Reggae Dub Live Bass Sound

[saxroots]

The ultimate reggae bass sound/tone starts with having the right bass - if you start off with the right sound coming from the bass it's truly a thing of beauty - almost any amp will give you amazing tone - so, it's gotta be a Gibson EB style pickup tucked up right under the neck - flatwounds are a must (I tried them all and love GHS Precision Flatwounds the best) - You also need a bridge pickup for sound versatility - mix in a little high end clarity just by changing the angle of your finger and catching the string with the edge of your nail - then back to the boom shacka!!!! It doesn't hurt to have individual pickup (dual) outputs - so you can route the bridge pickup with all it's EQ to a separate amp - maybe through some effects... effectively double tracking your own bassline... more boom shacka!!!!... NICE ONE TUBBY!!!

I prefer short scale - it's just so much better for me - more relaxing and mellow... another thing... it's gotta be a solid construction - bolt on necks just don't do it for me - a solid set neck or neck through construction is essential for me to feel comfortable playing reggae... also... relatively low action... flow like BUTTA!!!

The nearest production bass that comes anywhere near close to my specification is www.Eastwoodguitars.com Hi-Flyer - at the amazing price of $379 - I have one as a backup to my custom James Bass ($1800) I love owning the Hi-Flyer - it has ROCK SOLID construction and sound... but I don't actually play it because my Custom James is the ultimate KILLER REGGAE BASS... but if I had tried the Hi-Flyer before ordering several custom guitars - I probably would've saved myself a small fortune...

Enjoy! Boom Shacka!!!

 

[COOL AND DEADLY]

Of course flatwound strings, also 2 -15's will sound much darker than 4 -10's. As far as compression is concerned, I don't reccommend it for dub. Here is why: most all compressors bring your highest frequency tones down a bit and your lowest frequency tones up a bit. This defeats that earth shaking Dub bass rumble. Besides, if you are playing fingerstyle towards the neck your volume should be pretty even without compressing. Put your cab directly on the floor.
Your EQ is crucial too. Pump up the 50-100w freq, cut the highest mids, leave a little treble IN to make it round and less muddy. If you have a mid frequency control, turn that all the way UP, then turn the cut/boost for the mids all the way to cut. Taking these freqs out, and leaving the other mid freqs flat will darken your tone without sacrificing punch and clarity. If you have simple eq knobs, dial bass at 3, cut mids (highest), and dial treble at 1 or slightly under 1.

 

[One Drop]

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.

Good point. Being able to shift the frequencies boosted to center around 50Hz to 100Hz has been helpful in some rooms, but 80Hz has been most commonly right for me. I'm lucky in that the room I play most often is perfect for bass reproduction and dispersal.