Downtuning Gibson SG bass
 

I play in a pretty doomy band that tunes down to C# and sometimes drop B.
Right now I have a MIA Fender P bass that is set up for C# standard and I'm thinking about picking up another bass and get it set up for B standard.
I dig the Gibson Sg bass but I'm on the fence about picking it up because I am not sure how it will handle and sound in such a low tuning.
My concern is that it will sound super muddy, mor so than the P bass.

Thoughts?

Just curious what aspects of the SG bass attracted you to it?

The strings will be loose like yarn and it will sound super muddy.

I dug the short scale and just the way that it plays. I like that you have to fight it a bit

If the bass is set up in that tuning the strings won't be floppy. This is what I had done to the P bass.
However I'm more curious about the sound because I've never heard one of those basses tuned that low before

If you use thick strings I think youll be fine. It will be a really full tone without mids I imagine.

I own a Gibson SG bass, and IMHO it probably would sound muddy being downtuned. My SG sounds muddy in standard tuning if my amp isn't tweaked really well. Just my opinion.

That's kind of what I was thinking would happen.

I keep my SG bass tuned to Eb and it sounds fine. If you use the BEAD from a 5-string set for B standard, I don't see why the bass wouldn't be able to handle it.

I'm sure that it would handle it. I'm just wondering if the overall sound would be even more muddy than the P bass

I've drop tuned an Epiphone EB-0 to drop D before and it was pretty floppy. I don't think I'd do it again, but with the right setup it might work out.

I use a short-scale Gibson Flying V bass for some songs in Drop C. It is not in any way "muddy." It helps to have a heavier low string -- I use a set of LaBella's with a .110 thickest string. For anything lower than C I would probably get a 5-string set and toss the thinnest string.

I will say that the bass is short on mids, which means it doesn't cut through the mix with two loud rock/metal guitars as well as my main Carvin bass. I imagine the SG would be similar. But if you're in a "doomy" band, you may appreciate the heavy low end -- I wouldn't recommend it as a primary bass for, say, a thrash band, but it might be right up your alley. A lot of this can be manipulated by EQ as well.

I'm not sure what that means. I'm not much on set ups for down tuning, can you explain that to me?

I'm not sure what the poster meant, as a setup can't change string tension (much, perceived tension maybe), but if you use a heavy enough string you can tune to sub-audible tunings and still not have floppy strings.

I play short scales in Eb and find that I have to use at least a medium gauge string to be happy with the tension. If I tuned down any lower I'd consider using a BEAD set and tuning up slightly.

With the tension sorted out, there's no reason that the bass would sound muddier in a lower tuning.

I have LaBella 760FM .049-.109 strings on my SG.
They will do a drop D no problem
I just tried a C# not to bad, B no way.

Drop C# on my P or J basses....a bit floppy but not a huge problem with heavy strings.

The 2009 Gibson SG RI I used to own tuned to C#.... Farts. Seriously....down 3 semitones on a 30" bass just doesn't work for me. Tuning a BEAD set up may work but I never bothered.

By it's very nature, an SG bass is going to sound "darker" than a P-bass. Muddy? I don't know. I play my SG through an Ampeg, and the last thing I would call the tone is mud. It sounds very deep. If you already like the bass, everything should be fine and dandy.

Get a 34" scale SG bass.

You might be interested in these basses here ...

http://www.3dentourage.com/425/5string-sg-bass.htm

http://www.3dentourage.com/425/5string-sg-bass2.htm