Something wrong with my bass tone?

[pappabass]

LTD'S especially the older korean made ones have a good tone. I have one. B205.
Try this (worked on 2/different ltd's I owned)
On amp tone knobs: bass at 2 o'clock, mid at 10 o'clock, highs 1 o'clock. Set the bass the same. Set to neck pickup, play close to the neck pickup. Play with a normal (not heavy) touch.That should be a decent tone. You may want to change the strings on the bass. If u want a little brighter sound, choose the bridge pickup. Play between the 2 pickups.

 

[insomniac2295]

So both of those strings are coated and could be a contributing factor. I would try something uncoated like dunlop super brights.

Also, I have a schecter elite 4 with soapbar emg hz pickups and they just sound darker than other pickups. I don't know how much you paid for your bass but my experience is that the soapbar style pickups in cheaper basses sound kinda dark. The super brights should help in any case but I don't think you're going to get that super crisp clear tone you are looking for without other effects in your signal chain.

+1
Cheap soapbars, coated strings

 

[nickpc]

...I bought this one, since I thought it looked cool, and I didn't want to spend too much money on my first bass:

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Now, I'm currently trying to get a good tone and I'm really struggling...

You bought on looks and price and aren't happy with the sound - I hate to say it, but why are you surprised? Tone wasn't a factor you put into picking that model, so the odds of it being exactly what you wanted were low to begin with.

There are a lot of suggestions on how to brighten up your tone in the thread already - hopefully one of them (or a combination) will get you where you want to be.

 

[jd56hawk]

This is the "brightest" tone I can get. Again, I think that the knob settings aren't an issue. The tones I hear in the YouTube videos and the tones I am getting sound so different that it almost sound like they are coming from an entirely diffeent instrument.

Am I crazy or do different basses just sound THAT differently? I have 4 guitars here and they all sound like... well guitars, when I plug them into my interface. I don't understand why basses would sound this differently from one another.

If you can't get a brighter tone than that, something is definitely wrong somewhere.
Does your preamp function correctly?
Do all the knobs work properly?
Have you tried just the bridge pickup alone?

 

[Cutter8]

"Personally I can't stand that kind of sound so I actually like your clip better than the video but YMMV."

The thing is, recently there was another bass player at my house and we jammed a bit and his clean bass DI tone sounded exactly like the tone the people in the YouTube videos got, even though he had a completely different bass.

That's why I was wondering, whether there is something wrong, sice every bass I've hear other than mine has that crisp sound to it.

Did you have that bassist play your bass to see if it sounded different? If not, you should. Did you play his bass and suddenly sound good? If so, maybe there’s something lacking in you bass. If not, the issue may very well be you, not your instrument. I don’t mean that as a negative comment about you, it may just take some time to learn to get the tone you want out of any bass. Guitar and bass are very different animals, and most guitar techniques will not yield what you, as a guitarist, would expect them to when applied to bass. A shockingly high percentage of the tone that comes out of any bass is in the hands of the player, not the instrument. When I started playing bass, after four decades of playing guitar, it took quite a while for me to realize that. Don’t give up, you’ll get there eventually!

EDIT: One other thought. Have you tried adjusting the height of your pickups?

 

[FunkHead]

Get with your drummer, use a decent amp and crank the mids, and forget all this Youtube nonsense.

 

[SiriusVI]

Thank you all so much for your input! I guess that's just how a bass sounds for that price.

I will try extra bright strings now and maybe moving up my pickups. But I've never done that. How far up is too far?

 

[mambo4]

There is nothing wrong with your bass or its tone, you are just comparing a Ford escort to Mercedes and Teslas.

Your bass is a Lower tier ESP that goes for well under $500.00 usd
The first video the guy plays Musicman stingray HH, The second video features a Invalid Link Removed
both are 4 x the price at least of your bass

With "DI" I mean that I plug my bass directly into my audio interface, so I get an unaltered, pure bass sound. That's what the people in the YouTube videos do, right?

probably not. A "DI" is an actual audio device that does color the sound. some a very expensive and desired by producers. There is no guarantee when a you tube guy say s"D.I." that he's only using the bass output.

