Best rig for Drop C# tuning? HELP

[atmachela]

I have been playing in drop C# and C standard occasionally. I have a Hartke350 amp and a 15" ported Genz Benz. The lower tuning makes my bass sound muddy. How should I set up my EQ , HI/Low bypass contour knobs, and will 4 10s instead of a 15" help??? Any input will help, Thanks!

 

[Foz]

get a fEarful

http://www.talkbass.com/wiki/index.php/Fearful™_12/6_&_15/6

low notes become profound - no mud.

 

[Mr. Foxen]

Cut lows, bridge pickup, heavier strings, is the budget option. Are your guitarists down that low? If you have the option of not tuning so low everything sounds rubbish, take it.

 

[jelwood]

If your guitarists are that low anyways you should probably give up any hope of ever being heard in the mix, if you can get it to even sound not-so-muddy on stage.

But...

In general, 410's usually go lower than 115's (contradictory to intuition).

My piece of advice? Get two 810 or 4 410 cabs and pump a thousand or so watts through them. Then, you might have a chance.

 

[P.Niggz]

I play in a band with drop C tuning.

Instead of BEADG I tune GCGCF.

I've had a hard time finding a rig to play such a low note but I've got one now . I'd say go try out as many cabs as you can find. Abit of dirt never goes a miss, plenty of mids to cut through although in honesty I found cutting through so much wasn't right for the sound of the band anyway, you usually find that in this low tuning the bass guitar is one of those things you only notice when you take it out, without us no matter how low the guitars are they sound terribly feeble.

For parts I need to stick out more I have pedals and now a different amp aswell, I think its best to add dynamics into your sound rather than trying to find the 1 perfect tone. IMO.

 

[6810]

Various ideas that may/may not work for you...

Forget down tuning and think about investing in an octave pedal.

Don't down tune. Play everything up an octave, a la Kyuss.

 

[Selta]

C# and C are not that low of notes... if you're getting a muddy mess, it's most likely EQ. Start your EQ (on board and on amp) off flat and work subtracting from there.

Edit: no, you don't need new/different gear at this point either.

 

[RNV]

I'm tuned the same and I bought a Carvin BRX410NEO a few months ago and it has answered all my problems. Check it out and they have an amazing return policy.

 

[christw]

We can't forget:

STRINGS. What size strings are you using. If you're using .35 - .90 you're going to have a floppy, muddy, horrible mess.

EQ. Are you scooping the mids? Try boosting your mids both low and high to see how it sounds in the mix. Highs let your fret buzz/clack come through and work well for punk/hardcore sounds. Turning up the bass to get a BR00TAL or deep sound will result in mud. Leave the bass to the subs at a live show.

INSTRUMENT. What's your bass and what settings are you using?

 

[Son of Bovril]

C and C# are not really that low considering that 5-string basses are tuned standard to B...

I play in B with Guitarists who play in B as well - ala 7-strings

It's actually not that difficult to cut through the mix, I play with everything flat amp wise with a bit of a mid boost on the bass. Getting a nice clean punchy low B however is more dependent on the bass itself as well as having lots of speakers and watts behind them...

a 35" scale bass helps as do higher gauge strings

Ps. you are probably not gonna get a great sounding B or C out of your average 210 cab... a 115 will work fine but a 410 may prove tighter and deeper, but that's brand and model specific.

Also, try cutting back the deep lows a little and pushing a bit of low mids (+/-200Hz) instead to tighten and fatten the sound without making it muddy

 

[renejaime]

We can't forget:

STRINGS. What size strings are you using. If you're using .35 - .90 you're going to have a floppy, muddy, horrible mess.

big +1

I've been playing drop C#/Db for about a year now and the biggest variable in a solid tone was finding the right string set. I would love flats but it's been hard to find a heavy gauge flat set.

Find a heavy gauge that works for you, you can find a good number of sets that have a 110 or 115 that will make your drop C#/Db sound that much stronger.

note: I don't play heavy metal, sludge, doom, etc... think more so in the vein of TV on the Radio/Dirty projectors. I just happen to have a good number of songs that go low from time to time.

 

[jordy_on_bass]

Boost mids and reduce bass, will sound sweeter.
+1 to strings, I used to play in drop C and used 55-110 Ernie balls and it sounded really good.

cheers,
jordan

 

[carbonfold]

I assume if you are in a drop C or C# you are playing on a 4 string?

+1 on that those are not a "huge" drop for a bass. I wound guess it is probably a few factors:

If you are dropping that E string down to a C or C#, you need to beef that guage up . IMO, I use a .120T steel on my dropped E to a C bass. But, it never goes back to a E and it keeps that string nice and tight for that C. If you were going from E to C / C to E through out a set, you would probably want something around a .110. Thats just an opinion...

And as other people have said... EQ, cab, and power. Those make a huge factor as well. But one this is for certain, it is a lot like building a high performance sports car. You can't just put on a intake and expect huge gains (unless you already own a Porsche 997TT ) You have to kinda go through the whole system.

I guess it is so subject to taste to why I explain it as such a whole. I'm so OCD on making sure that low is cutting through and just being over critical of my sound (just ask the rest of the band when I'm alway getting something different to play on). It's really funny that when I'm calling it muddy, another bassist or guitarist is like huh

BUT with that all said, I beat you beef that guage up and get you a 410, 412, or 610, you will be impressed