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best bass for reggae

#123
Seems like this topic has come up more than once lately. A lot of whether or not a bass will work for reggae is in the EQ. Having said that, a bass with a narrower "sonic footprint" might not work as well for most reggae applications (my old Warwick Thumb comes to mind). People attach all kinds of clichés to reggae but if you really listen and watch you'll see both a wide variety of basses (many of them strung with rounds) and a variety of picking styles/right hand placement.
 
#129
Vintage P said:
i'm not a authority on reggae but if I were called to go a reggae gig, I'd bring the P and roll off all the highs.
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You'd be in good shape, minus rolling off all your highs. You'd be surprised at the fact that many reggae bass players use a fair amount in the mids and don't roll off the the tone at the bass all the way. I mean, unless you don't want to discern your actual notes on stage. ;) I used a P-bass (1973) as my main bass from about 2000 through 2005, and it worked great. Really in most cases vintage reggae (Jamaica and the world has mostly moved on from the roots reggae that most Americans are namechecking when they say 'reggae'), its not as deep as you think, it's a big bump in the low mids and upper bass range.

bass12 said:
Seems like this topic has come up more than once lately. A lot of whether or not a bass will work for reggae is in the EQ. Having said that, a bass with a narrower "sonic footprint" might not work as well for most reggae applications (my old Warwick Thumb comes to mind). People attach all kinds of clichés to reggae but if you really listen and watch you'll see both a wide variety of basses (many of them strung with rounds) and a variety of picking styles/right hand placement.
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Exactly. Reggae is not a type of bass but a style of music. I too wouldn't choose a Warwick, but I would guess that some might. Probably people might also consider that in the 'vintage' days the rigs that people played on stage weren't really capable of the deep deep lows that everyone is usually aiming at. In fact, I HPF my deep lows out of my signal (steep 24db per octave filter at 35hz) From there I boost my lows in the 50hz range probably about 8db which gives the perception of deep deep lows that people expect. Although I'll say that one of my secrets is boosting my mids healthily and pulling the treble range down drastically.

zortation said:
Not any bass will give you that deep fat tone required for real roots reggae, if that's the style you're after. You need a jazz bass, both pickups on full.
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This can work for some, but if you've done it long enough, you'd know that the best way to get the deepest lows is to roll one of the pickups back a bit from 'on full'. It unbalances the signal and lets more volume and tone through. I honestly can't stand playing Jazz Basses for reggae although I did it for a number of years as well. I much prefer my current setup which has 2 split coil pickups (wired series internally) and I run them in series with each other.

bass12 said:
You don't need a Jazz at all - you can get a great sound for reggae of any period with any number of basses or rigs.
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This. This. This. I generally don't respond to 'reggae sound' threads because they're really frustrating. Jamaican popular music has been around nearly as long as 'rock' music. The earliest vestiges come from the mid 1950's. In that time the total types of gear and tones used have been just as varied as what you see in 'rock' music. In other words, to me these threads are sort of like "What is the best bass to play rock" questions...then people all chipping in to talk about what rock people did in 1973. ;) And often not really getting it all that right. It sells the whole genre short. 'Reggae' has been played on everything from acoustic upright bass to keyboards and synths. Its equally at home on a Fender, a Lakland, a Steinberger, and any other number of options. It doesn't always one-drop, it doesn't always have a chop.
 
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#130
BurningSkies said:
I generally don't respond to 'reggae sound' threads because they're really frustrating. Jamaican popular music has been around nearly as long as 'rock' music. The earliest vestiges come from the mid 1950's. In that time the total types of gear and tones used have been just as varied as what you see in 'rock' music. In other words, to me these threads are sort of like "What is the best bass to play rock" questions...then people all chipping in to talk about what rock people did in 1973. ;) And often not really getting it all that right. It sells the whole genre short. 'Reggae' has been played on everything from acoustic upright bass to keyboards and synths. Its equally at home on a Fender, a Lakland, a Steinberger, and any other number of options. It doesn't always one-drop, it doesn't always have a chop.
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Great post. I'll add that Jaco used a Fender Jazz and so did (does?) Family Man. Two very different tones, no?

In short: It's not the tool but how you use it. Listen. Experiment. And listen some more.
 
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#134
Well, once again Burningskies nailed it. Play what sounds good to you.

I've played reggae (roots, dubby, DJ'd, Hawaiian, and yup, TEXAN) on MIM roadworn Jazzes, a vintage '69 P-bass, a Lakland skyline 55-01, a Sadowsky 4-string, an MTD MIK MM passive 5, and a Valenti 5-string. They all work fine.

IMHO, the style and feel of one's playing are 95% of it. Great tone in reggae bass is not just a big low end or low-mid bump, and there are as many good reggae bass sounds as there are reggae bassists.
 
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#135
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#136
When playing dub/reggae, I go after more traditional reggae tone so I really love my '77 Fender Musicmaster Bass with flatwound srings and custom SBS Electrosonic pickup (tone rolled off) plugged into Ampeg PF-500 where I boost bass and cut some mids. Sometimes I bring my passive Fender Jazz Bass with roundwounds and Bartolini pickups to rehearsals and I find it much more difficult to dial in a good reggae tone.

BurningSkies said:
Don't tell this guy that you can't play reggae on an EBMM 6 string Bongo..
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I've seen Chronnix live this summer at Uprising Reggae Festival in Slovakia must admit that even though his playing and feel were amazing, the combination of Bongo bass and GK rig sounded a bit hifi and sterile to my ears.

But in the end it's all about personal preferance. I go to a lot reggae concerts and I've seen amazing sounding jazz basses, p-basses, steinbergs, few sadowskys, various custom basses, etc. :)
 
#137
Chronixx coming to SF next month, got my tics :). I also agree w/Burning Skies about playing what sounds good to you and bumping that low mids IMO is key. Been playing reggae (mostly roots w/some dancehall) off and on since the mid 90's and have used Fender P, Jazz, Warwick, Ibanez, Pedulla, Zon, MTD the list goes on cuz GAS is a CURSE lol.. One thing I noticed, I always sounded like me! The only bass that I thought didn't sit to well with Reggae was a Ken Smith I briefly owned. I'm sure I coulda have dialed it in (Third World plays a Smitty) had I spent more time with it but that ebony fretboard "ping" was just a little too bright for my ears. It killed w/my jazz quintet tho! I currently play an Fbass VF5 and has been killin w/Reggae. I have chromes flats on em and IMO really helps tame down the ash/maple combo. Good luck!
 
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#138
blen dem said:
Chronixx coming to SF next month, got my tics :). I also agree w/Burning Skies about playing what sounds good to you and bumping that low mids IMO is key. Been playing reggae (mostly roots w/some dancehall) off and on since the mid 90's and have used Fender P, Jazz, Warwick, Ibanez, Pedulla, Zon, MTD the list goes on cuz GAS is a CURSE lol.. One thing I noticed, I always sounded like me! The only bass that I thought didn't sit to well with Reggae was a Ken Smith I briefly owned. I'm sure I coulda have dialed it in (Third World plays a Smitty) had I spent more time with it but that ebony fretboard "ping" was just a little too bright for my ears. It killed w/my jazz quintet tho! I currently play an Fbass VF5 and has been killin w/Reggae. I have chromes flats on em and IMO really helps tame down the ash/maple combo. Good luck!
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Ben? Or another West coaster playing an F-Bass?
 

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