Finding this tone

HogieWan · #1 06-23-2009, 08:47 AM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eX0hHCLynPc

I really dig a lot of what Tim Foreman does with Switchfoot and his tone is usually great. He plays Lakland basses and Ampeg or GK amps live, but in the studio, he's used a lot of different combinations.

This song in particular, starting at around :44 you can hear the bass tone is full and mellow (tone knob turned down), but there's a slight click. It almost sounds like the speaker soil hitting the magnet, but not quite.

Any clue on how to achieve this tone? My thought's is that it's one of his Lakland Decades strung with flats and the tone knob down a bit, but where does that click come from?

**DosiYanarchy** · #2 06-23-2009, 05:02 PM

studio magic i believe. maybe electronic crossovers with eq's on the highs and lows, hell maybe even double-tracked the bass.

HogieWan · #3 06-24-2009, 09:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DosiYanarchy

studio magic i believe. maybe electronic crossovers with eq's on the highs and lows, hell maybe even double-tracked the bass.

even if it is double-tracked, what makes that pop tone?

stretch80 · #4 06-24-2009, 10:08 AM

I'd guess maybe the decade or a hollowbody on the neck pickup, played with a pick to get that quick attack. likely direct (get clear attack) plus miked cab (mic might be backed off to get more boom).

Picking up by the neck too....

Have fun finding the tone!

bassgod0dmw · #5 06-24-2009, 10:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stretch80

played with a pick

That would be my guess...

fretlessman71 · #6 06-24-2009, 10:51 AM

Try playing your flatwound bass with a pick near the neck, AND putting a piece of foam down at the bridge, Carol Kaye-style. This tone reminds me a lot of the tone at the intro to "Good Vibrations", and according to Carol, that's how she got this tone. Another option is the palm-mute pick tone, which might not be as warm, but depending on what your bass yields, might be a viable option.

Nice tune.

ryognbass · #7 06-24-2009, 11:01 AM

i vote medium pick on flats with quite a bit of compression on the low end. really round sound, maybe a mid scoop too

HogieWan · #8 06-25-2009, 01:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fretlessman71

Try playing your flatwound bass with a pick near the neck, AND putting a piece of foam down at the bridge, Carol Kaye-style. This tone reminds me a lot of the tone at the intro to "Good Vibrations", and according to Carol, that's how she got this tone. Another option is the palm-mute pick tone, which might not be as warm, but depending on what your bass yields, might be a viable option.

Nice tune.

Check your PMs, fret.

I thought that at first, but it seems that the click sound only comes on the strong notes. for the first 10 secs of the bass playing that sound is not there, but when he digs in more, it shows up.

I tried this and got kind of close. I have a variax bass, so I went with the P with flats model and moved the p'up toward the neck, tone knob down to 6-7. Then into the POD X3. I used a compressor (MXR Dyna Comp) clamped down so that an initial transient would come through and then the volume would get squashed. Then into a B-15 with the drive up.

I need to play around with different amp models, but this is close