Laura Lee's amazing SX tone(Khruangbin)

[Snaxster]

The thumpy-dryness might not be everyone's cup of tea but it's a tone nonetheless and a good one at that. Lee pulls it off really well, it's clean, and it fits in with the trio niceley. Whats amazing about it is that it comes from an sx. I know it's been done to death, but whenever someone pulls off such a controlled tone with a cheap bass, it suprising to me. More people need to hear good tone coming out of instruments like that, IMO

Ah, so your premise was 'aesthetic value for money'.

Well, I don't know what your frame of reference is. At the least, I'm sure that you and I have different backgrounds and have different tastes in bass guitar sounds.

Currently I own bass guitars that range in price from $275 to about $10,000. I can report that I would not aspire to Ms. Lee's sound when I played any of them, from the least to the greatest. In other words, I would not value that sound at any price.

 

[Oddly]

Thanks for introducing me to another cool band...I regularly dip in to the NPR concerts but I'd missed this one.
I think they sound great, just right for what they're playing.
Also, the folks at NPR really seem to know what they're doing, I've yet to hear a bad mix from them.

 

[Axstar]

I know it's been done to death, but whenever someone pulls off such a controlled tone with a cheap bass, it suprising to me.

The pickups are Dimarzios in her bass, and she's running into a decent compressor pedal and then into an old Fender amp. It is also quite a basic bass tone so with that setup an SX and a Fender CS masterbuilt (etc...) '64 Jazz bass would sound pretty much the same. Flats, probably high action, foam mute, good pickups, good compressor and good amp.

As I mentioned (I think?) in the other Khruangbin thread on these forums, the guitarist in 'The Grateful Shred' tribute band absolutely kills it with a backwards Squier Strat that looks like it was rescued from the pawnbrokers. Go on the Grateful Dead forums and you have guys on there with the full reproduction Jerry Garcia rigs, all true bypass, onboard effects loops (etc, ad nauseum), and they can't play their way out of a paper bag. There will always be a case for 'the player, not the gear'. And there will be bad musicians with good gear, good musicians with good gear, bad musicians with bad gear....

In keeping with the theme of this thread, I reckon you could probably get a good approximation of Jamerson's tone out of an SX P bass. I find it a bit silly that people want to drill right down to reproduction '60s P bass pickups with the correct coloured bobbin and cloth wires to get into Jamerson country, because the basic tone is a dull thump. Listen to the isolated Jamerson basslines and there is a sort of interesting kettledrum-like resonance and 'boing' to some of the notes that maybe isn't the nicest. However it sounds great in a full band mix (with horn section, three guitars on different flavours of rhythm, two percussionists); especially when that is a hot mono Motown mix. Can you hear the reproduction pre-CBS dust on the polepieces in that sort of mix? Nah! An SX would get the job done and, if not, simply buy a used SPB-1 pickup and start over. Focussing in on the tone of the bassist in Khruangbin, George Porter Jr, Jamerson (etc) is missing the point. They had a Vanilla tone. The interesting stuff is in what they actually play, or played, as musicians. If you put gear before musicianship then this message will clearly be getting lost.

And... none of this means that SX basses are good, necessarily, which I think is where OP is going with this one. I've played a few SX instruments and never been that impressed with them. I reckon Squier build a better bass for the buck! Swap out key hardware and components with better

 

[fcleff]

So much for having an opinion!
I just don't see the reason for the high enthusiasm for another form of the same'ol same'ol that I've heard for almost fifty years!

They don't blow my mind but I do find their music enjoyable. And what I really enjoy is that, in an era where pop music seems to be dominated by production that doesn't necessarily need a full band, cats like this are out there reviving a sound that needs a band. Kind of like Greta Van Fleet, in that they are helping to keep a certain sound alive and vital. I like that.
Now, do I find her tone amazing? No. Do I like it? Absolutely. Does it work with what they do? Without a doubt. That's all you really need.

f

 

[two fingers]

I'm obviously not high enough for this band?

Every song pretty much sounds like the breakdown in the middle of a college jam band's 14 minute jam on the same four chords. They all three look bored to death.... like they are running through their grocery lists in their head for shopping after the show.

They have a good groove at times, but that's about all I can say positive about the video. But I keep waiting for the intro to be over and the song to start.

Her tone seems pretty "meh" to me. Maybe it's the way it was miced or recorded, but at times it sounds like a small, old, tube guitar practice amp farting out. It's almost as if it's clipping.

I have heard lots of players use tubes, flats and foam and have great tone. This is not that to me.

I'm all for establishing a good simple groove to build on. But they never quite get around to the building on it part.

Now, if they were the rhythm section for a horn band with a good singer, we would have something to talk about. But this falls way short to me.

(And I LOVE the Meters, BTW.)

It's almost as if they're TRYING to be the Dead meets the Meters.... but they just don't quite get there.

