Bit unhappy lately.

[norvegicusbass]

It might sound odd but I have only just got around to buying an amp for the bass I have been playing these last eighteen months. A combination of going through lean times financially and not being a gigging player has prevented me from justifying purchasing one when there are more pressing matters. The bass I have is semi acoustic anyway so I could always hear what I played so I never really needed one. I was also beginning to get quite happy with my tone until I got my hands on a cheap practice amp. When I plugged it in I sounded awful. I am really down about how bad I sound I know I have to fiddle around a bit to get the tone I want but I just think I sound sloppy regards excessive finger noise etc. Maybe I should have got an amp from the start and been aware that I needed to tighten up my technique. There is something else though. Its really the first time I have heard myself at volume and its as though I am frightened to play as I normally do somehow. Its hard to explain but its like the tone and extraneous noises are putting me off and leading to me making mistakes.

[Roland Rock]

It sounds pretty natural to me, as [i]everything[/i] will be amplified, not just the good stuff. It's mostly about practice practice practice when amplified, and after time you'll start to eliminate unwanted sounds.
A couple of other suggestions to reduce the nasty sounds - make sure you have a good setup, try playing with a lighter touch, and higher tension strings will help. How do you feel about flats?

Edited July 26, 2012 by Roland Rock

[TPTroll]

There's no point really in cheap practice amps. What's the wattage? If there isn't enough headroom (i.e. you have the volume up full) then it's going to sound a little worked.

A cheap/lower power practice amp will never, save for a few exceptions, give you amazing tone and sound. The amp is probably more important for quality of sound in many ways than the bass and pups.

Don't worry about the sound. If you want to get used to playing amped up, maybe stick some headphones on for a bit and get used to playing through an amp. If you want to try playing really loud through a decent amp, see if any of the rehearsal rooms in your area do cheaper rates for solo practices. This will give you the chance to go high volume with a good amp, but on your own.

[discreet]

Cut the top end a bit if you're getting excessive string/fretting noise. And if your damping skills are a bit wayward, stick a bit of sponge under the bridge - if it's good enough for Bob Babbitt... And as has been said, it's all about practice. You've become used to the tone of your bass played acoustically, it's bound to take time to get used to it amplified... for one thing, the sound is now coming [i]from somewhere else![/i] Spooky!



Edit: And a cheap practice amp is going to sound... cheap. Not much you can do about that!

Edited July 26, 2012 by discreet

[norvegicusbass]

[quote name='Roland Rock' timestamp='1343302466' post='1748520']
It sounds pretty natural to me, as [i]everything[/i] will be amplified, not just the good stuff. It's mostly about practice practice practice when amplified, and after time you'll start to eliminate unwanted sounds.
A couple of other suggestions to reduce the nasty sounds - make sure you have a good setup, try playing with a lighter touch, and higher tension strings will help. How do you feel about flats?
[/quote]
I have flats

[merlin]

Dont give up, play through head phones,Ive been playing for 37years and Im still insecure about my playing.. dont worry you will improve

[norvegicusbass]

[quote name='TPTroll' timestamp='1343302618' post='1748524']
There's no point really in cheap practice amps. What's the wattage? If there isn't enough headroom (i.e. you have the volume up full) then it's going to sound a little worked.

A cheap/lower power practice amp will never, save for a few exceptions, give you amazing tone and sound. The amp is probably more important for quality of sound in many ways than the bass and pups.

Don't worry about the sound. If you want to get used to playing amped up, maybe stick some headphones on for a bit and get used to playing through an amp. If you want to try playing really loud through a decent amp, see if any of the rehearsal rooms in your area do cheaper rates for solo practices. This will give you the chance to go high volume with a good amp, but on your own.
[/quote]
The wattage is twenty Like I say its just a cheap practice one

[norvegicusbass]

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1343303423' post='1748539']
Cut the top end a bit if you're getting excessive string/fretting noise. And if your damping skills are a bit wayward, stick a bit of sponge under the bridge - if it's good enough for Bob Babbitt... And as has been said, it's all about practice. You've become used to the tone of your bass played acoustically, it's bound to take time to get used to it amplified... for one thing, the sound is now coming [i]from somewhere else![/i] Spooky!



