Duff McKagan......Sound

[sixx_91]

this guy personally is the greatest rock bassist around from his sound to his attitude. i think his tone and style was slightly better in guns and roses than velvet revolver because of a more in ur face sort of style and yes the famous fills at the end of nearly every bar!

my question is how who out there knows how to get his specific tone (e.g) settings



thx alot guys and gals!!!

[brothernewt]

I think it has a lot to do with the Fender Jazz Special (iirc) basses. P body, J neck, P/J pick-ups... played with a pick and a slight midscoop on the amp's eq.

[johnvice]

slight distortion from mixing a distorted signal with a clean signal. A lot of distortion boxes have this functionality. (I think Duffer uses a diesel dog distortion.)

[TBalls]

I'm pretty sure back in the day (GnR) his rig consisted of an ADA MB1 preamp & ADA power amps.

[bassbully43]

Whatever he mixes it with he gets the clairity thru his GK amps.

[Dan1099]

He used chorus pedals in GNR pretty extensively.

[Zalle]

Didnt he use MXR M80 DI for awhile ?

[A.J. Miller]

Originally Posted by sixx_91

this guy personally is the greatest rock bassist around from his sound to his attitude. i think his tone and style was slightly better in guns and roses than velvet revolver because of a more in ur face sort of style and yes the famous fills at the end of nearly every bar!

my question is how who out there knows how to get his specific tone (e.g) settings



thx alot guys and gals!!!

I know it's your opinion, but I still disagree. A guy named John Entwistle comes to my mind when I think of the best rock bassist. However, I can't deny that Duff is a badass.

[dave_p]

too much liquor and not a lot of talent is all it takes

[Blackbird]

Originally Posted by dave_p

too much liquor and not a lot of talent is all it takes

I'm anxious to hear your playing.

[The 0x]

Originally Posted by brothernewt

I think it has a lot to do with the Fender Jazz Special (iirc) basses. P body, J neck, P/J pick-ups... played with a pick and a slight midscoop on the amp's eq.

Mid scoop? Sounds more like a slight mid boost to me.

[biff malibu]

i read that he got his chorus sound from a yamaha spx90 rack unit.

GK amps and cabs. and with velvet revolver he uses an mxr m80 DI for some dirt. dunlop tortex .73 picks. rotosound swing jazz 66 roundwound strings. and the afore mentioned basses.

[dave120]

Originally Posted by The 0x

Mid scoop? Sounds more like a slight mid boost to me.

+1, I talked with the "Duff" bass player in a GNR tribute band that I saw a while back who had a pretty good recreation of Duff's sound (He said it took him like 2 years to figure it out!). He said he uses a slight boost to the low (1 oclock) and high mids (2 oclock) on his GK 800RB. It wasn't exactly the same sound but he was also using a regular P bass and no chorus or anything, but it sounded pretty good.

I've been somewhat unable to recreate this exactly on my 1001RB, but I've gotten it pretty decent. I think my sound is closer to his VR sound, which works since my band is modern alternative/hard rock.

Also, SS Rotosound RS66 swing bass seem to be a must to get anywhere close IME. Or some other bright sounding stainless strings might work, but when I use any kind of nickel strings I can't do anything to make it sound like that.

[dave_p]

Originally Posted by Blackbird

I'm anxious to hear your playing.

no your not, im a local bar band hack thats been at it for about 16 years or so, average chops and competent skills and have studied with some good local instructors. nothing special. but i can cop any duff line any day of the week.

[dave120]

Originally Posted by dave_p

no your not, im a local bar band hack thats been at it for about 16 years or so, average chops and competent skills and have studied with some good local instructors. nothing special. but i can cop any duff line any day of the week.

Try looking at the basslines for any of the other hard rock bands around during the GNR era, I don't think any of them were very impressive. Duff is a pretty good pocket player with some nice runs, and he's awesome live on stage. I can only dream to have that much stage presence and be able to play anything at the same time.

[SoulStabber]

He's all show..and no go..

[biff malibu]

oh yeah, thats right...i almost forgot. there is only one good bassist: jaco

duh! you have to be shredding like mad at all times in order to be "good"

forget about songs and vibe.

dont forget: he who writes the most complicated bassline wins!

[oddgrowth]

He was much more of a standout as a drummer in the Fartz.

http://www.alternativetentacles.com/...php?band=fartz

a competent bassist at best...He sure is pretty tho...

[Sundogue]

Originally Posted by biff malibu

oh yeah, thats right...i almost forgot. there is only one good bassist: jaco

duh! you have to be shredding like mad at all times in order to be "good"

forget about songs and vibe.

dont forget: he who writes the most complicated bassline wins!

No...not really. There isn't anything special about any bass player's lines from that time span or genre. They're simple fun and not much more. Bass lines do not have to be complicated to be good. But let's face it...none of those types of bands had songs written with the bass in mind. That type of music, of which I do covers of with regularity (and while not my cup of tea necessarily, are still fun to "rawk" out on) is more for drummers and guitar wankers.

I go through this all the time with the drummer in my cover band. He's always wanting to do GNR, Poison, et al...and though I appease him by agreeing to do some, even the most interesting bass lines of them, are nothing more than a break for me during the set (at least mentally).

And I'd have to agree that Entwistle, along with JPJ, Geddy Lee, and a few others have a bit more on Duff. Just my opinion of course. Carry on.

[BassPwnage420]

can't anyone say COMPreSSOR!