How to make my gear sounds better?

[Groove Master]

If the tone is in the hands, why did Marcus Miller even bother to change amps or use a tube pre? Why not just jack straight in to the board?
Tone is not ONLY in the hands, but tone shaping tools can hide the problems that a new player needs to address to get better in order to make the most with tone shaping tools.

Yes I agree and that is the reason I believe the OP should simplify his signal path and forget about the active onboard preamp for now.

 

[MDBass]

Well Marcus went from EV to SWR to EBS and so on... He was still sounding like Marcus Miller even at home when he goes into a Demeter tube DI straight to the board ;-) Why? Because his sound is in his hands, just like all the great players like Jaco and Victor and...

This is actually a quote from Jaco himself: The sound is in my hands, and he was so right.

Because he was still playing Jazz basses with fresh stainless steel strings: if he played a P with dead flats his tone would be entirely different, despite having the same hands and playing in the same way.

That's why it's not ALL in the hands.

That's also why the OP's tone is now much closer to what Vic was getting in the video then when he started: getting that kind of brighter tone without fresher strings is impossible, regardless of how you're playing the instrument.

 

[Groove Master]

Because he was still playing Jazz basses with fresh stainless steel strings: if he played a P with dead flats his tone would be entirely different, despite having the same hands and playing in the same way.

That's why it's not ALL in the hands.

That's also why the OP's tone is now much closer to what Vic was getting in the video then when he started: getting that kind of brighter tone without fresher strings is impossible, regardless of how you're playing the instrument.

As far as I know, MM plays all kind of basses including 6 strings and fretless and he still sound like him. And he doesn't have just one sound but a musical personality that translate through any kind of gear or basses he is playing..

 

[MDBass]

As far as I know, MM plays all kind of basses including 6 strings and fretless and he still sound like him. And he doesn't have just one sound but a musical personality that translate through any kind of gear or basses he is playing..

You said the ONLY thing that would help the OP achieve a brighter bass tone like the one in Vic's video was practice, that it had absolutely nothing to do with gear...and then he changed his strings and got a sound much closer to the tone in Vic's video.

You were wrong, but you're so fixated on your opinion that you haven't noticed.

You're actually so fixated on your opinion that you didn't even respond to the OP when he asked you specifically what he could do to improve his technique...if your intent here is to genuinely be helpful, maybe you should do that.

Have a nice night

 

[Vicolls]

BTW, some1 said that's it possible to send signal from rumble amplifier to effect processor, not the opposite. It's true, I'll try to this to record.

Anyway, I'm wondering if I should use compressor inside my Boss GT-10 to recrodings. And how to use it properly? Any good tutorials?

 

[Groove Master]

4. Groove Master - can you tell me what's wrong with my technique in right hand? I want to correct that.

When I get new strings I'll record something "before" and "after" to make comparison

I missed that.
I told you about the lack of control of your right hand. You need to work on having a better control of your dynamics. Some notes don't come out and the synchronization of your hammer-ons is poor. Also learn how to mute the ringing strings with either the 3rd and 4th finger and your left-hand.

Simplify your signal path. Onboard preamps are very often of a poor quality and can easily be pushed too much especially with the bass boost. Go gentle with bass boost.

 

[Groove Master]

You said the ONLY thing that would help the OP achieve a brighter bass tone like the one in Vic's video was practice, that it had absolutely nothing to do with gear...and then he changed his strings and got a sound much closer to the tone in Vic's video.

You were wrong, but you're so fixated on your opinion that you haven't noticed.

You're actually so fixated on your opinion that you didn't even respond to the OP when he asked you specifically what he could do to improve his technique...if your intent here is to genuinely be helpful, maybe you should do that.

Have a nice night

Man you need to relaxe. You say I 'm wrong because I talked about his technique before gear and changing strings doesn't solve his technical problems which would make his performance much better sounding regardless of the strings. I'm happy for you if the OP is satisfied with the strings option but still the lack of control is still there and his performance will improve greatly when he'll work on his technique.

Have a good day...

 

[Groove Master]

Anyway, I'm wondering if I should use compressor inside my Boss GT-10 to recrodings. And how to use it properly? Any good tutorials?

I don't recommend a compressor at this point because you have too much background noise from the ringing strings while you play. It will bring all that noise even louder in the mix. Learn how to mute first.

 

[Karlson541]

Groovy and funky describes a certain characteristic that tells something about how you play but doesn't tell anything about the tone of any instrument.
A tone cannot be groovy or funky (perhaps funky by a stretch but definitely not groovy).
No one will know what you mean by that cause it literally makes no sense.
Secondly as some has pointed out fresh strings will have more presence and high frequency content, which sounds as what you are searching for, while old strings can sound almost muffled.
Finally recording directly is in most cases the recipe to have your bass sound dull, you need some kind of preamp to shape and color and give your tone a little more spark for it to sound good and the build in preamp in your bass might not be enough for this to happen.

Favoring the pickup balance knob a bit towards the left (towards the bridge pickup) and boosting some mid mids/higher mids/higher frequencies a bit might help you too.
Generally remembering to listen to what your adjustments does to your tone, so that you know if you want more or less of that, instead of just turning knobs completely randomly and mindlessly.

How does your bass sound through your Rumble amp vs when you record your bass?

If you get a better tone out of your amp than when recording your bass try using the DI on the Rumble to record your bass.

 

[Groove Master]

Groovy and funky describes a certain characteristic that tells something about how you play but doesn't tell anything about the tone of any instrument.
A tone cannot be groovy or funky (perhaps funky by a stretch but definitely not groovy).
No one will know what you mean by that cause it literally makes no sense.
Secondly as some has pointed out fresh strings will have more presence and high frequency content, which sounds as what you are searching for, while old strings can sound almost muffled.
Finally recording directly is in most cases the recipe to have your bass sound dull, you need some kind of preamp to shape and color and give your tone a little more spark for it to sound good and the build in preamp in your bass might not be enough for this to happen.

Favoring the pickup balance knob a bit towards the left (towards the bridge pickup) and boosting some mid mids/higher mids/higher frequencies a bit might help you too.
Generally remembering to listen to what your adjustments does to your tone, so that you know if you want more or less of that, instead of just turning knobs completely random and mindlessly.

How does your bass sound through your Rumble amp vs when you record your bass?

If you get a better tone out of your amp than when recording your bass try using the DI on the Rumble to record your bass.

It would be good to know where the bass signal is going for recording. I don't think it has been mentioned.
A good DI would make a difference while going direct and the Rumple XLR Out would be also a good solution especially if it has a pre/post switch.
Some good analog gear is always helpful in a bass chain instead of all digital.

 

[Whousedtoplay]

Compression is part of the holy trinity of recording effects.

Audio Dynamics 101: Compressors, Limiters, Expanders, and Gates