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Where do I look for that dark, deep tone?

#21
Ha! This is an interesting selection of advice! Interesting because it's contradictive, but that's just the nature of things, isn't it?

So here is what I understand so far:

1. I should look at the Thunderbird.

2. I should check out tapewound strings

3. I should play with my Cort more, because I may have missed a setting or a playing method that may get me what I am looking for.

4. I cannot completely separate the guitar from the amp when looking for that special sound.

5. I should stop looking for that special sound.

6. U-Bass is awesome, but the fretted ones have intonation problems. Thank god - I thought there was something wrong with mine. I have a fretted acoustic Ubass and it works fine but I don't take it to gigs because of the above.

7. I don't need a different guitar.

8. I need to dump my guitar and get a different one.

9. P bass should solve the problem.

10. J bass should solve the problem.

Haha, well, thank you all, I appreciate it. My next step is to get tapewounds for my Cort, and go look for thunderbirds.
 
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#23
Semion N. said:
Ha! This is an interesting selection of advice! Interesting because it's contradictive, but that's just the nature of things, isn't it?

So here is what I understand so far:

1. I should look at the Thunderbird.

2. I should check out tapewound strings

3. I should play with my Cort more, because I may have missed a setting or a playing method that may get me what I am looking for.

4. I cannot completely separate the guitar from the amp when looking for that special sound.

5. I should stop looking for that special sound.

6. U-Bass is awesome, but the fretted ones have intonation problems. Thank god - I thought there was something wrong with mine. I have a fretted acoustic Ubass and it works fine but I don't take it to gigs because of the above.

7. I don't need a different guitar.

8. I need to dump my guitar and get a different one.

9. P bass should solve the problem.

10. J bass should solve the problem.

Haha, well, thank you all, I appreciate it. My next step is to get tapewounds for my Cort, and go look for thunderbirds.
Click to expand...
And maybe sell your Ubass and get a fretless one, or pull the frets and fill the slots with something. Not sure what to fill them with, but others have done it and would no more about it than me! And maybe look at a picture of a Thunderbird to see if that was the bass you were playing. Their is a thread on here the Thunderbird club. Great bass if your comfortable on it. One of my all time favorites.
 
#24
I get what you're saying about the Cort. I used one to try an amp at a store and was never so underwhelmed by a bass in my life. It was dead. It's the preamp in them. Engineered by people that were trained to design tvs not music enthusiasts. Imo.

P bass with flats gives huge warm depth with big punch. No muss no fuss.
 
#25
Things will contradict because everyone has their own experience. Mine says that basses cost more money than good strings and tone shaping equipment!

And I'm pretty cheap, so that's where I always start!
 
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#26
Menorahman said:
Look in the classifieds for a nice used bass with duals coil that can split to single.

Now you can do whatever.
Click to expand...
That's kind of technical for me. Could you give me an example instrument?

1stnamebassist said:
And maybe sell your Ubass and get a fretless one, or pull the frets and fill the slots with something. Not sure what to fill them with, but others have done it and would no more about it than me! And maybe look at a picture of a Thunderbird to see if that was the bass you were playing. Their is a thread on here the Thunderbird club. Great bass if your comfortable on it. One of my all time favorites.
Click to expand...

I'm not going to ruin my Ubass! It's beautiful! Also I don't think I'm good enough to play fretess at this point.

And I've googled Thunderbird - that's the one. But it looks totally uncomfortable, so I'll probably be looking for something with similar sound but different body. I chose my Cort for ergonomics alone, basically.

tfer said:
Things will contradict because everyone has their own experience. Mine says that basses cost more money than good strings and tone shaping equipment!

And I'm pretty cheap, so that's where I always start!
Click to expand...

Good advice. But will this tone shaping equipment be something I can take to gigs on my bicycle? I am a complete noob when it comes to effects etc.
 
#27
Semion N. said:
That's kind of technical for me. Could you give me an example instrument?



I'm not going to ruin my Ubass! It's beautiful! Also I don't think I'm good enough to play fretess at this point.

And I've googled Thunderbird - that's the one. But it looks totally uncomfortable, so I'll probably be looking for something with similar sound but different body. I chose my Cort for ergonomics alone, basically.



Good advice. But will this tone shaping equipment be something I can take to gigs on my bicycle? I am a complete noob when it comes to effects etc.
Click to expand...

I thought the same thing about fretless, which is true for me on a full size bass. But On the Ubass I was playing it out with friends the next day! Your fingers just seem to want to fall into place on it for some reason. I'm not the only one, its a shared experience by many Ubass players! The Tbird is a different animal for sure. You either love it or hate it. It has a thin fast neck, but because of the body shape and so on, it has a bit of a longer reach with the left hand. I find it extremely comfortable to play, others hate them! Some say they neck dive, but I don't find it to be a problem. If you decide to try tapes, check out D'addario. You won't have to file the nut with those, other tapes you will. Plus they sound great!
 
