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I want this tone

Find out what kind of bass he uses, what's it made of, what strings are used, what pickups, what electronics.

Then, find out what kinds of pedals are used...anything in the chain.

Then, what kind of amp, what are its settings, and what are the speakers.

Of course, if there's a sound guy or engineer involved, then you'll have to find out all about that gear too.

If you find the tone you want to call your own, you have to experiment with everything until you find it.

Interestingly, once you find it, play with a band, and go into the studio, your idea of tone means squat. It's what the producer wants to hear and what the engineer can make happen to produce the best recording possible in that person's mind. You just happen to be the one providing the bottom line, so your playing better be clean, tasteful and tight with the drummer. Maybe you can add some solo-oriented licks every now and then.

Z
 
I'm guessing the Vampire Weekend clip was a mistake. Krist's part on I Should have Known does have a sick gnarly tone. He was playing a Gibson (Grabber, I think) on that track (you can see him recording it on the Wasting Light DVD). I think it was just a overdriven tube amp of some kind. Great tone, though.....

-JV
 
T. B. Player said:
Interestingly, once you find it, play with a band, and go into the studio, your idea of tone means squat. It's what the producer wants to hear and what the engineer can make happen to produce the best recording possible in that person's mind. You just happen to be the one providing the bottom line, so your playing better be clean, tasteful and tight with the drummer. Maybe you can add some solo-oriented licks every now and then.

Z

Ugh, who are these engineers and producers you've worked with? Their job is to realize YOUR vision, not the other way around. Clean tasteful and tight? No . Frigging. Thank you. How boring. Not every bassist's job is to go "thump thump thump"


Sorry for the derail.