How to make bass speaker sound lower?

[mambo4]

The order of attacking the problem should be

1. how you set your existing amp
2. how you play
3. strings
4. buy new toys

fat bass tone lives in the mids between 200-500 hz
All "bass" knobs are for subtracting mud

New gear might help and be fun, but those who suggest emphasizing the low mids (200- 400) is correct.
A Hartke TX600 can do this. No new purchase is needed.

The Shape Knob is a mid boost/cut +11/-3dB relative to 12 o’clock
Frequency knob sets the frequency from 200Hz to 800Hz

so try this:

1. Dial down the Bass and Treble to ~ 9 o'clock (remove obscuring frequencies)
2. Set the Shape to ~ 3 o'clock
3. Set frequency to 200
4. start playing, sweep the frequency until you hear what you want
5. fine tune the remaining controls

This should get you quite close to what you want. Buying more gear will inch that approximation forward, but your amp can do 85% of the work.

Technique will cover another 5-10% : turn up , pluck lightly, near the neck

Your string choice sounds fine

But, hey, if you wanna buy more gear, buy more gear.

 

[jw23mind]

The order of attacking the problem should be

1. how you set your existing amp
2. how you play
3. strings
4. buy new toys

fat bass tone lives in the mids between 200-500 hz
All "bass" knobs are for subtracting mud

New gear might help and be fun, but those who suggest emphasizing the low mids (200- 400) is correct.
A Hartke TX600 can do this. No new purchase is needed.

The Shape Knob is a mid boost/cut +11/-3dB relative to 12 o’clock
Frequency knob sets the frequency from 200Hz to 800Hz

so try this:

1. Dial down the Bass and Treble to ~ 9 o'clock (remove obscuring frequencies)
2. Set the Shape to ~ 3 o'clock
3. Set frequency to 200
4. start playing, sweep the frequency until you hear what you want
5. fine tune the remaining controls

This should get you quite close to what you want. Buying more gear will inch that approximation forward, but your amp can do 85% of the work.

Technique will cover another 5-10% : turn up , pluck lightly, near the neck

Your string choice sounds fine

But, hey, if you wanna buy more gear, buy more gear.

Excellent post. I’ve never tried the “start with the mids” approach but it’s a fascinating idea.

 

[cataract]

Y’all are overthinking this— sounds like the bass player in that YOUTUBE vid was using an octave pedal.. just get a Boss OC-2 & bask in its perfect glory

 

[bbh]

Find the right mids frequency to cut. This will bring out the lows.

 

[SLPimp]

Yes, put it under the stage or if possible a basement. You'd need industrial equipment to get lower.

 

[mambo4]

I

Excellent post. I’ve never tried the “start with the mids” approach but it’s a fascinating idea.

Took me a decade of gigs to really appreciate this. Listen to a hip hop hit song on a crappy speaker, the PHAT Bass comes through. Why? It's in the lower mids, not the bass <100 hz frequencies.

 

[Ishmael_22]

I would still zero out the EQ first, the center frequency on the control should be in the user manual, as a reference, targeted boosts or cuts might can do it for you.

As far as pickups, most sites have a sample of what they sound like, since it's subjective, I can only tell you I went with Aguilar's over EMG, Seymore Duncan, Fender, Bartonlini, Dimarzio, Nordstrands etc...

A jw23mind is correct about a good preamp. It's less invasive than modifying the bass, easier, and may cost less. As a step that would be the second step I'd take with # 1 being EQ and Setup of the bass and rig.

EQ: Link Removed

For Preamps, you could take a look at preamps with a DI built in as some gigs require no amp/cab on stage, so you're going to need one anyway. I use TC Electrics Spectra-Drive as it has EQ, a Compressor, and Overdrive, plus a DI balanced out, and you can program it with different sounds via toneprint. So if you need it darker, you can reprogram it.

The TC Electrics Spectra-Drive looks good but it's out of stock everywhere!

 

[Ishmael_22]

Yes, put it under the stage or if possible a basement. You'd need industrial equipment to get lower.

LMAO!

