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best bass for reggae

#82
I've been playing reggae bass for almost 25 years. While I agree with most posters that there is no "right" answer, here are some of the opinions of the top three reggae bass legends: Familyman, Robbie Shakespeare, and Flabba Holt, and jive with my experience.

- Flatwounds are better for reggae. Familyman has contended that his goal for his sound has always been to get the bass the flattest, most acoustic bass sound possible. So he ALWAYS uses flatwounds on his basses, as do his one-time apprentices Robbie and Flabba.

- EQ out most of the highs and mids on the bass and amp.

- All three of the "legends" have used a vintage (pre-1976)fender jazz as their standard working bass.

-Additionally, all have used a Hofner 500/1 (flatwounds come standard on this bass), and a Steinberger L-2 or XL-2 (again with flatwounds - I've tried playing this bass with roundwounds and hated the sound I got).

- Flabba still plays either his Hofner 500/1 or Steinberger live - I believe based on the size of the venue? Familyman plays a Hohner B Bass through Ampeg SVT II, and last I saw, Robbie was on the Fender Jazz.

- All three have played many different basses, notably Familyman on a Yamaha (when Yamaha was sponsoring the Wailers). This bass (or so it was claimed) actually went up for sale on eBay a couple of years ago for a ridiculously high price (it didn't sell).

My personal favorites are the Hofner 500/1 for live, and a Stingray for the studio. I don't play the Hofner live that much because it is such a fragile instrument - I've broken a couple. I play a modified Fender Musicmaster, which is a shorter scale bass (believe it or not). I've put heavy guage flatwounds on it, and put a JBass pickup and electronics in it. I like the feel and playability of the shorter scale - though admittedly, it's been a challenge to match the fender jazz sound on a shorter scale bass.

The bottom line is any bass WILL work. But in my humble opinion, you definitely want to use flatwounds on a passive bass, and eq out the highs and mids. ...my two cents.
 
#83
rootsriddim said:
My personal favorites are the Hofner 500/1 for live, and a Stingray for the studio.

The bottom line is any bass WILL work. But in my humble opinion, you definitely want to use flatwounds on a passive bass, and eq out the highs and mids. ...my two cents.
Click to expand...


I agree, any bass with flats can be made to work for Reggae. I've seen televised shows with various Reggae artists and the basses used runs the gamut.

One of my personal favorites is a Brice Hofner knockoff with Labella nylon tapewound strings. That combination just works well for me.
 
#84
i play reggae bass. it's 99% in the fingers.

having said that, i use a MIJ '62 reissue fender jazz with lindy fralin pickups, d'addario chromes medium gauge flatwound strings (the older the better), and play finger style either at the 17th or 20th fret. i use the neck pickup with the tone rolled all the way down.

there can be a big difference between a live tone and a studio tone. i think a lot of the old 70's roots and dub bass lines were d.i. straight into the desk. when recording i get a great modern dub style tone by using the above technique into an avalon u5 d.i./pre, gain set to max, high pass filter on, eq set to on (number two), then into a chandler germanium compressor. this signal chain sounds HUGE!

but again, it's really more about fingers, feel, groove and timing. listen to loads of reggae, learn the lines, play along etc, it will come eventually, and there are loads of great informative posts about reggae bass on TB if you try the search function.
 
#86
I have been playing reggae for 20+ years. I don't like flat strings, I also don't think the bass matters. I use DR strings the Hi-Beamers, the sound for reggae is best when they have lost the brightness. I have my back pickup almost off , front pickup and volume on full,. My eq is treble and mids set to just before middle position and bass almost a little above middle position, I use this setting on the amp and bass, the weight then comes from the volume of the amp. With this setting i find i get clarity in notes and weight at the same time, playing high up on the neck gives a nice round sound. The newer the strings are the more i may reduce treble and mids and turn up the bass, but the strings wear and get to a point where the dullness is perfect and i stick to the setting i intially spoke of.

I had a Hohner Jack V ( Steinberger) active bass and the sound was amazing for reggae when the active was switch was on. I currently use a Yamaha TRB 5 and the tone is just as good, but i preferred the feel of the Jack V.

