Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Great bass tone... where to start??
- Thread starter Thumpa Bassie
- Start date
Oh geez....here we go...
-listen to as many great bands/bass players as possible
-identify what bass players you really dig and what kind of sound they are able to achieve. What instruments did they use? Consider buying something similar. Ie: Jazz/P Bass
-from this practise and develop your own sound using your fingers and dynamics. Experiment with strings and setup. Playing softer or harder.
-buy a quality instrument that resonates without being plugged in
-buy a quality amp and cabinet ( no shortage of info online)
-when it comes to eq on your amp or on a active bass. Remember....LESS IS MORE!
Thats my 0.20!
-listen to as many great bands/bass players as possible
-identify what bass players you really dig and what kind of sound they are able to achieve. What instruments did they use? Consider buying something similar. Ie: Jazz/P Bass
-from this practise and develop your own sound using your fingers and dynamics. Experiment with strings and setup. Playing softer or harder.
-buy a quality instrument that resonates without being plugged in
-buy a quality amp and cabinet ( no shortage of info online)
-when it comes to eq on your amp or on a active bass. Remember....LESS IS MORE!
Thats my 0.20!
This gear or that gear ... no secrets.
Compressor ... very popular.
Practice, practice, practice ... no secrets.
If I had to pick something a little special to say about tone it would be, raise the string action and lower the pickups until you can play it without clacking, then practice slow songs to get the hang of letting each note develop fully, without extraneous noise & sustain killers like clacking, fret buzz, finger noise, accidentally muting the string with your shirt sleeve ... you become aware of a lot of little things when working on slow songs.
There are lots of YouTube demos out there by folks that are good players, better than me, but they're not minding the clack and it just drops the whole performance to a lower level.
Compressor ... very popular.
Practice, practice, practice ... no secrets.
If I had to pick something a little special to say about tone it would be, raise the string action and lower the pickups until you can play it without clacking, then practice slow songs to get the hang of letting each note develop fully, without extraneous noise & sustain killers like clacking, fret buzz, finger noise, accidentally muting the string with your shirt sleeve ... you become aware of a lot of little things when working on slow songs.
There are lots of YouTube demos out there by folks that are good players, better than me, but they're not minding the clack and it just drops the whole performance to a lower level.
Bassist4Eris
Frat-Pack Sympathizer
Stop spending money and get in the woodshed.
I second that. This is very very good advice to learn to evoke a solid tone. What he says about slow songs is so true.
Ric5
Inactive
- Jan 29, 2008
- 29,772
- 30,452
- Disclosures
- I like 5, 8, 10, and 12 string basses
Good bass, good strings, good setup, good amp, and a good pedalboard.
http://www.3dentourage.com/425/effects.htm
Another one giving you the fingers answer.
Next, a very mild overdrive always on, or a tube amp.
Next, a very mild overdrive always on, or a tube amp.
Doug Parent
Supporting Member
Years ago I was enamored with Marcus Miller and had a clear concept of his tone and went after it. It lead me all sorts of places equipment wise. I learned a lot about getting *tone* period. Wood choices, pickups, strings, preamps, but most of all FREQUENCYS. I had access to a 31 band EQ and experimented with every single slider and what it did. At first it seems daunting. Start with a simpler EQ that has ten bands. Play music through it and move every slider and really pay attention to the differences they make. This probably sounds like a waste of time, but every musical instrument is unique and it's frequency "footprint" can always be evaluated somewhat by what frequencies are present. This will help you with amps and basses and speaker cabs and live sound and listening to music in all sorts of places. Knowledge is control.
All great advice, but rockin mike and bthumper nailed it...
An instrument is only a tool for expression; sure, some tools are higher quality and translate that expression more accurately but if the player doesn't have the skills, any amount of $ or gear won't produce great tone PERIOD.
An instrument is only a tool for expression; sure, some tools are higher quality and translate that expression more accurately but if the player doesn't have the skills, any amount of $ or gear won't produce great tone PERIOD.
