Nailing That Artist Bass Tone

[paul, the]

Hello all,

No doubt many of you have searched long and hard for that elusive 'perfect' tone. Of course one man's (or lady's) perfect tone may be anothers tonal nightmare - so if you've nailed that signature tone on the relatively cheap and you're dead chuffed, feel free to post.

These would be useful to include:

-Who inspired your tone
-What bass/cabs/effects you use
-key extras: Mods, home made equipment, magical deities, strings, instrument setup

Is there any unreachable bass tones at any price?

Cheers,

Paul.

[lukeward2004]

Well, I draw upon many influences, and have come to find a sound that I am happy with - Im not sure how relevant this is as I cannot pin my tone down to one artist or say ive tried to capture someone elses tone - I like to have my own thing going on.

I use a Warwick Streamer LX5, a custom Jazz bass that is based heavily on a 75 model, and a custom Precision bass, which is based on a '62 Fender Precision.

These three are all run through a Hartke 3500 head, with 12ax7m tube upgrade, an Aphex Aural Exciter C102, Korg DTR 1000 Rack tuner into a Hartke 410XL cab.

The rig gives me a nice, clean tone, with plenty of low end and plenty of volume. I think the only thing I would look to change is the weight, and just as soon as I can find a lightweight Cab that cn give me minimum colouration to the sound, ill make the change.

I also use several pedals - an MXR Auto Q filter, which is funky as hell, a DHA VT2-Dual Custom Valve overdrive box, a Boss OC-2 Octaver, and an MXR Micro Amp to balance out the volume differences between my Active Warwick and passive J/P basses.

I use a Shure T Series Wireless which I will be changing for a rackmount SLX system soon, but all in all thats the lot.
Signal chain goes Bass>Wireless>Pedalboard>Tuner>Aphex>Amp. I use an active DI from the back of the amp for tying into the PA at gigs.

I find that using this setup gives me so many options tonally, depending on what bass I use. I play a hell of a lot of Funk at the moment, a fair bit of reggae, and rock. I have never once had trouble finding a tone I was happy with for eithe rof these applications.

[john_the_bass]

[quote name='lukeward2004' post='1503' date='May 18 2007, 03:51 PM']Well, I draw upon many influences, and have come to find a sound that I am happy with - Im not sure how relevant this is as I cannot pin my tone down to one artist or say ive tried to capture someone elses tone - I like to have my own thing going on.

I use a Warwick Streamer LX5, a custom Jazz bass that is based heavily on a 75 model, and a custom Precision bass, which is based on a '62 Fender Precision.

These three are all run through a Hartke 3500 head, with 12ax7m tube upgrade, an Aphex Aural Exciter C102, Korg DTR 1000 Rack tuner into a Hartke 410XL cab.

The rig gives me a nice, clean tone, with plenty of low end and plenty of volume. I think the only thing I would look to change is the weight, and just as soon as I can find a lightweight Cab that cn give me minimum colouration to the sound, ill make the change.

I also use several pedals - an MXR Auto Q filter, which is funky as hell, a DHA VT2-Dual Custom Valve overdrive box, a Boss OC-2 Octaver, and an MXR Micro Amp to balance out the volume differences between my Active Warwick and passive J/P basses.

I use a Shure T Series Wireless which I will be changing for a rackmount SLX system soon, but all in all thats the lot.
Signal chain goes Bass>Wireless>Pedalboard>Tuner>Aphex>Amp. I use an active DI from the back of the amp for tying into the PA at gigs.

I find that using this setup gives me so many options tonally, depending on what bass I use. I play a hell of a lot of Funk at the moment, a fair bit of reggae, and rock. I have never once had trouble finding a tone I was happy with for eithe rof these applications.[/quote]

luke - how does the micro amp work to balance out the volume differences? I've got a stingray and a precision and i'm reluctant to use one as any more than a backup in a live situation as i'm loathe to have to get an engineer to adjust for the differences, particularly with high/low gain switch and gain adjustment on the amp.
Cheers

[lukeward2004]

Basically, the MXR is a Gain box - so when Im soundchecking, I take the bass with the highest overall output, My Active Warwick Streamer LX5, crank it up to full volume, and adjust amp volumes etc alongside the engineer to suit the FOH sound with the MXR switched OFF.

Once this has been set, I then switch to one of the other passive basses, and straight away you notice a volume difference. Engage the MXR, and increase the gain until the volume with the MXR engaged is the same as the Active bass with the MXR disengaged.

Most of the time, the MXR is engaged for my Jazz as my Precision is loaded with SD 1/4 £ers, which have a pretty hot output as they are.

[john_the_bass]

aah - does that mean potentially that i could plug in my ray, turn it all up full and adjust the amp accordingly, then use the 15db boost on my GEB-7 to boost the gain of the P to match the stingray. If it saves me a few quid, all is good!

[lukeward2004]

Not sure about that one - I purposely bought a gain box to get a clean boost, so It wont affect tone or EQ - only the output volume.....

[john_the_bass]

i've realised i've jacked this thread slightly. the EQ I can set flat but it has an 8th slider which cuts/boosts gain by 15db. I think i might experiment when i get home.

or should i actually go and watch a band...

apologies for the thread jacking

[jase00]

I bet that lot cost a pretty penny Luke

[slaphappygarry]

[quote]i've realised i've jacked this thread slightly. the EQ I can set flat but it has an 8th slider which cuts/boosts gain by 15db. I think i might experiment when i get home.

or should i actually go and watch a band...

apologies for the thread jacking[/quote]

That would work very well. i used to do exactly this.

G

[Bobthedog]

Thanks for this tip. 

 

I just wanted to kickstart the oldest thread I could find. 😀

[Newfoundfreedom]

A joint record for today at 14 years. 😆