Big Hoss
Up note, down note, blue note, brown note...
- Sep 5, 2014
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No matter the gear, you will never be able to copy another player's tone / style 100%. The saying that the tone is in the fingers is oh so true!
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you're right it never ends....we played a place in west va...2500 seater and my rig sounded awesome, the sound i had been looking for for years...and i have never been able to reproduce it since...this was in the mid 90's and i am still looking for that sound again....it never stops!!!
I had a similar experience recently however the twist is the guy was playing my rig with my settings and my bass. I was lucky enough to hear my gear FOH which is something that doesn't happen all the time, and it was killer, the nice thing was I asked people who were there for my band as well and they told me yup you sounded just like that. So long and short of it, what we perceive standing on the stage differents greatly from what is being heard by the crowd. I suggested next time you play that place and are sharing the night as someone in the crowd about your tone. I agree with everyone who said tone is in the player's hands, but if you are throwing mud off the stage I don't care if you are Marcus himself it won't be good, so the don't count out EQ and gear in this equation it is a combination of things, including the rooms acoustics and the amount of warm bodies in the venue 
If you hear classical players back to back on the same 9ft Steinway they can sound quite different.
Sound is in the player.
Awright, awright, awright...once and for all let’s explode this whole “tone is in the fingers” mythology, let’s quantify it, okay?
Disclaimer: I agree that “the fingers” of course have SOME effect on overall tone. I just don’t think it’s the whole ball o’ wax as seems to be implied when we dismiss all other components in the “tone chain,” and chalk it all up to tea leaves, tarot cards, the stars, or “talent.”
So let’s do this to try to quantify: let’s put a percentage of the influence on overall tone that some of the normally agreed upon links in the chain have. Let’s weigh in on, with an actual number:
- fingers (touch, technique, etc.)
- strings
- pickups
- the “bass” itself
- the amp
- the cab
- the patch cords
Those are probably the main ones, right? Leaving out effects, for obvious reasons. Not to mention “the room” which we all know is a huge variable. As can be the overall ensemble sound.
Again, I think fingers/touch do affect tone, but I think when the ubiquitous “tone question” arises and people are asking specifically about GEAR, that assumes a sort of (artificial perhaps) “lab environment” in which other variables – fingers being one – are constant and controlled.
For my money, if the majority of tone is “in the fingers,” then why aren’t we all just playing Peavey TNTs from the 70s (or the cheapo Acoustic line available at GC now)?
Disclaimer: I agree that “the fingers” of course have SOME effect on overall tone. I just don’t think it’s the whole ball o’ wax as seems to be implied when we dismiss all other components in the “tone chain,” and chalk it all up to tea leaves, tarot cards, the stars, or “talent.”
So let’s do this to try to quantify: let’s put a percentage of the influence on overall tone that some of the normally agreed upon links in the chain have. Let’s weigh in on, with an actual number:
- fingers (touch, technique, etc.)
- strings
- pickups
- the “bass” itself
- the amp
- the cab
- the patch cords
Those are probably the main ones, right? Leaving out effects, for obvious reasons. Not to mention “the room” which we all know is a huge variable. As can be the overall ensemble sound.
Again, I think fingers/touch do affect tone, but I think when the ubiquitous “tone question” arises and people are asking specifically about GEAR, that assumes a sort of (artificial perhaps) “lab environment” in which other variables – fingers being one – are constant and controlled.
For my money, if the majority of tone is “in the fingers,” then why aren’t we all just playing Peavey TNTs from the 70s (or the cheapo Acoustic line available at GC now)?
If tone is all in the fingers, then why do amps and guitars have things called tone knobs! Stereos,radio these all have them and they dont even have fingers!
Will someone link me to the OP's NAD Aggie 751 Thread once he makes it? kthxbai
OP, do you love your drummer? My feeling, playing, and groove are locked with the man pounding the skins. My mood affects my sound. I love my drummer, and you can't wipe the smile off my face when we play. And I get some serious compliments from the audience, but I know my gear is only part of the equation.
The fingers (or pick) has a great influence on the sound. Because of my work, it's difficult to grow my right hand fingernails without breaking and chipping. However, when I can grow them a little (1/16" or so), it gives a nice sharp "clack" attack similar to using a pick.
It is said in mixing: You can eq a really good signal to sound great, but it's near impossible to take a bad sounding send and EQ it into something great. Great tone begins with the source.
It is said in mixing: You can eq a really good signal to sound great, but it's near impossible to take a bad sounding send and EQ it into something great. Great tone begins with the source.
