Jon Stockman of Karnivool

[darkenraja]

Since there was a thread about Luke from Cog, I figured I'd put up a thread about Jono from Karnivool, in my opinion, my equal favourite australian band to Cog.

I really love Jon's playing, and watchign him on stage is awesome! He's got awesome groove and very fun to watch. probably not as intense as Luke though!

As far as I know Jon uses two bass's :

Warwick Corvette standard + Warwick Corvette custom both in 6-string models...though i could be mistaken.

hes got them both tuned down to BF#BEGC i think...

So anyone else have anything to ad for Jon!?

[Anarchyok]

I agree, he's a fantastic player, very melodic and heavy. Quite interesting to watch on stage as well

I think you're right with his basses, I've seen him with 2 corvette std 6 strings on stage.

there is some great bass in the land down under!!

[Jordy]

I've never heard Karnivool

But Cog are probably my favourite band.
Who do they sound like?

[Oliver]

darkenraja, thats a weird tuning, i love their song COTE, hwo the hell can anyone play that tuning?

[JoshGuardo]

Got an E-mail from Jon a couple days ago:

I use an Ashdown EVO II 500 live and in the studio I'll use a number of heads, mainly an Ampeg SVT-CL or SVT-2, plus also Eden, Sunn and Aguilar gear, as well as my Ashdown of course. I use a boss bass equaliser (GEB-7) to reduce a bit of the low mids (160Hz) that are naturally produced from my Warwick Thumb-6, I also run an ODB-3 but I've just bought a Tech-21 XXL, which is a monster distortion, a bit differnt to the ODB-3, which is an overdrive. I also use a DD-20 boss delay and an OC-3 boss octave pedal for some parts of newer songs.

[Anarchyok]

Ah sweet been looking for this info for a little while...

the new album sound awake is set to be huge, and Jon's really prominent on it I've heard. The live tracks sound great!

Nice to see he's got the same amp, bass and octave and delay I do

[ShawnStones]

I love Karnivool and Jon's playing.....huge huge fan, can't wait for them to come to the states again so I can see them.

[Anarchyok]

Yeh hopefully they tour the new album there...had a listen to your band Shawn, never made the connection you were in 12Stones for some reason - love it

[spcmstrbtasp]

Seeing that Corvette Standard 6 makes me miss mine (Nice black hardware too, mine was the std chrome), but then again it also makes my back hurt... I may still be paying for wearing mine that low back in the day. These guys are pretty good though, thanks to the op for making me aware of this band.

[Boguszewivz]

Originally Posted by Oliver

darkenraja, thats a weird tuning, i love their song COTE, hwo the hell can anyone play that tuning?

they call it the Karnivool tuning haha

[jarmo1]

they actually play in a hybrid tuning of drop B/standard E. B F# B G B E. Mostly what they used on Persona and Themata anyway, apparently they used heaps of tunings on sound awake.

[Bassmingo]

I've fallen in love with this band and Jon's playing since i heard sound awake a couple of months ago. I'm going to see them in London in march. Goliath is one of the standout tracks on the album so i decided to tab it out, i'm about halfway through and i'd appriciate some criticism on the tab before i finish it. having never seen them live i dont know what positioning Jon favours, but my ears tell me this:

Artist: Karnivool
Album: Sound Awake
Bassist: Jon Stockman
Year: 2009

Jon from Karnivool plays Warwick 6 string basses allegedly tuned (low to high) BF#BEGC. 
The band have mentioned in interviews that they experimented further with tunings on "sound awake" 
but that some songs are in "standard vool tuning".
You can probably play this song well on a standard tuned 5 string, or a 4 tuned BEAD,
but since I have a 5 string, I decided to try it tuned BF#DEG (the bottom 4 strings of Jon's tuning)



5 string with distortion, tuned BF#BEG

0:24
[-----------------------------------------------]
[-----------------------------------------------]
[-----------------------------------------------]
[-----------------------------------------------]
[-2--2-2-------2--2-2-------2--2-2-------2--2-2-]

[-----------------------------------------------]
[-----------------------------------------------]
[---------------------------2--2-2------------0-]
[-----------------------------------------------]
[-2--2-2-------2--2-2--------------------2--2---]
 


0:37 Verse 1

[--------------------------------------------------------]
[--------------------------------------------------------]
[--------------------------------------------------------]
[--------------------------------------------------------]
[-2--2-2-------2--2-2-------2--2-2-------2--2-2-/12-0h12\]

