Alice in Chains - Man in the box bass tone - Mike Starr

[MipoKoco]

Hello, 
I am a beginner of bass art. 

I've got Ibanez GSR200 with two pick-ups (PJ), multieffect Zoom B1x and Bass combo Vox Pathfinder 10.

I'm wondering how to get the bass tone from Man in the Box by Alice in Chains. Which pickup should I use? 

Thank you in advance

 

Edit: yt link to isolated bass

 

Edited May 16, 2024 by MipoKoco

[cetera]

Both pickups on. Low action and dig in hard with fingers or plectrum. You'd need a Sansamp or similar to get the growl though.

[Cliff Edge]

And a much better amplifier, that 6 1/2 “ speaker won’t do you any favours. 

[PaulThePlug]

There is a 'BassDriver' Sansamp-a-like in the Zoom...

Build a couple of simple patches of your own - ToneLib Zoom free software is great.

 

Few amps in the Zoom to choose from.. build a couple of patches of Amp Only and try different settings.

Love the Zoom B1on for the Marshall amp/cab sim...

 

Loves a B1on... check you are at the latest firmware.

https://www.zoom.co.jp/products/bass/b1on-bass-effects-pedal

 

[MipoKoco]

Thanks guys, I am going to try to get a similar sound today.

 

What do you think about changing the tuning  onone guitar?  I mean, this song tuning is semitone lower, semitone is not a big difference for guitar setup, is it?

Edited May 17, 2024 by MipoKoco

[cetera]

Semitone is fine and normal.

[PaulThePlug]

3 minutes ago, MipoKoco said:

Thanks guys, I am going to try to get a similar sound today.

 

What do you think about changing the tuning  onone guitar?  I mean, this song tuning is semitone lower, semitone is not a big difference for guitar setup, is it?

 

It should be fine... just maybe a little fret-buzzy...

 

Enjoy!

[MipoKoco]

Hello guys,
I’ve upgraded to a Fender Rumble 100 and added an Ampeg Opto Comp. Still using the same bass and the Zoom as well.
Thanks again for all the advice.
Any updated tips on settings or tricks with this kind of rig?

Edited Friday at 21:23 by MipoKoco

[Sean]

4 hours ago, MipoKoco said:

Hello guys,
I’ve upgraded to a Fender Rumble 100 and added an Ampeg Opto Comp. Still using the same bass and the Zoom as well.
Thanks again for all the advice.
Any updated tips on settings or tricks with this kind of rig?

There are some excellent videos on YouTube that talk about how to get the best out of a compressor with bass. Understanding a compressor is a really useful skill as a bassist. 

 

Another thing to do is understand how changes in EQ affect the sound, not just solo but in a band context too.

[SteveXFR]

You'll struggle to match the tone but you'll get reasonably near. You have PJ pickups so you're part way there. A little drive and just a hint of chorus. Both pickups on full and boost the mids a bit. Something like a Sansamp will get you the right sort of over drive to emulate Mike's Ampeg SVT amp.

Mike Starr played a Spector bass and they have a really distinctive tone with quite a growl to it. Spector make a budget range which you can find for around £300 used and they're not all that far off. They're not as punchy or big sounding but not bad.

 

Edited Saturday at 08:22 by SteveXFR

[Sean]

The EMGs are a lot of that sound. 

It's a Reverse P and a J. The placement of them is further "south" than many "conventional" basses. This means that because of the placement of the bass coil of the P, it is picking up the strings much further back than a non-reverse P in a conventional more "north" placement.  Then we have the preamp in that Spector, which is a vintage HAZ unit, that will be working with the EMGs in a way that gives the signature Spector sound. The HAZ sounds liked it's dimed on that isolated track. Dimed HAZ pre-amps have a sound that is specific to that circuit design, very distinctive and unique to that combination. 

 

It depends how far down the rabbit hole you want to go but even if you had Mike Starr's exact bass, rig and settings, you'd get close but you'd still sound like you playing it. When Mike Starr was recording that bass line, he was trying to get as good a sound as he could with the gear he had (on a decent record company budget) and he'd have been influenced by his favourite players, his band mates, the engineer etc. That iconic sound is the result of a lot of inputs from various people.

 

It's good to explore and dissect some of your favourite bass tones, we can learn a lot but we have to understand the constraints we have with the gear we've got. And, when we play as part of a band (whether live or recorded), the sound we get sits as part of a mix and a lot of the detail that us bassists obsess about can be lost, or just isn't important to the audience. 

 

I've seen many great/legend bass players playing their own iconic bass parts live on different basses through different rigs and getting a different tone and it's all good.

 

On the complete flip side of that, I take great pleasure in "Spectorising" bass parts in my covers band. Sometimes I think, "how can I make this sound as Spector as possible and get away with it?". 

 

I'd also say that if you get creative, an Ibanez GSR200 and a Zoom B1x together are capable of producing more good bass sounds than any normal person could use in a lifetime. So many bassists have had a career on one pickup bass with minimal effects. You've got a vast palette available. Go explore!

Edited 3 hours ago by Sean

[Cato]

Regardless of the other equipment used I'd say a big part of the tone on that song and a big chunk of his other work with Alice in Chains comes from brand new, fresh out the packet round wounds recorded before any of the 'zing' wears off.

 

 

[Noisyjon]

Great talk about Mike Starr's bass sound here. It's mostly about the song 'Would?' but there's a great bit at 08:40 that's worth looking at/listening to!

Click here> You Tube link to SBL

[Cato]

41 minutes ago, Noisyjon said:

Great talk about Mike Starr's bass sound here. It's mostly about the song 'Would?' but there's a great bit at 08:40 that's worth looking at/listening to!

Click here> You Tube link to SBL

 

When Scotts Bas Lesons posted a clip of this on Instagram they got a reply from Dave Hillis, who was apprently one of the sound engineers on the original track, saying there's no acoustic bass on there.

 

 

I can't 100% vouch that the guy posting as Dave Hillis is who he says he is but he seems to check out.

 

 

Edited 1 hour ago by Cato

[SteveXFR]

Would? Is one of those really simple but extremely effective bass parts. Really fun to play with a band.