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great bass tones


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i have been thinking about influences in my playing and sound,,,  this :-

Glen Hughes deep purple/ made in europe, Burke Shelley - budgie, Tom robinson, Chris squire, Geddy Lee, Phil Lynott, the jam,

So i started off having new strings all the time to get the clunky sound and even got a Rikki.... them came the precisions (lots of them).... then at some point i realised that the tone has to suit the music

This was when i joined an R&B pop type band....  and the Donald duck Dunn sound was the tone...  also i discovered short scale... and a love affair begun... i was unfathful a few times and went back to long scale

 and today i now have the perfect tone for me.... Cort short scale, Markbass and strings that have been on for years. they are roundwound as i dont like the feel of flats... or the cost!  :)

But....   I am looking at a white precsion!!  Will i ever learn!!  i have the perfect tone!!

Is it the tone or the look!!!!! 

 

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Bruce Foxton on the Setting Sons album or JJ Burnel on the Rattus Norvegicus album for me are/were the most exciting bass tones. However although in my last band I had a vaguely similar tone to these my preference on tone for my own playing is more the typical warm Precision/Ashdown sound. But this wouldn’t have suited the band, and I’m a firm believer in choosing tone to suit the band.

Edited by Lozz196
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Geddy Lee set the bar for me in the late 70s, stringy twang played aggressively with distortion to suit, I employ that tone now, on both fretted and fretless, I went through a stage in the 80’s of clean and powerful, but have always come back to pre-amp/valve distortion. 34” scale with heavy bridge orientated pick-ups. Latterly I’ve come to love rosewood fingerboards, but I played a wenge/bubinga Thumb for 20 years. 

Loved Pastorious’ tone, Les Claypool, Jack Bruce in places, anyone who didn’t just want to fill in the LF...

 

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I reckon at any gig, 99 times out of 100 the only person in the room who cares about the bass tone is the bass player. 

In all my years playing not once has anyone mentioned it to me. So that means one of two things.

1) no one cares.

2) I have a terrible bass tone.

 

It's probably closer to 2 as I don't care too much😄

 

Edited by Lord Sausage
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40 minutes ago, Lord Sausage said:

I reckon at any gig, 99 times out of 100 the only person in the room who cares about the bass tone is the bass player. 

In all my years playing not once has anyone mentioned it to me. So that means one of two things.

1) no one cares.

2) I have a terrible bass tone.

 

It's probably closer to 2 as I don't care too much😄

 

Or 3) you have a great bass tone....

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Funny thing is the best bass tone I have achieved was through a tiny amp.

Did a rehearsal a couple days after a gig and the drummer didnt feel like loading up his car with my bass amp (he transported it to the gig) so he brought along this little Ampeg bass amp that was rated at about 50 watts and I looked at it and I thought it was going to be dreadful and I thought my bass would be buried in the mix as we have a loud drummer and 2 guitar players, plugged my bass into the amp and no only was it loud but the tone was awesome, gritty, articulate and bright but with plenty of low end too, I was really impressed, I can only imagine how good their more powerful amps are.

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It's a myth that no one hears the bass player. Try playing a song a semi tone flat. They'll all notice that in 2 seconds.

If you sound bad, the phone stops ringing. If the phone keeps ringing it usually means you don't have a bad tone.

Because other guys in the band don't comment doesn't mean they don't notice or don't care. Most good players will expect everyone in the band to sound good, as they will expect good timing and interesting ideas. That is a given and is not a source of interesting conversation so they talk about other stuff.

 

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10 hours ago, Lord Sausage said:

I reckon at any gig, 99 times out of 100 the only person in the room who cares about the bass tone is the bass player. 

In all my years playing not once has anyone mentioned it to me. So that means one of two things.

1) no one cares.

2) I have a terrible bass tone.

 

It's probably closer to 2 as I don't care too much😄

 

Especially the other band members. They couldn't give a toss about the bass tone. I have found this out over the years. I was also the singer so relied on my mate (the guitarist) to step out front and give us a nod if everything was sounding ok. It was only when we had proper soundchecks and I could go out front too that I would say that sounds rotten and he would be like, it's ok. As long as his sound was good he was happy.

Edited by ubit
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2 hours ago, ubit said:

Especially the other band members. They couldn't give a toss about the bass tone. I have found this out over the years. I was also the singer so relied on my mate (the guitarist) to step out front and give us a nod if everything was sounding ok. It was only when we had proper soundchecks and I could go out front too that I would say that sounds rotten and he would be like, it's ok. As long as his sound was good he was happy.

Classic guitar player.

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13 hours ago, mr zed said:
14 hours ago, Lord Sausage said:

I reckon at any gig, 99 times out of 100 the only person in the room who cares about the bass tone is the bass player. 

In all my years playing not once has anyone mentioned it to me. So that means one of two things.

1) no one cares.

2) I have a terrible bass tone.

 

It's probably closer to 2 as I don't care too much😄

 

Or 3) you have a great bass tone....

Well if it was 3)  you would have had loads of punters and bandmates telling you about it ;)

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16 hours ago, deepbass5 said:

Great Bass tone does not fit in a family size hatchback with two child seats :(

It does, but not if you want it at higher volume. 

I'm on the fence as far as "bass tone" is concerned. I've found over the years that what sounds good next to the rig doesn't always work in the room (in situations where one is not going through the PA, obviously). I try to dial in a sound that is a little too mid-prominent and lacking in low end extension these days. It isn't especially pleasing when stood close to the rig, but it works and projects better into the room.

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The closest I've had to a comment on tone was in Scotland. I was on tour in the band for a musical. I just DI'd as we played with cans and had our own personal mixers.

The sound guy at the venue was raving about the natural signal from my bass. I can't quite remember why now.

 

It was a passive 1996 Yamaha BBN5.

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59 minutes ago, Dan Dare said:

It does, but not if you want it at higher volume. 

I'm on the fence as far as "bass tone" is concerned. I've found over the years that what sounds good next to the rig doesn't always work in the room (in situations where one is not going through the PA, obviously). I try to dial in a sound that is a little too mid-prominent and lacking in low end extension these days. It isn't especially pleasing when stood close to the rig, but it works and projects better into the room.

Agree Dan, I found this out by accident a few years back, that the tone as you describe might not sound great on stage but it really translates well in the mix out front.

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9 hours ago, nikon F said:

did you weld the roof back on before you sold it ? 😁

As I remember it was an 8x10 and a flightcased Warwick thumb 5 in the boot, a TE 4x10 on the front passenger seat and a GK RB800 and a leads/pedal bag in the footwell.

Fuel economy suffered a bit mind.

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17 hours ago, Lord Sausage said:

I reckon at any gig, 99 times out of 100 the only person in the room who cares about the bass tone is the bass player. 

Now you've gone and done it and your dead right....That's Y forums like this are kinda odd really constantly worrying bout this and that. As you say  no-one on the floor cares....all they know is that that mushy low drone they can hear is neither here nor there...its just a bassy drone.

 

Edited by greavesbass
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