Get a great tuner and use it all the time to obsessional levels of regularity. Attack the strings to make them sound as loud and aggressive as possible with your picking/plucking hand. learn to be an expert at muting with both hands to (minute) nanosecond precision. Get a good di. Get an amp/cab that won't blow up.
- Dec 10, 2008
- 2,341
- 5,822
- Disclosures
- Douglas Castro, Founder: darkglass.com
Mind you I make hear for a living: My take on it is getting the basics right is the basis of any good sound: good bass with fresh strings, nice amp and cab. It's all subjective of course so we all decide what's a "good bass" or amp.
Once you have that solid fundation building on top of that with effects and other accessories can help for sure!
Once you have that solid fundation building on top of that with effects and other accessories can help for sure!
Speaking directly to 'great bass tone' (which is of course, subjective)
I listened to bass players I like, specifically the tonal aspects I wanted to reproduce for my own creative needs.
Then I sampled basses and amps that got me close; and purchased them
Then I sampled as many effects as I could get my grubby little hands on, and kept the ones that got me closer still.
Through this process, I was able to discover the bass tone I want to produce for myself, a bit different from where I started.
I guess what I'm getting at is experiment, experiment, experiment.
And don't let anyone tell you 'all you need is a bass, cable and amp'.
And don't let anyone tell you 'you need one of every type of effect pedal'
You'll know what you need when you find it.
Oh yeah, play around with different pick/finger styles... lots of tonal variations to be found there.
I listened to bass players I like, specifically the tonal aspects I wanted to reproduce for my own creative needs.
Then I sampled basses and amps that got me close; and purchased them
Then I sampled as many effects as I could get my grubby little hands on, and kept the ones that got me closer still.
Through this process, I was able to discover the bass tone I want to produce for myself, a bit different from where I started.
I guess what I'm getting at is experiment, experiment, experiment.
And don't let anyone tell you 'all you need is a bass, cable and amp'.
And don't let anyone tell you 'you need one of every type of effect pedal'
You'll know what you need when you find it.
Oh yeah, play around with different pick/finger styles... lots of tonal variations to be found there.
I agree with the "good bass/good amp-cabinet" statement , but IMO a good amp/cabinet makes the difference.
I've playing my old Fernandes Gravity bass since mid 90's. My first "big amp" was a 120W solid state Laney Combo with a 15" speaker. A friend let me try his 200wats Hartke tube/solid state combo with an alluminium cone and it was a mindblowing experience and a revelation. In 2000 I sold my combo and bought a Hartke HA3500 head and two Hartke cabd (4x10 and 1x15) and I've never looked back. My bass sounded much better with a good amp.
I bought an active Fender P .. and I only got cumpliments about my tone. My best tone ever was my Yamaha BB5000A through my Hartke rig (unfortunately, the bass became unplayable and I get rid of it in 2008).
I borrowed my amp to a friend for one gig and the next day he told me that his Warwick bass never sounded better before that gig.
My band shares rehearsal place with a rock trio. The other bass player used to play throug an Ampeg combo which always had issues.Once , he played through my Hartke rig and... Know what? He sold his combo and bought the same head and the same 4x10 cab.
As I said before : I believe that a good amp can make a mid range bass sound much better.
I've playing my old Fernandes Gravity bass since mid 90's. My first "big amp" was a 120W solid state Laney Combo with a 15" speaker. A friend let me try his 200wats Hartke tube/solid state combo with an alluminium cone and it was a mindblowing experience and a revelation. In 2000 I sold my combo and bought a Hartke HA3500 head and two Hartke cabd (4x10 and 1x15) and I've never looked back. My bass sounded much better with a good amp.
I bought an active Fender P .. and I only got cumpliments about my tone. My best tone ever was my Yamaha BB5000A through my Hartke rig (unfortunately, the bass became unplayable and I get rid of it in 2008).
