Cliff Burton's tone (without distortion)

MOTORHEADBANGER · #1 05-08-2009, 05:35 PM

I was asked to join a Metallica tribute band yesterday, and I decided to join (just because I thought it might be fun), and just to be authentic I am trying to get the Cliff Burton ''dry'' bass tone. I could not find a thread that explained how to get his normal, non distorted tone. So I was wondering if anyone knew how to get it, eq wise or whatever. Right now I own an Aria SB Elite 1, a Fender MIM p-bass, and my head has three band eq with semi-parametric mid.

Mikio · #2 05-08-2009, 05:47 PM

did he really had a non-distorted tone? ever?

well, perhaps in kill'em all, but that's more of a vintage, low tone, I guess

Mr. Soul · #3 05-08-2009, 07:35 PM

The mesa 400+ was pretty much made for him. If you pick up one of those you can pretty much nail his tone. He also had a pretty modded out Rickenbacker 4001 that he used all the time up to 'Master' when he got his Aria.

Live he bi-amped his rig, there is an article on it in a Bass Guitar mag from a while back, but I can remember that one amp sent a signal to two 2x15 cabs and the drive amp was sent to two 4x12 amps.

As far as what you have you want to boost up the mids and low mids flatten out the lows and highs to cut through the guitars a bit that's basically what he used to do.

Sartori · #4 05-08-2009, 09:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mikio

did he really had a non-distorted tone? ever?

well, perhaps in kill'em all, but that's more of a vintage, low tone, I guess

Depends what you mean by non-distorted. He certainly didn't usually play with Anesthesia levels of distortion, that was just for solos. But his tone was always quite snarly, especially on Ride the Lightning.

So, key to Burton-esque tone: get a very bright sounding bass, crank the gain, make sure you've got a lot of mids.

Vic Winters · #5 05-08-2009, 11:03 PM

A Fulltone Bass Drive should get you close. He had a gritty OD sound most of the time.

$Lindz$ · #6 05-09-2009, 01:49 PM

I dunno how many times I have watched this video... Amazing. He was the only good thing about Metallica. RIP.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KpxOmksHrY

Mr. Soul · #7 05-09-2009, 04:22 PM

The amazing thing he was dead at what 24?

He did all that stuff while barely old enough to buy a beer.

holllowbody · #8 05-09-2009, 04:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr. Soul

The amazing thing he was dead at what 24?

He did all that stuff while barely old enough to buy a beer.

One has to wonder how "legendary" he would be had he not died. Dying young has a way of turning rockers and rappers into legends.

Sartori · #9 05-09-2009, 04:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by holllowbody

One has to wonder how "legendary" he would be had he not died. Dying young has a way of turning rockers and rappers into legends.

I think it quite doubtful that he would have for some reason ceased improving in 1986 if he had lived. The trouble is that his entire recording career was three albums in four years. That's not much material to go on.

There was a thread about this a little while ago. You can argue about his ability or lack thereof there. This thread is about how to get his bass sound.

TheHegemon · #10 05-09-2009, 05:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mikio

did he really had a non-distorted tone? ever?

well, perhaps in kill'em all, but that's more of a vintage, low tone, I guess

Small parts in certain songs, like the middle solo in Orion sounds pretty clean.

b4nny · #11 05-10-2009, 03:26 AM

On youtube you can listen to many Metallica bass tracks exactly as they were recorded in the studio.

My observations: On Kill 'Em All he used his Rickenbacker with flats, played with the bridge pickup only. Nice clean tone there. On RTL there is no clean except for the intro to Fight Fire With Fire and the first few notes during the intro of Fade To Black, then goes distorted for the rest. On MoP there is no perfectly clean tone, there's always what sounds like his playing subtly encroaching the barrier or distortion, but the bass is never all alone so that gets covered up and sounds clean. Therefore.. clean tone doesn't mean much to those two albums?

If you're talking about Orion (there's even slight distortion during the bass interlude), I don't think you really need anything special to get the clean tone. It would get you close to play where the middle pickup on your bass would be...

Sartori · #12 05-10-2009, 05:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by b4nny

On youtube you can listen to many Metallica bass tracks exactly as they were recorded in the studio.

My observations: On Kill 'Em All he used his Rickenbacker with flats, played with the bridge pickup only. Nice clean tone there. On RTL there is no clean except for the intro to Fight Fire With Fire and the first few notes during the intro of Fade To Black, then goes distorted for the rest. On MoP there is no perfectly clean tone, there's always what sounds like his playing subtly encroaching the barrier or distortion, but the bass is never all alone so that gets covered up and sounds clean. Therefore.. clean tone doesn't mean much to those two albums?

