A Question

[Thunderbored]

Hello all, I'm sorry if I posted this in the wrong forum, bit of a noob to the forum if I'm honest. Been playing bass for a year and a bit, i'm not bad, but theres one thing driving me nuts.

I have an Epiphone Thunderbird, A Fender Precision Bass, and a mid 80's Peavey TKO amp. Compression, distortion, and multi effects pedal.

No matter what I use, I CANNOT get the tone from Joy Divisions - Love Will Tear Us Apart. I can play it, but it never sounds right. With a pick, without a pick.

Driving me nuts =[ any help would be very much appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Grant

 

[Shinji]

Joy Division Basses.
1. Gibson EBO copy (Hook's first bass).
2. Hondo 4-string bass (Rickenbacker copy)
3. Yamaha BB1200 (4-string)
4. Shergold Marathon (6-string)
5. Shergold Modulator (unconfirmed)
+ effects: chorus/vibrato pedal Electro-Harmonix Clone Theory
+ amplifiers: HiWatt: Custom HiWatt 100 model, with 18" VOX speaker cabinet


I don't know if this helps, my advise is to play around with what you have until you find a good sound.

 

[mambo4]

Keep in mind that even with the same bass and rig it's not possible to replicate what happens in a studio. You can approximate, yes...but there's more going on than the bass , amp, and pedals in what you hear on the recording, both before and after the track is recorded.

 

[Thunderbored]

I know he played the song on his Hondo, which had single coils the same as my fender, but theres a lot more to it than that, Ricks, and even copies have a tone nothing else seems to have. I'll keep fiddling around, but mambo4 your right, a lot of it could be done in production.

Thanks for the info though guys, appreciate it!

 

[AFRO]

Could be string prefrence too. I recently had a string snap on me, so I had to replace my eons-old-dead-arse (sniff, my sweet Regge tone) strings, and now my tone is all crispy and clean.. and I like it. I know after a few grind sessions they will lose the new shiny effect, but in the mid term my whole sound is slightly different. but in a good way.

and +1 to Senior Mambo, they do all kinds of stuff to the recording. is there a live version you can get a hold of? I bet it sounds different then the recorded one you are trying to emulate.

 

[Thunderbored]

‪New Order - Love Will Tear Us Apart [Live in Glasgow]‬‏ - YouTube The tone is different, but still has that treblely scratchy sound I like.

I bought new strings for my thunderbird a while back after one exploded during a drunken playing sessions (not to self, play while sober). The difference was amazing. My fender just has bog standard Fender strings, dunno if its worth buying new ones

 

[diegoholyshize!]

Could be string prefrence too. I recently had a string snap on me, so I had to replace my eons-old-dead-arse (sniff, my sweet Regge tone) strings, and now my tone is all crispy and clean.. and I like it.

Can't you get a half dece semi-dull sound by using flatwounds? It won't get deader but it's kinda dead already. Crank lows, cut tone, neck pickup... should boom pretty decently. IN THEORY

 

[anonymous122511]

You've been playing for a whole year and you're wondering why you can't get the sound a seasoned pro who's played hundreds of shows is getting on a recording? Really?

Dude, even if you find out all the technical info there is about this recording you're still gonna have to figure out how to make your hands and head do it....and that's the hard part. I've been doing this almost 40 years and I'm still trying to figure out how certain guys do certain things. Just keep banging away at it...that's what the rest of us do.