Slap Setup Questions - Jazz Bass

[logdrum]

I can slap. Not acrobatically but I think tastefully/OK or maybe if you heard me, you would say meh and that's okay. I just got put together a Jazz bass with Fender parts (Geddy Lee Body + bridge - Lollar and a I think it is a MIM Jazz neck with binding. I really do not have new 4 strings at the moment so I just grabbed some D'Add 105 to 50 I have in my old string bag and haven't dialed the setup yet. Rather than experimenting. I'd like to ask the collective hive mind. if all these questions are answered in one thread that's recent - please feel free to insult me that I should use the search function or Google. Just point me to that thread or article.

My questions will span strings + technique/setup + EQ + amps + pedals-- But I think it's best to ask it here in basses. How do you guys set/choose:

1- Pickup height - low or high
2- Strings - light or medium gauge or some other a la carte (not interested in flats, I know it can work - but if you insist go ahead). I like DR stainless with round core
3- Action - low high - medium (I am in the high camp)
4- This is a passive bass and I intend to keep it this way. Both pickups on, favor front or back?
5- EQ - Baxandall or Fender tone stack or console channel strip. How do you set yours in your amp or pre-amp or channel strip.
6- Cab configurations + to tweet or not to tweet (tell me about your cab sims if you are ampless)
7- Compressor/Limiter or expander -- or not, how do you set it
8- Other pickup thoughts. I think these Lollars are 70's. I would like to keep it with true single coils but if you really think it should be hum cancelling tell me so.
9- Versatility -- is your setup just good for slap. How do you switch timbre/tone mid song
10 - And if you insist to have a an onboard pre - go ahead and tell me why. I already have an East J-Tone
11- Some other pedal besides #7.
12- Double thumb or the old way. (I am hopeless at double thumb)
13- Position. I am really interested in this and also for folks with +20 fret instruments - why that is better.

Bonus - your ideal slap sound on a jazz bass and the bassist you like. And if pickup covers matter, tell me about those.
Also if the 70's or 60's spacing are inherently wrong, tell me why.

Last request no StingRay please. That's another topic. Also if you do not like to slap and would just like to pitch in, then you are not really contributing to the topic.

Thanks

 

[Bevan777]

It’s all very subjective, different people can make different things work but, a common config would be:

1. pickups as high as you can without getting strings hitting the pole pieces

2. Medium gauge strings, stainless steel, flexible like DR Hi-beams maybe

3. generally a low action so you can get an efficient pop without having to pull too hard, having a low cut nut helps with this.

4. the classic jazz slap sound is both pickups on full maybe neck the tone off halfway to tame the highs

5. typically people go for a clean scooped sound but I think a gentle overdrive and a mid focused sound works great.

6. no idea about cabs tbh

7. A good compressor with a fast attack

One factor I have found is how deep the neck heel sits in the pocket, I.e how much space there is to get your finger under strings to pop them, on some basses the neck sits so low, there’s less room to get a purchase on the strings.

anyway my 2 cents.

 

[logdrum]

One factor I have found is how deep the neck heel sits in the pocket, I.e how much space there is to get your finger under stings to pop them, on some basses the neck sits so low, there’s less room to get a purchase on the strings.

Great point. The TRB 6 -- the old JP model had the body scallop just for this. I think I am okay. There is enough space.

Low action -- I notices a difference is in sound envelope with high vs low on the slap. What it is high the fundamental comes earlier than the string hitting the fret or rather the time distance between those 2 sounds is greater on high action. So low could mean the transient is sooner

I think I remember light strings + high-ish action.

 

[Bevan777]

Also 70s pickup spacing sounds better to me for slap.

 

[Geri O]

Geez, I’m glad I don’t have to go through all of that!

I simply set up my Jazz-style, my Stingray, and my Precision-style (yes, Matilda, I’ll slap with a P5….) basses the way I like them to play. Then I can play finger style or slap. Works great either way.

No special accommodations, no special gear, no comp (I’ll leave that to the mix engineer*), good ol’ Pro Steels. Easy enough.

