So, like, what is 'vintage tone' REALLY?

[bassliner50]

Sir Paul?

 

[JeezyMcNuggles]

Everyone talks about how great 'vintage tone' is, but what is it?

To me it makes me think of what you get with dead strings and highs rolled off. Thumpy round tone, which I can achieve with basically any bass and any amp.

What do you think makes 'vintage tone'?

View attachment 4222880

Low mids only

 

[arbiterusa]

Farty, crappy, gutless, inaudible.

Old amps just really don't sound that good. Not until you got the SVT and the Acoustic 360 did you start getting actual bass.

 

[fretno]

it's not a thing at all , most classic recordings used and plethora of gear and instruments , just as they do today . You can't just say P bass when there were Dano's , hollow bodies , shorties etc etc... you name it .

 

[Freekmagnet]

“Vintage tone” is whatever the marketing department says it is and whatever the consumer believes it to be.

 

[Killing Floor]

Everyone talks about how great 'vintage tone' is, but what is it?

To me it makes me think of what you get with dead strings and highs rolled off. Thumpy round tone, which I can achieve with basically any bass and any amp.

What do you think makes 'vintage tone'?

View attachment 4222880

Depends on any number of narrow definitions. Underpowered amp?

 

[AboutSweetSue]

it's not a thing at all , most classic recordings used and plethora of gear and instruments , just as they do today . You can't just say P bass when there were Dano's , hollow bodies , shorties etc etc... you name it .

Yes you can.

I can also say that cats are the true rulers of Earth, and we are their slaves.

 

[fretno]

Yes you can.

I can also say that cats are the true rulers of Earth, and we are their slaves.

That is way more accurate than tossing around the words "vintage tone"

 

[AboutSweetSue]

That is way more accurate than tossing around the words "vintage tone"

It’s an uncomfortable truth.

 

[Jazzdogg]

When I think of "vintage" bass playing, I harken back to the sixties, when I played passive basses, through tube amplifiers, into sealed cabinets with limited bandwidth and SPL.

But, that's just part of the equation; we used that gear to create music, and just about everything about the experience was different from today.

 

[pbass2]

...To me it makes me think of what you get with dead strings and highs rolled off. Thumpy round tone, which I can achieve with basically any bass and any amp....
View attachment 4222880

Well, it's true you can certainly roll off the highs and use dead old strings on any bass. How desirable a tone you get is dependent on other factors as well. There's more than one kinda thump. Sometimes it's just dead, a lifeless blur. Other times, if done properly it's the holy grail. As always, depends on what the music calls for.

 

[coy garcia]

I believe its bass tone 60's-70's. Passive bass, tube amp, 115 speaker....that's my personal recipe for it.

 

[spatters]

‘Vintage’ tone, to me, is something generally more mid-range forward with attenuated highs over 4 kHz or so, and also with less low bass. It’s a tone profile (or range of profiles, really) that organically resulted from the sound reproduction limitations of popular speaker cab designs of the 60s and 70s like the B-15, SVT Fridge, etc. Many of these cabs have a characteristic ‘bump’ somewhere in the lower midrange that can help the bass sit well in certain mixes. Tube amps are often used for this application, sometimes pushed into overdrive.

To contrast, ‘modern’ tone resulted from advancements in frequency reproduction capabilities in newer cab designs that use ports and tweeters to extend the lows and highs. Many of the these cabs have a pronounced ‘scoop’ in the upper midrange/low treble and a glassy sounding top end, giving them a different kind of sonic signature. Solid state amps are often used for this application, and are run clean, sometimes with compression.

Great post. To the definition of "vintage" I would add "with some compression and overdrive due to running an underpowered tube amplifier flat out."

 

[BadSanta1281]

Only us Boomers can recognize vintage tone.

Now get off of my lawn!

 

[Ric Vice]

Vintage tone is the simplicity of a Fender Precision Bass’s tone stack. one passive Volume control and one passive Tone Control which is more like a HPF.
It’s a “one trick tony” but that one trick will get you a great sound.

 

[Jeremy Crockett]

This:



And this:

 

[Camaro69]

This:



And this:

So, mudbuckers though a tube amp?

That’s a nice recipe...

 

[grillman]

When I turn on the vintage switch on most gear I seem to get this.

- more low mids
- tone rolled off
- more "grain"

So I guess this is what gear makers at least understand by vintage.
For me it is a bit like the sepia effect in photography, it can be wonderful when it is natural but it looks tacky when it is emulated.

 

[mongo2]

To me "vintage" is just a marketing term.

 

[JimmyM]

Motown, Beatles, 70's tones, the time when electric bass came into its own but it still wasn't real bright. Some highs but they were subdued...things like that. Flatwounds are often used for that type of tone, though not always.