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How to get those tones?


KingPrawn
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Hello all. 
I know there are a huge amount of factors that impact on the final tone of any bass tone. 
Bass, amp.cab,player, finger, pick, strings, effects, studio/live, pickups, preamp, passive , active, new world vs old etc etc  

Putting all those nuances to the side for the purpose of this thread. How do you get a basic tone for:

Rock

Funk

Jazz

slap

punk

motown 

so regardless of bass type  what would you advise a new player who wanted to achieve a good baseline tone for each  what are the EQ rules  ?

 

Edited by KingPrawn
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Practice playing.

Every type of bass has been used for all those styles of music. The difference is the fellow or lady playing the thing. You can play all of that music on pretty much any reasonable quality bass. By reasonable bass, I mean something you can plug into a DI and it sounds good without any polishing on a desk, no amp, no effects, no EQ tweaks. Everything else is fluff. It's fun but it's still fluff. A decent player and any decent bass and you're good to go.

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33 minutes ago, KingPrawn said:

How do you get a basic tone for:

Rock

Funk

Jazz

slap

punk

motown 

All starting with a flat EQ, 

Rock, low mid boost plus a bit of overdrive. Spandex advisable. 

Funk, low mid boost and clean. Wah thrown in to taste if needed. Something sparkly a necessity. 

Jazz, high mid boost and clean. Black turtle neck and gaulois. 

Slap, low boost, mid slight cut, high boost plus compression. Very short strap. 

Punk, low mid boost plus a bit of overdrive. Very long strap. 

Motown, low mid boost and a foam mute. Shit man, wear what you want, you'll be the coolest mofo in the room whether you or anyone else realises it if you're playing bass to Motown tunes!

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Your hands make up a significant part of your sound. Rather than using EQ it’s better to try different hand positions, and different pressures on the strings first. Then when you’re close to what you want to achieve, use EQ to make small tweaks.

Edited by OliverBlackman
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3 hours ago, Maude said:

All starting with a flat EQ, 

Rock, low mid boost plus a bit of overdrive. Spandex advisable. 

Funk, low mid boost and clean. Wah thrown in to taste if needed. Something sparkly a necessity. 

Jazz, high mid boost and clean. Black turtle neck and gaulois. 

Slap, low boost, mid slight cut, high boost plus compression. Very short strap. 

Punk, low mid boost plus a bit of overdrive. Very long strap. 

Motown, low mid boost and a foam mute. Shit man, wear what you want, you'll be the coolest mofo in the room whether you or anyone else realises it if you're playing bass to Motown tunes!

All this but Punk should also have either a buzz cut or 'lawnmower' cut, no gel.

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4 hours ago, TheGreek said:

"Expect to spend a LOT of money finding what you want..."

or "Buy a P bass"...nearly everybody else uses one.

Yup..... a P Bass and a decent amp. 

Then use yours ears and listen to your favorite players in those genres.

Spending silly money won't get you the feel or sound.

I've heard some bassists getting great sounds out of cheap gear.

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15 hours ago, Downunderwonder said:

All this but Punk should also have either a buzz cut or 'lawnmower' cut, no gel.

For crust punk, dreadlocks and a complete lack of personal hygiene are essential. You should be offended by the smell when you see a photo of them  

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8 minutes ago, Cliff Edge said:

For Religious Punk a cheap pair of sandals is essential along with a sanctimonious grin. 
Oh and any old bass and amp you find in Cash Converters will polish the image just fine. 

Hold on, religious punk is a thing? How does that work? How can you be non conformist and follow a religion? 

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11 minutes ago, Cliff Edge said:

For Religious Punk a cheap pair of sandals is essential along with a sanctimonious grin. 
Oh and any old bass and amp you find in Cash Converters will polish the image just fine. 

What's religious punk?? Is that like Christian metal?

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3 minutes ago, Waddo Soqable said:

I do hope it's not actually real....

Hello Wad.

I just googled it and it is real. Although I didn't realise that alot of rilly rilly old whitemetal bands from ze 80's are now being classed as punk on the ever reliable Wikipedia (NOT) when previously I myself had just considered them to be metal.

However, all good for the Christian part-time-anarchist yoof. Don't knock it ...

Edited by MHMSWC#03
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10 minutes ago, SteveXFR said:

I want to hear a Christian black metal band. Buddhist grundcore would be interesting as well. 

I want to hear and preferably witness a Christian whatever band performing whilst being savaged by lions ( or indeed any other suitable large beasts with a nasty temper) 

Those who are about to rock/die  etc......

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