Reggae Bass Question...

[zerov0864]

ok, im starting in a band, and were going to be mainly playing reggae. for practice and gigs, im using a squire jazz bass (70s vintage rerelease...) and 2 15" calvin and peavy solid state amps, nothing special.

now eventually i plan to get better gear for better (reggae) sound, but that is many dollars away, and im stuck with what i got for a while.

considering what i have, what settings (bass and amp) should i be using? (pickups, tone; freq, gain, bass, treble, hi, mid, low buttons, eq....all that good stuff lol) any playing tips? ive been toying with it for a while, and im still not exactly satisfied.

also, i was thinking of getting an epiphone eb0 sg bass, mainly for its shorter scale and lower price. would this bass (combined with the correct amp settings) have a pretty good reggae sound?

 

[MichaelPatrick]

If you haven't already, I'd check out a set of flatwound strings to get that low end, thick thump. I've used D'Addario Chromes in the past and really like them, but I think strings are a personal preference...so try out a couple variations.

The 2x15 is definitely moving in the right direction. I tend to roll off the gain and play a lot closer to the neck...which gives me great thump.

IMO, a EB-0 might be too muddy, but then again, you can play reggae with just about any type of bass.

 

[zerov0864]

thanks for the info.

yea, i was thinking that about the eb0 too...darn.

well....what about the epiphone viola bass? would that be good for reggae?

any bass and amp setting suggestions?

 

[Fool]

If you haven't already, I'd check out a set of flatwound strings to get that low end, thick thump. I've used D'Addario Chromes in the past and really like them, but I think strings are a personal preference...so try out a couple variations.

The 2x15 is definitely moving in the right direction. I tend to roll off the gain and play a lot closer to the neck...which gives me great thump.

IMO, a EB-0 might be too muddy, but then again, you can play reggae with just about any type of bass.

Good one! I play alot of reggae, flatwounds are good.
I use my jazz bass, aston barret style. Back off the tone a little, and roll a little off my bridge pup. anchor my thumb off the end of the neck.
Good luck.

I use 1 15, and 1 410. both ampeg, ba series.
hopw this helps

 

[Oric]

I think that Squier jazz (is it the VM?) will work just fine for reggae. Reggae bass is all about how you play, anyway.
I mean, listen to this- listen to it being played on roundwounds and on the bridge pickup: Invalid Link Removed
if the groove is there, and you play with the right technique, you could play reggae on a Fender Bass VI with a pick plugged into a guitar amp (actually, no, that'd be pushing it a bit...)

 

[JimmyM]

I have heard reggae bassists play on anything from Eden to SVT's to cheap old Peaveys using any number of different basses, and they all sounded great. Just cut the treble and most of your upper mids, and you should be golden.

BTW, I love violin basses for reggae!

 

[MichaelPatrick]

i do like a light echo effect on really thick bass for reggae. Check out Dub Trio.

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[Monkey]

BTW, I love violin basses for reggae!

I have a Rogue Violin bass that I bought for reggae. I build my own basses and always modify my instruments, so I rewired the Rogue and put new pickups in it. The tone was great at home, but I had serious feedback problems at gigs. To tame the feedback, I glued a block of wood to connect the front and back of the bass, and it worked.

I built a solid-body short scale bass to play reggae, and it works much better than the Violin model. My bass has a 30-inch scale, poplar/walnut body, and fretless neck with a maple fingerboard. Short scale sounds great with reggae, but the Violin bass just didn't cut it for me.

I've been playing reggae for over 20 years, and have seen all kinds of basses used successfully. I built a 20-inch scale silicone-string bass (like an Ashbory) and played it at a festival where we warmed up for Mikey Dread (famous Jamaican reggae musician). The musicians and soundmen loved it. So, as long as you can get a deep, fat sound out of it, play whatever kind of bass you want.

 

[Mazatleco17]

I have the VMJ with flats, and it sounds really good imo, I'm a lover of reggae myself.

 

[MakiSupaStar]

I play dub reggae primarily. Personally, I play a Warwick corvette $$ 5 string, but I also have a carvin lb75, an old carvin 4 banger, and an sx 5 string jazz. The Warwick is my main bass though. I play a with the bass a little past the midline, and the treble a little less than midline. The $$ has two big humbuckers on it. I tend to rest my thumb on the neck pup and my fingers play just in front of the neck pup. I like to have my neck pup switch in the mid position and my bridge pup in the down position. Sometimes, I might play in passive, sometimes active, there really is no reason, just kind of what I feel like. Passive tends to give me that more typical dub sound, but I can get a nice fat warm sound in active mode too.