If you're talking about Orion (there's even slight distortion during the bass interlude), I don't think you really need anything special to get the clean tone. It would get you close to play where the middle pickup on your bass would be...

Ah, here we get into the subjectivity of the word "clean." What is it, exactly?

For Burton, I generally use the word "clean" to describe regular playing, not the absurd amounts of distortion used for solos. Coincidently, this is also the way in which I describe my own bass tone. Usually growly as can be, but rarely full-on saturated distortion.

Nolifer · #13 05-10-2009, 07:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr. Soul

He also had a pretty modded out Rickenbacker 4001 that he used all the time up to 'Master' when he got his Aria.

Sorry for nitpicking but according to the video below..

Quote:

Originally Posted by $Lindz$

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KpxOmksHrY

.. if the date in the beginning is right, he got his Aria before MoP already..

Also, I found a source that said that he used a chorus pedal on Orion's interlude but that was just one source so I doubt if it's the truth.

But jeez, what an awesome musician. I've lost myself several times in the thought of what would have become of him if he hadn't been lost so young...

**IvanMike** · #14 05-10-2009, 08:01 AM

this isn't specific to early cliff burton metallica, but it should help.

for that sort of metal, the guitars tend to be very scooped, that is, they boost highs and lows and cut the mids. The only way to be heard yourself is to do some mid boosting. The clean "snarly" tone (as has been mentioned) usually comes from a bit of a high mid boost. The best thing to do is to experiment with the eq settings on your bass and amp. Go slowly, and write down any settings that seem to come close.

Remember, a tone that will sound good in the band context is likely to sound a bit weird by itself.

For times when i need that sort of tone i use a sans amp bass di. I set the drive just under where it starts to distort, and boost the presence and highs a bit. I keep the blend pretty close to dry tone. I also boost mids on my amp. sometimes the amp boost is enough, other times the just starting to clip sans amp tone helps.

However, you don't need a sans amp or any other single peice of equipment. Lots of ways to get there.

MOTORHEADBANGER · #15 05-10-2009, 12:02 PM

Ok, just to clarify by clean I meant Burton's normal playing. I feel there is quite a difference between having a growling or snarly tone and full out distortion (Anesthesia and For Whom the Bell Tolls).

Sartori · #16 05-10-2009, 05:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nolifer

Sorry for nitpicking but according to the video below..

.. if the date in the beginning is right, he got his Aria before MoP already..

Also, I found a source that said that he used a chorus pedal on Orion's interlude but that was just one source so I doubt if it's the truth.

But jeez, what an awesome musician. I've lost myself several times in the thought of what would have become of him if he hadn't been lost so young...

Master of Puppets was released in 1986. It was recorded in 1985. There's often a bit of a time gap between when an album is recorded and when it is actually released.

Sartori · #17 05-10-2009, 05:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by IvanMike

this isn't specific to early cliff burton metallica, but it should help.

for that sort of metal, the guitars tend to be very scooped, that is, they boost highs and lows and cut the mids. The only way to be heard yourself is to do some mid boosting. The clean "snarly" tone (as has been mentioned) usually comes from a bit of a high mid boost. The best thing to do is to experiment with the eq settings on your bass and amp. Go slowly, and write down any settings that seem to come close.

Remember, a tone that will sound good in the band context is likely to sound a bit weird by itself.

For times when i need that sort of tone i use a sans amp bass di. I set the drive just under where it starts to distort, and boost the presence and highs a bit. I keep the blend pretty close to dry tone. I also boost mids on my amp. sometimes the amp boost is enough, other times the just starting to clip sans amp tone helps.

However, you don't need a sans amp or any other single peice of equipment. Lots of ways to get there.

Indeed. Turn those mids up and the tone starts getting pretty mean. Sounds very aggressive and a bit much by itself, but in the context of a band, cuts through quite nicely.

Nolifer · #18 05-12-2009, 03:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sartori

Master of Puppets was released in 1986. It was recorded in 1985. There's often a bit of a time gap between when an album is recorded and when it is actually released.

Sept - Dec 1985. That vid was recorded in August 1985. So still a tiny bit earlier, besides, I doubt he got that bass right at that gig..

Sartori · #19 05-12-2009, 09:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nolifer

Sept - Dec 1985. That vid was recorded in August 1985. So still a tiny bit earlier, besides, I doubt he got that bass right at that gig..

Probably earlier in 1985.

K-Funk · #20 05-12-2009, 09:54 PM

Also, Cliff used Mesa D180 amps, not the 400+. The 400+ was introduced in 1989- years after his death. Also, the D180 featured some pretty killer distortion features, which he most certainly used. He probably only kicked the Big Muff on for getting the guitar-like sounds such as on For Whom The Bell Tolls. His mainstay distorted tone came from the D180.