• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Tool Bass tone with a sansamp

#21
pretty hard to get that sound out of a bass thats not a wal without two amps. I run two amps (one clean, one dirty), chorus, compression all as always on. also, stainless steel rounds. nothing real drastic on the eq's, but each amp is eq'd slightly different as well as one of them is tube/ss and the other is just ss.
IMG_20141202_224112_502.jpg
 
  • Like
Reactions: Darkglass
#22
Musicman1901 said:
I will say that the sansamp RBI is great for getting that sound. Here are a few examples of Tool style tones. This is with no sansamp. Just Turbo Rat and EQ to get the dirt. This is with the Sansamp RBI. Obviously you gotta get past all the effects parts but I think the basic tone is a good rendition.
This is an example of the Sansamp RBI but much more dry. Only a little grit.

Those are some examples of various JC style tones with different dirt sources. RAT+EQ, sansamp RBI wet, sansamp RBI more dry. Everything is recorded direct so there are no massive amps and cabs involved. I realize having the wal helps but you would be surprised how far you get with a Stingray HH through a Sansamp RBI.
Click to expand...


All those sound amazing but no fair... that's a Wal. Us poors can't afford one. :)
 
#23
I agree and disagree with Davy4575. I think yes, it takes a wal and 2 full amp setups and this and that to NAIL that sound but I can tell you that you can get pretty darn close with a way cheaper rig. Coming from somebody who essentially copied his rig before I'm telling you that the tool fans make it sound much more unobtainable than it is. A huge portion of the sound is using a pick on a bass with 2 Massive HOT humbuckers. Get a little dirt from a Rat and plug it into a Mesa and you will be surprised how close you get without a Wal and 2 amps and all that. Check this kid out.

Brutal tool tone in my opinion. No wal. No massive dual amp setup. I think his tone is better than some of the videos I have posted with the wal. People like Mick Karn and Geddy Lee and even Flea have a more traditional Wal sound than JC. His sound is way more dependent on using a pick and having some dirt and a huge pedalboard than it is on the wal.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Alex-Thompson and TerribleLiar23
#25


While it's a fair argument that this guy might have spent more time EQ'ing, I'd have to say the Stingray doesn't have near as much character as the Wal, the Wal is FAR meatier. Sure, it's not like we can pop down to Guitar Center and play one when we feel like it, but it really is the biggest piece of the puzzle. Warwicks and other basses can get in the ballpark, but it's just not something that's going to be duplicated without some of its key features. Namely, each pole piece acting like a pickup and having that filter preamp onboard.
 
#26
The Wal is a huge part of his sound. The other half is the amps and cabs mix. I think that the amps and cabs lend more to his effects use and sound. But that Wal is his sound IMO. If you were to put a Fender P in his hands with the same rig, it would most def take on some of the same characteristics but you would be able to tell for sure. I have also heard some guys play Wals and they sound nothing like JC. His sound/tone comes from his bass, the combination of his rig and effects and his playing style. As with anyone and everyone else. It is very hard to get his sound without all the gear. I spent a lot of time trying to get there a while back. Every time I thought I was really close, I would listen to a Tool song and play along with it and realize just how far off I was.

JC and Tool is such a huge inspiration to me. I used to want to emulate him and his tone. Then I realized that I am not in a Tool cover band and I am not JC. Never will be. So I take my inspiration and I plug it straight into my rig, pedals, bass, hands and heart. And I come out of the cab :)
 
#27
gregmon79 said:
JC and Tool is such a huge inspiration to me. I used to want to emulate him and his tone. Then I realized that I am not in a Tool cover band and I am not JC. Never will be. So I take my inspiration and I plug it straight into my rig, pedals, bass, hands and heart. And I come out of the cab :)
Click to expand...

This. Justin and Tool are why I'm here-I made the switch from drums to bass because listening to Tool, as incredible as the drumming is, made me realize that bass was where I wanted to be. The power, atmosphere, and mix of melodic and rythymic roles...yup.

I chased that down for years, albeit on a budget. I still chase it, because its still the best bass sound I've ever heard. But it isn't my sound. Its an influence in my sound and something that shapes everything I write, some times consciously, sometimes not. I like to dial in the tool sounds to play tool songs, but when I am out of cover mode and playing as me, I start turning knobs again.

One other component to the sound, back on topic, that hasn't been mentioned is picking technique. Grab a rougher pick like a Dunlop tortex and scrape it as you strum notes, making sure to 'flick' it off the string on your way to the next note. A little pick attitude, plus dirt and a treble and low mid sound work wonders. I also do best with dual humbuckers.
 
  • Like
Reactions: TerribleLiar23 and gregmon79
#29
Another comment from my questing days. I've got a Sansamp Bass DI...never really loved it. I've used it at various times to add grit and usually some thickness, but it's always been more of a on the fly, compensate for a poopy rented amp thing for me, not part of 'my' sound. I like distortion that breaks hard and has a certain richness/activity in the mids - the Bass DI is more early saturation and low end hair. I currently use it with the drive cranked, bass and treble at 9:00 to bring the mids back, presense at noon and the blend cranked. This gets me into super saturation, fuzzed out wall of compressed distortion that I use to feed my whammy in octave down mode, into my SA BEF Pro to get some really awesome synth sounds.