For what it's worth a bass's aggressive punch sound is not the highs but the upper mids (1000-2000 hz)
rather than cranking bass or highs on you bass try cutting them and boosting the mids

 

[JKos]

@SiriusVI ,
Your recorded tone isn't as dull as you seem to think. I think different strings will help a lot because you can hear some higher frequency content during certain string rattles. Coated strings aren't helping.

Even what type of pick you use is going to make a difference. And where and how you pick.

Did you try with bridge pickup only?

- John

 

[HolmeBass]

"You keep mentioning your bass DI tone. Which DI are you using?"

With "DI" I mean that I plug my bass directly into my audio interface, so I get an unaltered, pure bass sound. That's what the people in the YouTube videos do, right?

No, not at all. Some of those examples are definitely running overdrive (OD) and probably compression and almost certainly EQ. Also if your EQnis active then in common parlance your bass is active.

You say you have new string and fresh batteries, but what kind of strings do you have? Stainless steel round-wounds are commonly needed for those bright crunchy tones (although there are exceptions of course).

 

[Chasarms]

Thank you all so much for your input! I guess that's just how a bass sounds for that price.

I will try extra bright strings now and maybe moving up my pickups. But I've never done that. How far up is too far?

The PUs, as a starting point, should be about 3 mm from the string when the string is fretted at the last fret.

 

[MtManiac]

Hey everyone,

I started out playing the guitar, but I found a band that I wanted to join. Since they needed a bass player, I picked up a bass guitar.

I bought this one, since I thought it looked cool, and I didn't want to spend too much money on my first bass:

Invalid Link Removed

Now, I'm currently trying to get a good tone and I'm really struggling. What I found was that my Bass DI tone sounds a lot more dull compared to other DI tones I found on YouTube.

So I guess my question is: does that specific bass just have a very dull tone or is something wrong with my bass?

Welcome to Talkbass.

First off, there isn't anything "wrong" with your bass, but it is never ever going to sound like a Stingray. I suspect a lot of what you're disliking about it is due to the DI you are using. I didn't read the whole thread, but I read much of it and don't see where you've said what DI it is. They're definitely *not* all created equal.

If looks are all that went into your decision, then there is the root of the problem. Where you're coming from guitars, it would have been good if you'd asked a few bass players first what they'd recommend. I would not have ever recommended this bass, primarily due to its 35" scale. Other reasons too, but my other reasons have more to do with my tastes than anything else, so I don't need to bring them into it.

I don't have a problem with your tone, exactly - it isn't what I would want, but it is usable, especially if you plan on using some overdrive or distortion. Please do some research here on Talkbass on bass distortion/OD/fuzz before you go down that road. Same with amps.

Bass isn't just "big guitar." Lower frequency notes and harmonics behave quite a bit differently than the midrange ones you're used to. They have a tendency to hang in the air and collide against each other for one thing. It also takes more wattage to amplify lower frequency pitches to the same Db level as higher pitched notes. Some signal chain electronics not made for bass bleed off or filter out the low frequency pitches. In the mix with the band, it is also really easy to get swallowed whole by a loud drum kit and two guitars. So you have several areas that are much different with bass than with guitars.

Some of the guys here are giving you tips on brightening your tone, and they're not wrong, and that might be what you think you want, but it is not what you need. You want a bump in the low mids. Again, you are not going to sound like that Stingray, so give up on sounding like that with this bass, and just focus on sounding good. For that, dial down the bridge pickup to about 50-80%, dial up the neck pickup to 100%, and give treble and bass a slight cut. Again, remember it is not going to sound like that Stingray - but this is where you will want to be in the mix with your band. Run your amp EQ flat, or with a slight cut to the highs and lows also. It is also going to sound very different played solo through your DI than it will in the band mix - because of those lost harmonics - so don't judge too much based on what you're hearing out of your DI.

