Who's sound were you aiming for?!

[Rayjay]

I TRY to be unique, but some of my guilty pleasures...

Roger Waters tone, I use an EVH phaser and a touch of VMT drive...

Duff McKagan / Krist Noveselic tone with a chorus and pick on new roundwounds....

Carol Kaye tone with a foam mute on old flats, sometimes a pick...James Jamerson tone with fingers...

J Mascus guitar tone, on bass, w TFR...

Tim Lefebvre octave with no fundamental turning on and off thing...

Jaco tone w chorus and thick compression....

 

[ilansgroove]

Yes, but how did you find yours? Did you just try a bunch of random stuff and picked what sounded good? And if it's unique, what makes it unique? Not asking to be a dick, but if you have your own sonund I'd like to hear about it.

It's like George carlin said once "I don't understand when people ask me to tell something in my own words... Well , I've always used the same words everyone else uses ..."

 

[Obese Chess]

In my current band, which is metal, I wanna sound like @NollyPeriphery.


Dingwall NG-2 -> Darkglass B7K -> Axe-Fx.

My chain is Dingwall NG-2 (on order) -> Tube Screamer -> Hartke.

So uh, hey, one outta three ain't bad. Sounds mean as poopie though, and I overpower the guitars with the volume at "4" on the amp.

 

[Nev375]

I remember my very first gig. The band that came on after us, their bassist had a tone i had never heard before. He had a jazz bass and a mesa tube rig.

I later found it takes either a jj or pj bass with a very solid neck strung with fresh stainless rounds into a good tube preamp.

I ended up using a graphite necked pj with passive barts strung with stainless elixirs into a kern preamp, an swr power amp and hartke cab.

I'm exceedingly happy with my setup and am GAS free.... well mostly. Those barefaced cabs though....

 

[AndreasK]

Oh man these are huge ones for me too.

As far as bassists/bands that actually made me go out and buy a bass? Rage against the machine/Timmy C and the Chili Peppers/Flea. Tool has always been at the top too but JC heavily influenced me a little more later down the road and still to this day. Love his tone and use of effects and his choice of notes/playing style. I get a lot from john Entwistle and guys like JJ and JPJ all the way to Bob Weston and the Jesus Lizard. I'm def more in the aggressive/dirty bass tones though. It suites my band much more.

RATM and RHCP are among the few bands I still play the CD's from. Yes CD's, on my good stereo, to hear the bass lines propperly. So cool, but I can't do what Flea does RATM, I should get my band to try out some. Killing in the name of... Do do lo do do dum dum. Or something like that

 

[Bassmike62]

Simple answer for me.. this song started it, for the tone and the style of playing.

 

[Veldar]

Jeff Caxide is why I have a chorus/reverb pedal and is the only "preset" tone that I have to emulate a specific recording.

I had a patch on my Zoom CDR that emulated MBV guitar bending through reverse reverb which was fun to use.

But most of my pedals are there to achieve sounds I have in my head, I bought a my first pedal to get a thicker tone in my first "band" with a drummer.

 

[cheechi]

Roger Waters tone, I use an EVH phaser and a touch of VMT drive...

Especially that bwah bwah 'emulated upright' type sound like on Hey You.

I don't really want to 'sound just like that guy' for the purposes of performing, but more to see they got their sound by using this setup, these pedals etc. More from the perspective that I can't (and don't want to) buy one of everything and live in the studio the rest of my life playing with it all. I'm sure that's someone's dream but realistically, if I know a few of my favourite songs there are flange, compressed, overdriven effects then I know I need to buy those.

I can't think of a single bassist I want to get their rig and sound just like them. For guitar it's so simple, Vox AC30's and a Red Special. But for bass? just make your own sound.

 

[Dave W]

I think I started off trying to get a mash up of Justin Chancellor, Geddy Lee, Rex Brown, and Duff McKagan type tones.
Basically, tight bottom end with a bunch of growl.

 

[oysteivi]

The only bass sound I can distinctly remember trying to copy is Jared Warren's bass sound on the Big Business album head for the shallow. Didn't work out, as I only had a Boss ODB-3 at the time.

Other than that, I draw a lot of inspiration from various bassists, but I don't care about replicating exact sounds.

 

[bassman75]

Regarding the QOTSA, I heard he just cranks an Ampeg SVT with a P Bass, no pedals. I can get reasonably close to this sound using my VT Deluxe.

