Stefan Lessard's growly sound in "Stay"

[Eric Perry]

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!

I have a question, In the Dave Matthews Band song "Stay", the beginning guitar riff, Stefan does the quick little thing that sounds awesome. It's got a great growl tone to it. HOW can I emulate that? My main bass is a custom Conklin with a Korina body and Birdseye Maple top, Maple and Purpleheart neck, Birdseye Maple fretboard, Bartolini soapbars, and an Aguilar OBP-3. I run through a BBE 882 Sonic maximizer and an Ampeg SVT-III. My cab is a Hartke 410XL.

Any ideas? I've heard great stuff about the SansAmp, but never tinkered with one. Would that help?

THANK YOU in advance!!!

 

[The_Owl]

IIRC, Stefan uses a custombuilt Modulus Flea bass (among others) 5-string, with the fretboard extended to 24 frets.

 

[Eric Perry]

Yeah, I checked up on Stefan's gear. It's really cool, his entire rig is listed on the website.

What I wanna know is how I can come close to that tone with MY bass (and also MY amp). I'm not replacing the Conklin! Thanks.

 

[Lockout]

IIRC, Stefan uses a custombuilt Modulus Flea bass (among others) 5-string, with the fretboard extended to 24 frets.

Didn't he use Warwicks on that CD?

 

[Woodchuck]

On that song he used a Warwick Thumb 6.

 

[The_Owl]

Yeah, I checked up on Stefan's gear. It's really cool, his entire rig is listed on the website.

What I wanna know is how I can come close to that tone with MY bass (and also MY amp). I'm not replacing the Conklin! Thanks.

Raise the mids on your bass/amp. I like high-mid growl, it adds a bit of dirtyness, which I love. Attack the strings harder, try to think of your plucking hand as a claw, and really dig into the strings.

 

[Eric Perry]

Thanks Owl. That definitely helps, but it doesn't really invoke that dirty overdriven sound. Have you tried the SansAmp?

 

[Jazzguy]

Raise the mids on your bass/amp. I like high-mid growl, it adds a bit of dirtyness, which I love. Attack the strings harder, try to think of your plucking hand as a claw, and really dig into the strings.

It also helps to use the bridge pup and have you right hand
closer to the bridge.

 

[The_Owl]

Thanks Owl. That definitely helps, but it doesn't really invoke that dirty overdriven sound. Have you tried the SansAmp?

If you are talking about the SansAmp bassdriver, then no. But I have tried several bass overdrive pedals, and it's not that hard to get a good distorted sound.

 

[Eric Perry]

Yeah, I've tried a Boss ODB-3 overdrive, and currently use an Ibanez Phat Head. They work pretty well for distrortion, but I've never liked the overdriven sound. There seemed to be little in between. It was either clean, or ballz out distortion.

 

[The_Owl]

Yeah, I've tried a Boss ODB-3 overdrive, and currently use an Ibanez Phat Head. They work pretty well for distrortion, but I've never liked the overdriven sound. There seemed to be little in between. It was either clean, or ballz out distortion.

I urge you try the EBS Multidrive pedal. You will be pleasantly surprised.

 

[i like tictacs]

Is this the studio recording? I think on every released recording of that song he's playing a different bass. Studio is a Dolphin 5 SN, listener supported he has a green modulus quantum 5, central park he has a modulus flea bass, Live at the Worcester Centrum Center 12.8.98 he's got the 6-string thumb, I believe. Trust me...I stalk the guy.

 

[Eric Perry]

Is this the studio recording? I think on every released recording of that song he's playing a different bass. Studio is a Dolphin 5 SN, listener supported he has a green modulus quantum 5, central park he has a modulus flea bass, Live at the Worcester Centrum Center 12.8.98 he's got the 6-string thumb, I believe. Trust me...I stalk the guy.

HAHAHAHAHAHAAAA. I'm impressed. I just saw them for the first time a few months ago. I was DAMN impressed. Stefan does have a great tone regardless of what he plays! I'm talking about the studio version of that song. Although I've liked the tone on various live versions as well.

 

[i like tictacs]

It's like a half muted slap/slide. Midrange growl, mmmm, mmm. He's so underrated, IMO. So extremely solid. On most of the DVD's, you can see what he does. Very cool sounding indeed.

 

[Eric Perry]

He is very underrated. Mostly for the uniqueness (is that a word??) of his lines. I'm concerned more with the tone than the technique. My band does that song, along with a bunch of other Dave songs. I'm just trying to better emulate Stefan's tone.

 

[i like tictacs]

ALot of it's the bass - but on that album he had an entirely different rig. Mostly Meyer and SWR. Aphex Expressor and Eventide Harmonizer (me drools) as well. I'll see if I can find the list...::searches::

Here we are...


[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

 

[VinceLovesF]

I think it's depending of which version of stay your speaking of!

Because it's not the same for different albums, that growl is not the same each time....

 

[affro]

im pretty sure that i read somewhere that he used a warwick thumb into a miked ampeg rig to get the tone.
i think somebody mentioned in the effects forum that they got a good stefan growl-like sounds using the digitech x-seies bass comp (http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=132928&highlight=stefan).
i have been trying to get this tone for a while as well, and i find it helps on my bass if i play a little closer to the bridge, and play with your eq a litle bit, like jazz and owl have mentioned.
stefan uses a lot of high end eq and comp rack gear, so he may have used some of that in the recording as well.
good luck with it dude