Hey guys, I am looking for a few models of 6 string basses. I play in a death metal band and I want to know what 6 string bass company and model would be best for playing fast and tapping with a metal sound?
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Best Metal Six String bass?
- Thread starter Chrisnumber2
- Start date
Check out Spector, too - like Ibanez, they have a bass that meets pretty much every type of budget!
Spector, they can do it all for a reasonable price. Never played esp but The ibanez soundgears have a crap tone imo. If you choose to go with ibanez i've heard the BTB 6 strings are pretty nice.
peavy grind would be my choice. i use one for all sorts but although none of them are for metal it would deffo up to the job. they are cheap as well
I am disgusted. I love the tone of my 5string Ibanez Soundgear but to each his own.
The BTB is a fair choice.
I have a 6 string Dingwall afterburner being made for me
Yamaha RBX-JM2
The perfect metal bass imo. Tappable, extremely shredable and a great focused punchy tone. Sooo playable too. Good luck in your search.
TRY THEM ALL!
Pick the one you like the best!!!
(oh - forgot - Guitar Center and like carry maybe one or two sixers if you're lucky.....)
Pick the one you like the best!!!
(oh - forgot - Guitar Center and like carry maybe one or two sixers if you're lucky.....)
Man i can't believe i left that out! Anyone looking for a good metal bass go watch any Dream Theater video on youtube and you'll see why the RBX-JM2 would be a good choice.
And speaking of John Myung, He's testing out a 6 string bongo and i'll admit i used to hate how they look but in a 6 string config the bongo look just works and it sounds AWESOME! So whenever it's released to the general public you might wanna look that up.
And just to further justify my dislike of Soundgears they have a very 'blendable' sound. I don't expect anyone to be able to tell what model or brand someone is using by just listening, but soundgears just can't cut through the guitars in a metal band. Bass generally takes the backseat in most music but the soundgear sits behind even that, i want to know for sure that there is a bassist in whatever band i'm listening to (unlike dethklok ;p even though Murderface plays a Thunderbird, trust me if he really played a thunderbird you'd hear the bass) .
Why do "metal" players always go for such stereotypical instruments? The best "metal" bass is the bass that works best for you. In my opinion basses like Ibanez and Yamaha, while they are of a good standard, aren't really going to top a lot of other bases in terms of tone, playability or versatility. Really when you are choosing a bass you should be considering those things as well as how it looks. You should also be trying as many different things as possible. I don't know how helpful it is to ask a bunch of people on a forum to tell you what the best bass for you is either, unless you are asking them for their personal experience with something they have already played or owned.
Here is the template for a post suitable for any thread like this ever posted on the forum. Go nuts with your post count. It's not going to help the OP though.
In regards to your post, I play an Ibanez in a metal band, and it does top alot of basses in terms of tone, playability and versatility. It cost me about $1200AUS all up second hand.
I also have alot of experience with the JM2 in a metal setting, which I why I recommended it. I own one.
On the budget side of things, it's hard to beat Ibanez, Yamaha, and Spector for the 6er bang-for buck. I'm a Spector fan in particular, and their Legend basses rock.
I don't know, I think pointing out that cornering yourself into a niche is harldy productive is probably the best advice anyone can give someone like the OP. What is a "metal" setting anyway?
As in where you have two guitarists taking up all the bandwidth leaving only enough room for some <200Hz low end and some >15kHz top end?
By the way you are dead on with the insert brand/genre thing. That is my point precisely, buying X instrument to go with Y application does not necessairly mean good tone or playability. If Ibanez, for example, is your thing then so be it, but my recomendation is not to buy an Ibanez or any other given brand of instrument because you think it will fit the genre of music you want to make.
Go out and try as many different things as you can before you decide on what the best instrument is for you, whatever type of music you are going to play with it.
I love modulus, but I don't know about the Q for metal, so my vote is for zon. The sonus can do a variety of tones. Spector seems to be very nice: The bassist for BTBAM gets a great and unique tone that can really be heard. That's not always the case with metal. He's a great player if you haven't checked them out.
You're correct, metal setting is basically one or two extremely distorted guitars hogging frequencies, and this guy asked for a bass that does the metal sound thing, which is the low-high smiley-face EQ concept. Alot of people don't like it but it's what metal people do.
In metal, whether you agree with it or not, image is important. Whether brands like ESP/Ibanez became ''metal' because of their tonal properties or the herd mentality is a moot point; you won't see people playing boutiques/bright basses in metal. You're final piece of advice is very good, but a person like the OP is restricted in his choices by this particular scene/genre, so we make suggestions within these parameters.
I don't think image is any more important in "metal" than in any other genre. Don't take my earlier comments as being from someone that is unfamiliar with "metal" though. I have been listening to and playing "metal" for a very long time. Then again I listen to and play a lot of music. What I am getting at is that "metal" players tend to think that because they play that kind of music that they have to have a certain type of bass. A lot of the time this is based on the basses they see certain players with higher profiles playing.
Also, what they don't realise a lot of the time is that not only do these guys have the benefit of getting the respective companies custom shops to make thier gear, but that they don't always record with the basses that you see them playing. On the other hand there are a lot of bassplayers in "metal" that play all kinds of basses. Lars K Norberg played a Steinberger on "A Skeptic's Universe", Rob Van der Loo plays Conklins and Chapman Stick, Sean Malone recorded "Focus" with an Kubiki. Steve Diogiorgio plays ESP and Carvin. Martin Mendez plays Fender. [edit] Randy Coven even plays Fodera.
The point is that the choice of bass in "metal" is as varied as in any other type of music. I think you are incorrect to say that people in "metal" don't play boutique or bright basses. Listen to "A Skeptic's Universe" by Spiral Architect and "Then Comes Affliction to Awaken the Dreamer" by Twisted Into Form if you want to hear how a well defined sound can work in a "metal" context. Also there are quite a few bassplayers playing high end custom basses as well. Particularly when you have musicians like Chaoth, from Unexpect and Rob Van der Loo playing extended range basses with more than 6 strings [edit] and as mentioned above Randy Coven plays Fodera.
Also, what they don't realise a lot of the time is that not only do these guys have the benefit of getting the respective companies custom shops to make thier gear, but that they don't always record with the basses that you see them playing. On the other hand there are a lot of bassplayers in "metal" that play all kinds of basses. Lars K Norberg played a Steinberger on "A Skeptic's Universe", Rob Van der Loo plays Conklins and Chapman Stick, Sean Malone recorded "Focus" with an Kubiki. Steve Diogiorgio plays ESP and Carvin. Martin Mendez plays Fender. [edit] Randy Coven even plays Fodera.
The point is that the choice of bass in "metal" is as varied as in any other type of music. I think you are incorrect to say that people in "metal" don't play boutique or bright basses. Listen to "A Skeptic's Universe" by Spiral Architect and "Then Comes Affliction to Awaken the Dreamer" by Twisted Into Form if you want to hear how a well defined sound can work in a "metal" context. Also there are quite a few bassplayers playing high end custom basses as well. Particularly when you have musicians like Chaoth, from Unexpect and Rob Van der Loo playing extended range basses with more than 6 strings [edit] and as mentioned above Randy Coven plays Fodera.
