EQ settings for Country Music

[Dbassmon]

This sounds about right. Pbass will cut. That is what Fenders. Jazz or P, the mid foward sound without ultra deep low end or extented top.... That is a the sound you want for most rhythm section settings.

 

[Pocket Dave]

This sounds about right. Pbass will cut. That is what Fenders. Jazz or P, the mid foward sound without ultra deep low end or extented top.... That is a the sound you want for most rhythm section settings.

=I= like the tightness that the overdrive brings to the bass, but I've had BL say "no" to that sound.

 

[Pocket Dave]

Super mild overdrive on this early '70s Jerry Jeff Walker root/5 cover. P-bass with Lollar standard wind split P > Aggie TH-500 with gain and drive around 9:00 and lower mids popped up to around 2:00.

210 ported neo cab, backline volume only from my side of the stage.

 

[/\/\3phist0]

Stick with that with which you're comfortable...let's see who complains. In today's C&W universe, conformity is no longer the norm. I use a SDGR 5 string, Bass Fly Rig, and EBS / Epifani amplification which just screams "Hee Haw", doesn't it?

Riis

I played this

 

[ToddB1963]

Joe Osborn's tone was great for country (and everything else).

1960 Jazz bass, neck pickup, tone all the way up, La Bella flats, pick.

Always FAT and warm - with a nice attack to the note.

RIP Joe.

 

[chris_b]

If I was on the gig I'd dump the pedals and just use bass, amp and cab. That's all I need. Especially if I had FOH.

Talk to your band mates. I'm assuming if you sounded bad you wouldn't be on the gig. Maybe you just don't have your Country ears dialled in yet. If it doesn't sound right try flatwound strings. If it still doesn't sound right you need a Country rig. Start auditioning different basses, amps and cabs.

 

[Eilif]

Played a few hundred country gigs (mostly classic'ish) and most of the time the eq is mostly flat, the tone is slightly rolled off and my main concern is just the nuances of the song.

Maybe you're over thinking it. Do you even need the VT? Even when I was playing larger gigs, it was just bass to amp.

 

[Pocket Dave]

Joe Osborn's tone was great for country (and everything else).

1960 Jazz bass, neck pickup, tone all the way up, La Bella flats, pick.

Always FAT and warm - with a nice attack to the note.

RIP Joe.

Joe Osborn's tone was great for country (and everything else).

1960 Jazz bass, neck pickup, tone all the way up, La Bella flats, pick.

Always FAT and warm - with a nice attack to the note.

RIP Joe.

B15 vibe, though I'm sure someone will chime in and tell how he used a Dual Pro or some such.

Joe Osborn was awesome.

 

[/\/\3phist0]

B15 vibe, though I'm sure someone will chime in and tell how he used a Dual Pro or some such.

Joe Osborn was awesome.

What you hear on the recordings is an often a direct to board signal.

 

[Pocket Dave]

What you hear on the recordings is an often a direct to board signal.

Nothing surprises me anymore.

 

[/\/\3phist0]

Nothing surprises me anymore.

That had been a common, if not standard studio practice for a very long time.

 

[Pocket Dave]

That had been a common, if not standard studio practice for a very long time.

Was it direct, or was there a tube preamp?

 

[T Bassman]

Compliment the kick drum as far as adding more girth, or low mids if it works against that tone and resonance (ie, is the kick tight and punchy or fatter or wide with more low end and dampening, or open sounding with decay) and add a little upper mids so you can hear your attack without being a feature, say 1k range, especially if playing outdoors.

I feel a little tube gain can work sometime, and roll some passive tone off as others have suggested. Play closer to the end of the fretboard to experiment with tone.

If the setlist is more traditional country, listen to some country upright players, Roy Husky Jr, Crouch etc and see if you can borrow from the effect their acoustic tone has when blending with the drums as well. Pay attention to note duration and space between the kick and snare landing.

Modern Country can tolerate a rock approach tonally often, again as others have touched on.

Have fun, listen for sonic details and keep a beginners mindset and you'll kill it brother

 

[/\/\3phist0]

Was it direct, or was there a tube preamp?

Often tube preamp / mic preamps in the console were tube driven, depending on the studio , the console, outboard gear available ,and the engineer involved. It could also be reamped after the take and the amp can be resent the unpressed signal, or post, cabinet mic’d however one chooses.
Many times the take for the track is processed after the dry take and bumped to a separate track for post professing for the final mix, clean full spectrum instrument to tape allows the most latitude to make the changes for the mix.

 

[Eilif]

Often tube preamp / mic preamps in the console were tube driven, depending on the studio , the console, outboard gear available ,and the engineer involved. It could also be reamped after the take and the amp can be resent the unpressed signal, or post, cabinet mic’d however one chooses.
Many times the take for the track is processed after the dry take and bumped to a separate track for post professing for the final mix, clean full spectrum instrument to tape allows the most latitude to make the changes for the mix.

That sort of processing has of course gotten more and more common, but going back to Joe's prime and other recordings of the era, much of that is straight to the board (maybe a tube console preamp) with little else.

It's not new news by any means, but today's bassists obsessed with FX, preamps, compressors, etc, are often surprised how much of their favorite music was recorded on a bass with long-dead strings plugged right into a board (or maybe whatever amp the studio had sitting around) with very little tinkering after that.

 

[/\/\3phist0]

That sort of processing has of course gotten more and more common, but going back to Joe's prime and other recordings of the era, much of that is straight to the board (maybe a tube console preamp) with little else.

It's not new news by any means, but today's bassists obsessed with FX, preamps, compressors, etc, are often surprised how much of their favorite music was recorded on a bass with long-dead strings plugged right into a board (or maybe whatever amp the studio had sitting around) with very little tinkering after that.

Even more of a surprise that many tracks were recorded with the in house precision bass, not the artists preferred axe.

 

[YourGuitarist]

There's an assumption made that if a bass is recorded direct and thus 'flat' into the console that the bass sound is flat in the recording. This may be true but not necessarily. The engineer can apply a whole host of shaping and filtering on the post side. Don't think that because a bass is recorded transparently means its mixed transparently. The sound of the record is not the recording, its the mix.

 

[ToddB1963]

Thought I'd resurrect the thread after hearing the tone of this 2EQ Stingray on a live Jerry Reed performance

Great tone for a pop/country/rock tune.

 

[N. Kentucky Bass]

With traditional country, how you pluck is probably more important than tone per se. A lot of those songs were played with an upright bass. To achieve that vibe with electric bass, try two things: shove a small piece of foam under the strings near the bridge to deaden sustain and lightly pluck with your thumb. It's surprisingly effective!

 

[/\/\3phist0]

Was it direct, or was there a tube preamp?

If the board had them for the channel strip.