Help Me Find My Tone

[amistybleu]

Yeah - technique is very important, but I don't care how perfect your technique is, trying to make that signature Geddy Lee sound leap out of a sub-standard rig with a sub-par instrument is going to be a challenge, to say the least. (Not that your rig or bass is sub-par - but I tried, like you, to get my Ibanez SDG 800 and my Peavey TNT 130 to sound like Harris and Lee and it just cain't be done!!)

That was the very reason I decided to stop trying to force a square peg into a round hole - I went out and got a MusicMan Stingray 5 and an Ampeg Rig. No other effects, no monkeying with setting tweaks - just consistent, reliable rock 'n' roll grit, grid, and growl! Flea sound - no prob! Tool sound - no prob! Rush sound - no Prob! Eq settings? Flat. Bass settings - moderately tweaked one direction or the other. Technique - years of practice, but really not much different from one to the next.

To get those tones live, playing with a band, I would think that a 2x10 would be a little under-whelming...

To get the grit and tone without real tubes, you have to "fake it" with overdrive or tube emulators... good luck.

But, to the OP's quest - good luck! I don't know what to offer as for settings - you got my best shot based on what the real gear actually sounds like. If the amp modeler does not sound that way or the instrument's wood/neck/electronics/eq does not want to go there, well... good luck!

Just because you dont see somthing sitting in front of your bass god doesn't mean its not there, millions of dollars will get you a guy who knows your stuff as well as you do, and he will take care of it for you. high dollar sound guys aint settin up for bar bands. and you would not need a high priced staff if all you did was plug into your amp and dazzle everyone with your great tone shaping fingers.

 

[Would'e?]

I really appreciate your input tZer. And I will give your suggested settings a shot. What you said about counterintuitiveness (with regard to Harris) when putting together a sound bears some thinking about.

(That's a whole 'nother thread idea about couintertuitive approaches to getting a sound that have worked out -- if someone wants to start it.)

Perhaps dialing down the highs and lows and bringing up the mids a bit will actually work to reduce the honkiness and increase clarity and "chiminess."

FWIW others that know SVTs well have said that the BAM does areally good job nailing the sound of the amp, though it's true that no amount of cab modelling is going to push as much air as a real 810!

 

[radmin]

I can do a lot with EQing. Since everything you hear is frequency based, all you have to do is find the right curve to sound like anything. A lot can be done with a 31 band 1/3 octave EQ my friend .

I hope you are right. I gave up before I ever figured it out. I agree about the 80% pickups

I'd love to give you a p bass clip and see if you can get a smith sound out of it. Are you up to the challange? It would be realy interesting to learn how you did it. Not to mention save a lot of people thousands of dollars.

Here is the file
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

Squier (by Fender) Affinity Series P-Bass 4 String
Player: Sam Webster
Strings: Lazers Flatwound, 0.45-0.105 gauge, about 2-3 months old
Pickups: Factory installed, passive, split P-Bass
Amp Used: None
Method of Recording: Direct into the back of my computer sound card from Bass into sound recorder and then converted to mp3.

 

[Selta]

I hope you are right. I gave up before I ever figured it out. I agree about the 80% pickups

I'd love to give you a p bass clip and see if you can get a smith sound out of it. Are you up to the challange? It would be realy interesting to learn how you did it. Not to mention save a lot of people thousands of dollars.

Here is the file
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

Squier (by Fender) Affinity Series P-Bass 4 String
Player: Sam Webster
Strings: Lazers Flatwound, 0.45-0.105 gauge, about 2-3 months old
Pickups: Factory installed, passive, split P-Bass
Amp Used: None
Method of Recording: Direct into the back of my computer sound card from Bass into sound recorder and then converted to mp3.

Well, for starters, I said "a lot" can be not, not "everything". And, as pointed out, I wont be able to add or take away any tones producing distortion, or any effect for that matter. If it's clean, smooth tone, it's a lot easier to work with.
And, to top it all off, I meant in live sound setting, not something that's been recorded and handed to me, sorry.

 

[radmin]

Yeah - technique is very important, but I don't care how perfect your technique is, trying to make that signature Geddy Lee sound leap out of a sub-standard rig with a sub-par instrument is going to be a challenge, to say the least. (Not that your rig or bass is sub-par - but I tried, like you, to get my Ibanez SDG 800 and my Peavey TNT 130 to sound like Harris and Lee and it just cain't be done!!)

That was the very reason I decided to stop trying to force a square peg into a round hole - I went out and got a MusicMan Stingray 5 and an Ampeg Rig. No other effects, no monkeying with setting tweaks - just consistent, reliable rock 'n' roll grit, grid, and growl! Flea sound - no prob! Tool sound - no prob! Rush sound - no Prob! Eq settings? Flat. Bass settings - moderately tweaked one direction or the other. Technique - years of practice, but really not much different from one to the next.

Since then I have added a Fender Jazz V - and again - I can get any and all of that sort of tone with very little magic.

To get those tones live, playing with a band, I would think that a 2x10 would be a little under-whelming...

To get the grit and tone without real tubes, you have to "fake it" with overdrive or tube emulators... good luck.

But, to the OP's quest - good luck! I don't know what to offer as for settings - you got my best shot based on what the real gear actually sounds like. If the amp modeler does not sound that way or the instrument's wood/neck/electronics/eq does not want to go there, well... good luck!

I had a TNT also. Once I became "tone aware" it was out. It lacked high end response. I need an amp with a horn.