I play through a pre/power set up. I have a little boss dd3 delay pedal between my bass and my pre. My preamp is an Ampeg svp-bsp, which is split channel. One channel gives me that tubey warm ampeg tone, and the other channel gives me a nice dirty distortion. Each channel has an fx loop, but I run my fx loop through the dirty channel, this way, I always have a clean sound in the mix. This helps with pedals with tracking problems. My power amp is a 1000 watt carver 2.0i that has been modded to be mono at 4 ohms. For most gigs I play through a carvin 4x10 red eye. Sometimes I daisychain this cab with a 1x15 behringer ultrabass cab. Each cab is 600 watt at 8 ohm handling capacity, but when daisy chained they combine for a 4 ohm setup.

I love my sound and I'm very happy with my set up. Once I let a buddy of mine play his marcus miller jazz bass through my rig and it sounded great. I highly recommend stepping back and listening to your rig while someone else plays through it. Pretty cool.

With all that said, reggae bass is really not so much about tone ( although this should be dialed in also) but it's really more about note placement within the beat, and your feel for the groove.

I've seen many reggae shows, with many of my heros playing bass. Family man, flabba, robby Shakespeare. I've seen many players playing everything from your traditional fender jazz basses, to laklands, to 6 and 7 string basses. All have sounded great.

 

[matty85]

As for technique I also kind of mute the strings near the bridge, not too much but it gives you a cool sound. I recommend the Book by Ed Friedland, it's ideal.

 

[wickedmrrogers]

in the words of Robbie Shakespeare : "...the original bass in Jamaica used to be Fender, everybody wanted a Fender Jazz. But me make sure mine sound like nobody else. I know what to do, because it not only the instrument. It depends on you, the player. You got to have the ear and the feel for what you play - the riddim is the most important part of that."

 

[BurningSkies]

Quit worrying about your gear and worry about getting the best out of what you have. From what I see you've got fine equipment to make for good reggae tone. You'll get your sound together the more you play and the more you listen to reggae.

 

[basslinejam]

Lucky you, I've always wanted to be in a serious reggae band but that opportunity never presented itself... anyway,

Listen to the BurningSkys. Forget about new gear and get to know what you have. Listen to some of the suggestions about technique (playing over the fingerboard +1) Watch some youtube vids of The Wailers band and Black Uhuru.

Learn about thumb muting techniques if you're not familiar with them.

Reggae is one of the most demanding "feels" out there. Make sure all your band mates (especially drums) are into getting it right or else you'll sound... well, not so good.

cheers

 

[(b)Assman]

I think that Squier jazz (is it the VM?) will work just fine for reggae. Reggae bass is all about how you play, anyway.
I mean, listen to this- listen to it being played on roundwounds and on the bridge pickup: [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
if the groove is there, and you play with the right technique, you could play reggae on a Fender Bass VI with a pick plugged into a guitar amp (actually, no, that'd be pushing it a bit...)

Oric, awesome example of how a not full and beefy tone can fit right in the mix perfectly. Woulda added maybe just a little more beef for that modern reggae tone though.

 

[Jluckie3]

get a bass. roll off the treble, pluck it near the neck. lock in and groooooooove. that's all you need for reggae

 

[Ubersheist]

well....what about the epiphone viola bass? would that be good for reggae?

any bass and amp setting suggestions?

Here's your answer:

The 2x15 is definitely moving in the right direction.

<snipped>?

but then again, you can play reggae with just about any type of bass.

You will want to move alot of air, so a big cab with big speakers is necessary if you're playing a gig that doesn't have a big PA system with big subs to push the air for you. 2x15 should be plenty if you're playing relatively typical shows without a big PA with subs.

The head should have enough wattage to push the air, too (and the cab should be able to handle the wattage, of course). I recently played a backlined gig and was impressed with some Ashdown head that the other band had. It had a "sub bass" knob which was a sub-harmonic generator. SOUNDED KILLER.

Beyond that, there's flatwound strings, but I personally don't care for their tone. The rest, as they always say, is all in the hands!

 

[Gearhead43]

I really like the Sansamp Para Driver for my reggae tone, gets a nice thick sound and is a fairly dark sounding preamp already. I just got a VT Bass though, so it might be my all-around sound pretty soon.

To the OP, if you end up not liking the tones you can get from the Peavy gear, try sticking a Sansamp in front of it. You can get them used on the cheap even, and they can really fatten up your tone. IMO.

The others are right about not obsessing on the bass you are using though. I have used a P-bass, an EB-O, and a Jazz and was always able to get a nice fat reggae tone.

 

[bigblondeafro87]

You want a lot of headroom on your amp for that clean deep tone, but theres a lot of reggae bass tones out there... I personally find that using a moog lpf, some compression, and some carefull eqing can get you that reggae sound given the bass your using sounds thick enough on its own.

But it really is about the feel, make those eighth notes sticky sounding and pay attention to your releases. No rushing at all or you will sound like a hack

 

[Floridabwoy]

FX25, play near the neck, & murdah dem.