[-----------------------------------------------]
[-----------------------------------------------]
[-----------------------------------------------]
[-----------------------------------------------]
[-2--2-2-------2--2-2-------2--2-2-------2--2-2-]

[--------------------------------------------------------]
[--------------------------------------------------------]
[--------------------------------------------------------]
[--------------------------------------------------------]
[-2--2-2-------2--2-2-------2--2-2-------2--2-2---5--2-5-]


[----------------------------------------------------]
[----------------------------------------------------]
[----------------------------------------------------]
[----------------------------------------------------]
[-2--2-2-------2--2-2-------2--2-2-------2--2-2-2/12\] 


1:02
[--------------------------------------------------------]
[--------------------------------------------------------]
[--------------------------------------------------------]
[---------------------7--7\------------------------------]
[-2--2-2-------2--2-2/------2--2-2-------2--2-2-/12-0h12\]

[----------------------------------------------------- ]
[-----------------------------------------------------]
[-----------------------------------------------------]
[---------------------7--7\---------------------------]
[-2--2-2-------2--2-2/------2--2-2-------2--2-2-5-2-5\]

1:14 Verse 2
[--------------------------------------------------------]
[--------------------------------------------------------]
[--------------------------------------------------------]
[--------------------------------------------------------]
[-2--2-2-------2--2-2-------2--2-2-------2--2-2-/12-0h12\]

[------------------------------------------------]
[------------------------------------------------]
[-----------------------x------------------------]
[-----------------------x------------------------]
[-2--2-2-------2--2-2---x----2--2-2-------2--2-2-] 

[-----------------------------------------------]
[-----------------------------------------------]
[-----------------------------------------------]
[-----------------------------------------------]
[-2--2-2-------2--2-2-------2--2-2-------2--2-2-]

[----------------------------------------------------]
[----------------------------------------------------]
[----------------------------------------------------]
[----------------------------------------------------]
[-2--2-2-------2--2-2-------2--2-2-------2--2-2--0---]

[--------------------------------------------------------]
[--------------------------------------------------------]
[--------------------------------------------------------]
[---------------------7--7\------------------------------]
[-2--2-2-------2--2-2/------2--2-2-------2--2-2-/12-0h12\] 

[--------------------------------------------------]
[--------------------------------------------------]
[--------------------------------------------------]
[---------------------7--7\----------------------0-]
[-2--2-2-------2--2-2/------2--2-2-------0--0-0----]

[-----------------------------------------------]
[-----------------------------------------------]
[-----------------------------------------------]
[-----------------------------------------------]
[-2--2-2-------2--2-2-------2--2-2-------2--2-2-]

[----------------------------------------------]
[----------------------------------------------]
[----------------------------------------------]
[----------------------------------------------]
[-2--2-2-------2--2-2-------2--2-2-------3-3-3-]

[--------------------------------------------------------]
[--------------------------------------------------------]
[--------------------------------------------------------]
[--------5-------------------------7---------------------]
[-2--2-2-------2--2-2-------2--2-2-------2--2-2-/12-0h12\]

[-------------------------------------------------------]
[-------------------------------------------------------]
[-------------------------------------------------------]
[-----------------------------------------------0-0-3-5-]
[-2--2-2/7-------2--2-2-------2-2---0-0---5-5-----------]

[Son of Bovril]

In the new videos he seems to be playing a 6 string thumb instead of the corvette, I'd be interested to know what bass/basses he recorded with on the new album as I love his tone and am interested in what distortion he used on the album as well? anyone have an email address for him or something where I can contact him?

[ShawnStones]

From everything I've seen so far, the Thumb seems to be his main bass, and the Corvette is his back-up.

The distortion he uses is what he mentioned in that e-mail ^^^^ to JoshGuardo, a Tech-21 XXL.

I seen them live twice on the tour they just did through the states, stood front row, right in front of him both shows, and the Tech 21 was on his board and definitely was the main and only distortion.

