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How do I get this tone?

#2
the best way, i think, is with two (or more) amps. one (the main one) is clean, the other(s) have the distortion. pretty much any distortion will do, as long as it can get nice and thick. maybe like a boss heavy metal or mega distortion.

with the pod... i don't know, really. i'm sure you could get close. especially if there's a setting where you can blend clean and distorted tones. maybe Mr. Tulip would be better... equipped to answer that part.

it's more a distortion sound than OD or fuzz, though. in my opinion.
 
#4
Entwistle's sound, from what I've read, is mostly from bi-amping where he uses very clean subs, and overdrives the mids and highs (naturally overdriven tube amp) into separate cabs.

That, and he uses very new, bright roundwounds with very low action. He doesn't play as hard as you would think. In fact, in an interview he offered up that the real key was playing light and letting the amp do all the work.

But the combination of clean/distorted biamping, bright strings, low action will get you closer than effects.

I have managed to get close to that tone by simply overdriving my rig, using bright strings, low action and playing kind of a slap style with my fingers, "banging" the strings against the fretboard, right up around the last frets of the neck to get that "clanky" sound.
 
#5
Yeah he bi-amping and a decent overdrive will get you close (seems that's the answer to 90% of 'How do I get this overdrive tone' questions).

And slightly off topic...man he was a good player. RIP Ox.

And even more off topic, I used to be in a band called Alpha Waves :)
 
#7
also note that john used the ashdown octave divider(sub harmonic) too, so he had the bass into an alembic pre which was alo his signal splitter, then the lows went straight into an ashdowm RPM (prob with octave on) and the highs went into either a yamaha or digitech (yamaha 80's early 90's, digitec and pod later) then the effects ran stereo into more RPM's

see here for a better idea
http://www.thewho.net/whotabs/equipment/bass/equip-entwistlegear-86-02.html

note also that john indeed didnt pluck hard he tapped lightly due to the wattage he used.

to nail the tone with one amp i would say get an overdrive/dist with a blend (im sure if you mix the DI level on the POD you can get DI and effect blended) and go from there. i used a peavey mkIV for a while it had both channels on at once so i used one clean and one dirty to get that blend sound.
 
#8
A Warwick JE signature with those crazy bronze strings, Thunderfingers, and a massive bi-amped rig. Easy! :smug:

Dude's crazy!

I just don't see anyone getting too close to that tone really. That's just one of those huge stadium, huge rig, uber loud, wigged-out-one-of-a-kind-technique things that just seems so far beyond the ability of a POD to recreate that it's just not funny.

But, pulling out all the stops I'd be starting with the Warwick and moving on from there. But, whether you could stand to be seen playing such a ridiculous looking bass is a matter for discussion.
 
#9
There's actually an Entwistle patch in the pod presets. Don't really know if it's good, but with a tonne amps (some clean, some very dirty), a bunch of od/dist/fuzz stomps, and the ability to blend in your dry DI signal into the modeled, wet one, I'm sure that there's a way.

I am talking about the Bass PODxt BTW. The regular (guitar) PODxt doesn't have biamping/blend, and I don't think that any of the non-xt PODs do either.

Personally I'd start with the Tube Pre model, gain 3 o'clock, EQ flat into the line 6 4x10 cab (like I always use for a cab...). I'd go with the Dynamic 20 mic (clean/not too bassy), and then blend in the clean sig. Make sure the output of the tube pre is unity with your DI first (just monitor the stereo output of the USB), and then stick the blend around 40-50 to start. Tweek from there, and explore other amp models too. There is a Sunn amp and cab, which I know The Who used at one point.

Hope this helps! :D
 
#10
johns 'bronze' strings wernt bronze they were 24K gold plate maxima golds. hehe

as for the warwick the status buzzard (both 1 and 2) version is much better even the wood one (2) (looks like a jazz and t bird mixed) as it uses status' homemade pickups and electrics (special design with continuous sweep mid) thats why john switched to status (that and status are uk based and made him the all graphite ones). as for the bass being ridiculous its perfect design for johns style (ok the pistol grip is a bit weird but still cool).

as for the pod start off with either the alembic or G&K then add a drive ontop (i would say rat or bass dist) then go into master settings and change the di blend to add a bit of clean into the distorted crazyness. once that is sorted add in the chorus settings and reverb and grab a bigsby equipped alembic baby bass and play dancinmaster :ninja:

the john setting (live at leeds) on the pod is ok for P bass mid era who, but his later stuff you need the clean and dirty blend.
 

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