This is interesting. He pretty much turned off the mids, and in my mind, if you don't wants lots of mids, why play a Smith? Mids is what Smith do unless they have Jazz pickups.
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A Guide to Good Ken Smith Slap Tone
- Thread starter Dr. Cheese
- Start date
This is interesting. He pretty much turned off the mids, and in my mind, if you don't wants lots of mids, why play a Smith? Mids is what Smith do unless they have Jazz pickups.
Da Maestro is serving up Ken Smith slap tone like I like it.
Yeah. The best way to get a good slap tone from a Smith is to sell the Smith and buy an MTD or a Sadowsky.
I think many people don't understand how to properly EQ a Smith. This is one of the better examples and rare to have a KS maple fretboard.
He got the right idea. Smiths are all about the mids. They will never do scoop like a Jazz Bass or an MTD 535.
I've been sitting here setting up my Smith today, so this is interesting. I saw how he backed off the gain and so did the guy in the second video. In the second video it looks like he has the treble and mid in the detent with the mids actually boosted a touch. It is tough to tell though. I guess these guys back off the volume because they are boosting the low end.
All I can say is I much prefer the second video. Pulling all of the mids out of a Ken Smith just does not do it for me, and I just tried it. I honestly love the Smith with everything centered, but I am going to try boosting the mids a hair and see how that goes.
As for the slap tone, I have a Sadowsky J and I love both slap tones. The Sadowsky is of course amazing, but anyone who listened to a lot of fusion back in the day knows that Smith slap tone, especially when popping the C. It sounds so good in a mix. It is just different, but to me it is still a top tier slap tone. That is one reason why so many gospel/funk/R&B players use them.
Of course the low B on these basses is insanely good, which is another reason. I prefer it to my Sadowsky, and I love the Sadowsky B. But the Smith has so much definition in every note. A jazz bass is going to be more sizzly.
All I can say is I much prefer the second video. Pulling all of the mids out of a Ken Smith just does not do it for me, and I just tried it. I honestly love the Smith with everything centered, but I am going to try boosting the mids a hair and see how that goes.
As for the slap tone, I have a Sadowsky J and I love both slap tones. The Sadowsky is of course amazing, but anyone who listened to a lot of fusion back in the day knows that Smith slap tone, especially when popping the C. It sounds so good in a mix. It is just different, but to me it is still a top tier slap tone. That is one reason why so many gospel/funk/R&B players use them.
Of course the low B on these basses is insanely good, which is another reason. I prefer it to my Sadowsky, and I love the Sadowsky B. But the Smith has so much definition in every note. A jazz bass is going to be more sizzly.
I’m a sucker for that midrange slap tone. A Smith is out of the but an old Cirrus, Sadowsky Modern Metro Ecpress, or the new Tobias Classic or Killer B sound close enough to scratch that itch for me.
A store let me borrow one for a weekend around 1990. I don’t even remember what it sounded like.You need a Status Graphite for that slap tone
A Ken Smith can sound great in band if the eq emphasizes the strong midrange that is the foundation of its tone. For scooped, a Jazz would be 100% better.
Have to agree with the masses here. The cutting of the mids is going to bury that bass in a live mix and it's pretty much killing the signature KS tone. It needs that punchy harmonic overtone!
Personally I really like the sound of a slapped Smith. Here ares some examples:
And yes its Stanley on a Smith ;-)
And yes its Stanley on a Smith ;-)
I have seen Smith's in Clarke's collection, but only recently did I realize how much he recorded with them.
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I don't usually cut the mids on my active jazz or my stingray HH , but I do boost the bass when slapping. Treble it depends.
I think smiths, pj's and Warwicks have a "ping" tone when slapping which isn't very authoritative , and sounds a little keyboard like. They don't have the boldness or elegance of a jazz bass slap tone.
As for "cutting through the mix" I think that's contextual to the part and the ensemble. slap works best with sparse arrangements. Forget me not would not cut with two guitarists in the way.
I think smiths, pj's and Warwicks have a "ping" tone when slapping which isn't very authoritative , and sounds a little keyboard like. They don't have the boldness or elegance of a jazz bass slap tone.
As for "cutting through the mix" I think that's contextual to the part and the ensemble. slap works best with sparse arrangements. Forget me not would not cut with two guitarists in the way.
Thats exactly why the Smith rules. There are a million jazz basses out there if you want the standard slap sound. But the Smith can compete with a bass synth better than any bass I have ever owned, due to its voicing. Just matters the sound and style you like. I produce electronic music and play fusion so I pull out the Sadowsky for when I want that scooped slap tone or a more traditional sounding bass. The Smith just fits in a lot more of my music where I used to employ a synth instead. I have no idea if this is true, but I feel like when he designed these basses he wanted to give bass players an instrument that could compete with the synths out there. Whatever the case, it works. You hit a low C on a synth and it just delivers. The slap indeed sounds like a DX7 or ROMpler slap sound, and that's what I love about it.
The “ping” is the thing!
Great point. I think they are awesome basses. And I think there are great applications for those tones.
I’m actually not a “tone” guy. I like all kinds of sounds for different jobs. I have a preference or two, but they might not always work. I bet what you’re doing sounds pretty good.
I respect that for sure. Everything is a trade.
What I like about the Jazz bass is, that the d and g strings, when slapped, still have a lot of low end. They still function as bass notes. I don’t know if that makes sense. Entire bass lines can be played that way a la Marcus. The ping loses some of that fatness and strength to me. I’m sure exceptions could be brought up!
