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Poll: Fretless tone

What is your preferred fretless tone ?

  • all dry, growly attack with little sustain

    Votes: 21 5.5%

  • mainly dry, growly attack with some mwah

    Votes: 115 30.0%

  • still some punch but emphasizing the mwah

    Votes: 115 30.0%

  • melodic singing [I]Mwaaaah[/I]

    Votes: 132 34.5%
  • Total voters
    383
#42
agreatheight said:
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.
Click to expand...

nice, concise description :)


can one generalize like this ?
- bolt-on => mostly dry / growly / hint of mwah sound
- neck-thru => singing mwaah
 
#47
i prefer a really smooth tone that emphasizes the low end with a tiny bit of high end sparkle to it that shows up in the higher registers. my action is always as low as possible. typical bolt-on fretless jazz bass. usually almost full volume on the neck pick up and maybe a quarter volume on the bridge pickup with the tone up maybe a quarter. i found this really fills in the low end in a band setting but lets higher register playing cut through. i use Rotowound flatwounds, but have used d'addario chromes before and those were fine.
 
#50
I voted mainly dry. I use to have a cheapo J copy but now I've got an "acoustic" Hohner with a P pup in the sound hole. I like a solid, dark tone, more woody than bright. I must confess I haven't been playing much fretless since I got a fretted 5er about 2 years ago. I really like J Clifton Mayhugh's tone on Adrian Belew's "Lone Rhino", and Bob Nieske who played with Jimmy Giuffre, but it was one of the players on Brian Eno's "Another Green World" that really made me fall in love with fretless tone. Nieske is probably closest to what I mostly shoot for with fretless.
 
#51
neurotictim said:
I like Jaco's tone, and believe it or not, I like Les Claypool's on a number of tunes, but my "ideal" fretless tone is without a doubt Sean Malone's sound on Cynic's "Focus."

Amazing record, that one. One of the only cd's I was a**l-retentive enough to rip as a set of FLAC files.
Click to expand...

Yes, that's some seriously awesome fretless tone.

I like a fretless tone that is edgy and punchy enough that you aren't sure if it's a fretless in a band context. Ash body, bolt on, ebony board, one bridge pickup.
 
#52
bench said:
...to what I´d want from a fretless tone.

Click to expand...


+1, but my favorite is Alain Caron's fretless tone and playing on "Rhythm 'n Jazz". I don't try to play anything like that (as if I could anyway...), but it's what inspired me to take up fretless bass. The best sounding fretless basses I've had are the two I have now, a Zon Sonus Special 5 with D'Addario Half Rounds and a Rob Allen MB-2 5 with the stock LaBella tape wound flats. I prefer to let both basses have their own voices rather than try to get a different sound from them. Then again, i chose them for their sounds, so in that sense I'm guess I am trying for specific sounds, I just don't have to try very hard to get them. Never mind.
 
#53
Debased said:
I go for an articulate, growly/aggressive fretless sound with nice woody, organic tone...
Click to expand...
I'm with Debased on this. I love a throaty/dry sound but with sustain. I move around alot with my right hand though when I want a different sound.
I barely change my bass' EQ settings. Everything is pretty much flat, and I will favor the bridge or the neck pickup depending on whether I need a bit more clarity or smoothness.
I use a Curbow Petite with DAddario Xls, but I am dying to try out some TI Jazz rounds. I'm not sure if I favor any wood setup, or if woods really have anything to do much with the sound compared to the electronics. I had maple body/Coco top R-bass with a setneck construction that sounded VERY similar to my Curbow. The Curbow is Rosewood top/ Purple heart back with a bolt-on Rockwood neck - very different basses, when comparing materials and contruction.

....and the pics :D
 
#56
wow, very good poll. i've been going through this for the last couple of days so it was real good to see everyone's thoughts. i personally did not vote because i was very unclear on the description options. nevertheless,
i do have my favorites: percy jones, bunny brunell, kai ekhart and alain caron. but when it comes to what i'd like for my own personal tone, it would be jaco of course (jazz bassish)and mike manring (dual coilish in the bridge position).
just my thoughts
 

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