(in the studio, I’ll track with no comp on the bass track, slap or fingers, but if I’m mixing the project, I’ll use a good comp plug-in afterwards for the mixing process. Something like the LA2A or the good ol’ 1176 plug-ins. I think other engineers mixing with my bass on the project will do something similar)

And I hope mentioning my Stingray and P5 doesn’t dump the apple cart. Those 3 basses are my arsenal for everything I do, that’s all.

 

[logdrum]

Geez, I’m glad I don’t have to go through all of that!

I simply set up my Jazz-style, my Stingray, and my Precision-style (yes, Matilda, I’ll slap with a P5….) basses the way I like them to play. Then I can play finger style or slap. Works great either way.

No special accommodations, no special gear, no comp (I’ll leave that to the mix engineer*), good ol’ Pro Steels. Easy enough.

(in the studio, I’ll track with no comp on the bass track, slap or fingers, but if I’m mixing the project, I’ll use a good comp plug-in afterwards for the mixing process. Something like the LA2A or the good ol’ 1176 plug-ins. I think other engineers mixing with my bass on the project will do something similar)

And I hope mentioning my Stingray and P5 doesn’t dump the apple cart. Those 3 basses are my arsenal for everything I do, that’s all.

Reason I added more is folks may say. Keep it simple. Medium strings and everything wide open... But thats good but their sound is molded by everything else. I have a chance here to start it right while keeping everything simple. I do have an Atlas compressor and an old DBX
Of course my Antelope Audio setup has lots of vintage compressors FPGA comps. . Low action is a no go for me. Do going a tad above, Fender recommendation. My bass is 70's and those Lollats are also 70. Got Fat Beams. Will see

 

[Geri O]

Reason I added more is folks may say. Keep it simple. Medium strings and everything wide open... But thats good but their sound is molded by everything else. I have a chance here to start it right while keeping everything simple. I do have an Atlas compressor and an old DBX
Of course my Antelope Audio setup has lots of vintage compressors FPGA comps. . Low action is a no go for me. Do going a tad above, Fender recommendation. My bass is 70's and those Lollats are also 70. Got Fat Beams. Will see

I set the action on all of my basses slightly higher than recommended. They sound better to me that way, both finger style and slap. And I use medium gauge strings. 50, 70, 85,105, 135. I like that better as well.

 

[Killing Floor]

There’s no best, just preference. But I prefer fairly light gauge bright strings. Hi Beams or Super Brights are what I keep on a bass I mostly use for slap/pop/tap stuff.
Lol it doesn’t have to be a Ray!

honestly I think once you get your technique down even flats are fine, they just don’t sound as sproingy. That’s a word. I’ve never adjusted pickups specifically for slap so no comment on height.

 

[Mark Ambler]

A Sadowsky preamp would be beneficial (ask Marcus)

 

[onda'bass]

Light stings,lightly scooped eq and a light touch. Slap is not a heavy technique, subtle and deliberate attack are needed not a hammer attack.

 

[red_rhino]

just grabbed some D'Add 105 to 50 I have in my old string bag and haven't dialed the setup yet.

Go with a lighter gauge. A 50 is way too high for popping a G-string IME. Seriously, go with a 90-40, something specifically light guage. You’ll get more bounce coming off the E & A too. Overall, it’ll be easier to play, and you’ll get a more dialed in classic slap tone to begin with before playing with all the other variables.

 

[tb-player]

I slap anything.

 

[Wasnex]

Great point. The TRB 6 -- the old JP model had the body scallop just for this. I think I am okay. There is enough space.

Low action -- I notices a difference is in sound envelope with high vs low on the slap. What it is high the fundamental comes earlier than the string hitting the fret or rather the time distance between those 2 sounds is greater on high action. So low could mean the transient is sooner

I think I remember light strings + high-ish action.

Low action is generally more sustain and less percussive in my experience.

As has been said...all of the variables depend on what specific tone you want and how you like to play. It also varies by the nature of your bass, amp, and cab.

 

[Smooth_bass88]

Also 70s pickup spacing sounds better to me for slap.

