Remember when you hit THAT sound?

[Micha84]

Hey guys,

simple question: do you remember when you first hit the sound that you were hearing in your head?

I'm asking because it just happened to me. I recently bought a new guitar, an Am Pro II Stratocaster. Yesterday, I used it the first time for recording. I plugged it in, loaded the Morgan Amp sim and suddenly there it was! The sound that I had always had in my head. That was incredible! Until then, I was close, but never quite there. I have been playing for over twenty years, but yesterday was an absolute revelation. And the weird thing was that it wasn't even a real amp or a great stage with excellent tech, fancy equipment or whatever. I was sitting at home, in my sweat pants in front of my computer, headphones on. Surreal.

So, do you remember that time? Or have you not (yet) experienced it? What did it for you: a bass? An amp? Pedal maybe?

Let's hear some stories!

 

[Killing Floor]

Started with practice and confidence and gear only helps when you already are comfortable with your techniques.

But for me, not poking the TB bear, the sound of every amp I’ve ever owned is orders of magnitude better above “8” than below 3.
And that applies to bass and guitar.
So my lame answer to OP is that I learned to choose room/mix appropriate rigs that I can crank. If it’s too loud, then you brought the wrong rig for the gig. (And you’re too old)
The knob thingys, those are called potentiometers, as in meting potential.

I’m sure such a thing exists but I have never owned or used a guitar or bass amp that was optimized by the designer to perform best at output level 1.

That’s what I learned.

 

[Wyrdlow]

When - after years of trying to make every bass I owned sound like a Rickenbacker - I finally bit the bullet, and bought a 4003SW in 2015, put a set of RS66s on, engaged the "vintage tone" circuit, put the bridge pickup on full and then added the neck pickup gradually until.... HALLELUJAH!!!

We've been blissfully happy together ever since.

 

[ravelax]

I'm not sure I've ever had a certain sound in my head that I wanted to nail. My bass playing journey so far (20 years) has been more about exploring different sounds, and see what I like (which also changes over time). Lately I think I've arrived at some of the best sounds I've ever had, and if I ever had that idea of a certain sound I wanted to nail, it is now in my amp in the rehearsal space, rather than in my head. I can sometimes get stuck for hours browsing forums, watching demos, turning knobs while pondering "maybe I should try that pedal/those strings/that type of pickup/amp/cab/etc." and then I get to the rehearsal space, plug in my bass, turn on the amp, and it just hits me "well there it is, the sound I want!". It's a good feeling.

 

[KevInDaBassment]

Funny enough, for guitar I had a similar story. Had modded my Squier CV 50s Strat with DiMarzio pickups recently, then did some recording into Reaper. I had a POD UX2 at the time, and loaded up the Vox AC30 sim in Pod Farm 2 to do some tweaking. Once I started tracking along with the drums, I had this classic, crunchy, and sweet overdriven rhythm guitar tone that I managed to record. To this day it's one of my favorite rhythm guitar tones, would love to try and get it from a real AC30 some day

 

[Smooth_bass88]

yeah the first time I played through an SVT w/810 cabinet. I was in my early 20s and had been playing a mesa boogie bass 400 for about 5-6 years. I was literally bowled over. I promptly sold my boogie gear and bought a '77 SVT

 

[EricOnTheBass]

First time I played a P-bass haha. That's the sound of a bass, and you can't duplicate it without a split-coil pickup in the right spot.

 

[Water buffalo]

My most recent time experiencing that was when I plugged in my new JHS Punchline preamp/DI.

Heaven.

 

[Matt O]

On a large venue tour “back in the day” I was running 2 SVTs side by side and really cranking them hard. I still remember one night in particular my bass sounding spectacular. Glanced over my shoulder and noticed one of 8x10 grills was laying face down on the stage. It felt like an achievement of sorts.

 

[NoSlapForYou]

Definitely took me years to find the right sound. I grew up playing Fender Jazz basses. I still love the body shape and neck profile. But I could never quite get the sound I like. Finally I started playing basses with a Precision-style pickup and realized I was getting closer. Then I finally purchased an Ampeg tube amp and an 810 cab. I realize that this is a pretty classic setup. Maybe I should have figured it out sooner. But when I first started playing, the internet was barely a thing. I was also very far from a gear nerd.