For distortion pedals, try to find something that is either made for bass (like the DOD Boneshaker, Aftershock, Darkglass pedals, etc.) or something that has a blend knob on it, allowing you to blend the distorted tone with your clean tone.

Good luck.

 

[RhynoRock]

Fresh strings and a cranked SansAmp or DarkGlass pedal will get you that raspy, metallic modern metal bass tone. It's often a scooped mids and lots of bass & highs with the pickup blend set on both pickups. If it were an active bass where you could boost frequencies, that would help immensely. Humbuckers are the right pickup for that type tone for sure. You may not get quite what you've given examples of, but it can be close.

 

[arbiterusa]

And besides, it would be really weird if srings lost their brightness after 2 weeks already.

Welcome to the wonderful world of bass, where strings cost 7 times those of guitar sets and last far less time. If I'm playing a lot, I'll change 'em every week.

You need to ditch the colored and the coated strings, those sound like garbage. Get some Rotosound RS 66 on there and it will help, although I suspect the bass is just a little on the dull side. Each instrument really does sound quite a bit different.

 

[ArtechnikA]

With "DI" I mean that I plug my bass directly into my audio interface, so I get an unaltered, pure bass sound. That's what the people in the YouTube videos do, right?

I don't - don't like the tone.
I use a Radial JDI usually, sometimes a DarkGlass VMT-Ultra.
BTW - if your bass uses a battery, it is active...

 

[jd56hawk]

Hey everyone,

I started out playing the guitar, but I found a band that I wanted to join. Since they needed a bass player, I picked up a bass guitar.

I bought this one, since I thought it looked cool, and I didn't want to spend too much money on my first bass:

Invalid Link Removed

Now, I'm currently trying to get a good tone and I'm really struggling. What I found was that my Bass DI tone sounds a lot more dull compared to other DI tones I found on YouTube.

So here is an example of what I found on YouTube (but in many videos the basses sound like this):



I've attached a file of what my Bass DI tone sounds like when I leave all the EQ nobs and the pickup nob at their center position.

My strings are relatively new (2 weeks old) and also I've changed them many timey, so it's definitely not the strings.

So I guess my question is: does that specific bass just have a very dull tone or is something wrong with my bass?


Thank you so much for your answers!

Forgot all about this.
Might be just what you're looking for.
I've seen these used for $35 or $40.

 

[iiipopes]

Sweetwater.com did a comparison of DI boxes, passive and active. Their results show a whole spectrum of differences, from "open" sounding to "compressed" sounding and all sorts of timbre differences, from mid heavy to mid scooped, bassy to thin, bright to dull. I would try a different direct box. What do I use? I found that the simpler the better: I use the $20 passive Behringer for the most open, neutral tone that is not compressed, so that my sound man with my band's digital Behringer board can do whatever may be necessary to get the best tone out front, depending on the size and sonic character of the venue. Link:

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/de...NBEyz7hZ1KX-vEedKc8aAixbEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

 

[Frank77]

"You keep mentioning your bass DI tone. Which DI are you using?"

With "DI" I mean that I plug my bass directly into my audio interface, so I get an unaltered, pure bass sound. That's what the people in the YouTube videos do, right?

That's what's wrong, right there. They get these tones using a preamp and/or overdrive pedals, sometimes with cab simulation too. Bass straight into the audio interface sounds pretty dry and boring, that's expected.

 

[lug]

D'Addario Pro Steel strings. Trust me on this.

 

[drumvsbass]

Nothing wrong with your D.I. tone at all. I hear what you're saying from the Helix example that his bass is aggressively bright. However, from a sound engineer point of view I would prefer your starting point D.I. as it has a fair bit more chunky low end which is harder to synthesize with eq and amp sims. Treble is easy to add, and just depends on how you want to add it. The guy above me said D'Addario Pro Steels. I agree.