I agree with this wholeheartedly, although a bass with classic 60s pickup spacing certainly doesn't sound bad.

I use my MIM sunburst Geddy Lee with 20+ year old Fender original Jazz Bass pickups with rounds. I use an EQ pedal to tame some of the high highs, so I'm not taking peoples' heads off.

 

[J Wilson]

My advice would be to decide on which strings feel and sound best to you, then take your bass that's the Slap Candidate for a professional setup (relief, string height, pickup clearance, intonation, nut). Then woodshed your slap technique until you've reached a fluency that will allow you to learn songs and not struggle with the slap part in each past simply learning the song.

You don't want to put the cart before the horse, and if you are still learning and not quite secure in it as you'd like (and there's certainly no shame in that, we all had learning hills to climb), all these adjustments and purchases may be completely wrong once you're comfortable at it.

 

[andrewjazzy]

1. Pickup height: Set according to Fender's specifications [This invalid link has been removed]. But you can try setting them even higher as long as the strings don't get too "chorus-y" due to the magnetic field interference from the pickups.

2. Strings: DR Fat Beams. For some reason, every other string's G string pop sound is too thin for my liking.

3. Action: Set according to Fender's specifications [This invalid link has been removed]. If you can go lower without getting string buzz playing fingerstyle, go for it.

4. Pickup balance: Assuming you're going for the typical Marcus/Graham tone, then both pickups on and tone wide open. You can also try installing a no-load tone pot for an even brighter tone.

5. EQ: Generally a tiny boost in the lows and highs is enough. Sadowsky's tried-and-true 40 Hz and 4 kHz frequencies should be good enough for most people.

6. Cab configurations: The smaller the diameter of the speaker, the quicker it'll respond to quick bursts of sound, which is what slap is all about. Tweeter vs. no tweeter depends on how much you want to cut through in the mix.

7. Compressor/Limiter or expander: I've only ever used the MXR M87, and I find the best setting to be slow attack, fast release, with a compression ratio of 20:1. However, I find that my highs get slightly subdued even when keeping the input to a minimum, and that's making me wonder if a multiband compressor is a solution to this.

8. Other pickup thoughts: Keep your single coils if you don't mind the hum. There's a reason why the bar for hum-canceling pickups is to sound as close as possible to single coils.

9. Versatility: There's no reason why a bass set up for slap won't sound good for any other style. If it sounds bad in other styles, then you're not versatile.

10. Onboard pre: Not necessary, outboard pre's work just as well.

 

[RicoTheBassMan]

I play a G&L JB-2 with flats. I just turn the tone knob all the way up. I always play with a bit of compression. I don't change the setting....ever. The sound is in the fingers and techniques. The rest are just tweaks that only you hear unless there is someone in the crowd who is a Funk Filharmonik groupie.

 

[Les Fret]

-Low-ish action
-Roundwound strings, medium or light gauge
-Pickups not too high
-practice
-did I say practice?

that’s all you need for slap

 

[sawzalot]

So many questions. Low-medium action. Pickups low enough to not get hit by the strings. I play 45-100 or 45-105 depending on who makes them. Both pickups up full. An amp that can reproduce some highs, so a tweeter helps but isn’t strictly necessary depending on the rest of the amp/cab.

Mostly work on your technique. The rest will sort itself out.

 

[logdrum]

Thanks for the practice suggestions. That's a given. My goal here is find out what the common passive 4 string Jass bass setup is and where active TB folks are at with that.

Looks like I have the elements covered:

70's spacing
Lollar 70's style Single coil - hums as expected when not both at full
Geddy Lee model stock electronics -- whatever came with MIM body
DR Fat Beams - medium FB45 (105-45) I have slightly used High Beams. But I will try light gauge as well.

I have also a flat amp as far as BG goes AI Clarus. Have a good compressor.

Set it up Fender recommended and then raised the E by a mm - which is my preference at minimum. Neck shimmed by a doubled up copper foil. I will likely get a Kickass or something similar to get me 20mm spacing at the bridge.

Sounds good so far Slightly boosted bass and treble and no mid scoop needed on my amp. May record and share.