Good Morning , Could you tell me the settings used in your vt pedal to get that sound? Thanks!

 

[Bodeanly]

Good Morning , Could you tell me the settings used in your vt pedal to get that sound? Thanks!

"SVT style" with the drive at 3 o'clock, mid at 10 o'clock. Flat EQ on the amp. I may have tweaked it a bit since then. All I know know is that it's preset number 3 on my pedal. Sorry for not being more help.

 

[bassmusic17]

When I first started playing I was questing for Justin Chancellor. Then it was Geezer Butler. Then I got into Brian Cook and then into space rock/alternative bands like Failure/Shiner/TLAT then into Shellac/Jesus Mairy Chain. Then into post-rock sludge like Anton Dang or DOOM like Al Cisneros. I think my tone started out boring and I was mainly questing for effects just because Justin Chancellor used a ton of them. Then I realized I needed to find my tone before I just bought a bunch of effects just because. My tone is a product of all these bands that have influenced me and my own personal style. I would try to get a sound here or a tone there but in doing so I found my own tone and I don't try to cop anyone else's anymore. I know what I want my bass to sound like and it works for my band. If I was in a different group I might tweak it a bit to adjust but ultimately I found a tone I like and I have stuck with it for a while now. Now I use effects to add to my tone or enhance it, or to get a certain sound in a song we are writing. I don't buy effects anymore because so and so uses it but more because I think it will benefit my setup in some way for my band and my personal quest.

 

[Obese Chess]

Jeff Caxide is why I have a chorus/reverb pedal and is the only "preset" tone that I have to emulate a specific recording.

I had a patch on my Zoom CDR that emulated MBV guitar bending through reverse reverb which was fun to use.

But most of my pedals are there to achieve sounds I have in my head, I bought a my first pedal to get a thicker tone in my first "band" with a drummer.

Which tracks from Jeff? I see him mentioned a lot but I remember his tone being remarkably tinny on Oceanic and Panopticon. Totally worked and sounded great in the context of that band, but not a tone I'd emulate. I feel like I must be missing something, though.

 

[40Hz]

Way back when dinosaurs roamed the earth, I was floored by Greg Lake's bass sound in the song From the Beginning on ELP's Trilogy album. That led me to the discovery of Rotosound Swing Bass strings. Later, it was the sound he had in Carn Evil 9. That led me to an article in GuitarPlayer magazine that led to the purchase of a Gibson Ripper bass in 1974.

I've never looked back. And that bass (strung with roundeounds) is still my goto instrument to this day.

 

[Veldar]

Which tracks from Jeff? I see him mentioned a lot but I remember his tone being remarkably tinny on Oceanic and Panopticon. Totally worked and sounded great in the context of that band, but not a tone I'd emulate. I feel like I must be missing something, though.

Beginning and the end he has it going on during the end minute or two, it sounds a lot better on live recordings. He cuts all his low end on his stingray when using delays/verbs, I leave my eq open.

 

[40Hz]

In addition to Greg Lake, I was influenced by the sound and styles of: Dave Paton (a bassist's bassist); Ron Blair; Jim Hughart; Andy Kulberg; Tony Levin; and James Jamerson. I wouldn't mind sounding like any of them.

 

[Gaolee]

There are some sounds that are great. Others aren't. One could be the other the next day. So, the answer is nobody in particular. Little bits of this and that.

 

[Texasmetalhead]

The only two people I ever tried to emulate were Paul D'Amour and Mike Starr. Mostly, I've tried to get the right amount of grit and growl in my tone. Now days I kinda seem to think in terms of genres for my tone. I guess if anything my tone comes from more of a doom/sludge/post metal mindset. I take in everything from said two to Chris Fielding to Brian Cook to get my sound. It's taken a while, but it's getting there.

 

[Fuzzbass]

I am very comfortable just being me.

I'm comfortable being me, and also emulating other bass players' tones when I feel like it.

I know he's playing a Spector, and I wish to know more

That Pantera album was a big budget production. What you are hearing will be two channels minimum, maybe more. Meaning: clean DI mixed with dirty mic'd amp... probably multiple dirty channels (direct and amp).

In general it's possible to match a certain player's tone, but you probably will have to take your own path rather than copying the exact gear. F'r instance I once heard a player sound very close to Justin Chancellor of Tool using a Ken Smith Burner bass and a rack rig. I didn't see what was in the rack rig, but it didn't matter: my point is that what worked for him and his bass might not have worked for me and my bass.