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Not happy with my sound in jazz ensemble

F

Frolor

Dec 16, 2013
3
0
#1
Hi,

I play bass guitar in traditional jazz ensembles (playing jazz standard like Autumn Leaves, Donna Lee etc) and I'm not happy with the sound of my soloing. Walking is great, but when I solo I found it hard to hear myself or stick out of the ensemble, although other players play more quiet for that purpose. I find the sound of the bass quite muddy. I love soloing and I have a lot of fun when I play alone home with I Real Pro, but in a live situation I don't enjoy the sound of the bass guitar and later this has been quite frustrating.

Somehow I envy guitar or piano players, their sound is clear.

What are my options? Buy a 5 strings with high C string and play in the higher registry? Play with EQ (how?)? Change my brand of strings (usually D'Addario EXL 165 something like that) Play guitar? (haha no way).

My bass is an American Fender Jazz Bass 4 strings.

Thanks!
 
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#4
It may help to understand what sound you are going for, only you know that for sure and you will know it when you hear it.
You certainly have solid gear and should be able to get a great tone by most folks standards. But again, only you know "the sound".
 
#8
As well as plucking the strings closer to the bridge have you tried soloing your bridge pup as well? Boosting low mids will help give you more growl especially using a jazz bass. That's my preferred tone with any bass I'm playing but my jazz bass sounds amazing IMO with this setup. Good luck.
 
#9
anomalybass said:
As well as plucking the strings closer to the bridge have you tried soloing your bridge pup as well? Boosting low mids will help give you more growl especially using a jazz bass. That's my preferred tone with any bass I'm playing but my jazz bass sounds amazing IMO with this setup. Good luck.
Click to expand...

pickup selection and right-hand placement will effect changes in tone, but have you thought about playing your parts at a relatively low volume with your hands, so that you have extra volume, on instant demand, when you need to solo or bring out a fill? I head Todd Johnson on this topic, and it was very informative - the notion of keeping right-hand intensity at "4" for most of your playing, so you can dig in and get louder, immediately, all the way to "10" if you need it. Todd had this thing about his ghost notes being as loud as his fretted pitches, and I'm sure his relative dynamics had something to do with it - he could hit the ghosts harder and match the fretted notes, because the normal-course notes were not at full blast.

There also is the volume knob, but if your J-bass is set up in typical V/V/T form, this can be a pain…even though I personally favor V/V for tone control.

Consider analyzing how much dynamic range you can create, from soft to loud, solely with your hands. Hand placement from neck to bridge makes a difference in tone and volume, but plucking intensity is worth exploring.
 
#10
You might want to have a look and listen to what your accompanying players are doing. If the piano or guitar or both are taking up the same register you're playing in, you might want to have them play sparsely in the high register one at a time. Otherwise you'll have to make your tone so cutting that it will sound like a rock solo. I prefer to solo without anything else but drums or guitar. It's a rare pianist who accompanies bass solos well, I find.
 
#11
Thanks all for your answers!

Indeed, I play over the neck pickup during my solos, to be consistent in tone with my walking. I'll try the bridge pickup, although I'm afraid it will sound too Jaco-ish if only the bridge pickup is on...

I'll try also to eq the mid-lows.

My complain is very personal, since no one has ever complained about my sound. I'm fascinated by this guy:
youtube com / watch?v=NYv5aEyJz4k
This solo is amazing, not only because of the feeling, but also because his sound is crystal clear, almost perfect to me! I wonder how he manages it, since his walking sound is very "muddy"/"smooth" (in a good way) but his solo sound cuts the mix. That's a target sound for me.

Thanks
 
#12
When soloing with a J bass I prefer the bridge pickup but, the neck pickup knob has to be backed off only slightly for the bridge pickup to dominate and yes, you will get a Jaco ish type tone but, so what, it's only for the duration of your solo. If you still don't standout from the rest of the band, purchase either an outboard preamp or a Bongo and your problem of standing out in the crowd should be solved.
 
#13
Frolor said:
Thanks all for your answers!

Indeed, I play over the neck pickup during my solos, to be consistent in tone with my walking. I'll try the bridge pickup, although I'm afraid it will sound too Jaco-ish if only the bridge pickup is on...

I'll try also to eq the mid-lows.

My complain is very personal, since no one has ever complained about my sound. I'm fascinated by this guy:
youtube com / watch?v=NYv5aEyJz4k
This solo is amazing, not only because of the feeling, but also because his sound is crystal clear, almost perfect to me! I wonder how he manages it, since his walking sound is very "muddy"/"smooth" (in a good way) but his solo sound cuts the mix. That's a target sound for me.

Thanks
Click to expand...

That's a very bright sound, as you might expect from that bass. Notice, too, that the pianist is merely punctuating his phrases until the last chorus, when he kicks in with some thicker voicings. He gave that bassist a lot of space to develop his solo -- and the bassist knew what to do with the space!
 

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