 

[AlexanderB]

I


Took me a decade of gigs to really appreciate this. Listen to a hip hop hit song on a crappy speaker, the PHAT Bass comes through. Why? It's in the lower mids, not the bass <100 hz frequencies.

Or you could go to a club and ask them to switch off all the subs during the night, bcause "the low, fat bass sound comes from the mids".
I am sure people would love it!

(Of course the below 100Hz, and especially below 50Hz is vital if you want to do it RIGHT. Jamming in the living room, not necessarily...)

 

[mambo4]

Of course the below 100Hz, and especially below 50Hz is vital if you want to do it RIGHT.

Not talking about the dance club subwoofer ranges that makes your clothes vibrate: that is not what we hear as musical. If you want a strong bass tone where the music you play comes through, it's in the low mids.

But please, don't take my word for it, just be your own knob scientist.
Reduce everything but 100 Hz and below : does it approximate the tone you want?
Reduce Bass and Treble, sweep the mid frequencies: can you find a mid frequency to approximate the tone you want?

Once you find that , you can add all the clothing vibrating boomy mud you want

 

[dbsfgyd1]

Hartke always sounded bright, however what you hear up close is not what "they" here out there.

It's possible with effects to change the overall timber and make it sound lower yes. You'd have to try them out.
It's also possible that other changes like Pickups, EQ, different speakers (or amp/cab) could also change it.

More than one right answer lurking around.

Your first sentence is spot on. My Eden cabs really start to bloom 10-12 feet out.

 

[AlexanderB]

Not talking about the dance club subwoofer ranges that makes your clothes vibrate: that is not what we hear as musical. If you want a strong bass tone where the music you play comes through, it's in the low mids.

But please, don't take my word for it, just be your own knob scientist.
Reduce everything but 100 Hz and below : does it approximate the tone you want?
Reduce Bass and Treble, sweep the mid frequencies: can you find a mid frequency to approximate the tone you want?

Once you find that , you can add all the clothing vibrating boomy mud you want

Well, you are (sort of) agreeing with me... Mids for flavour, transients and envelope, bottom octave for texture and slam.

 

[1958Bassman]

This right here. "Proper" EQ'ing technique - in the studio as well as live - starts with cutting, not boosting. Then you can start boosting little bits to shape things further. I'd agree with others, the OP's bass and rig are perfectly capable of producing a totally deep dubwise sound. Just needs more experimentation. And turn off the darn tweeter if it's on for starters!

I started selling stereo equipment in Feb, 1978 and can't begin to guess at the number of speakers damaged by people jacking up the EQ bands or tone controls and cranking it to WOT. I can't imagine how bad that sounded.

I also did live sound- OMG! Had one guy sit in with the band and he came over to tell me I should crank up his amp so everyone could hear him. Right. He needed me to crank up ANYTHING on the board in a small club with him using a Peavey Mace with sound bleeding into every freaking mic on the stage and the other guitars were going through an 18W Marshall combo and a Roland Jazz Chorus 90. I buried the slider (why anyone thought his amp needed a mic is beyond me) and he was still far too loud. People came to the board, yelling at me for letting his guitar be so loud and when I showed them that his fader was buried, some left. I shut off the PA at that point. When someone from the band asked why, I told him that people were leaving and they needed to get that guy to turn down. Another band had a couple of members who didn't seem to listen to the sounds they were making. The drums sounded like cardboard and the bass sounded like crap- no definition and IMO, he just played too much.

I used to go to a local club that had a lot of really good bands and their PA was pretty decent, but one of the guys used to mix had ears of clay. He would tweak, walk around the room, go back and tweak some more. This went on throughout the shows he did. One night, I asked if he had ever thought of using an RTA and he replied "I use my ears". I then asked "Again, have you ever thought about using an RTA?". Had both 1/3 octave EQ sliders jacked up and was adjusting them to change the sound of various channels on the board, but it was supposed to equalize the house response, not each channel. He clearly didn't understand.

 

[1958Bassman]

This is the sound I'm trying to emulate.