Edit: And a cheap practice amp is going to sound... cheap. Not much you can do about that!
[/quote]
Yeah it does sound weird coming from somewhere else LOL.

[norvegicusbass]

[quote name='merlin' timestamp='1343303530' post='1748541']
Dont give up, play through head phones,Ive been playing for 37years and Im still insecure about my playing.. dont worry you will improve
[/quote]
Cheers I will just keep practicing and hopefully in 37 years I can still be insecure LOL. Mind you I will be the oldest rocker in town by then

[chrismuzz]

[quote name='norvegicusbass' timestamp='1343304208' post='1748558']

Cheers I will just keep practicing and hopefully in 37 years I can still be insecure LOL. Mind you I will be the oldest rocker in town by then
[/quote]

Listen to some isolated bass tracks by some of your favourite players if they're out there. Listening to Cliff Burton and John Myung's playing totally 'naked' certainly made me feel better

[Fat Rich]

Have a look at your technique on your fretting hand, how close are you fretting the notes to the actual frets? If you're pressing the string halfway between the frets, or even closer to the fret below, then you'll need to press really hard to stop buzzes and clatters. So instead, make sure you're fretting as close to the fret as possible without actually muting the string, you'll play with a lighter touch and with less buzzes. It'll help you play faster, do less damage to your hands, plus if you decide to play fretless you'll be halfway to getting your intonation right.

Next up, string muting. A lot of people mute purely by lifting the string off the fret but this can cause buzzing and clicks, particularly on the thicker strings that have more momentum to stop. If you're playing fingerstyle try some muting with your picking fingers, or if you're playing slap or with a pick use your palm. Practice playing really staccato, and then playing looser (all controlled by your picking hand) it'll help tidy up your playing as note lengths are super important.

Now you've got your amp you'll soon notice an improvement, I'd strongly suggest recording yourself somehow and you'll be able to hear yourself progress and also analyse what needs work to improve your playing. It's amazing the number of musicians who don't actually know what they sound like, don't find out like I did in the control room of an expensive studio surrounded by people thinking they'd hired an idiot

Good luck!

Edited July 26, 2012 by Fat Rich

[norvegicusbass]

[quote name='Fat Rich' timestamp='1343304981' post='1748581']
Have a look at your technique on your fretting hand, how close are you fretting the notes to the actual frets? If you're pressing the string halfway between the frets, or even closer to the fret below, then you'll need to press really hard to stop buzzes and clatters. So instead, make sure you're fretting as close to the fret as possible without actually muting the string, you'll play with a lighter touch and with less buzzes. It'll help you play faster, do less damage to your hands, plus if you decide to play fretless you'll be halfway to getting your intonation right.

Next up, string muting. A lot of people mute purely by lifting the string off the fret but this can cause buzzing and clicks, particularly on the thicker strings that have more momentum to stop. If you're playing fingerstyle try some muting with your picking fingers, or if you're playing slap or with a pick use your palm. Practice playing really staccato, and then playing looser (all controlled by your picking hand) it'll help tidy up your playing as note lengths are super important.

Now you've got your amp you'll soon notice an improvement, I'd strongly suggest recording yourself somehow and you'll be able to hear yourself progress and also analyse what needs work to improve your playing. It's amazing the number of musicians who don't actually know what they sound like, don't find out like I did in the control room of an expensive studio surrounded by people thinking they'd hired an idiot

Good luck!
[/quote]
Excellent advice thanks very much. I have heard some of those isolated tracks and yeah the amount of extraneous noise didn't seem to affect those guys. The set up I have, that is bass, amp and strings cost less than £120 brand new so maybe I am being a little harsh on myself although I shouldn't try to make that an excuse. If I can get good on this gear maybe Lottery win or some rich relatives passing might let me get hold of decent gear and hopefully I can get the sound i want.