There are other factors too, of course. I've improved my technique a lot over the years. And I've also gotten a better ear for EQ. For the last five years, I've been studying mixing. I've mixed a ton of my own music (and even done some paid mastering). So that also helped me realize I was boosting and cutting the wrong areas. Now I have a pretty simple formula for sculpting my sound that works in most circumstances. It'll vary a bit depending on the genre and room, of course.

 

[SkylineFiver]

Playing my new 1983 Jazz through my new
GK 400rb with a band…after the drummer told me to turn up the low mids.
Novice that I was, I thought scooped mids was the way to go…wrong.

 

[Element Zero]

Been playing for 30 years, went through 8 basses, 8 rigs, countless strings… I’ll let you know when I get there.

 

[Dincrest]

I have not and spent a lot of time chasing "the" tone... until I realized that instead of looking outward, I needed to look inward. Instead of chasing "the" tone, I needed to find "my" tone. Yes, plenty of things influence tone (especially strings), but I realize that I'll always sound like me no matter what bass I play. So I simply strive to be the best me. Whatever my "best me" tone comes out of whatever bass I happen to be playing.

So, yeah, I've kinda stopped chasing "the" tone and am more focused on simply improving my playing and improving myself.

(For reference, I started playing January 1994, back when I was 15. And I've gone through several different musical mentalities. And now, my thing is focused more on ergonomics and playability of any bass and amp rather than tone, because once I get that "oh yeah!" set of strings on a bass, the tone will be there since though I believe the tone is in my hands, the strings are what can change it the most).

 

[songwriter21]

Hey guys,

simple question: do you remember when you first hit the sound that you were hearing in your head?

I'm asking because it just happened to me. I recently bought a new guitar, an Am Pro II Stratocaster. Yesterday, I used it the first time for recording. I plugged it in, loaded the Morgan Amp sim and suddenly there it was! The sound that I had always had in my head. That was incredible! Until then, I was close, but never quite there. I have been playing for over twenty years, but yesterday was an absolute revelation. And the weird thing was that it wasn't even a real amp or a great stage with excellent tech, fancy equipment or whatever. I was sitting at home, in my sweat pants in front of my computer, headphones on. Surreal.

So, do you remember that time? Or have you not (yet) experienced it? What did it for you: a bass? An amp? Pedal maybe?

Let's hear some stories!

Two times...found that a mahogany body and maple neck with Fishman's system, in single-coil mode, sounds like a Spector. Alternatively, being able to mold that sound from Zoom's little gem, the MS60B.

 

[Pdaddy1978]

1981...after almost a decade of playing Gibsons ...I bought a P
Then about 6 months later...I was gifted an Ampeg.
Boom.

 

[Discount Bassy]

I managed to reproduce a close approximation of my tinnitus in a DAW by fiddling with tone generators. It ended up sounding like a sus2 chord, played using an old school CRT whine, a dental drill and a color test pattern tone, not in standard tuning or in tune with itself.

 

[Bent77]

Yep, first time I played through an SVT

Um yep there's the sound. Ampeg is all I will use now

 

[spiritbass]

The first time I set my newly acquired Reeves Custom 225 on top of my MAS 110 Bodai cabs in the sanctuary, fired it up, and heard one of the voices of God. My living rig delivers inspirational tones even better than I could imagine. I've spoiled myself and my ears with an Arkham Ultralinear amp sitting on a Mesa Subway 115. All-tube amps make me want to plug in and play!

 

[Drifter8230]

Its funny this question popped up because today I felt like I had some sort of breakthrough. Years ago I always had to settle for what I could afford, but within the last 4 to 5 years getting back into playing I can finally afford to experiment with hardware that matches what I hear in my head.

Strangely enough I started experimenting with Darkglass products after purchasing a Spector with a Darkglass preamp. I figured why not extend the entire "signal chain" to include hardware from the same manufacturer. This led to a Microtubes amp, B7K Ultra DI, and an X7 overdrive/distortion pedal (not to mention the DG 4x10 cabinet).

Earlier today I finally dialed in the EQ settings I was always hearing in my head, for both "clean" and "dirty" tone. It was like the tone I was looking for, and trying to create, just "clicked" with my playing technique.

I'm happy for the moment until I get the "itch" to buy something new

 

[Bass4ThePublic]

Pre cbs p bass with flats -> ashdown geezer -> sunn 2x15


Ohhhh yes