What effects do you use with fretless bass?

[ofahy434]

Hello all,

I am new to playing fretless and when i plugged it in last night to my rig, it didnt sound like i expected it to. What do you use to give it the classic "muah" sound? Or if you have any other suggestions that you use let me hear them.

I played on a friends fretless Squire p-bass through my sansamp DI pedal into a SWR power amp into a Mesa Powerhouse cab 1200. I turned the bass down on the sansamp because it was pretty bass heavy but it still was too much. The strings on the bass are roundwounds. I have an MXR 10-band eq that I'm sure i will use on it but i didn't last night. Thanks!

 

[Jazzdogg]

Hello all,

I am new to playing fretless and when i plugged it in last night to my rig, it didnt sound like i expected it to. What do you use to give it the classic "muah" sound? Or if you have any other suggestions that you use let me hear them.

I played on a friends fretless Squire p-bass through my sansamp DI pedal into a SWR power amp into a Mesa Powerhouse cab 1200. I turned the bass down on the sansamp because it was pretty bass heavy but it still was too much. The strings on the bass are roundwounds. I have an MXR 10-band eq that I'm sure i will use on it but i didn't last night. Thanks!

Technique

 

[lundborg]

Chorus (or flanger dialed to run as chorus) is a classic

 

[Lee Moses]

The instrument and low action should give a pretty good "mwah" sound. I don't use any effects and I get "mwah" for days with my Carvin fretless.

 

[aproud1]

As others have said... technique and setup play a big part. Strings also can change the mwah factor a lot. I also roll my tone way down on fretless too.

 

[varunjh]

i have never played a fretless bass before but if you want to hear some effects on a fretless bass check out juan alderete's pedalsandeffects.com

he's got a great tone!

 

[ofahy434]

Ok that makes sense. I've been trying to adjust the neck on it to get a better action on it. Playing fretless is a ton of fun so i'll keep working at it. I appreciate it guys!

 

[bkbirge]

Play up by the neck with low action. You want almost a fret buzz kind of thing but not quite that low. I usually don't use effects but every once in awhile I'll put some chorus or delay on. Or phaser or distortion or all the above and then reversed.

 

[NecroticImbecil]

Can you hit the bypass switch on the the sansamp and still push the poweramp? I know I'll get thrown out of the bassist's union for this but I only use mine when I want to cut mids and get a more sterile, cold sound. That's the opposite of the fretless tone I like.

I've used a chorus in practice. It broke and I don't miss it. The only effect I actually use is a bit of reverb from my amp.

 

[MilkyMcMilkMilk]

Fuzz sounds awesome on my fretless. as mentioned earlier Juan, has a ton of wild effects he uses on his fretless. The discontinued Boss vibrato pedal he uses gives an awesome effect.

 

[Swift713]

I'm fond of a very short delay with almost no feedback. That with some finger vibrato makes a nice chorus.

 

[FrenchBassQC]

An octaver with the bridge pickup favored makes an Alain Caron sound signature he used to use a lot when he was with Uzeb.

 

[Basshappi]

All the same ones I use with my fretted basses. MOst often is probably chorus, delay/reverb and octaver.

 

[Downunderwonder]

Mwah comes from the fingerboard not having a definite point of stopping the string. My EUB will mwah without even sliding the note, just giving less than full fingering pressure.

Perhaps OP refers to envelope filter effect?

 

[gully_jones]

Any and all effects experiment

Play up by the neck with low action.

BIG +1 Technique and Setup

 

[4Mal]

Great, not just good strings. laBella tapes on my hollow body Godin, TIJF's striping E through C on my old Guild Pilot 5. After that setup. Just as an effect, I actually try to intonate . Playing in A, E, D and C helps a lot

 

[Road-Dog]

Get rid of the rounds and go to flats.

 

[nad]

Ring modulators sound amazing on fretless.

Doesn't really help much for muah though.

 

[bucephylus]

Start by playing with good intonation and go from there.

 

[wmheilma]

That 'muah' sound is definitely set up and technique, but it is nice to use compression, reverb, and chorus on fretless if you are playing a lot of long sustained notes and slides. It is also fun to use overdrive, octaver, and envelope filter same as fretted.