That being said, I don't think her crappy tone has anything to do with her bass being an SX. I just think it was set and recorded horribly.

Now, that guy's guitar tone is horrible on purpose. He's got no excuse for that thin verby garbage.

 

[inanimate_carb]

Why is everybody losing their minds over this band? I can't go online without seeing them somewhere. They must have an amazing and expensive publicist.

 

[BruceWane]

I guess for some the idea that a cheap bass still sounds like a bass at all is "amazing".

If that's the criteria, anything that can hold a pickup and a taught string is going to be "amazing".

I guess some folks are utterly astounded every time they flick a switch and a room becomes illuminated, too.

 

[IPA]

So much for having an opinion!
I just don't see the reason for the high enthusiasm for another form of the same'ol same'ol that I've heard for almost fifty years!

Hey it's all good, I come here to get different takes on things, not to be in an echo chamber

Some of us haven't been around for 50 years, so we can pretend it's new, new to us!

 

[fcleff]

I'm obviously not high enough for this band?

Every song pretty much sounds like the breakdown in the middle of a college jam band's 14 minute jam on the same four chords. They all three look bored to death.... like they are running through their grocery lists in their head for shopping after the show.

They have a good groove at times, but that's about all I can say positive about the video. But I keep waiting for the intro to be over and the song to start.

Her tone seems pretty "meh" to me. Maybe it's the way it was miced or recorded, but at times it sounds like a small, old, tube guitar practice amp farting out. It's almost as if it's clipping.

I have heard lots of players use tubes, flats and foam and have great tone. This is not that to me.

I'm all for establishing a good simple groove to build on. But they never quite get around to the building on it part.

Now, if they were the rhythm section for a horn band with a good singer, we would have something to talk about. But this falls way short to me.

(And I LOVE the Meters, BTW.)

It's almost as if they're TRYING to be the Dead meets the Meters.... but they just don't quite get there.

That being said, I don't think her crappy tone has anything to do with her bass being an SX. I just think it was set and recorded horribly.

Now, that guy's guitar tone is horrible on purpose. He's got no excuse for that thin verby garbage.

I read through the other thread about her over in the Bassists forum. You seemed to have an entirely different opinion of them a month or so back. What changed for you? Or did you just find this particular performance uninspiring? (I'm not stalking you or trying to pick a fight, it's just something I noticed.)

f

 

[two fingers]

I read through the other thread about her over in the Bassists forum. You seemed to have an entirely different opinion of them a month or so back. What changed for you? Or did you just find this particular performance uninspiring? (I'm not stalking you or trying to pick a fight, it's just something I noticed.)

f

That must be it. Whatever I heard then must have grooved more and been recorded better. This morning I played it through a pretty nice stereo with a sub. Thay may have been it too. I often do TalkBass with $20 Sony earbuds.

There are lots of artists I feel that way about though. They'll do something that inspires me one day and something that bores me the next.

Edit: I'll also admit that how bored THEY looked may have had an effect on my perception.

 

[Rompin Roddy]

I may have enjoyed this if it wasn't so visually boring.

Except for the bassist, she was great on the eyes.

This is the type of stuff that I might call "pleasant enough, but didn't really do anything for me". Because that's what this is about: ME!

Ha syke, bass tone was aight. Nothing amazing, but she's pretty cool.

 

[Oddly]

Edit: I'll also admit that how bored THEY looked may have had an effect on my perception.

I find it very hard to really like a band/performer who look like they'd just rather be somewhere else, doing something else.
While I can appreciate the music, I wouldn't be rushing out to go see them live.

 

[Rompin Roddy]

I find it very hard to really like a band/performer who look like they'd just rather be somewhere else, doing something else.
While I can appreciate the music, I wouldn't be rushing out to go see them live.

Yeah dude that drummer killed it for me out of the gate.

 

[Callused Finger]

Sounds like she needs a pbass.

That second song sounds great.

 

[Passinwind]

I may have enjoyed this if it wasn't so visually boring.

I typically listen to music vids with the video hidden, never liked having someone else dictate whatever visual imagery a recorded piece of music might inspire when I'm left to my own devices.

 

[Callused Finger]

From her rig rundown she's had the same set of flats since she got the bass... 8 years.

 

[Callused Finger]

Lets not forget that, although they are recording video, it is for a radio show.

 

[bassboysam]

Lets not forget that, although they are recording video, it is for a radio show.

they look bored in all their videos.

 

[JKos]

Edit: I'll also admit that how bored THEY looked may have had an effect on my perception.

I find it very hard to really like a band/performer who look like they'd just rather be somewhere else, doing something else.

Yet when I mention how bored a certain other female bass player looks, I get scolded.

More on point of the thread... I have been enjoying listening to Khruangbin as background music the last week or so. Just came across them recently.

- John

 

[Callused Finger]

they look bored in all their videos.

Does the style of music really evoke happiness?
I'd say they are playing the part.