Sweetwater has (once again) deals on the Schecter Stillettos b-stock. Maybe check those out!
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Best Bass for Metal?
- Thread starter Rnr..........4
- Start date
Seen a lot of dudes with those old Gibson Grabber types. Especially in black metal and doom.
K so I was wrong. No more b-stock Stilettos, but they're still a decent price and have EMGs. If it were me though, and it's not, I would play metal with a jazz bass. I love the sounds I get out of mine, especially when slightly overdriven. Guy from Rotten Sound plays one and his bass tone for metal/grind is absolutely nuts.
I've been eyeing those Stiletto Stealth basses myself...looks like a lot of bass for not too much coin.
Years ago, I dialed in my tone like Peter Hook to play in a post-punk band. I played in a few metal bands after that, and used the same tone. Mids are the ticket.
Good sounding bass and yes the nords big singles get growly af. The problem I had with the sr series (I owned a 6 string premium at one point) is that the bridge may as well be the worst I have ever seen. Just awful and a bad system. So bad in fact, I couldn't fit other strings than elixir in there since the string cavity would be too small to fit daddarios in. Awful design really.
Best Bass for Metal?
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Hey now we're talking.. just stick in a pre-amp and away we go.
Yeah I briefly had one and wish I'd kept it but returned it due to a manufacturer error. Weird for a new bass but the neck was amazing and the active P/J pickup sounded great. Only issue I guess would be the basswood so have to be careful not to bump it as I heard basswood dents easily. Weight was no issues with that bass. I'm tempted to go with a thunderbird though because to me it is a staple of bass guitars and the active I had sounded killer but the neck dive put me completely off until I realized they do have models with the strap hook in a better position.
Please point me to the MLP basses, I would instantly buy one.
To the point in question, play whatever you want. You can make it work. In the early days of Cannibal Corpse, Webster played a Fender P bass, for example. If you want that old school tone, you may want to consider the economic and social realities of the bands in question. I bet most had a very limited choice in instruments or very little money - that leaves you with the tried and true classics at best, and garbage instruments at worst (which do have their own charm!). Varg Vikernes intentionally used the most crappy stuff he could find...
But still, for modern tones... play whatever. But you can't go wrong with Ibanez. I disagree with KBD about the Powerspan pickups, I think they're amazing value. I play a 306EB and thought that thing was a steal even at retail price.
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Hi Rocknroller4 
I don't know which is the best bass for metal.
But I am a metalhead and I know how it should sound like...
The guy wasn' t wrong. You can find Barts on a lot of boutique basses. They are great pickups!
And of course you can use them to play all kind of different styles incl. metal.
But, do you need a Cadillac for metal? Comfortable, air conditioned…
a safe choice to take you where you want?
This looks more like a kick*$$, rigid frame, motorbike sound to me! Take a ride!
Mr. Snaggletooth
Killed_by_Death
knows his stuff, talking about Ibanez basses and the different pups they come with!
It' s actually the opposite! For a classic hard & heavy two guitars, drums and bass setting,
you will need a bass that fills the gap between the guitars and the kick drum.
This means you want mids! (lotsa mids!) Wooly basses will only create a wall of mud!
High freq sizzle will get lost in overdriven guitars!
The punch that you hear and feel in Ciff' s sound is a low mid punch!!!
You mentioned Black Sabbath.
Geezer uses a good amount of high mids to get his agressive "in your face" sound!
A mid scooped "bedroom sound" won 't work!
Have fun choosing the right axe!
may the bass be with you
Wise(b)ass
I don't know which is the best bass for metal.
But I am a metalhead and I know how it should sound like...
The guy wasn' t wrong. You can find Barts on a lot of boutique basses. They are great pickups!
And of course you can use them to play all kind of different styles incl. metal.
But, do you need a Cadillac for metal? Comfortable, air conditioned…
a safe choice to take you where you want?
This looks more like a kick*$$, rigid frame, motorbike sound to me!
Take a ride!Mr. Snaggletooth
Killed_by_Deathknows his stuff, talking about Ibanez basses and the different pups they come with!
It' s actually the opposite! For a classic hard & heavy two guitars, drums and bass setting,
you will need a bass that fills the gap between the guitars and the kick drum.
This means you want mids! (lotsa mids!) Wooly basses will only create a wall of mud!
High freq sizzle will get lost in overdriven guitars!
The punch that you hear and feel in Ciff' s sound is a low mid punch!!!
You mentioned Black Sabbath.
Geezer uses a good amount of high mids to get his agressive "in your face" sound!
A mid scooped "bedroom sound" won 't work!
Have fun choosing the right axe!
may the bass be with you
Wise(b)ass
Scooping mids will do the opposite of that.
Did we ask what kind of amp rig the OP is running? If we did I'm sorry I didn't read thoroughly enough.
Anyway, when I played in hardcore punk and alt-metal bands, I found that investing in a killer amp first paid off more than investing in a better bass first. Don't get me wrong, I always favor a good quality instrument and both choices are solid. Ibby and MTD Kingston both make good instruments in your budget so I would simply pick the one that has better playability and feels better in your hands. But even the best bass will seem like a toy if you have a tiny amp that can't compete with a gorilla-fisted drummer and two loud guitarists who constantly try to one-up each other. I know amps aren't as "sexy" as instruments, but I would definitely make sure you have a good, loud, powerful amp when playing heavy music.
I prefer Gallien-Krueger amps for heavy music myself.
Anyway, when I played in hardcore punk and alt-metal bands, I found that investing in a killer amp first paid off more than investing in a better bass first. Don't get me wrong, I always favor a good quality instrument and both choices are solid. Ibby and MTD Kingston both make good instruments in your budget so I would simply pick the one that has better playability and feels better in your hands. But even the best bass will seem like a toy if you have a tiny amp that can't compete with a gorilla-fisted drummer and two loud guitarists who constantly try to one-up each other. I know amps aren't as "sexy" as instruments, but I would definitely make sure you have a good, loud, powerful amp when playing heavy music.
I prefer Gallien-Krueger amps for heavy music myself.
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Kind reply!
Can pick up a used G&L USA L2000 or L2500 for that price. They just sound great!...
Something that you won't mind getting dinged up at a gig that you make no money at.
There is nothing scooped about Cliff William's tone. Nothing. The OP said he doesn't want a sludge tone or a Nu Metal tone. Nu Metal is alllllll about scooping the mids. It's all subs and hi end and can't be heard except as a dog whistle on the upper end a fart on the low end. See Korn, and countless others.
It seems to me that the OP is just having some trouble describing the tone. They want something harmonically rich. Really, so don't we all, but scooping is not the way to be heard over a Marshall, Mesa, or other full stack.
