tool bass tone

airrick · #1 11-23-2007, 08:31 PM

this might be the wrong thread, if so, mods please move, but; without any pedals or whatnot, what setings on my spector legend 6 running through a ashdown mag 300 should i use to get teh closest resembling tone of the tool bass tone? thanks n advance...

TheBassBetween · #2 11-23-2007, 08:33 PM

Without pedals? Oh man. Good luck.

The only Tool tone I can remember is the one from Schism. If I remember correctly, there's a lot of drive (if your amp has a drive knob, turn it up). Try turning up the treble and bass and cutting the mids a bit, see if you can get that crunchy tone.

Saetia · #3 11-23-2007, 08:36 PM

Well he uses Wal basses and GK amps, so that would be a start.

I imagine you can cop a similar tone but there are certain qualities you won't be able to replicate because of the charicteristics of the amp and bass that he uses.

Peace

-Benny

p.s. I have no knowledge of your amp so I can't help there. Turn dials until you're close?

bigchiefbc · #4 11-23-2007, 08:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheBassBetween

Without pedals? Oh man. Good luck.

The only Tool tone I can remember is the one from Schism. If I remember correctly, there's a lot of drive (if your amp has a drive knob, turn it up). Try turning up the treble and bass and cutting the mids a bit, see if you can get that crunchy tone.

I agree with cranking the drive a bit, those Wals run a really hot signal. As for the tone controls though, I would actually say that you should do the exact opposite. That Wal tone is ALL mids if you ask me, I would boost them, not cut them.

dman_113 · #5 11-23-2007, 08:54 PM

Check out the Bass Player issue with Justin Chancellor on the cover, cant remember what month it is but its from 07. As I recall he talks about his tone and pedals a bit in the issue.

groovejam · #6 11-23-2007, 08:56 PM

You dont want that tone, everyone else is already trying to copy it....

Jared Lash · #7 11-23-2007, 09:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by airrick

this might be the wrong thread, if so, mods please move, but; without any pedals or whatnot, what setings on my spector legend 6 running through a ashdown mag 300 should i use to get teh closest resembling tone of the tool bass tone? thanks n advance...

If you want advice on how to do this without using effects then yes, this is in the wrong forum. It should probably be in Miscellaneous.

Nevertheless, if you are trying to cop his clean tone with the Wal and you are using a Spector, I'd say that you should favor the bridge pickup just a bit (maybe 60/40) and crank your mids.

I'd boost your low mids on your amp as well since that emphasis of the mids is a hallmark of Wal basses. Nothing sounds like a Wal except a Wal (though I heard G&L come close), but that will get you a bit closer. And obviously you should play with a pick.

Maybe a Tool fan can offer some more advice but hopefully that helps.

Lowpro · #8 11-23-2007, 09:35 PM

You NEED a wal bass. They use an innovative preamp, and two humbucker pickups, 2 poles per string, and a magnet coil and bobbin per pole! That means a LOT of beefy ****in' tone.

Also, He uses GK amps, I'm betting he's cranked up the presence too. The pedals he uses are a Guyatone VTX tremolo, Guyatone BR2 Bass Wah (hard to find) Bass Whammy, Boss BF3, Boss Bass Chorus, Foxx Fuzz Wah, Colorsound Tone Bender, Boss DD3, and various others (Check Wikipedia, there's a list of all his gear including rack gear)

The Wal bass itself is pretty much his whole tone, it's integral to it, without it you'll never get exact.

However there is hope. A lot of people say you can dial in a close tone with a Schecter bass ( I wholeheartedly disagree, you really gotta boost it because the electronics suck compared to other better basses, in a band it doesn't cut.)

I personally, and I do mean PERSONALLY think an Ibanez ATK bass, preferable a 90s, and also, if you CAN, try to play a Spector or Warwick Thumb.

Also, one thing Justin does a lot is mess with his knobs, it's not like he just cranks it to ten and jams, he's always fiddlin fiddlin fiddlin away.

I personally use a SpectorNS4CR and it gets a LOT of the tone but what I get bashed for is that I use a Sansamp PARA to dial in that bit of drive. It nails the tone but some purists hate it.