Edited July 26, 2012 by norvegicusbass

[gjones]

I played for a year with nothing to amplify my bass other than a wardrobe (bass pushed up against it to give me a bit of volume). I recommend the bit of spongue under the bridge to get rid of clanky noises but ideally you should play along to your favorite tracks and slowly the clanky noises will disappear as you get better at dampening strings with your fingers.

[TheGreek]

When you didn't have an amp you couldn't hear the finger noise so you didn't have to do anything about it - now that you can hear the noise you can..take a positive from this..you need to practice a bit more and tighten up your technique..how is that a bad thing?? If anything it's going to make you a better player!!

[lowdowner]

Although they say 'a bad workman always blames his tools' don't underestimate the effect of the amp on the overall sound.

I returned home from a band rehearsal on Tuesday and wanted to play through a few ideas so unloaded all my stuff from the car, plugged in, and just played away. I just couldn't believe how bad I sounded - nothing I could do with the guitar would give me back the tone I liked (and I played during rehearsal). Because I was tired, it took me half an hour to realise that the knobs on the amp had been moved quite a lot by being put in, and out of, it carrying bag. It was as simple as that - the treble was pushed right up, the bass right down, and the cut-off was different. The tone was really thin and scratchy.

Sort out your amp and you may be pleasantly surprised

[Tankdave]

Some of the noise is cool, it proves a real bass is being played and not just some synth or sampled stuff.

[paul_5]

[quote name='Tankdave' timestamp='1343325221' post='1749038']
Some of the noise is cool, it proves a real bass is being played and not just some synth or sampled stuff.
[/quote]

This - I've had some recording jobs where we've deliberately gone for a 'clanky' sound. Congratulations, you've nailed this technique, now that you feel it's time to move onto another approach I'd echo what's been said on here already - flats and cut the top of your EQ.

The disadvantage to playing semi-acoustic bass guitars is that the pickup is invariably a piezo mounted under the bridge - the place of least bass and most top. That is going to be a major factor in the amount of squeaks and such, so don't beat yourself up about it too much.

Altering your RH technique is something that I had to consider when I was playing my SA bass; it took a while, but I got there in the end.


Oh, that and I removed the frets - got rid of the fret noise, see?

[Blademan_98]

As said above, if you can record yourself, do it.

I record myself (solo) every few months to see if I sound better

Vain I know but it really helps to focus the parts you feel need improvement.

[discreet]

[quote name='Blademan_98' timestamp='1343332149' post='1749197']
Vain I know but it really helps to focus the parts you feel need improvement.[/quote]

Not vain - useful! Inevitably you will hear things you can't hear when you're playing. Strangely.

[Bloodaxe]

A good amp can make a cr4p bass sound great.
A cr4p amp can make a great bass sound cr4p.

[norvegicusbass]

All excellent points thank you all very much for your replies it has given me a bit more heart.

[norvegicusbass]

[quote name='gjones' timestamp='1343309559' post='1748697']
I played for a year with nothing to amplify my bass other than a wardrobe (bass pushed up against it to give me a bit of volume). I recommend the bit of spongue under the bridge to get rid of clanky noises but ideally you should play along to your favorite tracks and slowly the clanky noises will disappear as you get better at dampening strings with your fingers.
[/quote]
In this big wide world of ours I thought I was the only person who used his wardrobe as a sound box LOL

[rogerstodge]

By the sound of it a wardrobe will sound better than your 20w practise amp.. Good luck matey and .... Persevere

[norvegicusbass]

[quote name='rogerstodge' timestamp='1343343179' post='1749413']
By the sound of it a wardrobe will sound better than your 20w practise amp.. Good luck matey and .... Persevere
[/quote]
Yeah it was an hundred watt warbrobe

[Fat Rich]

[quote name='gjones' timestamp='1343309559' post='1748697']
I played for a year with nothing to amplify my bass other than a wardrobe (bass pushed up against it to give me a bit of volume)......
[/quote]

I wouldn't recommend this because you'll need a large van to get it to gigs, plus the audience will feel claustrophobic in it.