Juan doesnt play just a regular P to get an upright sound. He plays the really old fretless P's that were only around for a few years. I have a self modded fretless P and it doesnt he job for an upright tone. It still has a very warm sound without the brightness of a fretless Jazz. But I really dig the clip of the Rob Allen Mouse 30 . Sounds really close to an upright. Just get out and play alot of different basses to find the one you think sounds good.
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fretless that sounds like a upright...
- Thread starter jazzyteen
- Start date
Juan doesnt play just a regular P to get an upright sound. He plays the really old fretless P's that were only around for a few years. I have a self modded fretless P and it doesnt he job for an upright tone. It still has a very warm sound without the brightness of a fretless Jazz. But I really dig the clip of the Rob Allen Mouse 30 . Sounds really close to an upright. Just get out and play alot of different basses to find the one you think sounds good.
Dave,
I'm not sure that I would say that those sound exactly like an amplified upright, but nontheless that is a really great sounding bass! Actually, pretty much exactly the sound I have been looking for as my next purchase...
I'm not sure that I would say that those sound exactly like an amplified upright, but nontheless that is a really great sounding bass! Actually, pretty much exactly the sound I have been looking for as my next purchase...
The time-consuming but cheap option: I defretted my cheapo Peavey Milestone 3 on a whim, it came out sounding pretty darn close to an upright even with the original strings, and even more so with flats. Plucking from up on the fingerboard helps even more.
Jim Carr
Dr. Jim
- Jan 21, 2006
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- fEARful Kool-Aid dispensing liberal academic card-carrying union member Musicians Local 72-147
I guess I should have reworded my last statement a little differently. I think a nice P bass with flats does a good job at copping the tone, just a tad lacking in the "noises" that you associate with an upright. What makes a piezo cool and perhaps a bit challenging is the sensitivity to touch. Most of the stuff I'm doing with Surface To Air isn't quite tapping the upright vibe as much as I could, but I hit a few intentional notes that sound fairly upright. As an aside, it's kinda neat how a piezo can go from an upright to Jazz by changing the positioning and attack of your right hand.
Only an upright bass sounds really like an upright bass, but for the best result on a bass guitar I give another vote for semi hollow, nylon tape wound strings and a piezo PU. I´m using a Takamine B10 bassguitar - which is designed to be played upright. But I can get a similar sound out of my semi hollow Fender fretless P with piezo and nylon tapewounds. Most important is to think like an upright player.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0L8dG-iNrk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fn5cGelK0GU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0L8dG-iNrk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fn5cGelK0GU
- Feb 8, 2005
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To my ears, my fretless Lightwave Sabre C comes somewhat close.... providing that your right hand plucks the strings around the 22nd 'fret' area. Wish I had a clip to share. The optical pickups capture string vibes differently than piezo or magnetics. Not saying better or worse, just different.
It's actually the same bass played by two different players. This one was built in 2001, and has a commercial "MightyMite" neck with a phenolic board. I'm currently building all the necks these days, unless the customer specifies a commercial neck. This allows me to do a lifetime warranty on the neck, and to build nut width/neck shape to the customer spec at no extra charge.
Here's a sample of a current instrument, with pao ferro board/tailpiece/peghead....
You'll notice it has a "floating" jazz guitar pickup, which I think brings a bit more "air" to the sound...and, the mag pickup is in more of a standard Pbass location, rather than at the end of the neck. The body on the current instrument is also just a touch longer, for better strap balance. Here's an clip of this one....sorry...you'll have to put up with my playing.....
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
cant see why this couldnt be made lefty (Kydd):
Second everybody's vote on Rob Allen Mouse: I love its sound and its versatility. Like the Rob Allen, Joe Veillette's basses also deliver on the "upright vibe"
Second everybody's vote on Rob Allen Mouse: I love its sound and its versatility. Like the Rob Allen, Joe Veillette's basses also deliver on the "upright vibe"
...You'll be IMPRESSED.
I am very passionate about trying to find an acoustic bass guitar that sounds like an upright. When speaking about fretless electric basses, I believe I was refering to basses I have owned...jazz and the pbass pickup configurated basses. When I spoke about a p-bass sounding more like a fretless, I was purely comparing it to a jazz bass configuration...and I also own a Lakland with Darkstars and it has upright tonal qualities...in my opinion.
I have done a lot of research over the years on acoustic bass guitars and have found my favorites:
Landscape acoustic bass guitars made in Japan
Groat basses (carbon fiber body)
Azola basses
Takamine
Delgado basses
here is one of the most fascinating articles a bass player can read on the subject:
http://www.liutaiomottola.com/instruments/Tinozza.htm
Lakland just finnished my Lakland Precison-Jazz fretless bass (rosewood fretboard w epoxy). P-pickup for the upright sound, the J for the Jaco sound. I will start playing it on tour tomorrow in Orlando!
Juan
Have to agree here. Go to crimsonjazz.com and listen to the samples. Tim Landers uses an older TBC lightwave with LaBella Tapewounds and really gets a good upright sound. IMHO is better than a Rob Allen sound. I had a drummer friend of mine listen to the clips and he was blown away. He had "Friends" by Chick Corea with Eddie Gomez and damn if Tim's tone doesn't sound VERY close to Eddie's. I am having a lightwave made for me as we speak.....
