Mid heavy basses

[Arthur U. Poon]

P-basses have a lot of low-mid emphasis (thus the deep sound). Jazz basses have a lot of growly high mids (at least most of the alder-bodied ones that I've played do). So, it depends on what kind of mids you'd like to accentuate.

My Spector 5er has lots of growly mids too, I think most Spectors do.

+1.
And IMO Roscoe, MusicMan, and Rickenbacker. My Alembic Europa has great mids too. I thought my Lull J-style w/Duncan single coils had strong mids. I've recently had the Duncans replaced with a set of Bartolini's, it now has big-time mids.

Plus, my amp has a decent eq, so I feel I can dial in decent mids from any bass that I use.

 

[Baryonyx]

lot of people say ken smiths are mid heavy...

Or just heavy

 

[ster]

+1

scuba steve;... damn you

My thumb bo 5er will punch your face off.

Link Removed

I have a Warwick Fortress thats not shy in the mid department either,
but a Thumb has mids that'll smack you in the head with a ball peen hammer!

 

[Luckydog]

P= thick fat mids, heavy in the low mids. Not deep lows though. What some hear as "lows" are really the P's thick tone.

J= clear highs and high mids, deep lows. Mid cut (regardless what is done with pickup selection).

what "cuts through in a band" is different from person to person. A P provides the thick underpinnings, anchoring the rest of the instruments, and its fat mids can be heard like a club through them. A J slices like a Ginsu knife with its highs and high mids, and has deep lows (deeper than a P) but the lows have less apparent focus (to me) than the low mids of the P. YMMV.

 

[Dr. Cheese]

Outside of P-basses, all mid heavy basses I know of have modern sort of sound. The P-bass low mids really make it a distinctive bass.

 

[Jonah]

Warwick Thumb bolt-on. Maybe it's the wood, my old custom Fortess MM has huge mids also. Ovangkol body.

 

[NKUSigEp]

Rickenbackers and Spectors from personal experience.

 

[fourstringbliss]

Both the G&L L2000 Tribute and L2500 tribute I owned were both mid-heavy to my ears.

 

[SUNNyday r.]

My 97 B.O. Thumb. Over the top mids.

 

[Bodhidrop]

Hi all. Interested in upgrading. Have a '98 MIM Jazz with new pickups (Still totally JBass sounding). Have been trying out many other instruments; borrowing others basses for jams and practices. Toying with 5 strings and enjoying that.

Looking for a bass: Up to $950 (Before tax, CDN $...used is fine) , medium or long scale, nice meaty pickups with lots of articulated low-mids and nice highs (Like ESP and Bartolini pickups. Not looking exclusively for an active instrument) with a "classic" sound that I can tweek a bit. Would like a bit of versatility. A unique sound.

Play through an Ampeg head and Yorkville cab. Use a synth box and a distortion pedal sometimes.

Mostly play fingerstyle, but not always. Jazzy-rock, punk, "arty" stuff; a bit of soul, r+b and funk too sometimes.

Any thoughts on something interesting out there?

 

[Ryan Mohr]

get your jazz, turn the neck pup full on, the bridge pup to about 70%, and the tone to 70% as well.

mid heaven!

I find that to get more mids out of a Jazz, you should roll off the neck pickup, thereby favoring the bridge pickup.

 

[propel]

Thunderbird

 

[Your41Plague12]

Hi all. Interested in upgrading. Have a '98 MIM Jazz with new pickups (Still totally JBass sounding). Have been trying out many other instruments; borrowing others basses for jams and practices. Toying with 5 strings and enjoying that.

Looking for a bass: Up to $950 (Before tax, CDN $...used is fine) , medium or long scale, nice meaty pickups with lots of articulated low-mids and nice highs (Like ESP and Bartolini pickups. Not looking exclusively for an active instrument) with a "classic" sound that I can tweek a bit. Would like a bit of versatility. A unique sound.

Play through an Ampeg head and Yorkville cab. Use a synth box and a distortion pedal sometimes.

Mostly play fingerstyle, but not always. Jazzy-rock, punk, "arty" stuff; a bit of soul, r+b and funk too sometimes.

Any thoughts on something interesting out there?

I strongly suggest a used Bolt-on Warwick Thumb.

 

[seedokebass]

Definitely a midrange voice!

I used to leave the blend 50/50, but I find myself starting on the neck pickup more often. Start with 100% neck pup, and blend in the bridge pup until you hit that sweet spot.

 

[Ryan Mohr]

P= thick fat mids, heavy in the low mids. Not deep lows though. What some hear as "lows" are really the P's thick tone.

J= clear highs and high mids, deep lows. Mid cut (regardless what is done with pickup selection).

what "cuts through in a band" is different from person to person. A P provides the thick underpinnings, anchoring the rest of the instruments, and its fat mids can be heard like a club through them. A J slices like a Ginsu knife with its highs and high mids, and has deep lows (deeper than a P) but the lows have less apparent focus (to me) than the low mids of the P. YMMV.

True in some respects, but you can tell me this Jazz doesn't have fat/thick mids:

 

[Ryan Mohr]

I have never owned a Warwick or an MTD Kingston, or a MusicMan SR, but heck these basses
pump mid-range growl unlike anything I have ever heard. Yes, a jazz can kinda do it, and
a Skyline 55-02 is close, but dang, Ya only need one PUP, and it had better be WAY closer
to the bridge than the neck.

Exactly! I don't think people realize this. But, you have to play close, or on the bridge pickup to get these mids.

 

[Bodhidrop]

As far as Warwicks go, I don't think I've tried the Thumb, but I really like the Jazzman. Any notes on these and other Warwick models that have a sound that is both "Classic" ('70s rock/Motown) and warm-and-crisp, "up front"? My experience with them makes me feel they have a bit less "whacketa-whcketa" and growl, which I like and need sometimes. Maybe it's just the physical design and hi-end vibe of the thing.

 

[ga_edwards]

+1

scuba steve;... damn you

My thumb bo 5er will punch your face off.

+ another 1. When I compared mine to a friends Jazz, the J sounded distinctly scooped.

 

[edubb]

I have never owned a Warwick or an MTD Kingston, or a MusicMan SR, but heck these basses
pump mid-range growl unlike anything I have ever heard. Yes, a jazz can kinda do it, and
a Skyline 55-02 is close, but dang, Ya only need one PUP, and it had better be WAY closer
to the bridge than the neck.

on the Warwick (especially the Thumb B.O.) and the Kingston, which I own. Never played an MM SR. The Kingston bridge MM pickup has loads of growl. I changed the pickups to Barts and it growls even more.

 

[two fingers]

The most mid heavey bass I've had was a Peavey Accelerator 5 string.Has the same pickups as the Cirrus but with a different preamp and pickup spacing.It was so mid heavy that I had to EQ my amp way different than any other of the dozen or so basses I had used with my current amp.It did sound good after the radical EQ changes but was too different to use at a gig where I might be changing basses during a set.

My Millennium 5 is middy sounding with the EQ flat but its sound cuts through great with a band that way and just a little pickup blend change and a little bass boost can change the tone a bunch.

+1 My Cirrus is so out there with mids that I can't use it in the same gig with any other bass. It would take too much tweeking to bring the other bass around. Don't get me wrong, the Cirrus can sound AMAZING, it just doesn't play well with others.