Reggae Dub Live Bass Sound

[wickedmrrogers]

I play bass in a reggae dub band. My set up is pretty straight forward, I have a few different basses I use (American P Bass, Warwick Corvette 5, Epiphone Viola Bass) through an ampeg svt 350 amp and a classic 4x10 cab.
Im playing out a lot now and in search of perfecting that heavy dub tone, looking for some help. I was thinking about upgrading to a tube head unit or buying a compressor. Some cool stomp boxes and effects might be fun as well.
Any suggestions/tips/advice/comments are appreciated.

 

[brianrost]

Turn the tone pots all the way down (on active bass, treble and mid cut) on the bass itself, dial down treble and mids on your amp, turn off any tweeters. Play as lightly as possible to get the deepest sound, turn the amp up to compensate.

DOD FX25 filter box is what Bill Laswell uses, it strips out all the high end. Set the sensitivity so the filter doesn't open then set the frequency to taste. If you let the filter open just a bit you'll get his blurp sound.

 

[bigblondeafro87]

I had the Ampeg 350 for a while, and eventually realized what a POS it really is. Too quiet, baaad tone, and little bass response.

I'd suggest selling that and buying something else. Personally, I bought a GK 700rbII and never looked back. You can find them used for 350-400 (a little more than you'll get selling the Ampeg here or elsewhere). They have great all around response and can really crank out lows.

You're probably gonna have to acquire some funds to really get that dub tone you hear. 15's or 18's, a good eq, a compressor, and flat wounds will all help.

In the meantime, find the sweet spot on your bass with the dubbiest tone (towards the fretboard but not necessarily on it). Play lightly and turn up loud, train yourself to control note lengths well, and jah man jah...

 

[Monkey]

I agree with suggestions above. I use a separate pre-poweramp setup (Sansamp RBI, 500 watt Carvin poweramp) so that I have lots of headroom, and usually play through two Aguilar DS112s, and sometimes a 2x15. In my 20+ years of playing reggae, the biggest complaint I've heard from musicians about bassists' equipment is when they can't move enough air.

I play a chambered 5-string fretless (made by me) with TI Jazz flats, and I pluck well over the fingerboard at around the 19th-20th frets. I often play very softly, but I usually don't roll off all the high end. Between the chambered fretless and two-year-old flatwounds, the little high end I get seems to provide for some nice definition.

I used to use the green DOD box like Laswell (who I really like), but now if I need a serious low end, I use the Sansamp RBI's controls. I can get a killer dub tone by turning up the preamp gain, cutting the presence all the way, and turning up the bass knob. Serious throb!!!

So, I don't think you need effects to play great dub on the bass; just lots of wattage and BIG EARS. You can't buy ears, and a lot of bassists overplay.

 

[newbold]

highs can add to sub harmonics.

Be careful how you cut...

Muting and thumbing, light playing, adding space.

fuzzy tone is great. Try a short scale bass when you can too.

 

[One Drop]

Everyone is different, but I don't like to cut too much treble at the bass, preferring to at the amp.

Power and speakerage are the only things that will get your ruling reggae tone out to the audience, whether from your rig or a PA. Of course it has to start with your fingers and bass, but if it is reggae the bass is loud and extremely powerful, which is the real reason it's tone has developed the way it has: if it wasn't so warm and relatively lacking high end it would simply be unlistenable at the levels commonly heard.

 

[greenboy]

{...}if it wasn't so warm and relatively lacking high end it would simply be unlistenable at the levels commonly heard.

Plus it would go beyond cutting through so much it would eat up the mix, which would result in the other players turning up. This would destroy the whole roots stylee, which is not only how players set their tones and volumes, but also built right into the way parts are conceived and layered. Reggae just has this great balance of give and take and that would get decimated if the mix slots were compromised.

 

[brachal]

It ain't cheap, but old Gibson EB basses are great for this. Flatwounds and that monster neck pickup really deliver the goods.

 

[greenboy]

I use a Kappalite 3015LF (Low Frequency)15" driver in Carvin BR115 cab for the bottom part of my bi-amp system. That cab has more interior space than most 15" bass cabs and as a result allows a good driver to go lower. The recnt vintage stock Carvin driver/cab does really well, but with the Em 3015LF it's just amazing for lows and won't fart out even with 700-800 watts driven hard - even when the bass is boosted. And it weighs just under 8 pounds!

Dispensing with my top cab and just using that retrofitted BR115 it puts 18" bass cabs to shame in the Big Bottom department and also has the right midrange balance to sound ready made for dub. Two of them with even more watts is of course even more dubby ; }

 

[One Drop]

Plus it would go beyond cutting through so much it would eat up the mix, which would result in the other players turning up. This would destroy the whole roots stylee, which is not only how players set their tones and volumes, but also built right into the way parts are conceived and layered. Reggae just has this great balance of give and take and that would get decimated if the mix slots were compromised.

Very true. I love the way all parts interlock and complete each other, which is why so many great dub mixes can result from a good original track. it's also amazing how loud a good reggae bass tone can be live without swamping a mix.

 

[greenboy]

Likewise with the lower drums, especially the kick. Often hear on forums about conflict with kick drum and bass but that's usually bogus, it's usually other masking that's standing in the way, higher up in the spectrum than the subwoofer-range.

