Getting that gritty Nick Campbell tone

My Quilter Interbass 45 can do that...and Nick's demos took me to that wonderful little amp!

 

InstaGram content from Nick Campbell shows he uses Noble Preamp, Cali76, and drive pedals from Vemuram and A3 Stompbox.

It's worth noting his Noble settings are with the bass boosted w/ lo cut switch which can coax some nice grit and compression from that box.

Flats, left/fretting hand muting, bounce-y attack in the finger, is a big factor of the tone.

It sounds like there's a bit of compression happening in that video (could be just the noble, or the cali 76 or a combo of both), and something adding some hair.

If I wanted to achieve something similar, I would grab a drive pedal along the lines of Jptr FX Jive, Spaceman Saturn IV, EQD Westwood, BB Preamp, SolidGoldFX Beta, TC Spark (big box), Wren and Cuff Phat Phuk (push bias to dirtier tones), Darkglass VMT (small version, era at minimum, and low drive), Strymon Deco... the list goes on.

You can also achieve a similar tone with a nice tube amp that can be pushed in to breakup, Ampeg B15N, Ashdown CTM30... Or a guitar amp into a bass cab.... Or an old Transistor mixer amp from the 70s, think Yamaha, Traynor, Peavey mixer amps...

Lots and lots of options to explore to achieve a similar sound.

 

This is a technique/setup thing, not a gear thing. Set up your neck straight, drop the action a bit, dig in with confidence(probably the biggest part). Nick is a fantastic player!

 

Not comparing, of course, but I can get a similar grit with TI Flats and digging in with a medium action, like @AMJBASS, said.

 

Oh no, I don't kick ass at all!

I love Nick's tone, too, I'll be watching this thread.

But I really doubt you can get that grit with strings like Deep Talking Bass or GHS P Flats, though.

TI's, with that growling tone they have, are a good start.

 

I don't hear a lot of dirt here, just some digging in, maybe a little EQ in the upper register to bring out that gritty sound, and maybe a tad bit of compression. The flats are definitely part of the equation.

I get a similar sound with a little more grit using Channel A of my Two Notes Le Bass and bumping up the low and high EQ just a little bit. I use LaBella Low Tension flats, which makes digging in a lot easier. Pretty sure Nick is probably running through his Noble Pre.

 

It's possible, but I was talking about getting a similar tone without all those expensive pedals that were referred in other posts.

 

Nice! To me, it sounds like a little transformer saturation. Like Broughton Studio Boost, Transboost, or Lightning Boy 2020S.

Does he have the Cali with a transformer?

 

It's a cool tone, I've seen that video before and noticed it, too. Very cool.

 

Could it be the Vemuran DJ-1?

 

Ok.

I can't let go now, very curious about that sound.

It can't just be what I said before, because he has several videos with the same basses that don't have that grit.

 

you’ll notice he appears to change pedal settings at that point, so it’s likely it’s the same pedal for both the low gain and high gain distortion.

the low gain grit can be achieved a number of ways, and it’s worth experimenting yourself.
Sadly there’s unlikely to be many demos showcasing the subtler side of drive pedals.
TC Spark, Spaceman Saturn, JPTR FX Jive, Wren & Cuff Suppa Phat Phuk are all good starting points.

But pretty much any drive pedal with range for low gain will likely work.

Flats and playing technique are the ficus here - I’d argue any brand of flats will work (the silks on his p bass string look like la Bella to me).

The 4 knob TC Spark would serve you well as it is cheap, but excels at the ultra lo-gain grit. Allowing you to experiment and explore this sounds fit yourself.