First, this was not mic'd, it was sent direct to the recording equipment. If you're using the sound from your speakers to hear yourself onstage, that will never work because A) you're in a room with the other instruments, B) you're not controlling all of the sound and C) your rig would need to produce low frequencies that would cause huge problems for the PA and the overall sound unless you send DI to the board, the PA can actually produce good low end and you use in-ear monitors that can produce good low end.

 

[mambo4]

Fair point ^
I gave up on perfectly matching recorded tones long ago.
At a live gig, a good approximation is enuff to allow me to focus on performance.

 

[Ishmael_22]

First, this was not mic'd, it was sent direct to the recording equipment. If you're using the sound from your speakers to hear yourself onstage, that will never work because A) you're in a room with the other instruments, B) you're not controlling all of the sound and C) your rig would need to produce low frequencies that would cause huge problems for the PA and the overall sound unless you send DI to the board, the PA can actually produce good low end and you use in-ear monitors that can produce good low end.

Got it. What about reproducing that sound through my computer as I'm going to be making some youtube videos with my bass. I have a Behringer UMC204HD audio interface and a custom built computer that I can add whatever I want to it.

 

[1958Bassman]

Got it. What about reproducing that sound through my computer as I'm going to be making some youtube videos with my bass. I have a Behringer UMC204HD audio interface and a custom built computer that I can add whatever I want to it.

If your computer isn't connected to equipment (including speakers) that can't reproduce the low end, it will never sound the way you want. Every brand and model of speaker, headphone and ear bud sounds different, although some sound similar to each other. However, that track has something like the Boss OC-2 that was previously mentioned and a bass amp with a given cabinet will never sound the same, partially because the OC-2 and many others have a very slight delay between the original note and the subharmonic.

If your original question was referring to recording/playback and not live playing, it's a different issue but speakers or other similar devices need to be able to produce low frequencies well if this is to work. Trying to make small speakers that can't do this by adding effects like the OC-2 causes problems because the speakers can be damaged and the sound will distort.

You can use the Behringer, but that won't shape the sound into what you want. You can, however, record the basic tracks by going direct to the software and using plugins or re-recording it later, through effects.

What software are you using?

 

[dbsfgyd1]

I was thinking about getting the 15'' Hartke cab to pair with my 4x10 but don't really want to add another speaker to carry to gigs.

Here is what I got.

View attachment 4216595 View attachment 4216598

And here is what I was planning on getting.

View attachment 4216602 View attachment 4216604

I'm not sure about which effects pedal to get.

You are not going to get more low end out of a 115 bottom. You would be better off buying another 410 bottom. Secondly, unless you have a stereo amp powering them, it’s not likely you will be able to balance the decibels coming from each.

With a mono amp, both cabs get an equal amount of wattage, however, the cab efficiency and or speaker area will dictate how many dBs you will get from each.

 

[BassFalcon]

There’s a lot of speculation about how he got the sound, it may be best to just ask the man himself. Nate Edgar was the bassist and is easily found and contacted on various social medias. There’s a good chance he’s a real nice guy and would take a minute to explain how he got that specific tone and maybe even offer advice to dial in your setup similarly.

 

[Ishmael_22]

Here is what I hear in that recording.

The bass sounds like a Jazz with both pickup on full so it is a bit scooped and the high mids and maybe treble are rolled off. They are probably plucking gently near the neck with a lot of gain so the amp is over driven a little. It also sounds like there is an octave effect on the bass. So the bass line is probably played near the middle of the neck and they let the octave effect fill in the bottom.

The recording its self is mixed to highlight that deep bass. If you listen closely you will notice that the bass is all alone on the bottom. The biggest bass competitor which is usually the kick drum is tuned high and tight and well damped for a punchy sound that sits above the bass in the mix. The drummer never uses deep tom toms and even the snare is very sharp and high. Very typical Reggae mix. Also note when the bass drops out in the middle it is really obvious and makes it sound even deeper when they come back in.

Here are some great tips on how to get that bass sound + the best reggae bass video I have found. I love this guy!

Yeah, I've watched a couple of his videos. Great bass player for the great Burning Spear who I have had the pleasure of seeing live a bunch of times!