For tool tone chasing, I ran it after a Ibanez Phat Hed, which was the first pedal I ever bought. I used the phat hed with moderate drive and a strong treble boost, then used the sansamp with the treble rolled back and light drive to put the balls back into the tone and fill out the dirt spectrum. Gave me a shade of the JC sparkle/crispness with decent punch.

This past week, a B7K has replaced all that.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Darkglass
#30
CoarseBass said:
Another comment from my questing days. I've got a Sansamp Bass DI...never really loved it. I've used it at various times to add grit and usually some thickness, but it's always been more of a on the fly, compensate for a ****** rented amp thing for me, not part of 'my' sound. I like distortion that breaks hard and has a certain richness/activity in the mids - the Bass DI is more early saturation and low end hair. I currently use it with the drive cranked, bass and treble at 9:00 to bring the mids back, presense at noon and the blend cranked. This gets me into super saturation, fuzzed out wall of compressed distortion that I use to feed my whammy in octave down mode, into my SA BEF Pro to get some really awesome synth sounds.

For tool tone chasing, I ran it after a Ibanez Phat Hed, which was the first pedal I ever bought. I used the phat hed with moderate drive and a strong treble boost, then used the sansamp with the treble rolled back and light drive to put the balls back into the tone and fill out the dirt spectrum. Gave me a shade of the JC sparkle/crispness with decent punch.

This past week, a B7K has replaced all that.
Click to expand...

I almost mirror your exp. I had a BDDI for years. I got the B7K a couple years ago abouts. The BDDI was sold off the same week haha. The B7K and a GK amp with my ATK 300 will get me the closet to a Tool/JC tone as I'm gonna get unless I duplicate JC's rig. Which I most likely never will. It would be fun! But I don't have the funds for that. Plus I'm super happy with my setup as is. I recently made the switch to an all tube head. That coupled with the B7K is pure heaven.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Darkglass and MarshallNole
#31
I'm sure all the Wal owners would want to rip me up for saying this but I'm telling you guys the Wal isn't as much as you think. At point point I had JC's rig. Every effect besides a couple. A wal. Same heads. etc. I'm telling you the wal is not as much as you think it is. I use to have a NAMM Stingray with a carbon fiber neck and I could get 90% of the way there. Sure you will notice the 10% that's missing but do you really need to sound 100% like JC? That's just silly, which is why I sold off 90% of those pedals and amps, to get my own sound. But I am telling you whether you want to believe it or not the Wal doesn't play as big of a role as you think. You will get closer with a Stingray, new strings, play with a pick, huge pedalboard, GK heads, Mesa Cabs, Clean/Dirt channel than you will get with a Wal through a mediocre setup. JC played a stingray on 46 and 2....still sounds like JC to me. Because he is playing with a pick through the same amps,cabs,effects, etc. The Aenema and Lateralus tones are much easier to nail. The wal plays a larger role in the 10,000 days tone in my opinion. Of course ALL of this is just my opinion. I am just saying, coming from somebody who has replicated his rig I'm telling you the wal is not everything. If you have the right picks, strings, pedals, amps/preamps, and cabs...plug in a bass with dual humbuckers and you will be VERY close. I guarantee if JC switched to a Musicman HH but kept everything else the exact same 99% of people wouldn't notice a thing.
 
  • Like
Reactions: TerribleLiar23 and Darkglass
#33
gregmon79 said:
I almost mirror your exp. I had a BDDI for years. I got the B7K a couple years ago abouts. The BDDI was sold off the same week haha. The B7K and a GK amp with my ATK 300 will get me the closet to a Tool/JC tone as I'm gonna get unless I duplicate JC's rig. Which I most likely never will. It would be fun! But I don't have the funds for that. Plus I'm super happy with my setup as is. I recently made the switch to an all tube head. That coupled with the B7K is pure heaven.
Click to expand...

Yep, my ATKP into my lb30 is just killer.
 
#34
I'm not gonna lie to you, I haven't read much of this thread, mostly the title, so maybe someone has said this before, but it's gonna take more than one pedal to get his killer tone. That being said, a Sansamp is a great way to start. :)
 
#36
Interesting, While I do agree to some degree about the amps and how one eq's stuff making a huge difference, I think it goes without saying about using a pick and bright strings. In fact come to think of it, on any of my basses I can get reasonably close to his tone. A little bit easier on the spector legend classic pro and on the Fender zone, both of which have active preamps. JC's tone is definitely a large influence of mine in terms of sound sculpting, but my sound is my own for sure. I liked that bass tone back in the 80's before tool was a blip on the radar. At that time it was Joy Division and Big Black, both of which have a very similar, but a little bit more dirty tone to JC.
 
#38
john_g said:
Yes there is. Boss makes a pedal that is only $30 and makes the cheapest Ibanez or Squire (not Squiers however) sound just like a Wal. Check out their site, its all over it.
Click to expand...

Yes there is what? The magic pedal that makes you sound just like JC? Would you mind posting a link? I can't seem to find anywhere on the Boss website the pedal that makes a Squier sound like a Wal. If you were being sarcastic, I apologize. I never can tell anymore on TB between sarcasm and seriousness.
 
  • Like
Reactions: gregmon79, jgroh and heatoise

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back