Claypool's tone on Wynona

[Bassmingo]

For my own amusement I'm gonna do a youtube cover of wynona's big brown beaver, and while i've searched the forum, the general discussion is usually about his 6 string fretless tone but never really about his tone on this song.

So what would get me in the ballpark? I'm not looking for exact, just a close approximation. I have a geddy jazz to start me off.

I'll be mostly using logic with some plugins (amplitube) to record with.

 

[Clef_de_fa]

I did a cover on youtube of that song using a fretless 6 strings ...

The thing is ... they may have a lot of processing and multitrack and a mix of amp and direct and some overdrive/distortion etc ...

just find a workable tone and go with it otherwise, to me, you are chasing the purple dragon of tone

 

[arginator]

Not sure about that song, but I think he uses a tube screamer often.

 

[JimmyM]

Hard to do with a fretted bass.

Is it? Well someone neglected to tell Les:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7jnhTDg4mk

It ain't the bass...it's Les who gets that sound. Boost the upper mids a tad, throw a little overdrive on it, then play like Les, and you're in business.

 

[JimmyM]

No it wasn't. It was that bass he's using on Letterman. You can clearly hear fret jumps when he does slides.

 

[Clef_de_fa]

No it wasn't. It was that bass he's using on Letterman. You can clearly hear fret jumps when he does slides.

Funny because everywhere they say it is recorded with a fretless 6 strings bass.

But Les often play his songs differently live

 

[JimmyM]

I've only heard he used the 4. Trying to find a definitive quote on that, but I can't find it on Google or Yahoo, and the internet is running so slowly for me tonight that I'm about to throw it out on its ass. But if you guys say so...sure sounds like a fretted bass to me, though.

 

[GLEN18INCHSPICA]

In the video its his red Jazz bass, doesn't mean he recorded the song with it though. I remember listening to the Sausauge album that he recorded with a Jazz bass & it sounded just like him. I wouldn't worry about which bass, use your Geddy. He often does tune differently than normal if I recall correctly with different gauge strings.

 

[themarshall]

Pretty sure I remember reading it was a fretted CT 6 with a pick.

 

[Corporate Boy]

Guitar World had an interview and transcription when this track came out. 99% sure Les said he was using a fretted 4 string. The transcription had a bunch of harmonic double stops on the 11th fret that I imagine would be hard to pick out.

 

[JimmyM]

Ya, I remember that article, too. As for the pick, I don't recall ever seeing Les use a pick on bass ever. Not saying it never happened, but I've never seen it.

But really, Les would kick us in the balls for making such a big deal out of what bass he used rather than just playing the song with whatever we had. And he would be right to do so. So just play it with whatever bass you have, and add a little distortion if you have it available, and if not, just play it anyway.

 

[lowfreq33]

Funny because everywhere they say it is recorded with a fretless 6 strings bass.

But Les often play his songs differently live

People always assume everything he does is on the fretless CT rainbow bass, but he plays the fretted CT 4 and his fenders most of the time.

 

[Bassmingo]

Thanks guys, i've always believed it to be a fretted 4 myself. I'll just go for it and see what happens.

 

[IWieldTheSpade]

99% sure that it's a fretted four string with fingers on it, I don't know where the fretless or 6 string idea comes from, it's a fretted tone to my ears and a high C would just get in the way in my opinion - maybe people get thrown off by Ler playing slide along with it?
I agree with JimmyM though, just play it with what you got and chuck a little dirt on it.

On a side note, I have seen Les play with a pick on one and only one unusual occasion:


But the Wynona's line just rolls off the fingers so nicely, it's hard to imagine doing some of the parts he does that use three finger rakes with a pick in hand instead.

 

[Clef_de_fa]

People always assume everything he does is on the fretless CT rainbow bass, but he plays the fretted CT 4 and his fenders most of the time.

No but some songs are recorded with his 6 strings fretless ... like Tommy the Cat, My name is Mud, Fish On etc ...