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Would this tone be considered "growly"?

#61
sumgruuvz said:
Great video! And song. I play along this with my Spector. Just roll the blend to the j pickup and voila! It's pretty stinking close.
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Agreed, this is the most ingenious combination of cool bass part with supreme video goodness ever concocted. There is most of the time two bass tracks, one for the supporting role and one that growls quite a bit. Rock on!
 
#65
sumgruuvz said:
Don't feel bad. I was fooled into thinking it was a Warwick for years until a couple years ago. Then I was highly surprised and disappointed at the same time.
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Either way, it's an example of the tone we're discussing. A growly bass sounds growly even without an amp... whereas some of the tones in this thread would be from somewhat hifi basses that have a scooped & distorted sound, which is not the same.
 
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#66
MarkoYYZ said:
Either way, it's an example of the tone we're discussing. A growly bass sounds growly even without an amp... whereas some of the tones in this thread would be from somewhat hifi basses that have a scooped & distorted sound, which is not the same.
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Agreed on the fact that scooped is not growly. I think scooped can be grindy - very GK - but to me a lovely growly tone is chock full of mids.
 
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#67
IME, growl is not an effect, it is innate to the instrument and its EQ setting/pickups/strings and it brought out by the player's technique. The fundamental is deemphasized by using a pickup near the bridge. There is, in effect, a mid boost in the just right band(s) to give a slightly speech-like quality to the instrument's tone.

A passive Jazz bass does it easily, as do Wawick thumbs (pickups near the bridge), and MM pickup equipped 'Rays, Laklands, and MTDs, to name but a few. IMHO, it is not over-driven, distorted, clanky, ganky, or zingy. It is a somewhat nasal tone color, perhaps even "horn-like."

Despite those qualifiers, I still love to cite Anthony Nembhart's little video from a few years ago. The sound is distorted and noisy due to the recording quality, but despite that, between times 0:10 and 0:18 you can hear real growl, not created by effects or overdrive, even though a bit fuzzy.

This example shows a great player on an inexpensive passive instrument strung with rounds. Note it has a single MM pickup.


 
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#73
fourstringbliss said:
Here are two clips of a nothing little riff that sound growly to me. Maybe I don't know what "growly" means, though. Recorded through my Zoom B3 on two different amp model settings. Bass onboard preamp set flat. Bass strung with Ernie Ball Cobalt Flats and played fingerstyle.




Is this a "growly" tone?
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I wouldn't worry about what it's called. That's what I call a really good sound.
 
#76
Growl or no growl specifically, I just found this thread and am blown away by the sound of the original post coming from FLATS! Sounds just like some broken-in rounds to me. I'm looking for a string that feels flat but sounds round, will likely look into those cobalts!
 
#77
DDXdesign said:
Growl or no growl specifically, I just found this thread and am blown away by the sound of the original post coming from FLATS! Sounds just like some broken-in rounds to me. I'm looking for a string that feels flat but sounds round, will likely look into those cobalts!
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Thanks! This is a really nice sounding bass I got for nothing almost. It's a keeper for sure. I have since replaced the Cobalts with my usual Sadowsky Flats and it sounds even better! Fatter and more even, with more clarity.
 
#78
Jim Carr said:
IME, growl is not an effect, it is innate to the instrument and its EQ setting/pickups/strings and it brought out by the player's technique. The fundamental is deemphasized by using a pickup near the bridge. There is, in effect, a mid boost in the just right band(s) to give a slightly speech-like quality to the instrument's tone.

A passive Jazz bass does it easily, as do Wawick thumbs (pickups near the bridge), and MM pickup equipped 'Rays, Laklands, and MTDs, to name but a few. IMHO, it is not over-driven, distorted, clanky, ganky, or zingy. It is a somewhat nasal tone color, perhaps even "horn-like."

Despite those qualifiers, I still love to cite Anthony Nembhart's little video from a few years ago. The sound is distorted and noisy due to the recording quality, but despite that, between times 0:10 and 0:18 you can hear real growl, not created by effects or overdrive, even though a bit fuzzy.

This example shows a great player on an inexpensive passive instrument strung with rounds. Note it has a single MM pickup.


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Agreed... I was going to say exactly the same thing.

Growl is not overdrive, growl is not distortion. Growl is in the inherent 'voice' of the instrument with no effects. Stingray has it, Sterling (even more so), my Jazz with an MM at the bridge has it, my SX Jaguar with Fender '70s jazz pups has it. P bass definitely growls too (more rich in the mids), but IME, my Classic IV T-Bird out-growls them all. They're all distinctly different "flavors" of growl, though.
 
#80
Joe Nerve said:
Yes, that's more like it.

These are a couple of my favorite growly sounding tones....







That dream theater video above I consider more overdrive or distortion than growl. Growl to me is a lot more organic than that, coming from the bass as opposed to effects. Just my opinion there.
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OH DAMN BRO!! I never even realized, thought about or payed attention to the tone coming from Alanis's bassist. Thank you for the slap!
 

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