Flea's early tone

[chanson]

If any of you are Flea fans, you can probably tell the tone on the early albums (by early I mean anything before Blood Sugar) is quite different than his later and more recent tone.

Does anyone have any advice on how to get his early tone? It seems to be much more fatter and slightly flatter than his current tone. I know he used Stingrays and Spector basses on the early records, but does anyone else have any info? Amps? EQ settings?

And before you say it, yes, I know that a huge portion of Flea's tone comes from his attack.

[Aurel]

Flea used a Stingray on the early recordings, but in the early 90's, he started using an Alembic in the studio (it can be seen in the Funky Monks movie when he's laying down a bass track for "give it away").
He's been using Gallien-Krueger heads for quite some time now, along with G-K cabinets.
But in the eary days, I heard that he was using Mesa-Boogie cabinets.
His early envelope filter sounds came from a Boss FT-2 or a DOD FX-25. Later, he was seen using alternatively a Dunlop 105Q Bass Crybaby, an EHX Q-tron, and MXR Micro Amp, and for distortion, a Big Muff, and a BOSS ODB-2.

Until Stadium Arcadium he was mostly using GHS rounds, and he probably changed them quite often to keep a bright sound that would emphasize his attack. Hope that helps!

[Baryonyx]

Flea used to get a pretty good tone from those Spectors. Although I don't buy into the whole "amp EQ" thing. I've never followed the school of thought that you could emulate someone elses tone just by tweaking knobs on your own gear, there are simply far too many variables.

[jellymax]

take a stingray, set the strings very low, then compress the heck
out of it, & you will be getting close

[KPAX]

I'm pretty sure he used a Stingray for the first album through Uplift Mofo. During this period he mainly used Ampeg SVT heads and SVT 8x10 cabs.
Around Mothers Milk he used Spectors and SVT but he also briefly used Trace Elliot amps. He also used the Stingray during this period. There's a cool vid on YouTube of Subway To Venus where he uses a Trace Elliot. I read somewhere that he recorded Mothers Milk with a Spector bass.
On Blood Sugar he used a Wal bass and a Stingray 5 string (The Righteous and the Wicked) - you can see them recording this album on the Funky Monks DVD. Around this time he started using GK RB800 heads and three Mesa 2x10 and three Mesa 2x15 cabs. He used these cabs for a long stretch all through the 90's/2000, including the Californication tour.
He used the GK 800RB heads for the Blood Sugar and One Hot Minute tours, including Woodstock 94. By the Californication tour in 2000 he was using what looks like prototype GK 2001RB heads.
Even though he used a Wal on BSSM, he used Stingrays live. On One Hot Minute he used an Alembic but again he used the Stingray live.
By Californication he was using the Modulus Flea bass in the studio and live and continued to use it on By The Way and parts of Stadium Arcadium. He also used a Fender Jazz on Stadium Arcadium but went back to using the modulus Flea live during that tour.
Some time around the By The Way tour he switched from the Mesa cabs to three GK RBH 1x15 and three GK RBH 4x10 cabs and has continued to use those.
I like Flea's tone on BSSM and One Hot Minute the most. For live, I liked the GK 800RB heads and Mesa cabs.
To get his early tone (80's thru OHM), I'd say get a Stingray, develop speed and play very hard. He plucks and slaps hard - like a jackhammer. I don't think the choice of amp is tremendously important. His bass tone varied some from album to album. He usually used a good amount of treble and not too much lows. I'd say use a cab with some 10's for a tight sound.

Originally Posted by chanson

If any of you are Flea fans, you can probably tell the tone on the early albums (by early I mean anything before Blood Sugar) is quite different than his later and more recent tone.

Does anyone have any advice on how to get his early tone? It seems to be much more fatter and slightly flatter than his current tone. I know he used Stingrays and Spector basses on the early records, but does anyone else have any info? Amps? EQ settings?

And before you say it, yes, I know that a huge portion of Flea's tone comes from his attack.

[Baryonyx]

Nice rundown of things, KPAX!

If anyone has a picture of Flea with a Spector I'd love to see it!

[mike_Ro11]

Originally Posted by Aurel

Flea used a Stingray on the early recordings, but in the early 90's, he started using an Alembic in the studio (it can be seen in the Funky Monks movie when he's laying down a bass track for "give it away").
He's been using Gallien-Krueger heads for quite some time now, along with G-K cabinets.
But in the eary days, I heard that he was using Mesa-Boogie cabinets.
His early envelope filter sounds came from a Boss FT-2 or a DOD FX-25. Later, he was seen using alternatively a Dunlop 105Q Bass Crybaby, an EHX Q-tron, and MXR Micro Amp, and for distortion, a Big Muff, and a BOSS ODB-2.

Until Stadium Arcadium he was mostly using GHS rounds, and he probably changed them quite often to keep a bright sound that would emphasize his attack. Hope that helps!

Im pretty sure he used a Wal mkIII on BSSM. The alembric epic was used to record One Hot Minute
EDIT: The Flats on his Jazz bass have reportedly never been changed.

[KPAX]

Here's some videos:
If you search youtube for red hot chili 1989 you'll get a lot.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ove5_eQTgpw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNEyNy07MlA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvU4zCgAecM

Originally Posted by Baryonyx

Nice rundown of things, KPAX!

If anyone has a picture of Flea with a Spector I'd love to see it!

[Baryonyx]

Man, they used to rock quite a lot!

[KPAX]

Yeah, they didn't headline Lollapalooza in the 90's playing Dani California.

Originally Posted by Baryonyx

Man, they used to rock quite a lot!

[chanson]

I didn't know he had used a Precision bass. That may be the reason for the different tone.

[phxlbrmpf]

I could've sworn "Uplift Mofo" was pretty much all Spector, it certainly sounds like it to me. I think he also uses a Spector in the "Fight like a Brave" video (although I admit this doesn't always mean anything).

[Ampeg SVT]

Here is the NS-2 with the SVT set up.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fw-XK_X8Rm0

That is such a great tone.

[KPAX]

He may have. I know he was using a Spector in the early Frusciate period (1989) but he may have used it even earlier.

Originally Posted by phxlbrmpf

I could've sworn "Uplift Mofo" was pretty much all Spector, it certainly sounds like it to me. I think he also uses a Spector in the "Fight like a Brave" video (although I admit this doesn't always mean anything).

[bassrique]

Man, "Mother's Milk" was 1989? Time really flies.. I'm feeling kinda old...

[KPAX]

Yeah, me too.

Originally Posted by bassrique

Man, "Mother's Milk" was 1989? Time really flies.. I'm feeling kinda old...

[stewart8980]

What bass did he use on the cover of "If You Want Me To Stay"? I'm covering it, and I have a Jazz with Rotosounds and an Acoustic amp, so I'm trying to work with what I got. Any ideas for a 4-knob EQ?