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What is Growl
- Thread starter noplayer
- Start date
So now we know:
- There are as many definitions of growl as bass players
- It's a hype s**** invented by bass players who spend more time talking on TB than playing bass
- It's subjective as hell
And my question is
What is NOT GROWL? What is the antithesis of growl?
- There are as many definitions of growl as bass players
- It's a hype s**** invented by bass players who spend more time talking on TB than playing bass
- It's subjective as hell
And my question is
What is NOT GROWL? What is the antithesis of growl?
2milehighspike said:
Our cavalcade of inspired jazzyies cannot be the only ones who devised contests as to just how "ain't pretty" it got as a way to amuse ourselves as the miles rolled along.
iJazz
8thed. "By The Way" has the most growl in a mainstream tune I've ever heard. Anybody know his rig for that album?
I'm in the market for a new amp head eventually, probably to go with an Aguilar GS 212. I have an SVT5-Pro from Ampeg which can sound rockin' with the distortion channel blended in slightly, but the dynamic response is not as great as on other amps.
I did a tone shootout last night with a GK MB212 combo and the GK won (although it can not be trusted at high volume gigs I have learned).
This is easy-peasy.
Smooth jazz bass players quite often have no growl. Or remember that kind of pop-funk from the 80s with the fake snare drum and stiff rhythms? The bassists 90% of the time played with an incredibly compressed slap tone. Not growly!
Geddy Lee's Growl:
Geddy gets his growl (dirt sound) via a Sansamp RPM. Sansamp has a unit (the RBI) that is made specifically for basses and provides the same growl with some additional controls. Geddy splits his signal 3 ways and one signal is sent through the Sansamp RPM to provide the growl. One signal is sent through a Palmer PDI-05 and the 3rd signal is clean. The signals are then mixed together.
Geddy no longer uses an amp. His 3 signals are sent to the main board and then out through the main speakers.
Geddy gets his growl (dirt sound) via a Sansamp RPM. Sansamp has a unit (the RBI) that is made specifically for basses and provides the same growl with some additional controls. Geddy splits his signal 3 ways and one signal is sent through the Sansamp RPM to provide the growl. One signal is sent through a Palmer PDI-05 and the 3rd signal is clean. The signals are then mixed together.
Geddy no longer uses an amp. His 3 signals are sent to the main board and then out through the main speakers.
I am a contractor for Spector, but not an employee. And I DO NOT PUSH PRODUCT.
I'm as objective and fair as I can be, but the truth is that after falling in love with the growly, gritty tone of the Spector NS-2, I actually approached them about letting me do contract work for them.
Just a disclaimer. But if they had said "no", and I never had the opportunity to get to know Stuart Spector and PJ Rubal, the men who own and run Spector Basses, I'd still be playing their basses and they'd still be my first choice.
I choose Spector because of the tone, first and foremost. And there's some interesting technical background as to why the Spector designed circuits sound the way they do.
When Stuart designed the tone circuit for the NS-2, he used the only tech available at the time, which most bass circuits utilized; Operational Amplifiers.
OpAmps over-saturate during attack. This creates problems because the circuit needs a recovery time and this can take several milliseconds. During this reset NO signal from the pickups is being processed by the circuit. This causes a drop in signal quality and can make a bass sound muddy or inarticulate.
Stuart developed the circuit for the NS-2 in 1979 and he created an array of OpAmp circuits to handle the over-saturation issue.
This creates a slightly distorted/overdriven/growly, gritty tone. But VERY articulate and clear. Stuart told me he designed it to sit in the mix and be able to hold its own unique voice despite the instruments being played along side it in the ensemble.
He specifically designed it to sound a certain way regardless of the guitars, etc... around it. So it doesn't get lost in the mix, but also doesn't stand out so much as to not fit into the mix with the other instruments.
----------
The bass in this video is an early 2000's model NS-2J, an NS-2 with a bolt-on neck and dual J pickups.
This bass has the stock NS-2 9v Spector Circuit in it. I've actually played this very bass. It is owned by PJ Rubal and was loaned to Carlton Armstrong for this recording.
No effects, no pedals, etc... Just that bass and an amp.
I think that if you want a bass with growl and grit, the Spector NS-2 is one to consider. Musicians from Eddie Jackson to Mike Starr, Rex Brown and Doug Wimbish to Alex Webster and Sting have played Spectors because of their aggressive, growly tone.
http://youtu.be/tF4mpw99ZR4
-----------------
Since this is an open discussion about growl. I wanted to tell you all why I play what I do. And the tech that's behind the tone that I love.
There are plenty of great growly basses so this is not a Spector advertisement. I'll always tell anyone who asks me what I think they should play to go and play everything they can get their hands on and go with the bass with the tone and feel they like the most. That's the true, real thing to tell ANY musician. Just because I like something doesn't mean anyone else will. And that's all good. It'd be a boring world if everything was the same.
The video above. THAT is what I look for in tone for a bass with GROWL!
