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What is YOUR sound?
- Thread starter birminghambass
- Start date
+1. It may take another 25 years of experimentation. Im currently going through a Jazz + G-K phase, but that could change next month.
It took me a long time. Listen to your heart/head/musical soul - when you do find the tone that's in your head, it's a glorious thing. No one can tell you what your tone should be.
I searched for years with precision and jazz style basses - all passive. I found my home when I got a hold of a Spector. The Rebop is essentially a jazz, but active - and has a sound all it's own - and you know what, it matched the tone in my head.
Spector Rebop, Elixir strings light, tonepump 1/4 bass, treble almost 0 - play right on the neck pickup. Bam! Tone heaven. Add to that TC Electronic RH450 through 2x10 and 2x12 and I'm set for life.
I searched for years with precision and jazz style basses - all passive. I found my home when I got a hold of a Spector. The Rebop is essentially a jazz, but active - and has a sound all it's own - and you know what, it matched the tone in my head.
Spector Rebop, Elixir strings light, tonepump 1/4 bass, treble almost 0 - play right on the neck pickup. Bam! Tone heaven. Add to that TC Electronic RH450 through 2x10 and 2x12 and I'm set for life.
My sound is whatever comes from the FOH its all about the mix in a band situation and it changes from venue to venue. I use no stage amp so I have to trust my sound man to get it done. Home alone 70's Tube SVT+ 8*10 shaking the windows
I don't really have one.
Sometimes my band gets my "McCartney sound" (flats on a short scale, thumpy and fat), sometimes they get the "big angry piano" (Ric or Jazz Bass with rounds).
Both work fine, and I get no complaints. I like them all equally.
Sometimes my band gets my "McCartney sound" (flats on a short scale, thumpy and fat), sometimes they get the "big angry piano" (Ric or Jazz Bass with rounds).
Both work fine, and I get no complaints. I like them all equally.
Full lows with a punchy mid that drives the band. I get that sound with a Roscoe with Barts and whatever amp I'm using, my own or supplied.
If you listen to the first 5 albums of Grand Funk Railroad, and the original Texas blues rock sound of ZZ Top, you will hear it!
My "sound" is the tone I chase, the equipment I use to get there. If I had to define what my sound is, I dial my amp with everything at 12:00. To me, this allows the true tone of my bass, strings & fingers to ring true. To color the tone I use a Sans Amp Bass DI to get that SVT feel in front of the input. I try for round, pear shaped tones with a slight edge and a slight tubey drive
I try to go for whatever fits best into the specific song or people Im playing with. Its important to me to cut through a mix as I improvise quite a bit and I need to hear myself in order to improvise effectively. As long as I can hear every note Im playing, Im happy; I'll leave it upto the soundman to decide how it should sound out on the floor.
When I play solo, I go for an even balanced overall sound with the lows turned up a bit almost like an accoustic guitar but a little smoother.
When I play solo, I go for an even balanced overall sound with the lows turned up a bit almost like an accoustic guitar but a little smoother.
What's that?My Sound: Alembic with new Cocco strings, filter(s) at 3/4 Q('s) on (position 2 for the neck & bridge pickup, position 3 for the middle pickup on my Elan 5) through old Mesa tube heads and Diesel cabs.
Tons of tone
I'm pretty sure I sound the same no matter what gear I play. I'm very minimal these days.
I run through a Behringer 450-watt head, an LX something or other, into a 4x10 cab. I'm looking into upgrading to an Eden head because I just like the clarity they give.
No pedals. Just a cable from the bass to the amp. I used to play a Rickenbacker and / or a Squier VMJ and a fretless. Now I'm playing a Spector NS20004 and Legend Custom 5. The depth of tone I have is richer, and my sound fits very easily into the mix, but it's the same sound. I work at getting each of my basses to respond the way I want them to by practicing on them.
I've been refining my RH technique by exploring digging in at a sharper angle, and where I used to thwack the strings down at the fretboard, almost like I was slapping them, I now try to avoid that unless I want to emphasize a note. I have also incorporated my fingernails from my right hand like a classical guitarist, and I keep them obsessively trimmed so can consistently "turn them on" when I angle my fingers a certain way.
That's a complicated way of describing my "sound" but I do not rely on my gear to get the desired tone. It's just a different way to color the sound I already make on my own.
