Tone

mids = growl.

I think that's what you're describing.

Probably more specifically low end growl.
Take your lows, add it a significant amount, than just bring your mids up a bit.


For me atleast, I get a really "breath-taking" growl, when I slide and all.

It's kind of subtle, but still very powerful.


.02

 

That's up to you.
Try it with, and try it without... It's the only way to truly find what difference it makes.

I find a pick gives more of a clanky sound... It's all subjective though.

Just try both out and fool with your EQ a bit.

 

There's no forgiving needed, cordova. Welcome to Talkbass! Getting knowledge is one of the main reasons this site exists. A few decades ago, I didn't know squat and neither did anyone else here when they started out.

Whose tone did you hear that you are trying to emulate??? (that's how tone hunger usually starts). Take a look at what they're using and what you're using and you'll probably see big differences.

Not to dis your gear in anyway; (lord knows I had my share of low-end gear). BUT - you have what can be described as a "beginner" bass. Nothing wrong with that, that's how most of us start. The tone of many, many, basses in that price range pretty much all sound the same, IME. They usually lack the tonal character you are after because most of the production cost is spent on looks rather than components you can't see, but which affect tone a great deal, like pickups, the wood under the paint, the bridge, etc.

Try playing around with your EQ, try using fingerstyle instead of a pick, as Crawling Eye says. One of the least expensive things you can do that will definitely affect your sound is to put on some top quality strings if you are using the strings that came with the Ibanez or some cheap strings. Take a look around at www.juststrings.com and if you see some that look interesting, you can start a thread in the "Strings" forum here and see what others have to say about them before you make any decisions. Or, start a thread asking about which strings are good for growl.

 

I have asked people about achieving "the growl" and they look at me like I have a third eye in my head (well, I do have a third eye in my head, but they don't have to look at me like I do). I think a pick definately helps with the growl, as well as your amp settings and your bass. Rickbass1 mentioned trying to emulate someone else's tone -- if that's what you're doing, keep in mind that you may be trying to emulate a studio tone, where thousands of dollars are spent on achieving just the right tone for a particular recording. What I'm saying is, don't get your hopes up when it comes to copping someone else's sound. A friend of mine ended up spending hundreds of bucks on effects, in an effort to emulate Dimebag Darrell's tone, before finding out that Dime uses a frickin' mixing board to control all of his tone-shaping appliances!

 

That's a very valid point. I have yet to see a bassplayer, except for Lee Sklar, who got the same tone live as he did on record. Your amp is too small to achieve a good sound, and I'm not dissing it, it is a practice amp, that's it's function in life, and it's not designed to be a tone monster. I would not worry too much about it for now, just keep saving toward purchasing a good gigging amp, and keep your practice amp for ... um.....practicing!

 

SWR's a great brand. I haven't heard many complaints about their products. I, personally, don't care for the SWR tone, but that's just me...
I like a fairly sterile tone...

The SWR bass 350's a good head. Good choice.

*Crawling eye gives it two thumbs up*

hehe

 

Here we go.
on a general eq:
30-150Hz =lows
200-350Hz =lowmids
400-770Hz =mids
800Hz-2kHz =highmids
3-11kHz =highs
+dB =boost
-dB =cut
flat =no boost or cut.

There are so many ways to adjust them, I've used a few here are my favorite.

1. Keep everything flat except a +2dB boost on the low mids around 200-220Hz
2. Boost lows and highs +2dB, keep lowmids and high mids flat, and cut mids -5dB.
3. Cut lowmids -3dB, boost highmids +5dBand keep everthing else flat.
4. keep bass and treble flat, boost high and low mids +3db and mids +7dB.

 

Huh? SWR is about as surgically sterile as it gets. The only thing you could do that's more sterile would be to plug directly into a solid state power amp.