Marcus Miller Slap tone - pickup upgrade

[Majid]

Hi Bass lovers,

 

I opened such a topic here almost 1.5 year ago and got some feedbacks about preamp and PUs. Since then I modded my Fender AVRI 75 with Bartolini XTCT 4.5A/PJ preamp and Bartolini 9CBJD3 (bright) pickups and as you see still searching to achieve that Marcus Miller's tone (I agree that it is a kind of obsession)

 

After this mod, the bass sounds much better, however, in general sounds a bit too bright and lacks growl and throatiness in my ears when slapping most probably thanks to Bartolini PUs model I have. 

 

Now I'm deciding to check another set of PU on my bass with a little more vintage vibe/tone. Perhaps it would push me closer to MM tone?! Here is a cover I played from MM.

 

I really appreciate your feedbacks on the tone of my bass in this video and how I can get a tone like MM's. I'm considering few PUs now to go for like fender pure vintage 74, Lindy Fralin with stock winding, fender original, or fender CS 60's (ok maybe it sounds too warm for MM slap tone). 

 

Please help me and let me know about your experience with these pickups or any other ones I can combine with Bart XTCT preamp to get that damn tone.

 

Thanks.

 

 

[TheGreek]

I fear that you may find yourself throwing money at an unobtainable goal. 

 

Marcus is Marcus,  you are you. 

 

Whether you will ever be able to replicate his tone as closely as you would like may depend on far too many factors,  some of which are out of your control. 

 

Good luck though. 

[Majid]

Thanks for your reply. I know the risk you mentioned. However I’m not that picky. The tone I tend to achieve doesn’t have to be exactly and uniquely the tone we hear from MM which is kind of impossible as you pointed out. I fully agree with you that bass players have their own unique touch which has an impact on the tone. 
I’ve seen some nice youtube videos with somehow similar tone to MM and that’s what I’m looking for. The reason why I’m using this term “MM’s tone” is just because I don’t know how to describe that tone.

 

But again thanks for raising that concern 😊

[ped]

Great playing! 

[ped]

For me the central tone is pretty good, it’s unmistakably a 70s spacing jazz. I think the treble is a bit too much in the 6k range and needs a bit more sizzle further up. I’d move some of the mid frequencies a little lower and boost the low end and run into a limiter to give it that brick wall growl.

[Majid]

1 hour ago, ped said:

For me the central tone is pretty good, it’s unmistakably a 70s spacing jazz. I think the treble is a bit too much in the 6k range and needs a bit more sizzle further up. I’d move some of the mid frequencies a little lower and boost the low end and run into a limiter to give it that brick wall growl.

Thanks a lot for your feedback. Later I’ll share some snips of my eq here for a better understanding of how the tone was set for this cover video 🙏

[Majid]

1 hour ago, ped said:

Great playing! 

Many thanks 🙏🙏

[lowdown]

Nice playing and tone.

Your sound reminds me of the late, great, Wayne Braithwaite.

 

 

[Majid]

28 minutes ago, lowdown said:

Nice playing and tone.

Your sound reminds me of the late, great, Wayne Braithwaite.

 

 

Thanks a lot 🙏🙏🙏

[Majid]

6 hours ago, ped said:

For me the central tone is pretty good, it’s unmistakably a 70s spacing jazz. I think the treble is a bit too much in the 6k range and needs a bit more sizzle further up. I’d move some of the mid frequencies a little lower and boost the low end and run into a limiter to give it that brick wall growl.

As you can see here I used eq twice before and after compression. But maybe I should lower the mids further and remove the second eq entirely as it is adding low mid up to 5,5 db?!

[ped]

It depends on how it’s recorded and what I’m listening through but that’s how your sound translates to me at this end, so it might not be the thing you need to do at yours if you see what I mean. Mind you I listened through my headphone system which I know sounds very faithful to recordings I’ve made and listened back to on different systems. 

[Majid]

18 minutes ago, ped said:

It depends on how it’s recorded and what I’m listening through but that’s how your sound translates to me at this end, so it might not be the thing you need to do at yours if you see what I mean. Mind you I listened through my headphone system which I know sounds very faithful to recordings I’ve made and listened back to on different systems. 

I connected the bass to Zoom multi effect to boost the signal a little bit then send it through scarlett 2i2 and recorded on Cubasis 3.

[asingardenof]

Apologies if I'm preaching to the converted but have you tried MM's signature strings? If not he talks in this video about finding more or less what you're after with them.

 

 

[jonnybass]

i'd second the strings question, also marcus uses a badass bridge, different strings and bridge may help bring you closer to the tone you are after.  BTW great playing and your tone is fab.  I get that you are looking to be more Marcus but Majid's tone is good.

 

Jonny

[Chris2112]

I think it sounds pretty damn cool as it is. 

[Majid]

2 hours ago, asingardenof said:

Apologies if I'm preaching to the converted but have you tried MM's signature strings? If not he talks in this video about finding more or less what you're after with them.

 

 

Thanks for your reply. No I haven’t tried those strings yet. I should give it a try soon

[Majid]

2 hours ago, jonnybass said:

i'd second the strings question, also marcus uses a badass bridge, different strings and bridge may help bring you closer to the tone you are after.  BTW great playing and your tone is fab.  I get that you are looking to be more Marcus but Majid's tone is good.

 

Jonny

Thanks for your reply. I also thought about it but was not sure if it will make a big difference. But maybe it is worth trying

[Majid]

2 hours ago, jonnybass said:

i'd second the strings question, also marcus uses a badass bridge, different strings and bridge may help bring you closer to the tone you are after.  BTW great playing and your tone is fab.  I get that you are looking to be more Marcus but Majid's tone is good.

 

Jonny

And by the way, thanks a lot for your nice words 🙏

[Majid]

1 hour ago, Chris2112 said:

I think it sounds pretty damn cool as it is. 

Thanks a lot for your nice words 🙏

[Majid]

I changed the eq set up a little by cutting more of mid range and here is the result attached:

 

Please let me know if it has become closer to or farther from MM tone comparing to the tone in my video?

 

Edited March 11, 2023 by Majid