Poll: Fretless tone

[Lorenzini]

I like a thumpy, clear fretless tone, dry with a TINY bit of mwah at the end, only if you sustain the note with your fretting hand.

 

[OldogNewTrick]

A big thank you to all those who mentioned some recording or a specific bassist to illustrate their tonal goals, that helps !


these are great examples (outstanding sound and playability)

the "Burper" (Bjoerjes JB) and the "Singer" (Human Base Jonas)
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I note that currently the singers are leading the poll

 

[mat gregory]

I voted singing mwah like tone! Think Pino Paladino's tone on Paul Young's records!

 

[bradjonesbass]

I voted singing mwah like tone! Think Pino Paladino's tone on Paul Young's records!

or New York Minute...

 

[bobyoung53]

I like a thumpy, clear fretless tone, dry with a TINY bit of mwah at the end, only if you sustain the note with your fretting hand.

exactly.

 

[bobyoung53]

I note that currently the singers are leading the poll

Well that counts me out, I'm mainly a bass player.

 

[Debased]

I go for an articulate, growly/aggressive fretless sound with nice woody, organic tone, lots of sustain, singing chords, and yowling ally-cat-in-heat sliding harmonics. I have no use for smeared note attack, choked sustain, and truncated decay, so clumsy, lifeless mudflats aren't even a consideration for me. Those horrid things always remind me someone trying to sing with a huge jawbreaker in their mouth .

I use nickel rounds (DR Sunbeams) and change them every two or three months. If I need a fat, thumpy tone for a particular song, I'll use right and left hand muting techniques . You can easily tame the clarity of rounds with your hands, but nothing can coax liveliness and tonal vibrancy out of dead-right-from-the-package flats.

 

[saxofunk]

To clarify my chicken soup comment... I'm not really sure what it means, but it would be wet and slimy for sure.

My fretless is more Jack Bruce than Jaco. I simply don't know how to describe it.

 

[spade2you]

I'm also confused to what each poll really means.

Not sure why everyone is always trying to find the "best" sound. My MB2, Mouse 30, Cirrus 5, and Conklin 6 all have distinct tonal characterists that are awesome, but some are better suited for particular sounds than others.

 

[agreatheight]

I like a mostly dry / growly / hint of mwah sound. I get it on my Tobias Growler 4 String Fretless. Wenge fingerboard (iirc) with just finish (no epoxy or anything), swamp ash body, active pre / Barts quadcoil pickup, bolt on. Great bass.

 

[The Owl]

Punchy grrrrroooowwwwllll with lots of overtones, kind of like Percy Jones and a snarling black panther

 

[MAGUS®]

...punchy growl ?

Like this...

 

[bench]

...to what I´d want from a fretless tone.




PS and when it comes to chops
PPS and when it comes to drummers

 

[Baryonyx]

My favourite fretless tone ever has to be Bakithi Kumalo's sound on Paul Simon's "Graceland" album. Thats how I want to sound!

 

[Kael]

Bakithi Khumalo's tone on Graceland is awesome as well.

Massive +1, whatever the hell you'd call it, that is the tone that I personally prefer on fretless.

 

[Baryonyx]

Massive +1, whatever the hell you'd call it, that is the tone that I personally prefer on fretless.

It's also brilliant on "The Rhythm of the Saints", especially on "Proof", but otherwise it's a bit quieter than it is on Graceland!

 

[flipper_gv]

MWAHHHHH ftw

 

[T. Alan Smith]

hi all you fretless players out there:

What is your preferred tone and why ?
- all dry, growly attack with little sustain
- mainly dry, growly attack with some mwah
- still some punch but emphasizing the mwah
- melodic singing Mwaaaah

All the above. The free dowloadable "sketches" on my MySpace should explain. Otherwise, my fretless is a MusicMan Stingray 4-string w/piezos.

 

[Mystic Michael]

Good questions. I'm not (yet) an experienced fretless player, although I do have one fretless thus far, and I'm keen to become proficient on it.

I'm all about the mwah. Not necessarily at all times, or on every tune. But to me, it's definitely the most fun, exciting and expressive aspect of playing fretless. So I look for opportunities to incorporate that sound into my playing - within the bounds of good taste, of course.

So my set-up is:

• neck-through instrument
• light-gauge nickel roundwounds
• very low playing action
• epoxied finish on ebony fingerboard
• active electronics

MM

 

[Slapped]

...punchy growl ?

Like this...

OH MY GOD.

This is THE tone I've been looking for.

Anyone have a suggestion as to achieving this sound (or as close as possible) on a fretted bass?