Looking for a treble sound with ring to it

EvansEssence · #1 11-05-2011, 11:41 PM

Hey guys! im new here so go easy on me. I currently have my bass recording set up with a Fender J-bass knock off with new Elixir light guage strings, leading into a Line 6 DI, through a Saffire Audio Box, straight into Logic Pro 9. I have Ampeg plugins

Now my problem is, that we play more of the Pop/Punk rock genre, in which id love to find a nice, bright tone, with alot of trebly ring to it, but all I seem to get out of my setup is a duller tone with a lot of pick noise. any suggestions?

I record with a pick but am better with fingers.

sonic assassin · #2 11-06-2011, 03:00 AM

roll to the bridge pickup a tad. opens the mids. slight hum, but you will get less scoop and more body.

perhaps you are trying to add brightness with a presence knob instead of a high mid or treble?

any compression? EQ? how is the ampeg plug set?

also keep in mind that the pick noise will often get lost in the mix, and isnt really a problem when the track isnt solo'd. J bass and elixir's should be incredible bright and lively.

EvansEssence · #3 11-06-2011, 10:32 PM

Il definitely try rolling over to the bridge a tad next recording, what i've got set, is im cutting the 10k - 20k a tad and boosting the 1k a bit for EQ. i've tried running through most of my ampeg plugins but have not found a likable one yet so far, so i just put Logic's built in bass plugin on it and it sounded fine. Ive got the treble cranked to the point where the pick noise is bearable with the track, around 3 o-clock or so. Im fairly new to recording bass so im still messing around a lot. Thank you! any pointers or anything of that sort?

sonic assassin · #4 11-06-2011, 11:03 PM

the amp sim will likely cut most everything above 10khz. sometimes 6khz. the logic bass amp sim (i have logic 8) is very nice. i set it to the new basic bright setting. crank the gain. set the mid freq to 800. mids up a touch, leave the treble alone, add bass when needed. compress to death. leave a tiny bit of attack. set compressor to FET. set output distortion to hard. then EQ to fit the track.

id also look into a sansamp plugin. i send an aux to the clip distortion. mix 100%. drive at about 15dB. adjust EQ filters as necessary. turn it all the way off and then turn it up until you like it. instant mix sweetener.

i think a lot of it has to do with the phase issue with both pickups equal. ive never had that set up work for me. so much work to undo the problem. much easier to roll to either pickup and fix the mids.

you dont need pick noise highs. you likely want more of a 700hz-3khz brightness. or maybe even the 6k-10khz shine you get from a sansamp or exciter.

bassgod0dmw · #5 11-07-2011, 10:36 AM

Change the Elixir's for something else. To my ears, they always sound dead. Sure, they last a long time, but if they don;t have the sound you want...who cares? Swap em' with a good stainless round wound...DR Hi Beams/Lo Riders would be my suggestion.

Strings have a huge influence on tone.

sonic assassin · #6 11-08-2011, 12:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bassgod0dmw

Change the Elixir's for something else. To my ears, they always sound dead. Sure, they last a long time, but if they don;t have the sound you want...who cares? Swap em' with a good stainless round wound...DR Hi Beams/Lo Riders would be my suggestion.

Strings have a huge influence on tone.

going to politely disagree. never heard a string with more ZING than elixir. they stay lively and new sounding for months on end. hi-beams were acceptable, similarly bright, but could not compare long term. ive never had trouble getting a cutting tone with a 6 month old set of elixir's.

i dont think the lack of the brightness in strings is really the problem here. even slinkys would work if they were less than a week old. and they sound like mud wrapped in an animal carcass.

FaithNoMan · #7 11-09-2011, 12:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bassgod0dmw

Change the Elixir's for something else. To my ears, they always sound dead. Sure, they last a long time, but if they don;t have the sound you want...who cares? Swap em' with a good stainless round wound...DR Hi Beams/Lo Riders would be my suggestion.

Strings have a huge influence on tone.

To me, Elixers are absolute worst strings I found for a bright attack. I play a Ric, and they don't get much more harsh in the highs than them when it comes to passive basses. This bass is VERY picky with strings, unlike my P bass with Dimarzios.
Funny thing is they sounded great to me until I put them in a mix, and the attack seemed softer than other strings I've tried.

It took me forever to get used to them, but I'm a big fan of S.S. strings.
My Lo-Riders are over 3 years old in these two clips, and although the "high highs" are certainly duller than they used to be, my Ric has no trouble cutting through with the very aggressive high mids these string still make:

http://soundcloud.com/grinere/rusty-box-gi100

MP3 Player SoundClick

I had Elixers for two months, and they sounded "clicky" in the highs, not the piano growl I'm used to.. I finally took them off, and gave them to a friend. He kept them on for a bit, and changed to Lo-Riders as well.

bassgod0dmw · #8 11-09-2011, 06:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sonic assassin

going to politely disagree. never heard a string with more ZING than elixir.

Everybody's got their opinion. I definitely disagree that Elxirs have any sort of zing. They have a nice dead tone to them when they first come out of the package, they just happen to stay that way for a long time. If they work for you, great.

As for cheap/easy fixes, swapping strings doesn't get much cheaper or easier.

It took me a long time to get "my" tone and all it took was a simple string change.