I'm as objective and fair as I can be, but the truth is that after falling in love with the growly, gritty tone of the Spector NS-2, I actually approached them about letting me do contract work for them.
Just a disclaimer. But if they had said "no", and I never had the opportunity to get to know Stuart Spector and PJ Rubal, the men who own and run Spector Basses, I'd still be playing their basses and they'd still be my first choice.
I choose Spector because of the tone, first and foremost. And there's some interesting technical background as to why the Spector designed circuits sound the way they do.
When Stuart designed the tone circuit for the NS-2, he used the only tech available at the time, which most bass circuits utilized; Operational Amplifiers.
OpAmps over-saturate during attack. This creates problems because the circuit needs a recovery time and this can take several milliseconds. During this reset NO signal from the pickups is being processed by the circuit. This causes a drop in signal quality and can make a bass sound muddy or inarticulate.
Stuart developed the circuit for the NS-2 in 1979 and he created an array of OpAmp circuits to handle the over-saturation issue.
This creates a slightly distorted/overdriven/growly, gritty tone. But VERY articulate and clear. Stuart told me he designed it to sit in the mix and be able to hold its own unique voice despite the instruments being played along side it in the ensemble.
He specifically designed it to sound a certain way regardless of the guitars, etc... around it. So it doesn't get lost in the mix, but also doesn't stand out so much as to not fit into the mix with the other instruments.
----------
The bass in this video is an early 2000's model NS-2J, an NS-2 with a bolt-on neck and dual J pickups.
This bass has the stock NS-2 9v Spector Circuit in it. I've actually played this very bass. It is owned by PJ Rubal and was loaned to Carlton Armstrong for this recording.
No effects, no pedals, etc... Just that bass and an amp.
I think that if you want a bass with growl and grit, the Spector NS-2 is one to consider. Musicians from Eddie Jackson to Mike Starr, Rex Brown and Doug Wimbish to Alex Webster and Sting have played Spectors because of their aggressive, growly tone.
http://youtu.be/tF4mpw99ZR4
-----------------
Since this is an open discussion about growl. I wanted to tell you all why I play what I do. And the tech that's behind the tone that I love.
There are plenty of great growly basses so this is not a Spector advertisement. I'll always tell anyone who asks me what I think they should play to go and play everything they can get their hands on and go with the bass with the tone and feel they like the most. That's the true, real thing to tell ANY musician. Just because I like something doesn't mean anyone else will. And that's all good. It'd be a boring world if everything was the same.
The video above. THAT is what I look for in tone for a bass with GROWL!
Mr. Foxen
Commercial User
Sure. But the NS-2 circuit is 9v. The newer version of it (created in the 1990's) is 18v and has all the headroom you could want.
But back in 1979 when Stuart designed and developed this circuit people were still looking at the design of the circuit and not improving headroom through additional voltage/less resistance.
The circuit hasn't changed in design since then.
And at that time, it was unique enough to catch the ears of bassist like Jack Bruce, Sting, Prakash John, Michael Anthony and countless others.
The newer JFET circuits don't over-saturate and of course they're very clean, but they lack the warmth that the solid-state stuff from the late 1970's and early 1980's had.
It's a preference. But I think because Stuart was looking for a way to color the tone of his bass to make it stick out in an ensemble situation (and I think the NS-2 excels in live situations more than studio... for studio I prefer the newer 18v version), he added growl to the mix through the design.
And I plan on asking him when I go to dinner with him at the NAMM Show next month a lot more about the genesis of the circuits he's designed.
Again, it's about preference. And I like the growl of the Spector NS-2 circuit, especially pared with a J/J pickup config and not the typical P/J that most NS-2s have.
jazz bass, bridge pickup solo or favored, treble rolled off somewhat, low mids boosted on amp. Jaco did it very well with rounds but flats can work too. Upright with a bow is another kind growl. Next question.
In my view, growl is a mild amount of buzz, that could be created by a number of different things, including:
Slight fingerboard buzz on a fretless bass
Pickup distortion
Mild amp distortion
When the level of distortion or buzz is just right, then it becomes controllable, i.e., you can make it come and go depending on exactly how you play, making it an expressive element. It is probably masked by heavy signal processing, thus helping form the impression that it comes from the "hands" and not from the amp.
When I'm in good form, I can get "growl" with just the acoustic sound of my electric bass, unplugged.
Slight fingerboard buzz on a fretless bass
Pickup distortion
Mild amp distortion
When the level of distortion or buzz is just right, then it becomes controllable, i.e., you can make it come and go depending on exactly how you play, making it an expressive element. It is probably masked by heavy signal processing, thus helping form the impression that it comes from the "hands" and not from the amp.
When I'm in good form, I can get "growl" with just the acoustic sound of my electric bass, unplugged.
Best example I could find quickly ... listen to how the low notes, in particular, ring out > .
Basically, Spector = Growl
Basically, Spector = Growl
