how to get a very "deep""wide""felt" tone

[Vacume]

any suggestions, for metal, im thinkin turnin down the mids? any advice is helpful please spceify whether to play with pick or fingers as I can play with both

[bassist 4 life]

Do not turn down your mids in a metal band, its the only chance you will be heard, unless you have a huge amp.

[ElBajista]

What bass and strings do you use?

I would suggest trying out some bright flats. TIs, Chromes, and Rotosound Steve Harris sig. flats all come to mind. I've only used TIs, but other people have commented on these other brands being pretty bright for flatwounds.

Usually, playing Fingerstyle and trying different hand-placements will make it easier to change your tone on the fly. Try playing with your fingers near the neck, and boost your low mids. Keep your mids, they're your only hope of being heard.

[Stanley Design]

Use two big heavy 1x18 cabs or two 2x15's, roll off the pressence and play fingerstyle with flats.

[EricF]

Fingers up by the neck, flats, trim the highs, bump the low mids.

[bannedwit]

Fingerstyle will give you a thick sound but it may give you some clicking if you play it too aggressive.

Playing closer to the neck or even using the neck as a thumb rest will make it more chunky. Playing over the pickups will get tighter sounding the closer you get to the bridge.

Playing with a pick with cut through and would sound killer with some overdrive. Get some mids on your amp and you will kill!

They have pedals and rackmount stuff that brings out the sub-harmonic frequencies to have you bass get "felt" more...

Get a tube amp to add warmth. Use a 4x10 and a 1x15 cab or a 8x10 (2 4x10 cabs even)

Get a 5 string bass, get active pickups etc...

[chaosMK]

I've been playing in low-tuned metal bands for years. I get you on wanting a huge tone.

What I've discovered works best is pushing the right frequencies. I like to focus on a bump around 150/180/200 hz with 180 being boosted the most. I consider these frequencies to be "low mids." Cutting the mids and boosting the lows is actually the last thing you want to do. I've also found that a rather "harsh" sounding tone (too much mids) by itself actually sounds very good in the mix.

What happens in metal, if your guitarists have big stacks and ultra crunchy tone, is they end up putting out a ton of low end and it buries your bass tone. Adding more bass to this mess just makes the whole band sound like ass.

Other tone shaping tools like the Sansamp pedal or less expensive Hartke VXL can help you get a sound that comes across pretty big and present in the mix.

If you want boom... I'd suggest a 2x15 setup that has a lot of midrange focus like older Mesa gear or SWR.

Also, the bass you are using has a huge effect on the bigness of your sound. My old Ibanez SR-885 (which was their high end bass in the late 90's) sounds thin compared to a Warwick, Cirrus, or Spector- regarless of how I EQed the instrument.