Justin Chancellor's tone on 10,000 Days "The Pot"

**Eric Perry** · #1 10-04-2006, 07:22 AM

This tone just blows me away. I saw them live the other night, and it didn't compare to the CD. IT almost sounded (gasp) Fieldy-like!

Has anyone been able to emulate that CD's bass sound, especially from that song?

Help me out!

**tommyr01** · #2 10-04-2006, 07:39 AM

In Bass Guitar july '06 article, they stated that he uses:

Digitech whammy
Sansamp
Boss chorus
boss bass flanger
Boss dd3 digital delay
Boss GeB7 EQ
Turbo Rat distortion

in particular it stated that he used some vintage "wah" for the pot but didn't say what kind.

HTH

excane · #3 10-04-2006, 08:02 AM

I had been searching for a thread on justin's tone on 10,000 days for a while now, and not really finding anything specific other than a long list of equipment.

For that song in particular (short of buying a Wal) I can get fairly close using either my pre-ernieball MM stingray, MTD 4string, or my G&L L2000.

The real trick is getting the right amount of midrange "click" without it sounding like fieldy, as you said.
I set the blend on the basses to favor the bridge pickups to give it a slight nasal tone.

Now the effects:

I have it first running through my fulltone bassdrive to give it a slight amount of grit. I have experimented with either my fulltone or a Homebrew electronics Big-D distortion with a very slight grind.

Then it runs through my sansamp programmable BDDI, blend turned all the way up, a slight boost in treble and bass. Go easy on the presence.

The signal then hits my fulltone choralflange. chorus setting, very slow speed setting but a decent amount of depth. Mix is about halfway.

Finally I have played around with running the signal into my MXR bass DI with the color knob engaged to give it a "scoop" but sometimes I find it to be too much.

Then the signal goes to my amp. I have gotten the best results with my gallien krueger 2000RB or a Mesa Mpulse.

Just some suggestions as a starting point. Hope that helps.

excane · #4 10-04-2006, 08:04 AM

Just a note on my post above.... Those settings are for his "clean" tone only. I have not experimented with the tone during the solo which seeems to be his whammy and maybe a fuzz. The same goes for near the end of the song with the fuzz and wah.

**Eric Perry** · #5 10-04-2006, 08:41 AM

Very cool. I need to go experiment.

Thanks guys!

olaff421 · #6 10-05-2006, 03:21 AM

The key to getting close to his tone is Midrange. I played the opening riff while my guitar player turned the EQ on my amp, he got it sounding VERY close to what he does. The midrange was pretty much at full, and the bass and treble were near flat (12:00 o'clock) on the clean channel. I'm usuing a Schecter Elite-5 all the knobs at max, and an Ampeg SVT5-Pro.

His tone is basically all mids. I saw them a few weeks ago and his tone was pretty much spot on to the recordings. I was actually kind of surprised they didn't boost the bass for the live show. It sounded great, just didn't fill up the huge place they were in.

excane · #7 10-05-2006, 09:13 AM

I'm totally excited to see them this saturday in NY as I've never seen them live. Yes, I've heard live they're able to pull off the album tone pretty much spot on.

Anyone else have any suggestions on his tone? I'm interested to see what instruments and amps people are using to get a similar sound.

**Eric Perry** · #8 10-05-2006, 09:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by olaff421

I saw them a few weeks ago and his tone was pretty much spot on to the recordings. I was actually kind of surprised they didn't boost the bass for the live show. It sounded great, just didn't fill up the huge place they were in.

Quote:

Originally Posted by excane

I'm totally excited to see them this saturday in NY as I've never seen them live. Yes, I've heard live they're able to pull off the album tone pretty much spot on.

Did I just catch them on a bad night??? The band sounded great, but Justin's bass was far too clickity-clackity for my liking. It was substantially different from the 10,000 days disc.

Dash Rantic · #9 10-05-2006, 09:49 AM

When I saw them, Justin's tone was kinda weak, and pretty low in the mix unfortunantly. I think the sound guy at the place I saw them was having some problems though... But Justin (when I could hear him) did actually sound pretty clicky. Especially noticeable on Forty-Six & 2...

-Dash

spectorbass83 · #10 10-05-2006, 09:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by excane

I'm totally excited to see them this saturday in NY as I've never seen them live. Yes, I've heard live they're able to pull off the album tone pretty much spot on.

Anyone else have any suggestions on his tone? I'm interested to see what instruments and amps people are using to get a similar sound.

I seen them 2 weeks ago, amazing show!

I had a clear view of the stage. Justin was using a Mesa 4x12 cab and had a giant rack of god knows what..anyone know what kind of amps he uses? I heard he uses GK?? This true?
His tone live was incredible.

karrot-x · #11 10-05-2006, 10:08 AM

He uses 400+'s, bigblocks, and mpulses. I wonder if he's now on to the BigBlock V12.

BrandonBass · #12 10-05-2006, 10:13 AM

justin always had this clicky tone, watever u call it

syko · #13 10-06-2006, 05:56 AM

I love his tone on most everything I've heard. It always seems to stand out in the mix, maybe just because it doesn't sound too bassy.

Does Justin play with a pick some/most of the time? It kinda sounds like he does...

**Eric Perry** · #14 10-06-2006, 06:22 AM

I think he uses a pick exclusively. Not 100% on that, however.

chaosMK · #15 10-06-2006, 08:39 AM

I think a lot of his tone (rich mids) comes from his bass, which is a Wal. A while back he was using the Bassis M-2000 head. Not sure what he uses now.

Play with a pick- that will help.

On most amps, using a Sansamp BDDI with the "blend" and "presence" pretty high will get you in the ball park of his tone. If a Sansamp is too pricey for your taste, a Hartke VXL pedal will do just about the same thing.

Mesa speakers will give you that extra crisp zing and punchiness. You could dail the same thing in nd go through say Ampeg cabinets and it would sound darker and mushier.

I am pretty sure a lot of his tone on the recordings is part studio magic.

these_go211 · #16 10-06-2006, 09:57 AM

the issue of bass guitar magazine that came out over the summer had justin saying he has changed to using GK amps.

Dash Rantic · #17 10-06-2006, 10:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eric618

I think he uses a pick exclusively. Not 100% on that, however.

According to the July '06 Bass Guitar mag, he's played with a pick exclusively until this most recent album. He plays fingerstyle on the intro to "Vicarious" and fingerstyle on "10,000 Days". Kinda funny, in the article it mentioned he had to sit down to play these parts to record them (since he's not that good with fingerstyle) and sure enough, out came the stool for 10,000 Days when I saw them live... I found it kinda funny.

Great bassist though, and it was a great show.

-Dash

Rids · #18 10-06-2006, 07:01 PM

Justin is running 2 amps, one clean with his effects, and one dirty with his Rat (i think).
I think you'll always struggle to copy that gritty yet fat sound that he gets unless you do the same.

FaithNoMan · #19 10-06-2006, 07:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eric618

This tone just blows me away. I saw them live the other night, and it didn't compare to the CD. IT almost sounded (gasp) Fieldy-like!

The album tone is more Paul D.Amour-like than anything Justin has ever done with them, and Paul D'Amour's tone was very Chris Squire-like( esp. after he got his CS4001)

Toneonbass · #20 10-06-2006, 08:06 PM

sorry a little of topic, but does any know why you can't buy that song online or any of the songs? am I just looking in the wrong places? i tryed itunes and another one.