Going into battle vs. distorted guitars

[DoctorZee]

Over the years I've mostly played with groups doing lighter rock, pop, acoustic, piano, etc. For the first time I'm now playing with a group with two distorted guitars and, whoo boy, my usual bag of tricks isn't cutting it yet. I still have some tinkering to do with my amp and EQ, so I haven't given up... but I am indulging some mental GAS exercises in case I need a Plan B

What pickup configuration would be your weapon of choice, going into battle against two distorted guitars in modern/alt rock?

 

[ctmullins]

Pickup shape means almost nothing.

You can get lots of different tones and lots of different output levels in nearly any shape.

First, find a tone that works with the mix.

Then amplify it as much as needed.

 

[Jebberz]

Any pickup that will give you versatility (I tend to prefer dual pickup configuration for this purpose, a good neck pickup for the "Meat" and the bridge one to get the mids and definition).

Other trick, a bit of overdrive that boost the mids (à la Green Rhino) to get more presence, and EQ your sound to sound good in the mix (not necessarly by yourself).

For example, in my original band (in which I play keys), both guitarist have a sound with plenty of bottom and somewhat scooped mids, so pour bass player use a fairly low amount of bottom, but lots of mids (with a slight overdriven preamp) and some highs boosted, which gives him more attack. Not the best sounding bass by itself, but I love the way it sounds in this band context.

 

[IconBasser]

I personally prefer a couple humbuckers, with the bridge pickup favored. You'll get a nice low end, but tons of burpy mids that you really need to cut through the mix.

A p bass works too, make sure you've got fresh roundwounds and a hi-mid boost on your amp, you'll get a nice angry grind that works really well.

IME, jazz basses are really hard to get right in metal. More often than not, they just get swallowed and buried.

 

[DoctorZee]

A p bass works too, make sure you've got fresh roundwounds and a hi-mid boost on your amp, you'll get a nice angry grind that works really well.

IME, jazz basses are really hard to get right in metal. More often than not, they just get swallowed and buried.

This is the crux of my problem. My P is set up for other projects with flats and vintage-style pickups, and I want to leave it that way. My J is coming with me to rehearsals but the poor guy hasn't found his place in the mix yet. We're not doing metal, but yeah, same issue.

 

[two fingers]

If slicing and dicing through a mix with some punch is your main concern, it's hard to beat a Ray.... or Bongo.... with the single H. The sweet spot is not exactly in the bridge position, but close. At the risk of further cementing my position as an HPF disciple, try one of those. Bye bye mud. Hello punch. Works every time it's tried.

 

[Snakeman1066]

I compete with a Mesa Triple Rec and a Marshall....the trick is to use multi band compression and notch the EQ to highlight the bands they are not occupying...any pickup config should work...I prefer P/J's...

 

[mikeswals]

what amp are you trying to do this with?

 

[Warpeg]

The power to cut through is in the EQ, not the pickups.

 

[Lobster11]

One factor to keep in mind is that how you sound to yourself might not be the same as how you sound to everyone else in the room. For example, if your amp/cab is on the floor with you standing directly in front of it, you'll be the only person in the room who can't hear your mids and highs -- but of course you'll hear everyone else's and wonder where your bass went. So, be sure to set up your rig so you have one or more speakers pointing at your ears by stacking cabinets, using a stand, etc. (Personally, I use a pair of vertically stacked 2x10s for this reason.)

 

[DoctorZee]

what amp are you trying to do this with?

Fender Bassman 500 w/ 15" cab. Definitely not meant for this style of music, but the OD channel has a pretty great active EQ so I do have some options to work with.

 

[DoctorZee]

The power to cut through is in the EQ, not the pickups.

Yes... but... pickups do have frequency characteristics

 

[DoctorZee]

One factor to keep in mind is that how you sound to yourself might not be the same as how you sound to everyone else in the room. For example, if your amp/cab is on the floor with you standing directly in front of it, you'll be the only person in the room who can't hear your mids and highs -- but of course you'll hear everyone else's and wonder where your bass went. So, be sure to set up your rig so you have one or more speakers pointing at your ears by stacking cabinets, using a stand, etc. (Personally, I use a pair of vertically stacked 2x10s for this reason.)

This is a really great thought that I need to investigate.

 

[Bassdirty]

Over the years I've mostly played with groups doing lighter rock, pop, acoustic, piano, etc. For the first time I'm now playing with a group with two distorted guitars and, whoo boy, my usual bag of tricks isn't cutting it yet. I still have some tinkering to do with my amp and EQ, so I haven't given up... but I am indulging some mental GAS exercises in case I need a Plan B

What pickup configuration would be your weapon of choice, going into battle against two distorted guitars in modern/alt rock?

I'm sure great advice is on the way. I voted HH.
I'm curious, does the rest of the band feel this way? or just you?.. or both?

T$

 

[Bass1218]

Over the years I've mostly played with groups doing lighter rock, pop, acoustic, piano, etc. For the first time I'm now playing with a group with two distorted guitars and, whoo boy, my usual bag of tricks isn't cutting it yet. I still have some tinkering to do with my amp and EQ, so I haven't given up... but I am indulging some mental GAS exercises in case I need a Plan B

What pickup configuration would be your weapon of choice, going into battle against two distorted guitars in modern/alt rock?

Crank the mids man...sounds like poopie by itself but pokes threw a mix

 

[MCS4]

My recipe for optimal tone in most dual-distorted-guitar scenarios is active j-style bass, both pickups full on, clean and full-range bass tone, plenty of speaker cone area, and absurd amounts of clean solid solid-state wattage.

 

[lowendblues]

Fender bassman 500 and a single 15 is nice, but you need a second cabinet to keep up.

Agreed on boosting mids. Any good solid body bass should be fine, but I'd hit them with a Rickenbacker myself.

 

[ZedLepp]

What I do when I am first trying to get a sound for the band is to setup quickly and wait for the GP to start his "warmup" and try to EQ to him (pretend to tune, it works for me). If I am not fast enough, you can always get him to "jam" a song and play with the EQ then.

 

[DoctorZee]

Fender bassman 500 and a single 15 is nice, but you need a second cabinet to keep up.

I have the second cab at home. I actually don't feel like it's a volume issue. When I dial up, I can be heard with headroom to spare. It's more like, I'm not occupying the right space, if that makes sense. I think we've all been crowding the low-mids. Next rehearsal I'm going to try honking right over their heads.

 

[bolophonic]

Try to get the guitarists to pull out of your sonic range. EQ yourself accordingly.