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Fretless bass sounds dull

#42
Jeff Scott said:
Passive basses can and do sound great, and erm ;), many times even better than an active bass. Many guys have thought my passive Martin Keiths have a preamp in them, one of them is fretless. Is fretless what you really want? If so, I am sure with time and some experimenting (plus some $$$) you will find the tone you are seeking. The first thing i would do is bypass the wiring harness altogether and listen to how the pickups sound without any loading (other than the amp) on them. The physical location and interaction between the two pickups will be a major influence on the tone, to start with, for starters.
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Don't misunderstand me! I'm not saying there is anything inherently wrong with passive stuff. It can sounds great! I just think it doesn't sound that way I want it to. I'll try bypassing the controls and see if that helps at all! Thanks

Nic. said:
I'd be very interested to hear how that sounds!

Anyway, I think I had a similar situation to you some time back, I was using this DIY-defretted jazz and wanted a more aggressive tone. So I epoxied it, and I got closer.. but still not quite there. After spending a lot of time, I realize that there's nothing that quite makes a fretless sound like a fretted (well, I haven't tried a metal fingerboard but I don't think that'll work, I think it's more of the kind of attack rather than what frequencies are emphasized). But even though I didn't have the fret clank, I decided I can get really aggressive and punchy with a fretless in a different way that I'm happy with, so I stuck with fretless since I just prefer the feeling of fretless overall.
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I might try to redo it a little better. I had the bar taped to the bass body so it wasn't something permanent lol. I might make a better version and see how it works out, but it really didn't make any significant difference.

Yeah, I'm going to try a few more things but I get the feeling I'm going to just have to get used to it! It will never be my "main" bass, but I always like playing with it.
 
#43
Kragnorak said:
I'm confused - are the Black Beauties not round enough?

I have similar issues with my fretlesses. One has crappy electronics and both could really benefit from a lacquered fingerboard. I don't expect them to sound like fretteds, but I do want livelier tone. I'm curious how the steel plate idea would work...
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DR Black Beauties are wound round with a very light coloured coating. They are very slightly softer sounding than the ones without coating. If you are looking for brightness, the DR Sunbeams may be the answer - they are the brightest of the DR line.
 
#45
miner said:
The big problem is that the bass I want doesn't really exist! That's why I put this bass together in the first place lol. I don't know if I would consider changing a couple parts a band-aid. It's just getting it set up to sound the way I want. And even if it is, if a band-aid is enough, then I'm happy! I don't think I've ever owned a bass where I haven't swapped at least a couple of things out to get it how I want it. Thanks for the suggestion!

This is my only passive bass, and this first one I've really had in 5 years, so that's part of why I think I'm not happy with it. All of my other basses I own are active. So that's one of the reasons I think I'm not happy with it. Like I said before though, different strings and setting it up a little differently made a big difference and it's getting close.
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Sure it exists..... Every bass exists.... Just that you haven't tried 50 or more fretless bass designs yet to find what you're looking for like I have. :-)
 
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#46
Turnaround said:
DR Black Beauties are wound round with a very light coloured coating. They are very slightly softer sounding than the ones without coating. If you are looking for brightness, the DR Sunbeams may be the answer - they are the brightest of the DR line.
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Actually sunbeams are the upper middiest of their line. Hi beams are brightest but also slightly scooped and IMHO not as good as sunbeams for fretless.

XLs the old staple are also tremendously good for fretless IMHO. Similar design to sunbeams but of course still slightly different.
 
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#47
Epoxy-ing the fingerboard will change the tone (for the better in your case), but I still say that a lot of HIGHS probably will not help you. I have a custom fretless, ebony fingerboard, five stringer with underwound pickups and super clean preamp. That bass has lots and lots of top end, which is completely wasted other than on open strings. (And I still play with decent -not great- technique, using stainless rounds and a very hifi amp.)
So, I recommend you investigate the mids more, before you start chasing the very top end.
 
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#51
I am sitting here playing my fretless bass and it still has all the brightness and wonderful qualities most of us seek in a great sounding fretless bass.............and it has 4 year old D'Addario XLs on it! Hmm............

Food for thought?
 
#53
Abner said:
So some three pages into this thread, am I the only one that thinks a fretted and a fretless are two different animals, and if you want the clank of a fretted, well you play a fretted? I don't get it. What am I missing?
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my thoughts exactly....
davy4575 said:
im confused too. fretless basses always sound dull. Put the frets back into it. Use light gauge stainless steel strings, turn up the high mids and highs
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#55
Ok. I understand. A bass sounds how it sounds and it is wrong to want to change it. No matter what I try it cannot be made to sound more how I would like it. If I don't like something about a bass because of my personal preferences, I shouldn't try to change the bass because the only thing that is wrong is me. Changing something about a bass is wrong, I just have to change what I want. Asking if others have wanted something similar and if anyone has ideas or tried something to get similar results is also wrong. Brainstorming ideas to get something unique and more useful to me is wrong.

I'm sorry I asked. I'll try to refrain from posting stupid questions from now on.
 
#56
It's not wrong miner.I think I get what you want, a " Hey how does he get that fretted sound from a fretless ?" response from folks.

Hey I even asked questions on other sites about this. Would it be possible to sink frets into the fingerboard then file them flush.
That way the strings would make contact with some metal and maybe help with your ideal sound. Drawback would be to the casual
glance it would look like you were playing a fretted bass.
 
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#58
miner said:
Ok. I understand. A bass sounds how it sounds and it is wrong to want to change it. No matter what I try it cannot be made to sound more how I would like it. If I don't like something about a bass because of my personal preferences, I shouldn't try to change the bass because the only thing that is wrong is me. Changing something about a bass is wrong, I just have to change what I want. Asking if others have wanted something similar and if anyone has ideas or tried something to get similar results is also wrong. Brainstorming ideas to get something unique and more useful to me is wrong.

I'm sorry I asked. I'll try to refrain from posting stupid questions from now on.
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Can you site examples of fretless players that you want to emulate?The sound of a fretless is basically steel strings on wood fingerboard.While a fretted is steel strings on steel frets(Or stainless.You get my point)So a fretless is going to have more of a woody low mid sound.
 
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