How to get more aggressive, growly tone?

[PaperbackRyder]

One might also try rolling back the bridge pickup just a tad. 'This will give more depth in the tone. Then run that thru a mild overdrive.

 

[Dbassmon]

In the Studio or Live - from gentle tube grit, to full on overdrive, sounds like an amp, not an overdrive box.

This video is pretty good overview.

 

[Pdaddy1978]

Fender + Ampeg = growl

 

[Sharko]

To get this at home I would try Fender into Ampeg or fender into Darkglass pre into Ampeg

 

[ahbradot]

I played the videos and now I'm reminded of the out-of-touch old man that I am

 

[Bass V]

or you can cheat on the cheap with a Duncan Lava Box.

 

[kevrex]

here's someone doing a good job of it with the incredibly rare and expensive caline wine cellar:

 

[Wasnex]

The easiest path is to select gear that is growly.

Some basses are more growly than others. For example many people seem to describe the Warwick Thumb basses as growly. Also fretless basses tend to be more capable of growl than fretted basses...assuming a growl centered set up and technique.

Some amp/cab combinations are better than others at adding a little growly sumthin, sumthin. Old GK 800RBs for example.

Forcing non-growly gear to growl is more challenging. The way I think of growl, it's sort of a low-mid thing, In comparison, grind is a similar concept but more of a high mid thing.

The first thing I suggest is to try and create a frequency response contour with a bit of a boost centered in the right growly frequency range. This will bring out any inherent growl your gear may already be capable of producing.

However, you can't boost something that doesn't already exist. Instead you may have to create it. Relatively low action with a bit of compression may help. Also introducing a small amount of distortion in the proper frequency.

Drive pedals to tend to create distortion first in a higher range...more grindy. However you may be able to trick some pedals into doing what you want by using parallel processing and adding an EQ before the driver circuit to boost the low mids going into the drive pedal.

With parallel processing you split the signal into two signal paths that can be processed separately. After the processing is done you mix the two signal back together.

For your drive side run the signal into an EQ first to feed the drive pedal. Adjust the EQ for the growly quality.

Depending on how much drive you apply, you may need to run a compressor or even a second OD on the clean side. The reason? Anytime you push a circuit into drive territory, a collateral result is compression. If you try to mix a compressed signal with an uncompressed signal, they may not integrate well. People describe it as distortion riding on top of the clean signal. Adding a bit of compression to your clean side can help mitigate this problem.

If you decide you want a lot of drive, you may benefit from adding a compressor and second drive pedal to the clean side. This extra drive pedal is adjusted just below the level where it breaks into audible distortion. It has an impact on the shape of the dynamic envelope and may add a bit of color. The key here is to select a pedal that passes the full range of the bass and produce sort of tubey quality before it crosses into audible distortion.

There are drive pedals that use parallel processing and crossover functions. One of these may suit your needs, but I don't have a recommendation.

 

[Planet Boulder]

Reminds me a lot of Andy Rourke’s tone.

 

[DrBnz]

Roll back the neck pickup - completely if you'd like and take off half of the tone. Use a pick. There ya go.

 

[darwin-bass]

Play with a pick. And OD.

 

[cataract]

This’ll do it. Use a pick right over the pickup!

 

[Yahboy]

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?

 

[Iristone]

Recently I've discovered that, for a good growl, a little bit of overdrive goes a long way. Too much of it can be too much of a good thing: it takes away note articulation and midrange clarity.

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.

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Nice collection! IME a Thunderbird with alnico pickups growls even harder.

 

[spideyjg]

Technique. Watch John Button talk about how John Entwistle hit the strings. Want the Live at Leeds Who, sound do this.

 

[bassnyc1]

Start with this!

 

[Malak the Mad]

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

Technique. Watch John Button talk about how John Entwistle hit the strings. Want the Live at Leeds Who, sound do this.

My thoughts, too…the old "tone is in the fingers" solution might do it.

@cocomans; To put it another way, before throwing a ton of money at gadgets that might get you there, do a little process of elimination, first. If you don't already play very aggressively, start adding a bit more force and/or energy to your plucking hand. If it works, great! If not, move on to another solution.

I witnessed this first hand (pardon the pun) last year when a gigging friend of mine got to try out my Fender Blacktop Jazz. In my hands, it sounds bold and brash, but in hers, it sounded like most other basses. After a little while, I realized how differently we attack the strings and the respective amount of power we apply to our strings.

Two differently built people + one bass = two different sounds.

