Mike Kroeger's tone(nickleback)

[Scott01]

http://youtu.be/eiOvsHHquTc

WHAT IS HIS SECRET???

His tone is in no way "treble-y," but does he use a pick it seems.

It's actually quite boomy and he does the "play for the song" thing quite well (ie. stays in the back of the mix plunking out semi-audible quarter/eighth note lines that follows the guitar like a wounded puppy). I'm shocked he is not more popular on here


I suppose the best way to get his tone would be to use a two-pickup Bass (a J or anything with soapbars), blend the PUs to favor the neck, boost the low mids on the amp, add a touch of gain via overdive, and squash the hell out of everything with a compressor. Not a bad tone at all if I say so myself, and easy to get if you have the right settings on your equipment.

I know people are all like "you need a Spector to sound like a Spector," but I have played enough of them in person to know they aren't that unique sonically. That type of thinking is just rationalizing the spending of more money for no reason.

Any suggestions on pedals and compressors for adding the overdrive and keeping a tight sound?

I've never really used any serious pedals or effects before... I'm also new to compressors, I could never get them to do anything useful for me

Most Active 5 string basses will be able to get that tone.

So I could get pretty close to this with my Corvette 5 or Streamer LX? What am I doing wrong??


Edit: I read reviews of the Sansamp bass driver saying that it is the easiest way to make your rig sound MASSIVE... is this the right direction? Or am I wasting my time looking at this?


Edit2: My current gear is Corvette 5 Active Bubinga, Little Mark Tube 800 (solid + mini-tube), MarkBass 2x12, and soon to have a Streamer LX 5 Redwood LE.... what should I be adding or avoiding to get closer to Mike's growling thuunder??

 

[klejst]

Never liked Nickelback, however I can honestly say I do appreciate Mike's bass tone.

 

[SoVeryTired]

Never liked Nickelback, however I can honestly say I do appreciate Mike's bass tone.

Ditto. It's not often I hear a distinguishable sub-E bass note on the radio.

 

[MisterMagician]

http://youtu.be/eiOvsHHquTc

WHAT IS HIS SECRET???



Any suggestions on pedals and compressors for adding the overdrive and keeping a tight sound?

I've never really used any serious pedals or effects before... I'm also new to compressors, I could never get them to do anything useful for me



So I could get pretty close to this with my Corvette 5 or Streamer LX? What am I doing wrong??


Edit: I read reviews of the Sansamp bass driver saying that it is the easiest way to make your rig sound MASSIVE... is this the right direction? Or am I wasting my time looking at this?


Edit2: My current gear is Corvette 5 Active Bubinga, Little Mark Tube 800 (solid + mini-tube), MarkBass 2x12, and soon to have a Streamer LX 5 Redwood LE.... what should I be adding or avoiding to get closer to Mike's growling thuunder??

Everything you have is just fine, the Little Mark has a very versitile EQ.

The overdrive is there to make the sound more "unruly," the compressor is there to tighten it back up so your tone doesn't get in the way of everything else. It is what gives you the dense, "barely contained" sound you are going for I think.


I would say you wouldn't even need an overdrive pedal with your rig, just dial up the "tube" knob until you get where you need to. Not too much though, you want enough SS tone to keep things clear, especially if you don't want a compressor in the equation.

As far as compressors go, I just use the one built into my amp, but the Barber Tone Press is something I hear nothing but good things about. You actually won't even need the compressor if you don't go crazy with the overdriive.


Hope that helps.

 

[PyronicDisaster]

Nickelback is still around? Ewww.

I know right? I mean how horrible is it that some people still like them and have a different taste in music than you do. Must be awful knowing that not everyone it the same as you.

 

[Johnny Crab]

Nickelback & Line 6 in the singers converted barn(full stage setup downstairs, production upstairs).

“But when we record it up here, we use a program called Amp Farm from Line 6. We just take a split off of their guitar amps so we can have everything modeled as though they're playing live, but we just sneak an extractable in there that comes up to the computer. We have the amp simulator program and record a direct, clean guitar tone — the same with the bass — with no leakage, DI'd into the mixing board and then into the computer, which then processes it. You create the amp sound in the computer and it records it. You can simulate any amp you want [with Amp Farm]. It sounds good. When the drummer re-tracks the drums, he plays to the clean guitar tracks, which don't have any leakage in them, and a click.”

Kroeger also owns a famous SSL console: Aerosmith's Pump, Mötley Crüe's Dr. Feelgood, The Cult's Sonic Temple, Bon Jovi's Slippery When Wet and parts of Metallica's black album were all recorded on it.
In the Studio With Nickelback | Mixonline

 

[GYang]

Some of his best earlier bass sounds were recorded with Warwicks.
He was very much into Warwick and Spector is pretty much similar bass.
Streamer is Spector's alter-ego bass, with some changes to be growlier and slightly deeper.

 

[lengus_young]

I thought I’ll warm up this old thread since Mike’s rig has changed a lot since the last postings.