Amazingly, a couple of the outdoor reggae shows I've been at had amazing amounts of bass and kick in the sidefills and drum monitors onstage, and no problems whatsoever with feedback or clarity of other stuff.

 

[miacomet]

+1 on the flatwounds. We play a lot of reggae and dub and I have been on a never ending quest to find "that tone". I saw John Browns Body a little over a month ago and parked myself right smack in front of Nate Edgar...That dude's got it dialed in...a Monster. Also I have found my VT bass has been a huge help...it gets things pretty round for me.

 

[Dave Bassincus]

Darryl Jennifer of the Bad Brains got a great sound on the last cd by going through a low-pass filter. It was produced by Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys who called the tone "thicker than Beyonce's thigh".
My old Peavy TNT 130 had biamp outs, and I did the same thing (low out into power amp in, dialing in the tone with the crossover) and got great dub tones.

 

[Gearhead43]

It ain't cheap, but old Gibson EB basses are great for this. Flatwounds and that monster neck pickup really deliver the goods.

I agree here, I used a knockoff EB-3 style bass alot of the time when I was in my reggae band and it had great warm fat bassy tone. Also, short scale basses need a light touch, which helped with the giant pillow of bass.

I used a Trace Elliot head with the highs rolled back and an Ampeg 8x10 cab . Big warm wooly boom!

I eventually went to a P-bass with very dead heavy roundwounds and could also get a good tone that way. Always missed the EB though, and just found a used one recently and it feels like home.

 

[greenboy]

As an alternative to conventional EQ techniques, envelope filters/autowah with the sensitivity set to 0 work good (been mentioned but I'll expand on this). The resonance setting can be twigged to either sound relatively full, or to bring up more mid- and upper-bass.

I like them with a dollop of direct dry signal mixed in for just a tad bit more definition. If you turn up the sensitivity just a little bit you start getting a bit of the quack stuff going on, but for some stuff if the resonance is also set low, this can be cool.

 

[Ubersheist]

You can't buy ears, and a lot of bassists overplay.

That's a good point for the dub stuff. We do some dub stuff, which I'm hoping to get up on the myspace site soon, and here's what I do:

I roll back the highs almost entirely on my active Thumb Bolt-On, run it through a good compressor (I use a Vox Snake Charmer pedal), and then through something with some surface areas on your speakers. I personally use an amp with a 410 and another cab with a 10" and a 15" in it. For outdoor shows, I make sure there's a really good PA system, or I borrow another amp and cabinet set-up.

I also run a Electro Harmonix Microbass with a setting that has all of the sub-octave in and some of the octave-up, the square wave up a bit, and the resonance fairly low. That can give you a good dub sound, too. I'm also guessing some octivator pedals or other synth basses can give you a totally different, and very dub sound, too.

 

[Hans Gruber]

Anyone ever try a dbx subharmonic synth? I've been wanting to get my hands on one for years, but something else always gets in the way.

 

[greenboy]

Anyone ever try a dbx subharmonic synth? I've been wanting to get my hands on one for years, but something else always gets in the way.

Well, In PA I have, as well as the equivlanet in the dbx DriveRack PA. It helps to have good subs with limiting and High Pass Filters engaged. I like the newer Peavey Kosmos better though.

 

[One Drop]

I find boosting around 80hz on my Eden is what gives me the most useful and pleasant low end boost without obscuring the mids and punch. I roll off the treble knob a bit on my Jazz and a lot on the amp, cut a bit around 600hz and 4000z, and turn it all way up through a Bergantino NV610 and NV215. This works for my jazz, never experimented enough on another bass.

But if I boost the bass knob, everything gets muddy and definition gets lost, and I lose evenness going up to higher strings. But boosting around 80hz or a bit lower gives each note this pregnant quality, like it's trying to bust out of its confines while still not running into the next note. It doesn't mask punch either, and in fact has its own fat punch added to the punch from the low mids. This is all with Sadowsky or LaBella flats on a passive J, your mileage can and probably will vary.

I'm considering getting hold of a SABBDI or a Tone Hammer to see what they can add to get me closer to the warmth of my SVT when I use the Eden instead.

 

[bigblondeafro87]

I find boosting around 80hz on my Eden is what gives me the most useful and pleasant low end boost without obscuring the mids and punch. I roll off the treble knob a bit on my Jazz and a lot on the amp, cut a bit around 600hz and 4000z, and turn it all way up through a Bergantino NV610 and NV215. This works for my jazz, never experimented enough on another bass.

But if I boost the bass knob, everything gets muddy and definition gets lost, and I lose evenness going up to higher strings. But boosting around 80hz or a bit lower gives each note this pregnant quality, like it's trying to bust out of its confines while still not running into the next note. It doesn't mask punch either, and in fact has its own fat punch added to the punch from the low mids. This is all with Sadowsky or LaBella flats on a passive J, your mileage can and probably will vary.

I'm considering getting hold of a SABBDI or a Tone Hammer to see what they can add to get me closer to the warmth of my SVT when I use the Eden instead.

It just depends on the room, really. In some rooms 80 hz will give you a muddy, boomy mess but evidently the room you're in now works well. The exact frequencies you need to boost or cut to achieve a cutting, fat tone is quite variable and in some rooms is impossible to achieve due to how the sound waves bounce around in the place.