 

[Makten]

Technique. Watch John Button talk about how John Entwistle hit the strings. Want the Live at Leeds Who, sound do this.

Except that results in a different sound. At least to my ears. In the OP, there is really no "clank".

 

[mikeswals]

Its a very popular bass tone for rock in Japan. Jazz Bass thru an SVT is the most as common combo.

If you're trying to it on your living room, then a Jazz and a Sansamp would be the easiest start.

 

[Pocket Dave]

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

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Cool tone, work well finger style and slap

Hard to translate from an image file - I had to find the blog. TLDR: He uses an Aguilar Tone Hammer pedal to help color his Sansamp.

The actual translation:

So, changing the subject, I'd like to introduce the gear I use again this time.​

Continuing from last time, we started with preamp ①, so this time I'll introduce preamp ②.​

The effect pedal I'm introducing this time is the Coachella!! (in the style of a certain major TV shopping channel)​

It's the Aguilar Tone Hammer!​

I bought this Aguilar Tone Hammer for a low price from a senior at my local high school when I was in high school.​

Like the SANSAMP from last time, I had been wanting one, and my senior had one, so I think it was a "if you have it, why not buy it?" situation.​

Thank you, S-senpai...​

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I'll skip the "What is a preamp???" part, as I explained it in the last article. If you'd like to start from there, please take a look at the article on (p.1).​

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In the last article, I said that the SANSAMP I introduced was too overbearing, but the Aguilar Tone Hammer is different.​

Its unique feature is that it makes the original sound natural and refined.​

To use an example, it's like that legendary episode of a certain TV shopping show where what looks like just hydrogen water at first glance becomes special just by opening the cap and saying, "Ah, the sound of hydrogen!" The person introducing it has incredible technique.​

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Since it's a preamp, some of you might be thinking, "Another tone creation?", but its purpose is to add something missing from the sound created with the SANSAMP. Essentially, it's a substitute for an EQ (equalizer). Of course, it also has a D.I (direct box).​

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This is purely my personal opinion, but I felt like something was missing with just one SANSAMP. It felt like it had a lone wolf-like character but didn't really belong anywhere, so it didn't really suit me. Maybe it's because I'm not very good at creating sounds, though...​

​

I was wondering what to do, so I did some research and found that a lot of professional bassists actually layer preamps, and my own preconceived notion that "if you're going to use a preamp, you should only use one" was completely shattered.​

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I really felt that the presence of professional bassists who had come before me was invaluable.​

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By the way, I used bass magazines a lot as a reference when I was researching.​

It was a magazine called Effect Board File, released in 2015.​

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After I realized this, I tried out various preamps I had, and the Aguilar Tone Hammer was the perfect fit. It felt like my lone wolf SANSAMP had found a friend who was there for me; its sharp edges were mellowed out, the sound became warmer, and the SANSAMP sound came to the forefront in a nice way, as if it was being given a push from behind.​

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The Aguilar Tone Hammer now acts as a secretary.​

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There's just one downside: most effects pedals are powered by a voltage of 9V, but the Aguilar Tone Hammer is 18V...​

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This can be surprisingly inconvenient, as you have to get a special adapter and batteries just for this pedal, which can be a bit of a hassle.​

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To address this issue, I've built my effects board with a built-in power supply (something that provides power) to keep things as consistent as possible.​

However, one benefit of doubling the voltage is that it significantly increases the volume and definition, so it might be an even deal.​

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If you're thinking of buying one, please be sure to consider the power consumption before making your purchase.​

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To be honest, while the SANSAMP series now has a built-in mid EQ, the earlier models didn't have it.​

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The model I have doesn't have a mid EQ, so I may not have realised how important it was at the time because I wasn't well-versed in the subject matter...​

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I believe that the mid EQ is something that is determined by your discretion, so I now believe that the balance of the mid is very important for bassists.​

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It's a difficult point that needs to be considered depending on the band's genre and song, the vocals, and the sounds of the other instruments. Having too much bass EQ can actually be a distraction and make things worse, while not having enough EQ can make the bass sound unnatural.​

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I still struggle with this quite a bit, so it's something that will continue to be a challenge for me.​

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This is great. "Mids are important," I'd like to spread the word...​

Bass is so hard.​

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Also, I'll go into more detail about the power supply and EQ I mentioned earlier in another article.​

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So, this time I introduced preamp #2. What did you think? ?​

I say this every time, but do you get it? ? (cries)​

I'm not good at Japanese, so I get anxious every time I post...​

I feel like crying.​