a really good interview with Steve Digiorgio in regards to this recently. Can't find th elink though

ZebZeppelin · #5 11-10-2011, 01:44 PM

What I HAVE found out is that it's lots of mids and some highs... of course, One EQ as you said isnt gonna help Me, but for gigging, What would you suggest? I do not want to ditch the lows on the gigs, I refuse to drown in the guitars. I don't Think they have a scoop-effect, only distortion at 11 out of 10.

ZebZeppelin · #6 11-10-2011, 01:46 PM

Oh, tuning is B standard so the lows really counts, lots of heavy riffage.

paradigm_shift · #7 11-10-2011, 01:49 PM

Again its a question of what your up against, If your boosting the bass and your playing with two heavily downtuned guitarists , with triple Rectifier stacks (as an example) pushing the bass frequencies all your going to get is mud. No matter who does it , someone will have to compromise to get the mix sounding tight.

ZebZeppelin · #8 11-10-2011, 11:41 PM

True. Their guitars arent muddy at all, not so much lows on them...

ZebZeppelin · #9 11-11-2011, 02:11 AM

When using my 5-string fretted bass, I get the best metal sound when having lots of lows and highs with flat mids using a pick. I don't drown, and we get a really beefy sound. Hopefully, we don't lose the beefy sound, the fretless sounds pretty flat without mids but mids AND lows sound horrible. Ah well, thanks for the tips!

Anyone with experience of fretless having "good to think about" tips?

grue · #10 11-12-2011, 12:02 AM

Hey, welcome!

I play fretless in a loud rock setting. Not metal, exactly. More like mathy/sludgy something, but I think the issues are the same.

With the fretless, you don't have as much natural bite in your attack as you would with a fretted. I end up boosting the highs and high mids to make up for that, and I think I've adjusted my plucking style to get more of a sharp, aggressive punch.

I also find that I always keep my amp on the edge of breaking up. I just like that sound in general, but I think it also helps give you some snarl to cut through with.

Also, I played around with a ton of different strings. Surprisingly, I have found that flats and groundwounds can give me a really nasty sound when I eq them right.

Finally, the right bass makes a difference. I'm using a Gibson Ripper right now, which is the perfect sound for what I do. Before that, I was using a Warwick Corvette, which was great, but was a little too smooth and jazzy for my music.

ZebZeppelin · #11 11-13-2011, 07:16 AM

Using round-wounds, I dont know What difference it makes in sound, any general differences? Plus its Pretty hard to find kits for 6-string basses... Been experimenting with EQ in logic, and now I want an amp with graphic EQ... A LOT easier to get a hold on those few Hz that makes the sound I want to have. Pity that no amp has a that advanced EQ though.