I run through a Behringer 450-watt head, an LX something or other, into a 4x10 cab. I'm looking into upgrading to an Eden head because I just like the clarity they give.
No pedals. Just a cable from the bass to the amp. I used to play a Rickenbacker and / or a Squier VMJ and a fretless. Now I'm playing a Spector NS20004 and Legend Custom 5. The depth of tone I have is richer, and my sound fits very easily into the mix, but it's the same sound. I work at getting each of my basses to respond the way I want them to by practicing on them.
I've been refining my RH technique by exploring digging in at a sharper angle, and where I used to thwack the strings down at the fretboard, almost like I was slapping them, I now try to avoid that unless I want to emphasize a note. I have also incorporated my fingernails from my right hand like a classical guitarist, and I keep them obsessively trimmed so can consistently "turn them on" when I angle my fingers a certain way.
That's a complicated way of describing my "sound" but I do not rely on my gear to get the desired tone. It's just a different way to color the sound I already make on my own.
When playing in a busy coverband, and getting hired-gun one-offs, my sound often morphs to fit the purpose. Then again, it is pretty flexible, to start with, since I employ DiMarzio humbuckers (Model and Ultra J, depending on the axe used), and like to goose the low mids. I'm no stranger to effects, either, but tend to use them tastefully and sparingly.
@maxgrant,
excellent post on how you shape your notes. I'm also trying this much in the way you described it, also I use a pick and palm muting quite a lot.
I think this thread may be more about what comes downstream of that. Strings, bass, amp, cab(s) adding color to the tone but not changing the shape of the notes too much. As for that, for me it's all quite simple nowadays, roundwounds (Hi-Beams), G&L's with the big MFD's, using the controls a lot, Fender SuperBassman 300 cranked vintage channel right on the edge, SWR 4x10+1x18. On my fretless basses I use Chromes which can have various amounts of "chorus effect" depending on playing style...
excellent post on how you shape your notes. I'm also trying this much in the way you described it, also I use a pick and palm muting quite a lot.
I think this thread may be more about what comes downstream of that. Strings, bass, amp, cab(s) adding color to the tone but not changing the shape of the notes too much. As for that, for me it's all quite simple nowadays, roundwounds (Hi-Beams), G&L's with the big MFD's, using the controls a lot, Fender SuperBassman 300 cranked vintage channel right on the edge, SWR 4x10+1x18. On my fretless basses I use Chromes which can have various amounts of "chorus effect" depending on playing style...
Well, I recently experimented with changing the type of strings I use. I was a DR guy for 20 years, religiously, and then someone gave me these "flats" that are really more described as "dead rounds out of the box." They had a nice thumpy tone but it didn't take me long to find out how to make them growl just like I wanted them to.
I also was a DR hi-beam light-gauge guy and I just put mediums on my NS-20004 to make the feel similar to my Legend Custom 5. For the first couple of days I felt like I was fighting with the mediums and then I hit my stride, and now they burp and growl and snarl like they're supposed to.
So, I guess the point I am trying to make is, you will push your sound through your gear no matter what because it is in your head and hands that the sound is created.
Vintagefiend
I don't care for 410 cabinets at all.
Generally "Raw"
Dual hot passive humbuckers (currently a Warwick Streamer 5 and Peavey T-40)
VT Bass or BDDI with a bit of compression (achieved with Zoom B3)
GK or SVT with plenty of gain and lots of mids (achieved with Zoom B3)
Crown power amp.
a 2x12 and 2x10 (yes, I mix sizes....with great results)
Fingers and pick. About 60/40
....generally.
Dual hot passive humbuckers (currently a Warwick Streamer 5 and Peavey T-40)
VT Bass or BDDI with a bit of compression (achieved with Zoom B3)
GK or SVT with plenty of gain and lots of mids (achieved with Zoom B3)
Crown power amp.
a 2x12 and 2x10 (yes, I mix sizes....with great results)
Fingers and pick. About 60/40
....generally.
US P-Bass with flats.
Loud tube amp set on kill.
Fingers.
Analogue pedals: distortion, octave, fuzz.
Loud tube amp set on kill.
Fingers.
Analogue pedals: distortion, octave, fuzz.
