How to get more aggressive, growly tone?

[cocomans]

Trying to emulate this kind of tone where it's very growly and aggressive but not quite distorted:


I've tried playing around with the eq and boosting the mids and so on but I can never get it sounding quite growly enough. I've also tried a distortion/overdrive pedal but then it sounds way too muddy/aggressive. Any tips?

 

[jallenbass]

Sounds like a Jazz bass played with an aggressive right hand.

 

[wavemaker]

Cool songs, cool bass playing and tones!

Both examples definitely have some drive going on. I‘d try emulating something from the Ampeg family to get there.

Punch and top end of the 2nd example sound like flats to me.

Also, while not exactly what you’re looking for, do check out this excellent video and take away some inspiration regarding action and right hand technique:

 

[fretno]

GK maybe. A little grit. Sansamp could get in that ball park me thinks.

 

[ardgedee]

Fender bass + Ampeg seems to be a popular combination with Japanese indy rock. Precision Bass if they lean towards punk, Jazz if they're pop-oriented.

 

[Makten]

The low end is slightly distorted, which is something that most overdrive circuits won't do. This happens when you push the output transformer of a tube amp, or the speaker coils.
I can get that sort of sound from my Ampeg Venture V3, but have never managed with any overdrive pedals since they mostly distort the high end instead.

 

[Domespeed]

EQ-wise I would say there is an emphasis roughly in the 1kHz range

 

[Benko]

That bassist actually shared a bit in a couple of blog post

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Fender American Elite Jazz Bass V + Boss Compress + Sansamp + Ampeg TubeHead + Tone Hammer

I'd say mostly the Jazz, the Ampeg and the Tone Hammer

Cool tone, work well finger style and slap

 

[Nebadon2000]

 

[Mrmatt1972]

That second song is jazz base into Ampeg all day long

 

[ole Jason]

Classic jazz into Ampeg tone. Sansamp will get you there with most amps.

 

[el murdoque]

Trying to approximate that tone, I'd start with putting a fresh set of roundwound strings on my J bass. Bright ones, light gauge.

Next, If I was to do it with pedals, I'd combine the Origin Bassrig Super Vintage with a BJFe Blueberry Bass Overdrive (the Damnation Audio MBD series should also work fine in that regard) and then hope that the cab sim on the Super Vintage cuts off the top end at the right point. If not, I'd add a low pass filter and set it to the right temperature, to let the sizzly gnarly growling through, but none of the biting top end.

If I was to do it with an amp, I'd tell the SO that I'll be back in a few hours because I have a bass tone to approximate, jump in the car and come back with an Ampeg V4B and matching cabinet - 10" driven, no tweeter. V4B instead of SVT because it's a lot easier to make that amp sound driven hard without tearing down walls.

 

[bassdude51]

In addition to TB members suggestions........my .02 cents..............pluck way down near the bridge.

 

[J Wilson]

Play mad.

Or you can stack gains. Rn the bass full up to 10, and IF your amp has separate input and output gains, make more of your volume running the input up against a lower output setting to get more of a 'pushed' tone.

Of course, you reverse this for clean tone: Lower on the bass, run the input lower and set your volume by the output.

 

[ElectricBass72]

Buy one of these basses.... Ibanez ATK, PJ's- Spector & Fender Duff, Active/Passive Rex Thunderbird, Rickenbacker or Magnum. Jazz basses have good growl, but these are better, IMO.

 

[Stylee Mousse]

The low end is slightly distorted, which is something that most overdrive circuits won't do. This happens when you push the output transformer of a tube amp, or the speaker coils.

Other than technique and setup, this.

My favorite rigs get a bit of preamp drive, power amp grit and a bit of speaker breakup. These combined do what pedals really can’t do IMHO

 

[micguy]

A few things will help push you into that territory:

1) Round wound strings, preferably stainless steels. Your bass should be set up with a relatively flat board (not much relief), and the action relatively low. Low tension strings played hard is the best way to get you the fret clank that is a big part of that tone. The pickups should be fairly close to the strings - that proximity gives you more harmonics by fully exploiting a non-linearity inherent in the way we use pickups on our instruments.

2) Cutting out some lower mids - this can be done with eq, or with something like a Jazz bass wide open (it has a lower mid scoop in its nature when both pickups are full up)

3) Some overdrive, but not on the low end - overdriving the low end generates lower mids, which are not prominent here. You may think that sound is not distorted, but it likely is - it's just done judiciously. Darkglass makes a bunch of pedals that (backed off, not flat out like the tones on their videos) will give you driven upper mids that sound like that - I have several, but the B7K is the one I have that sounds the most like that sound.

 

[LowG]

Lots of that is in playing hard with the right hand and low action getting fret clack.

 

[logdrum]

You can get that tone with a Genz Benz Streamliner with not very much effort cut the bass a bit and then just play with the gain control. You can either push the boost or not .

 

[Chris Chong]

Trying to emulate this kind of tone where it's very growly and aggressive but not quite distorted:


I've tried playing around with the eq and boosting the mids and so on but I can never get it sounding quite growly enough. I've also tried a distortion/overdrive pedal but then it sounds way too muddy/aggressive. Any tips?

the first one has a brighter distortion.
the second has a warmer distortion.

been following Jrock for a long time, I found that blending in distortion is essential. the bass distortion may sound a lot if you solo out the bass, but in a mix with distorted guitars, it blends in just fine.