Hey dudes. I been loving rage against the machine's bassist Tim commerford's slap tone. Good amount of juice, with an intense crunch. Anyone know the workings of his secret? I know he slaps a stingray and on occasion a J. I have a ray-34 and I think things might transfer. Thanks dudes
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RATM slap tone..?
- Thread starter Sgt Baker
- Start date
Slaps? You got a song you mean specifically. Tim is not really known as a "Slapper".
He mostly uses J basses these days and there are many threads here on what specific pedals he uses. OD, a couple of Q105s screwed together with a board, etc. For amps he uses SVT IIs and 8x10s
He mostly uses J basses these days and there are many threads here on what specific pedals he uses. OD, a couple of Q105s screwed together with a board, etc. For amps he uses SVT IIs and 8x10s
In an interview he said he used to be a very good slapper, but since Flea and the peppers came out before them he gave it up. Later he learned that James Jamerson only used one finger so he learned how to play all of his bass lines with only one finger. He supposedly did something to his pups in his J bass to make them sound better and I believe it, as he picked them up after he smashed it at one of his concerts. As far as I know he also has a clean tone through one 8x10, then adds 2 levels of distortion each through half an 8x10, depending on how dirty he wants. I know the distortion comment doesn't have anything to do with your question, but it is still good to know, IMHO. Cheers.
Tim was using EBMM Stingrays when he slapped on their first album. Now that he doesn't he uses Fender J basses with P bass necks and hand-wound pickups. He also is insanely secretive about his pedalboard so unless you can find one of his old techs who has a grudge I don't think we'll be figuring out that monster for a while.
Not really slapping. At least in the clinical sense.
If you Google Tim Commerford gear, a bunch of TB threads pop up. No point in typing it all out again for you, but the information ( at least what he allows to be known publicly) is all out there. The poster above who said he rewinds his own pickups is correct, or at least that's what he says in the BP magazine article a few years back. He also mods his own pedals.
There is an official RATM gear page.
http://penguinguitars.tripod.com/RATM/#tim-effects
He keeps his gear under pretty tight wraps. He winds his own pups and his gears pretty heavily modded. He hasnt played a MM in some years now. When I saw him play he only played a J. Now I guess he's got a Lakeland....pretty cool.
I wish I paid attention to his fingerstyle.
I wish I paid attention to his fingerstyle.
Floyd Eye said:
isn't the intro to the song he referenced slapped? take the power back...I think the op just likes the sound he gets when he does slap, however rarely it is
Well, I suppose most of that song is slapped. I wasn't trying to insult anyone, it just seemed like they were using the term "Slapped" in a slang sort of way, as there really isn't much slapping on that ( or any other) RATM album.
Back around the first RATM album, Tim was all about the hi-fi gear. He played a 2-band Stingray through SWR amplification, and that's pretty much the sound you hear on that record. The distorted Jazz Bass tone came later - he started "prototyping" that sound on RATM's second album, Evil Empire. This was also about when he retired his thumb from slapping duty. 
Well, there's definitely some "slapping" (thumb style, etc) going on on the first RATM album!
It's a very typical MusicMan slap sound, so if you own that kind of bass it'll be easy to get close to that tone.
It's a very typical MusicMan slap sound, so if you own that kind of bass it'll be easy to get close to that tone.
There was an urban myth years ago that the first album is his ray straight into the recording console, either with or without a di.... But I never saw it confirmed
Take the power back isn't in a440 either so its probably a varisped tape recording, and if memory serves the only slapping on that album. I pretty much nail the tone with my 3eq stingray.
Take the power back isn't in a440 either so its probably a varisped tape recording, and if memory serves the only slapping on that album. I pretty much nail the tone with my 3eq stingray.