Basses: In the very early days Mike used Tobias Basses and Ampeg or Mesa Boogie Amps (Invalid Link Removedjust in German). When Nickelback started to record he switched to Warwick and sticked to them until Silver Side Up came out. On early concert videos he is seen with Warwick basses pretty much all the time. There is a nice old video at the Bizarre Festival in the summer of 2001 right before SSU came out where he played Warwick. With that album the money started to flow and he switched to custom made and master built US-Spectors. On the SSU-Tour he did not use a single Warwick anymore as it can be seen on the Live at Home DVD which was recorded in January 2002. He has used 5-string bases pretty much exclusively which is necessary since his guitarists often use very low tunings (Bb or C) and “he likes these low notes”. His main basses are Spector NS 5 XLs. Recently he could be seen using Sadowsky basses for some songs. He even showed up at the Sadowsky booth at this year's NAMM. He has been an EMG user for ages (mainly soapbars) and likes physically heavy basses. I have never seen him playing on a maple fretboard.


Amps: He hasn’t been using amps live any more for over 12 years now. The reason can be found in this article (short: he finds it redundant). In this Radial related video from 2018 his rig is explained pretty well: His main live channel is fed by the tube-driven Firefly DI made by Radial (like Nickelback based in Vancouver). The second channel comes from the Avalon U5 DI which has been part of his rig for at least 15 years. For me it's not clear if he is using both channels all the time or if they are used for specific songs. Before using the Firefly Mike had the Radial JDI as his second DI channel (see transcript of a 2005 Bass Player Magazine interview - years before the Firefly came out). In the Radial video you can see his settings pretty clearly: The Firefly’s Trim knob which regulates how much the tube kicks in is turned to 12 o’clock, so 50%. It’s the only sound changing knob on this DI (ok, the low-cut knob is down to 0). The Avalon has only six sound presets. In the video you can see that he uses preset number 2 which according to the [Invalid or Expired Link Removed] is a typical bass guitar preset with a very very mild boost for the lows and highs and a very strong mid cut of around -20dB at about 800-900Hz. In the video you can also see a Tech 21 Sansamp PSA 1.1 which I think is no longer produced. I don’t know for what he uses it but in this video you can see it as Channel 3 (labeled SANS) - his bass tech does not mention it in the video. And then there is also a Empirical Labs Distressor which is a very expensive compressor. His bass tech also states that for small "one-song-gigs" Mike just uses the Radial Bassbone V1 (today only V2 is in production). Mike is also an endorser of the Radial Bassbone OD.

Until about 12 years ago he used the Tech 21 CompTortion, Peavey Pro 500 heads, Crest 5200 power amp, Peavey Pro cabinets live and in the studio. But according to the German interview he quit on that entirely and tours amp free now.

The rest of his rig consists of amp switching systems like the Radial Jx-44 and his wireless stuff but I would not consider that important for someone who is just looking for getting close to his sound.


Effects: I know of two pedals he is using for sure: the regular old school Big Muff (for some parts in Too Bad) and the Hartke Bass Attack Pedal (I don’t know for which song). It can be seen in the Radial video and be found in this interview (again).


Strings: Ernie Balls all the way. Northing else according to his interview.


Straps: the entire band uses Levy’s Leathers Straps only. This is a Canadian company – maybe that’s why. On most of his basses he has the MSS2-XL-BLK.


Pics: Jim Dunlop Triangles .88.

Summary: His live rig is actually pretty simple. He basically mainly uses two of the most expensive DIs on the market to get his instrument to the people. In Europe both DIs are currently around 800 Euros give or take. In the already quoted interview Mike says the most important sentence of all: "Your sound comes from your hands and your way of playing." But if you wanna get close to what he his using, get a modern 5-string like a budget Spector, a Warwick or something similiar maybe with EMGs, play it with a pick (mainly) and cut the mids on your EQ or you go real-Mike-Kroeger-style and play amp free (e.g. get the Radial Bassbone OD which is endorsed by Mike).

 

[lengus_young]

Update: For the new video "San Quentin" they played the song live in front of a small crowd at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver. Obviously the live track was later replaced by the studio recording but for playing the track Mike used a Darkglass Alpha-Omega 500 or 900 (impossible to distinguish in the video) and the DF410N cabs. Nothing new on the bass front: he used his signature Spector bass.

 

[lengus_young]

Next update:

Mike recently posted a picture of his practice rig. It includes a Spector Bass, a Darkglass Alpha-Omega 900 with a Darkglass D410N cab. He comments on his picture that he still uses Ernie Ball Strings only and that the guitar strap is a Couch Guitar Strap.

 

[songwriter21]

Does anyone have any info on his rig?I know he uses peavey cabs.I just love the tone of his 5 string spector.

Beefy EMG humbuckers, the Haz Lab or Tone Pump pre, snd you're golden (an all-maple Spector bass helps to get that classic grind, of course). I have a Schecter Stiletto Studio 5, and get a pretty close and mean EMG tone...preamp flat, a Zoom MS60B with the Ampeg SVT patch for lows and highs, along with an Acoustic 18" cab sim patch, and EWS mid pedal powering my tone sublimly.