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Fretless Tone... HELP

#21
liam_g said:
Not necessarily to recommend settings or options for you, but just to give an idea of what things go into a certain fretless tone, here's how I get the tone I have in this live clip of a piece I wrote called 'Midnight With Mingus' (you'll no doubt hear some glitches in there ... sorry about that!):
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Bass: Roscoe LG3005 with Bartolini pickups & Bartolini 3-band 18 volt eq
Strings: Thomastick Jazz Flats
Amp: Eden DC112XLT
Recording: mic on cab, plus direct, two signals blended

I have the amp set flat, with Eden's 'Enhance' all the way down, as it scoops the mids, which I don't want for fretless tone. I'm using just a hint of compression on the amp. With the on-bass EQ, I have the bass boosted just slightly, the treble cut just slightly, and the mids boosted just slightly. For the harmonics at the very end, I cranked the treble on the bass, which caused the hum you'll hear. I'm using the neck pickup 100%. The strings are set pretty darn low (you can hear some buzzes, and also when I get aggressive, I tend to make the strings slap off the fingerboard, a technical issue I'm trying to work on), and I'm plucking sometimes at the neck joint, and sometimes over the neck pickup.

For my playing, I find that making sure not to scoop the mids is pretty crucial to my tone. I think a lot of fretless players would agree with that ... the mids are really where a fretless lives and breathes. Sometimes, I think players who like that heavily-mid-scooped sound common for fretted slap tone have some troubles with adapting to fretless (not saying you're in that group ... just making an observation ...).

Good luck finding your tone!!!

Liam

p.s. oh, and just for kicks here's a pic of me while performing the piece ... ;)
performingbluesformingus.gif
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I'm sorry, I know this is a couple of years old but I love this fretless tone. The flats sound great. It's what I'm aiming for on my fretless Jazz.
 
#23
I had this experience with a fretless P-bass. No matter what I did to it, where I played, what amp/strings I used it always sounded flat/dull/uninteresting.

Maybe with a frankenbass like this it just happens. I put it down to the PU on the Pbass and the maple fingerboard. In your case all the woods selected seem perfect.

I now have a Jaco Jazz, epoxy'd rosewood neck, Audered and Nordstranded to nirvana. You have to hold it back - the tone is absolutely there.

Even so, I have yet to find a rig that sounds better than the old 15" Trace combo with EQ set absolutely flat.

Funny old world.

Davo
 
#24
mikezimmerman said:
Lots of folks are suggesting things like going to flats or plucking over the end of the fretboard. Those seem way off-base to me--while they may give a good "upright" fretless sound, aren't really going to give the fretless sound he's looking for! If you've seen the Tony Franklin video he's referring to, it's pretty clear both the tone he wants and the playing techniques that achieve it...

diptixon, it sounds like you're getting the sort of sound you want acousticly, and are just having problems getting the same thing amplified. Someone else pointed out that the bridge pickup is key to that sort of fretless tone, with just enough of the neck pickup blended in to add some "body". Besides that, I'd also look at your EQ, on both your amp and your bass (if it's active). Having plenty of midrange is crucial! I'm not terribly familiar with the Trace, but my recollection is that it's got an EQ like the Alembic pre, where "flat" is actually 2-10-2 on the Bass/Mid/Treble knobs. Try that setting, and see what you think...

Mike
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+1 on that. The best answer I've seen. Getting the mids right is essential to the fretless tone.

When I had a Trace, I could switch back and forth between fretted and fretless by engaging the pre-set with the scooped mids for fretted and leaving it flat for fretless.

Try tweaking the frequencies around the 400-800 Hz area on the graphic and a touch of compression as well
 
#25
liam_g said:
Not necessarily to recommend settings or options for you, but just to give an idea of what things go into a certain fretless tone, here's how I get the tone I have in this live clip of a piece I wrote called 'Midnight With Mingus' (you'll no doubt hear some glitches in there ... sorry about that!):
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[/IMG]
Click to expand...

Great playing and example of fretless tone. To my ears this tone is associated with the flats being used. Whilst I have a preference for rounds, this demonstrates the type of tone you can get from flats.

I think my tone is more growly.

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Davo






I
 
#27
When I get alot fretless tone out my bass, I dont fiddle soo much with the pickups, I have them 50/50 on the blend pot, but I tend to play above the bridge pickup. As for EQ settings, my mid-shift/mid-variable is set to 900-1000Hz, Mids crancked up to 9/10, bass 6/10 and treble 6/10. The fretless sound shines really thru, its sinisterly good!
 
#31
Thanks for the compliments, guys! I had completely forgotten about this thread. I play mostly upright these days, but still play some fretless electric from time to time. More fretted P-bass when I play electric, though, now that I live in Nashville ... ;)

Oh, and great tone, Davo! It really shows that there's a great range of different fretless tones, from my flatwound sound to your mwah and growl.

Cheers,
Liam
 
#32
Cool guys! Just to add to everything... I use rounds (DR Sunbeams - 45 - 105), the action is medium high, I go between the bridge PU and a blend of the two, and I play hard, sometimes with the pick, sometimes not. On the SWR SM-1500 head I boosted the lows, and the low mids (sorry I don't know which specific frequencies). The set up of the bass is important i.e. making sure the volume of the strings are balanced between each other... And I agree with Jaco - that it's all in the hands!

Thanks all!

Tony F.
 
#38
FretlessMonster said:
Cool guys! Just to add to everything... I use rounds (DR Sunbeams - 45 - 105), the action is medium high, I go between the bridge PU and a blend of the two, and I play hard, sometimes with the pick, sometimes not. On the SWR SM-1500 head I boosted the lows, and the low mids (sorry I don't know which specific frequencies). The set up of the bass is important i.e. making sure the volume of the strings are balanced between each other... And I agree with Jaco - that it's all in the hands!

Thanks all!

Tony F.
Click to expand...

Hi Tony, what do you call a "medium high" action. I like mine at about 3mm at the 12th fret on my fretless Jazz. Some here on TB call that low, others high but it works for me.
 

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