[Bassmingo]

I'm currently in correspondence with Jon as i'm gonna interview him (for nothing in particular other than to pick his brains) so while i'm compiling questions to ask, i just asked how he got his distortion tones on sound awake, and i also emailed him my tab for goliath, which he corrected for me.

the guy is a true gent, and i'm looking forward to asking him about his playing. anyway, heres his answer about distortion:

"the bass sound on Simple Boy was combination of I think either the ODB-3 boss overdrive or XXL Tech 21 pedal through an ampeg rig with the valve being driven and then combined with the DI being distorted by Amplitude 1 plugin, live I just use the XXL through Ashdown ABM500/Ashdown fridge in combination with an Aguilar Tonehammer through an Ashdown/Ampeg fridge at the same time. The Aguilar is supposed to emulate the distorted DI tone I had on recording so it has lots of the bass pulled out and sounds kinda horrible by itself. Adds colour to mid range live though.

Goliath was a bit different, it was a combination of ODB3 and a pedal called the Black Stone, which is made in NY and is very small. That was then put through both an Ashdown ABM 500/Ashdown fridge and an Ampeg SVT-2pro/Ampeg Fridge (mind you the studio we did this in had a vintage 70's Ampeg cabinet so it sounded huge. Actually tracked that at same time as drums, so it was a bass/drums live recording. Did same with Deadman in that studio. All else were tracked elsewhere at another studio."

his email can be found at the karnivool site, as can the rest of the band.

[maybass77]

I've been talking to Jon for the past few months about building him a custom 6. He used a late 90's Amer Dlx P for Simple Boy & Set Fire to the Hive. He's wanting something similar to that bass, but in a 6 string version. Yes, a 6 with a split coil P and humbucker.

[Rusty Chainsaw]

Saw them in Allentown, PA on Saturday night at Crocodile Rock. Kinda a shame to see them play a half-full little club when they should be rocking much bigger places. But they played brilliantly and didn't miss a note all night. All that was really lacking was that feedback loop thing where you see a band play a little "harder" when the crowd are more into it. Ian (vocalist) also has an unusual stage presence that I don't think works all that well in small venues. All in all though, a great show.

Jon used the Thumb 6 for most of the set, with the 'Vette for a few numbers. The 'Vette sounds a little thicker and deeper, but the Thumb cut through the mix better. Backline was an all-Ashdown affair. Sounded great out front. It was cool to see that there's actually more going on with the bass than was obvious on the albums, like the cavalcade of harmonics on C.O.T.E. and so on.

[sdivide]

Originally Posted by maybass77

I've been talking to Jon for the past few months about building him a custom 6. He used a late 90's Amer Dlx P for Simple Boy & Set Fire to the Hive. He's wanting something similar to that bass, but in a 6 string version. Yes, a 6 with a split coil P and humbucker.

Hey i saw vool play in flint, MI just a few days ago. jon had a 6 string may bass and used it on set fire to the hive! it sounded awesome! thought it was a fodera or something at first. jon told me later that night it was a may bass made in Detroit. anyways, awesome basses dude.

[JonCon0509]

Hey guys, I was just wondering if someone had an email addy for Stockman - doesn't have to be direct but one that he might respond to. I looked on their site for a hot minute and couldn't seem to find anything. Any additional help is welcomed and greatley appreciated.

I have a couple of bass questions and then some after their last North east US Dates. I do appreciate everyone's input on his bass and equip. One of the most underrated bands that hit the US I've seen in a long time - they need mmore exposure. And I whoever said it earlier -you are totally right they are the nicest chillest gents one would expect.

When it comes to Warwick I usually prefer the Thumb neck- thorughs (5 & 6's), but I know alot of people like the Corvettes.

[Bassmingo]

Originally Posted by JonCon0509

Hey guys, I was just wondering if someone had an email addy for Stockman - doesn't have to be direct but one that he might respond to. I looked on their site for a hot minute and couldn't seem to find anything. Any additional help is welcomed and greatley appreciated.

I have a couple of bass questions and then some after their last North east US Dates. I do appreciate everyone's input on his bass and equip. One of the most underrated bands that hit the US I've seen in a long time - they need mmore exposure. And I whoever said it earlier -you are totally right they are the nicest chillest gents one would expect.

When it comes to Warwick I usually prefer the Thumb neck- thorughs (5 & 6's), but I know alot of people like the Corvettes.

only one i have is jon@karnivool.com.au but he must only check it sporadically as after a brief correspondence i heard nothing back after i sent him some questions, perhaps he didnt like them!

oh and the goliath tab i posted earlier is a bit incorrect, jon himself corrected it for me, it can be found here:

http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/tabs/...liath_btab.htm