Agreed. Until this year I played through a Behringer head, and up until about 2 or 3 years ago, also through a Behringer 4x10 and/or 1x15. More than one bass player commented on how great my rig sounded until I told them what brand it was. Suddenly they didn't like it anymore
[edit] One bassist even went: "Yuck, Behringer" and when I asked if he had ever played through or even heard a rig, he went: "No but everyone knows they suck." [/edit]I have played through a Markbass amp. I didn't like it very much. One of the best local bass players I know plays through an all-Markbass rig, head and cabs. I absolutely loved his tone and told him that on numerous occasions. He is one of a few people who loved my Behringer tone at the time, and did NOT start trashing the brand when he found out what I played.
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devnulljp
Supporting Member
Just buy the damn 751.
I know I would if I could carry the thing.
I know I would if I could carry the thing.
Not to mention how he plays it. A lot of the sound really is in the fingers, including where the bassist picks from, how hard and so many other things including plectrum or no. Again, so many variables. I remember Scott Devine talking about this. He once got his hands on the same bass and set up one of his heroes used and was all excited thinking, 'I'm going to sound like him now.' He continued, 'I started playing and it still just sounded like me.'
I normally don't reply to these things once the comment count has got as high as it has here which means I often miss out on putting my two pence into a lot of things but I couldn't resist this one.
Someone had to say it!If tone is all in the fingers, then why do amps and guitars have things called tone knobs! Stereos,radio these all have them and they dont even have fingers!
In over 50 yrs of playing I have had sound techs and recording engineers ask me to adjust my gear to improve the over all sound of that particular situation. They have never asked me to change the way I play.
Could be anything. Could be dudes sting choice with his fingers/pick. Could be the amp. The way he sets his BDDI. That's why I never judge off what I see compared to other players' gear. Some of my fav tones come from a guy plugged straight into a tube head with a couple Boss pedals in front of him. This game is so relative you really can never go off what the next guy is using. Reference points, sure. But there is never ever ever going to be a completely same sound as the next guy because EVERY SINGLE variable counts. For all we know it could've been dudes wood that his bass was made out of. Who knows
Of course the gear will make a difference, but gear is only the springboard to enable the player to make the difference.
To the OP; video yourself playing on a gig. Hearing yourself as the audience does is always a great eye-opener for your playing, sound and appearance.
If you can watch yourself for several sets and not come up with a long list of improvements then I'd be very surprised. I'd say that your gear probably doesn't need to be on that list.
To the OP; video yourself playing on a gig. Hearing yourself as the audience does is always a great eye-opener for your playing, sound and appearance.
If you can watch yourself for several sets and not come up with a long list of improvements then I'd be very surprised. I'd say that your gear probably doesn't need to be on that list.
Of course! Those ALL matter. The only one you might have added to the first line is knowledge, in terms of knowing the tunes and knowing when and how to apply the various techniques.
I bet that the Sansamp has something to do with this ... I bet that the tone would be so different if that guy plugged his bass directly into the Aguilar.
I love my Bass Driver Deluxe but it's a fact that that pedal is not the most transparent bass preamp out there. It colours the tone a lot no matter where you plug in it. Usually I play through my Hartke rig but in the last gig I played through an old Trace Elliot head and a 1x15 Trace Elliot cabinet. I just noticed a rounder sound as usual (I use a 4x10 aluminum cone speakers) but the Sansamp flavour was there.
No matter if I plug my 6 string , my active Fender P or my passive 5 string headless.. Sansamp does his thing in all of them. His tone is great but is his weak point too. Sometimes that heavy mid scooped tone doesn,t work or sucks the original bass tone. Thats the reason which I'm looking for a more transparent bass preamp/di to go ampless with my Fender.
I love my Bass Driver Deluxe but it's a fact that that pedal is not the most transparent bass preamp out there. It colours the tone a lot no matter where you plug in it. Usually I play through my Hartke rig but in the last gig I played through an old Trace Elliot head and a 1x15 Trace Elliot cabinet. I just noticed a rounder sound as usual (I use a 4x10 aluminum cone speakers) but the Sansamp flavour was there.
No matter if I plug my 6 string , my active Fender P or my passive 5 string headless.. Sansamp does his thing in all of them. His tone is great but is his weak point too. Sometimes that heavy mid scooped tone doesn,t work or sucks the original bass tone. Thats the reason which I'm looking for a more transparent bass preamp/di to go ampless with my Fender.
The band that followed used his rig, girl played a pj but did not go thru the sansamp. Sounded good but not like the tone with the sansamp.