Alot of it is in your fingers, reggae bass requires "squeezing" the notes on the fret board to really get the feel and generally playing as late as possible. check Family Man on Sun is Shining ( Kaya Version).
 
#88
I agree with other posters that all basses can work for reggae, but do think the choice you make will have a big impact on where the bass fits in the mix, and is a matter of taste. The reason the old Jamaicans use flats, and EQ out the mids, is because they like to be able to turn up the volume on the instrument without destroying the mix. This kind of bass sound allows for high hats, percussion, vocals, keys, guitar, etc. to have more prominence in the mix. It is arguably not as big a bass sound as that coming from a bass using rounds, and not eq-ing out the mids. Jim Fox the engineer at Lion Fox studios where numerous reggae legends have recorded swears by the Stingray with rounds for recording. This set-up gives the bass a lot of prominence in the mix. For me, I like the vintage set-up (I'm always using my hofner 500/1 hollow body to get the upright sound), turning up the volume to get the deep pulse with the bass drum, but still allowing all the other rythmic pieces to maintain prominence. It is a bass sound that you "feel" through you, but it doesn't hurt your ears.
 
#89
I really don't think there is *the* bass for reggae. All kinds of things work. Jazz, Precision, Stingray are all live/studio standards. But I think it's all about the lines and the groove

Here's a studio cut of me recording with a Rickenbacker using stainless steel rounds. I think it's got plenty of 'fat' going on, and this is with very minimal EQ. Seems to not be taking up too much of the mix...

The Responsables - Taxi Cab
 
#92
sloppy_phil said:
I really don't think there is *the* bass for reggae. All kinds of things work. Jazz, Precision, Stingray are all live/studio standards. But I think it's all about the lines and the groove

Here's a studio cut of me recording with a Rickenbacker using stainless steel rounds. I think it's got plenty of 'fat' going on, and this is with very minimal EQ. Seems to not be taking up too much of the mix...

The Responsables - Taxi Cab
Click to expand...

Nice!
 
#94
I just gave Flabba a Steinberger style custom bass about 3 months ago. He still played the Hohner until then. The custom bass I gave him is one that I got as an endorser years ago & never played. It has Steinberger hardware & SD active pups. I play 5 strings in my reggae band (The Mau Mau Chaplains - Austin Texas). I've been playing reggae since 1973. The Jazz bass was used by those guys primarily because it was the only bass available. You gotta figure Family Man would sound great on anything he plays. He gave Robbie that Hofner he used to play. I opened quite a few shows on Peter Tosh's 1st US solo tour when he had Sly & Robbie with him. Robbie really dug my P bass & used to use it sometimes because the Hofner was hard to keep set up on the road. Yeah, I only use flat wounds. Flabba uses roundwounds.
 
#96
I recommend a P-bass - perhaps a Squier if the cost is a concern. Personally I find putting a wadge of foam under the strings and the bridge helps add more of that 'thump' that you find in reggae. That and learn your basic major/minor triads and *bam* = INSTANT reggae vibe :)
 
#98
Moe Monsarrat said:
I just gave Flabba a Steinberger style custom bass about 3 months ago. He still played the Hohner until then. The custom bass I gave him is one that I got as an endorser years ago & never played. It has Steinberger hardware & SD active pups. I play 5 strings in my reggae band (The Mau Mau Chaplains - Austin Texas). I've been playing reggae since 1973. The Jazz bass was used by those guys primarily because it was the only bass available. You gotta figure Family Man would sound great on anything he plays. He gave Robbie that Hofner he used to play. I opened quite a few shows on Peter Tosh's 1st US solo tour when he had Sly & Robbie with him. Robbie really dug my P bass & used to use it sometimes because the Hofner was hard to keep set up on the road. Yeah, I only use flat wounds. Flabba uses roundwounds.
Click to expand...

oh flabba really uses rounds on his basses? i thought he only used flats? even rounds on the höfner?
 
#99
what about those modern player tele basses with humbucker at the most closest to the neck???

I'm trying to find some demos played that neck pickup option reggae lines but I can't find any.
 

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