#28
My experience is 100% opposite, that it's much easier and practical to get an instrument and strings that have the inherent tone you seek, and then you can optimize it with the amp of your choice, etc.

For me EQ is more about fine tuning or adjusting for a room than sculpting my sound.

I also think until your ears become more practiced and your fingers become more adept, it's better to start on a simple bass that is easy to pull a good tone out of from the start, and concentrate on using your fingers to sculpt your sound.
 
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#29
I don't have time to read the thread right now - but I still want to add my deep dark bass exprience.

I have two basses - neither are cheap or plentiful - that I think of when I hear that tone description: a vintage Ampeg Scroll bass and and early '80's Ibanez 924. The Ampegs are somewhat inconsistent - but some are very dark by nature. The Ibanez has a 3 band eq that can make the dark.

Good luck
 
#31
Semion N. said:
Good advice. But will this tone shaping equipment be something I can take to gigs on my bicycle? I am a complete noob when it comes to effects etc.
Click to expand...
I have experience with the Hartke Bass Attack, and a cheap little Behringer BDDI pedal, and they will both fit in a gig bag easily.

And if you decide you want a different bass, they'll work with that one too.

Plus, the Behringer is about $30 so you really can't go wrong.
 
#32
A Cort A4 was my workhorse bass for many years and, while I totally agree that the preamp is the weak link in the chain, I'd suggest not to get rid of it too fast. Mainly because I consider every other aspect of that bass way over it's price tag. As it has been suggested before, try some dark flatwounds, move the pickup selector all the way to the front, cut the treble on the preamp and pluck closer to de neck. In my experience, that preamp is not very useful for boosting, but can do an acceptable job at cutting. If this gets you closer to the tone you like, you can try to change the preamp (probably cheaper than a new bass). If not... maybe a Gibson EB-0 or something with a mudbucker could be what you are looking for?
 
#33
I also like the sound of the Thunderbird, but couldn't get past some of the issues that they come with (neck dive, hang wrong because of strap placement, wrong facing intonation screws) but I found I could get close to that "deep, dark tone" on my Ibanez SR500 by turning the bass up to about 3/4 and the mids (on the lower frequency setting) up to around 5/8 - 3/4, then I either set the treble at neutral or even back it off a touch. I think I read that your bass has an active EQ? so maybe this will work for you.

Of course, you could also look at the current object of my GAS, the Warwick (Rockbass for me) Corvette $$- beautiful tones, including the ones we're talking about.
 
#36
for instant lowend, Epiphone EB3 ($. 300.00)
for extreme lowend, Yamaha BB714 Billy Sheehan ($. 600.00)

for a mix of both lowend and midrange (more versatile):

_ Epiphone Thunderbird standard ($. 300.00)
-bolt on "Precision" wise broad neck, deep standard humbuckers -

_ Fender Precision MIM standard ($. 600.00)

Cheers,
Wallace
 
#39
If you put a link to a clip with the tone you are after you will get a more consistent response as words like dark phat chunky mean different things to all of us...

or go window shopping till you pick up a bass that sounds right... Only problem there is I'm yet to walk into a shop where the basses are strung with flats if that's your thing (it's my thing), it kinda sucks.
 
#40
Semion N. said:
Ha! This is an interesting selection of advice! Interesting because it's contradictive, but that's just the nature of things, isn't it?

So here is what I understand so far:

1. I should look at the Thunderbird.

2. I should check out tapewound strings

3. I should play with my Cort more, because I may have missed a setting or a playing method that may get me what I am looking for.

4. I cannot completely separate the guitar from the amp when looking for that special sound.

5. I should stop looking for that special sound.

6. U-Bass is awesome, but the fretted ones have intonation problems. Thank god - I thought there was something wrong with mine. I have a fretted acoustic Ubass and it works fine but I don't take it to gigs because of the above.

7. I don't need a different guitar.

8. I need to dump my guitar and get a different one.

9. P bass should solve the problem.

10. J bass should solve the problem.

Haha, well, thank you all, I appreciate it. My next step is to get tapewounds for my Cort, and go look for thunderbirds.
Click to expand...

Yeah,you're gonna get a lot of mixed advice and opinions with a question like that. One of my favorite things on talkbass is to see how different people get the same tone using different approaches. But I don't think anyone could really ignore that tone in their head. And it's gonna take a little trail and error and cash to find it. It's great to ask questions, but also go back and read some posts. Type your question as a search, chances are someone asked something similar before. I came here a few years back trying to make my Gibson eb3 sound like a fender. I quickly learned that it'd never happen. The Gibson is just too deep and dubby. So you might love it. Amplifiers do have a lot to do with electric bass tone as well. i wouldn't give up on the cort yet.
 

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