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How the **** do i get good tone?

M

mb17180116

Guest
Apr 30, 2006
36
0
Washington Court House OH
#1
Still new to this bass thing...but I always hear songs and clips of this tight, punchy tone that I would just love to have, but i have no clue where to start to try to dial it in. I understand that some of it comes from teqhnique, but maybe there is a general start point that will work for most setups that you guys could help me out with. I have a Dean Edge 4 bass and a Crate bx-50 amp.

Knobs on the bass: master volume, tone, tone for bridge pickup, tone for neck pickup

Knobs on amp: Gain - Shape - Low - Low Mid - High Mid - High - Level

Thanks in advance.
 
#4
Well that depends what kind of tone oyu are going for. Do you want deep and very bassy, do you want teh honky of mids or would oyu perfer more guitr-like trebly tone? I'd really liek to help you out, but I'd need to see a description or something like "so and so's sound on [insert song here]". Post more info, and I'll be glad to lend a hand. I have a fairly cheap practice amp and an OK bass, but oyu know what, I took a long time to dial in and fine tune my tone so that in spite of my gear I sound great, and I am not deluding myself, I have gotten many tone compliments over time.
 
#5
Try playing closer to the bridge as this produces less string vibration and a snappier punch. Start with your levels set to noon and try dialing in more low mids and high mids. I'm not sure if shape knob is the same as a contour knob. But play with that a bit. Try also to play with your fingers to limit pick harshness. Reduce your gain a little to keep it tight, and while staying nearer the bridge, pluck more aggressively for punchier tone.

And as said before, equipment and technique has a great deal to do with your tone. Just keep playin around with it and lower volumes with a low powered amp will further help keep it tight.

Hope this helps.
 
#6
mb17180116 said:
Still new to this bass thing...but I always hear songs and clips of this tight, punchy tone that I would just love to have...
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I think it is a big mistake to listen to recorded tracks and think - I should be able to sound like that!

Firstly - these guys will have spent months in the studio using equipment that cost vast sums of money and will have edited all the parts using digital techniques, so that maybe none of what was actually played has remained unchanged!! :hmm:

Secondly - a sound that fits very well in a certain mix of instruments/voices won't sound the same in isolation - something that sounds realy horrible - distorted, scratchy, whatever - may fit very well in a mix and the main bassy part will be heard/felt as the groove and the odd little noises will be hidden by drums,cymbals, loud guitars etc.
 
#10
PurplePurple said:
It sounds like you have a cheep bass and a cheep amp so you probobally will always have a lack there of tone until you purchase better gear.
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I disagree. I have a Dean Edge 5 bass, which is a cheap bass, and play through an old amp, but the tone I feel comes a lot from the bassist. I can make this $250 bass sound gravy.
 
#17
A lot of your tone - most of it really - comes from the bassist, from the bassist's fingertips to his ability to EQ, like which frequencies to boost or cut. This things grow over in time, so be patient.
The rest comes with better gear, that obviously helps a ton.
Just my 2 cents, 'cos I'm in the same fight with my amp and my bass. Sometimes I feel i finally got the perfect tone, and sometimes that same tone feels like crap. It depends from where you are, your mood, style, etc.
I'm just trying to get better and "feel" the changes that i need to make, wich freqs i should adjust, how i should face certain lick, etc. Today i have bass at 12 o'clock, low mids at max, high mids at 3:30 o'clock and highs at 9:00. I hope you can use it as a starting point, and from there start tweaking.
Hope it helps, and just keep practicing.
 
#19
You've got great gear to get you started. If you have grown out of it, I suggest you get a more powerful amp before you get a new bass. Bass is an instrument that sounds very good through high power even at low volumes. Of course, an experienced player can make most anything sound great, but he will be cursing that cheap stuff on the way home when his carpal tunnel flares up. Go to a music store and play through everything they have. Be sure to tell the salesman to leave you the **** alone while you experiment with some new gear for awhile. Make sure it sounds good to you at a lower volume, too. You may find a sound that you like even better than those recordings you've been listening to. Eventually, you'll master a tone you like, then get another rig or bass that makes you attack it and sound different. Different sounds and instruments surely make my hands perform different from one rig/bass/effect to the next. I hope this helps.
_Burney Warren
 
#20
tZer said:
20% reasonble bass (this includes proper set-up),
20% reasonable amp/combo (with a reasonable amount of watts)
(if amp is not a combo - 20% reasonable amp+cabinet)
10% strings
50% technique, experience and patience

Mix well, pre-heat oven to 375, bake until golden brown - serve hot.
Click to expand...
Sounds about right to me.
 

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