Downtuning Gibson SG bass

Just curious what aspects of the SG bass attracted you to it?

 

The strings will be loose like yarn and it will sound super muddy.

 

If you use thick strings I think youll be fine. It will be a really full tone without mids I imagine.

 

I own a Gibson SG bass, and IMHO it probably would sound muddy being downtuned. My SG sounds muddy in standard tuning if my amp isn't tweaked really well. Just my opinion.

 

I keep my SG bass tuned to Eb and it sounds fine. If you use the BEAD from a 5-string set for B standard, I don't see why the bass wouldn't be able to handle it.

 

I've drop tuned an Epiphone EB-0 to drop D before and it was pretty floppy. I don't think I'd do it again, but with the right setup it might work out.

 

I use a short-scale Gibson Flying V bass for some songs in Drop C. It is not in any way "muddy." It helps to have a heavier low string -- I use a set of LaBella's with a .110 thickest string. For anything lower than C I would probably get a 5-string set and toss the thinnest string.

I will say that the bass is short on mids, which means it doesn't cut through the mix with two loud rock/metal guitars as well as my main Carvin bass. I imagine the SG would be similar. But if you're in a "doomy" band, you may appreciate the heavy low end -- I wouldn't recommend it as a primary bass for, say, a thrash band, but it might be right up your alley. A lot of this can be manipulated by EQ as well.

 

I'm not sure what that means. I'm not much on set ups for down tuning, can you explain that to me?

 

I'm not sure what the poster meant, as a setup can't change string tension (much, perceived tension maybe), but if you use a heavy enough string you can tune to sub-audible tunings and still not have floppy strings.

I play short scales in Eb and find that I have to use at least a medium gauge string to be happy with the tension. If I tuned down any lower I'd consider using a BEAD set and tuning up slightly.

With the tension sorted out, there's no reason that the bass would sound muddier in a lower tuning.

 

I have LaBella 760FM .049-.109 strings on my SG.
They will do a drop D no problem
I just tried a C# not to bad, B no way.

 

Drop C# on my P or J basses....a bit floppy but not a huge problem with heavy strings.

The 2009 Gibson SG RI I used to own tuned to C#.... Farts. Seriously....down 3 semitones on a 30" bass just doesn't work for me. Tuning a BEAD set up may work but I never bothered.

 

By it's very nature, an SG bass is going to sound "darker" than a P-bass. Muddy? I don't know. I play my SG through an Ampeg, and the last thing I would call the tone is mud. It sounds very deep. If you already like the bass, everything should be fine and dandy.

 

Get a 34" scale SG bass.

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http://www.3dentourage.com/425/5string-sg-bass.htm

http://www.3dentourage.com/425/5string-sg-bass2.htm