BassSurfer · #9 11-23-2007, 09:41 PM

there are so many threads on justin. and his tone...and his gear...and everything else... just search it man..

Zappstorius · #10 11-23-2007, 10:21 PM

I know that this may be stating the obvious, but you need to play with a pick.

JC has so many different tones (he is like the effect hero for all of us bassists) it would take a small fortune to try and emulate it.

I assume that you are talking about his clean tone (if there is one tone that he doesn't play with at least a OD pedal on), and the guys here have given good advise.

ThatOneDude · #11 10-15-2008, 10:49 AM

well, from what i have seen and heard, Mr. Chancellor Uses two gallien krueger bass cabinets...dont know the exact models but yeah. One is a clean channel which he uses his effects on and the other sounds like a compressed grungy distortion...im not sure though. thats the best i can do for you guys. what i do is play with treble and lows up 3/4 and with contour all the way up. then i play with a pick and instead of strummiing i do sort of a scrape with every strum. its pretty close if you dont have the setup. a compressor works wonders too!

uaudio · #12 10-15-2008, 10:50 AM

um...

nevermind.

Chris V. · #13 10-15-2008, 11:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by airrick

this might be the wrong thread, if so, mods please move, but; without any pedals or whatnot, what setings on my spector legend 6 running through a ashdown mag 300 should i use to get teh closest resembling tone of the tool bass tone? thanks n advance...

Boost your mids. That's all you can do.

It's still going to be pretty damned far off though... Sorry!

rratajski · #14 10-15-2008, 11:14 AM

hahahahahahahaha

Oh, the snarkyness. <3

Unless you're in a TOOL cover/tribute band, do your own thing, man. Most of us have learned through the years that creating our own sound is more satisfying and productive than copping someone else's sound/setup.

Without studio magic and effects (w/ a blend if you're not playing out of two setups simultaneously) you're not going to get Justin's sound.

René_Julien · #15 10-15-2008, 11:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris V.

Boost your mids. That's all you can do.

It's still going to be pretty damned far off though... Sorry!

Strange, I gotten the tone by cutting the mids (although boosting between low mids and bass, graphic eq) and boosting the treble) and playing with a pick. Solid state amp with gain full open.

But I might be off too, I'm no JustinChancellor purist.

schmeng · #16 10-15-2008, 04:42 PM

+1 to boosting mids

dunce180 · #17 10-15-2008, 08:59 PM

A sting ray with a pick with mids boosted will get you the closest sound. He used to use a stingray, and actually used it on a couple of tracks off of AEnima (I think 46&2 and pushit were the songs, could be wrong on pushit). His tone on 10,000 days has some grit in it (think The Pot) like timmy c he bi amps, one clean, one dirty. A sansamp could work.

joeydavidson · #18 10-15-2008, 09:11 PM

I used to run my bass into a compressor into a GK into a mesa 410, it wasn't there but it was close, it was close enough to annoy me a little because I didn't want to sound like him.

gm jack · #19 10-16-2008, 01:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dunce180

A sting ray with a pick with mids boosted will get you the closest sound. He used to use a stingray, and actually used it on a couple of tracks off of AEnima (I think 46&2 and pushit were the songs, could be wrong on pushit). His tone on 10,000 days has some grit in it (think The Pot) like timmy c he bi amps, one clean, one dirty. A sansamp could work.

He has his guyatone vtx tremolo, into his digitech bass whammy. The dry output leads into a keeley modded RAT and a Boss EQ and the into a GK for his dirty channel. The wet output from the whammy then goes into the rest of the pedals and another GK.

He then has a clean DI signal running under that.

bigchiefbc · #20 10-16-2008, 01:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gm jack

He has his guyatone vtx tremolo, into his digitech bass whammy. The dry output leads into a keeley modded RAT and a Boss EQ and the into a GK for his dirty channel. The wet output from the whammy then goes into the rest of the pedals and another GK.

He then has a clean DI signal running under that.

I'm pretty sure its the same Turbo Rat he's had since Aenima days that is in his dirty channel.