I borrowed my amp to a friend for one gig and the next day he told me that his Warwick bass never sounded better before that gig.
My band shares rehearsal place with a rock trio. The other bass player used to play throug an Ampeg combo which always had issues.Once , he played through my Hartke rig and... Know what? He sold his combo and bought the same head and the same 4x10 cab.
As I said before : I believe that a good amp can make a mid range bass sound much better.
+1^
If you're going to spend money in search of tone, spend it on the amp. All the fingers advice here is huge, too. I used to think the secret was in the gear, but I've finally gotten to a place where I can bring an awful lot of sounds without touching any knobs.
Once you're tonally awesome with your fingers, things like setup will make a bigger difference.
If you're going to spend money in search of tone, spend it on the amp. All the fingers advice here is huge, too. I used to think the secret was in the gear, but I've finally gotten to a place where I can bring an awful lot of sounds without touching any knobs.
Once you're tonally awesome with your fingers, things like setup will make a bigger difference.
It never hurts to practice unplugged. This will force you to get tonal variation exclusively from your technique.
Don't neglect your amp either
Don't neglect your amp either
It def helps to have some money so you can get a halfway decent amp n' cab/rig. There are a ton of very affordable and accessible basses out there. Who are your bass heros? What do they use. For a long time I chased tones that inspired me to play. I still do to a certain extent. But what I learned over the last few years is that I want MY tone. Its nice to have a starting point, but I usually get there and go off on what I think a great bass tone should be. That varies drastically to what you may think it a "great bass tone". It is all so relative. Me plugged into the very same amp with the very same bass as you're playing will sound quite different when I play it. But to start, as mentioned already, PRACTICE! You will pick up technique along the way, get educated on gear and EQ, amps and cabs and what different ones tend to sway towards more so in tone/sound.
Most of all, give it time. It takes some of us YEARS to find a tone were happy with. I know some guys that have been playing 30 years and they're still searching for it! I have changed up what I think great tone is over the years. Its always seemed to have headed on the same sort of direction, with varying degrees of mid bump/cut here and there. I just recently learned about mid frequencies and so forth and its opened a lot of doors in my head. Also, if you feel the need to go buy some effects and experiment, don't let anyone talk you down! If you can afford it and are curious, go for it! Don't let those guys tell you, "you don't need to go buying effects to help you, find it in your fingers first!". While that may be true to a certain extent, it doesn't mean you can't buy what you're interested in to help open those doors in your mind! If buying an OD pedal turns you on, do it. If not, don't. Its all up to you. And ask questions! Dont be scared or intimidated to ask a what you think may be a "dumb" question. Thats how we learn, we ask.
Most of all, give it time. It takes some of us YEARS to find a tone were happy with. I know some guys that have been playing 30 years and they're still searching for it! I have changed up what I think great tone is over the years. Its always seemed to have headed on the same sort of direction, with varying degrees of mid bump/cut here and there. I just recently learned about mid frequencies and so forth and its opened a lot of doors in my head. Also, if you feel the need to go buy some effects and experiment, don't let anyone talk you down! If you can afford it and are curious, go for it! Don't let those guys tell you, "you don't need to go buying effects to help you, find it in your fingers first!". While that may be true to a certain extent, it doesn't mean you can't buy what you're interested in to help open those doors in your mind! If buying an OD pedal turns you on, do it. If not, don't. Its all up to you. And ask questions! Dont be scared or intimidated to ask a what you think may be a "dumb" question. Thats how we learn, we ask.
Just my opinion, but first get the best bass you can and and a good amp and then practice. I know that good bass players can make almost any bass sound good, but particularly when you are starting out you should use any advantage you can, and it's easier to make a good bass sound good than a bad bass. Second record yourself daily. It is really easy to hear every tiny mistake when you listen back to a recording of yourself. Third, I would get a really good teacher. Trial and error is a very inefficient way to learn. It's much easier to have someone point out areas for improvement.
Good luck.
Good luck.