Huge drawback with them lightwaves that they are so darn ugly!
Sounds cool and it's kinda fun with a "high-tec" solution to get a "natural" acoustic sound.
D.Don
Sounds cool and it's kinda fun with a "high-tec" solution to get a "natural" acoustic sound.
D.Don
Agreed.
I wonder if you could install some type of "gate" to the signal path so that it kind of opens in an exponential or linear fashion. It would take some testing, but I would think if you can get the ratio right, it would be very useful to the "bloom."
Well....my problem is in the "electronics". For me at least, I want the shortest signal path possible, as this allows the greatest sensitivity between the players hand and his ears. So I choose to make the system PASSIVE, without all of those extra gain/processing stages. Just makes sense to my simple brain. So the passive system( in this instance, my MagPi design) becomes a part of the instrument itself. And while that may limit to a degree the ability to accurately "mimic" a URB....it does allow for maximum "expressivity" in exactly the same manner as does a purely acoustic instrument.
Does that make sense?
Does that make sense?
I've heard of people splitting the signal from the bass into various frequency bandwidths and using different delay/gate/envelope processing on each to try to simulate the bloom and decay of a DB just as you suggest. I've never heard a sound sample, so I can't say how well it works.
Invalid Link Removed to a discussion of one implementation of such a scheme if you care to read about it first hand.
I mentioned this in a thread a few days ago, since I use an electric bass to emulate upright.
I use an 82 Fender Precision (57 Reissue) thats fretted, but I've fooled people into thinking it sounds like an upright.
To get the thump of the upright I did a very things to the bass. Under the bridge cover I put a mute (a piece of mousepad the size of the bridge plate, then folded over) and then I put another mute over that. It was a tight squeeze, but it does wonders for note decay. I also raised the action quite a bit, so now its very high. I usually keep the treble at 3/4 of the way, or all the way.
I use a Fulltone MOSFET BassDriver II to put some warmth into my signal (not to overdrive the signal, but I set it just before it starts to add fuzz), and then my reverb unit (old school spring reverb tank pulled from an old amp god knows when) to make the bass sound fuller and more 'hollow' at the same time. I plan on adding a compressor to this set up.
In terms of an amp, I use an SVT-3Pro, mounted on a 2x15 cab. The graphic EQ has been turned off. The -15dB button is turned on. The low and mid frequencies are boosted and the treble is cut a bit. I have the tube gain turned all the way up and the regular gain fairly high (4 oclock)
Technique wise I play with my thumb over the pickup, muting the strings with my hand. I anchor my fingers on the tug bar and start going to down with my thumb. For faster runs, I use the floating thumb technique over by the neck, and I make sure to strike with the pad of my finger, not the tip.
I use an 82 Fender Precision (57 Reissue) thats fretted, but I've fooled people into thinking it sounds like an upright.
To get the thump of the upright I did a very things to the bass. Under the bridge cover I put a mute (a piece of mousepad the size of the bridge plate, then folded over) and then I put another mute over that. It was a tight squeeze, but it does wonders for note decay. I also raised the action quite a bit, so now its very high. I usually keep the treble at 3/4 of the way, or all the way.
I use a Fulltone MOSFET BassDriver II to put some warmth into my signal (not to overdrive the signal, but I set it just before it starts to add fuzz), and then my reverb unit (old school spring reverb tank pulled from an old amp god knows when) to make the bass sound fuller and more 'hollow' at the same time. I plan on adding a compressor to this set up.
In terms of an amp, I use an SVT-3Pro, mounted on a 2x15 cab. The graphic EQ has been turned off. The -15dB button is turned on. The low and mid frequencies are boosted and the treble is cut a bit. I have the tube gain turned all the way up and the regular gain fairly high (4 oclock)
Technique wise I play with my thumb over the pickup, muting the strings with my hand. I anchor my fingers on the tug bar and start going to down with my thumb. For faster runs, I use the floating thumb technique over by the neck, and I make sure to strike with the pad of my finger, not the tip.
I own two basses that I feel sound very much like an upright.
One is a Rob Allen MB2 fretless 5 and the other is a TBC Lightwave fretless 5.
I have black LaBella tape-wound's on the Rob Allen and steel round-wounds on the TBC.
The Rob Allen sounds like an upright with gut strings and the TBC sounds like an upright with steel strings.
I LOVE them both..............
One is a Rob Allen MB2 fretless 5 and the other is a TBC Lightwave fretless 5.
I have black LaBella tape-wound's on the Rob Allen and steel round-wounds on the TBC.
The Rob Allen sounds like an upright with gut strings and the TBC sounds like an upright with steel strings.
I LOVE them both..............
I play an F Bass AC6 fretless. I find that utilising the Piezo Pickup and playing over the neck can give an upright like sound. The instrument inherently has more sustain and sings much more than an actual upright though. Playing muted thumb style can help. Nothing is going to sound like an acoustic bass though.
