getting the bass sound you want

[funkoveture]

its not easy to get a good sound on bass...anyone knows how to get a nice sound? like hows the EQ of the bass amp should be and also the EQ on bass should bein order to get different sound.

For my bass guitar settings, i always max my bass and highs and cut the mids for Slaping. For normal finger, i use max bass and mids and half highs.

For my amps, i usually put on a "M" shape on the Equalizer.

 

[cherns]

If it was easy, the bass industry wouldn't exist would it?

There are like... a bajillion factors to getting "the tone" on your bass (which is completely subjective...), like your left/right hand technique, the woods of your bass, the pickups used, the electronics of your bass, the poweramp/preamp/head/cabinet/combo you're playing through... but I think the one biggest factor in getting a "nice sound" is really in your head. There, I said it.

If you think you've got a nice sound - you've got a nice sound. If you don't think you've got a nice sound, you don't have a nice sound. Buying nice basses and upgrading your electronics and everything is pretty much convincing yourself that you're getting a nice sound... but that's pretty much descriptive of any kinda consumer good isn't it?

 

[3notesAbar]

Speaking of 'bajillion factors'...

Alot of your resultant bass tone comes 'after the mix'. Your band mates too take up a part of the sonic spectrum, and the bass usually takes whats left behind. Think of bassists always saying things like. 'trying to cut thru the mix'.

Another subjective thing...Usually, a band sounds better if the drum kick is slightly more powerful than the lows of the bass. I personally feel this is a good arrangement for most genres, even as a bassist. It'll be good if guitarists tone their lows down a notch, instead of trying to attain their perfect tone in a mix which does not revolve around them. I leave Santana out of this obviously. All these things said and done, how do you play your bass? 'Gravity' lines or Float like a Butterfly and Sting like a Bee? Anything from Dub bass tones to throaty mids ala. Jazz bridge pickup?

Do you make your band sound good?

 

[mikemann]

A good bassist should not be overly concern about a stand-out sound, as most music, the bass sounds good as a support/structural part of the band. That's what the bass was built for in the first place.

Audience will get bored easily if the bassist solo or twang or slap or pop throughout all the time. More often the bassist will be "felt but not seen".

That said, it's still important to get the boost when you need it for your parts. Which is why the active pre-amp or pickup(EMG) is always the first upgrade a bassist could go for in tone upgrade. It give you more headroom and wider tonal possibilities at the tip of your fingers when you need them. (This means the controls at mid level should cover your normal playing level, a boost is easy anytime)

Not less important is a proper bass amp. 15" 100watts up is the bread and butter minimum setup to cover the spectrum required. These days just as popular are 2X10" or 4X10" w/horn, for the flashier players. Pros will go for combination setup to cover the full spectrum, meaning with 2 to 3 different cabs running at once.

Effects are normally rack bound, again it's tone shapers and boosters mainly. Foot controlled effects are not often used.

 

[funkoveture]

Do you make your band sound good?

Do you make your band sound good?.....dude i like the sound of that man... im trying to do alot of things to get good sound till i forgot about this factor. Which above all, the most important.

However i think i need to input those punchy bass sounds to enhence my band sound. But cant seems to get a nice boom punchy sound. The only way i got it was by maxing my volume. But its kinda overpowering the drums.

 

[3notesAbar]

By punchy do you mean like 'driven' or 'powerful Low mids? There are several ways to do this.

 

[funkoveture]

How about both, driven and powerful low mids. do u know how to get that? and also how to get round solid fat sound for normal finger bass.

 

[3notesAbar]

Mikemann - I know exactly what you mean by bassists being Felt not heard. My current gig at Sentosa has this fantastic soundman who comes only half the time, and works on less-than-optimal equipment. No subs, just an intergrated top x 2 and 16 channel for the whole band. Damn jialat. And usually the other soundmen dunno how to dial in lows for my 'middy and trebly' sounding bass. I just play it flat, and let them handle the Eqing - big mistake. Reason i did that was cos i usually bring a passive bass there anyway.

And when this fella came back to the board, i was like Whew... stepped out of the stage and listened to my band. Finally my bass sound was sitting Behind the rest of my mates, with nice peak levels so that i can play my usual attacks and sound consistent without using a compresser/limiter.

 

[3notesAbar]

How about both, .

Do you pluck at different areas of the bass?

1) Pickup pan balance - Try panning a little towards the bridge PUP.

2) Boost 100hz or any frequency as close as possible. Amp, effect, preamp, onboard preamp also can.

3) Compression - If you squash your tone slightly, you might find that punch in other ways.

4) Gain settings - if your bass has HOT output. try setting yoru gain higher than your master volume. And play hard. See what happens, and experiment with your given equipment.

5) Dont forget to play around with your fingers, i mean bass. And fingers. Alot of tone comes from those 2 lil things.

 

[stars]

hmmz bro kelvin ?

hmmz any more tips to acheiving that sound ? what about lo fi and hi fi ? sharp attacks ?

 

[3notesAbar]

I dunno about tips in that regard, but as Cherns pointed out, if your ears tell you that the sound is good, the sound is good. What others say become 2nd opinions.

 

[cherns]

IMO - a lot of us aren't even clear about the kinda "tone" that we're hearing in our heads... what may be a nice "phat" tone to me, may sound muddy/dumpy to others, and what may sound like "singing highs" may sound a little too hi-fi/sterile to others.

To get a nice growly fingerstyle tone, I normally pan about 70% to the bridge pup, boost my bass and mids, and close up the tone control (treble roll-off) to about 40%. If I'm going for a more pseudo dub tone, I pan towards the bridge about 80%, boost my bass and treble, and close up the tone control almost completely. I also blend in the piezos for that nice acoustic "clack" effect.

For a more rock-ish tone, I play with the pan at about 50-50, bass boost, tone control open at about 80% and piezos blended in.

These settings would definitely differ from bass to bass, pickups to pickups, preamp to preamp... so do take whatever I've just posted in that light. My pickups are Nordstrand Dual Coils going through an Fbass onboard preamp, and RMC piezos blended in through a Fishman piezo buffer/blender. I think my pickups are excellent in terms of tone/output, but I'm obviously biased

 

[3notesAbar]

wow so hi-end.

Can you get your hands on a Fbass BN-6 fretted?
I think thats the ultimate 6 string bass for me.

 

[cherns]

I'm well blessed Here's a pic of my preciousssss

Click on the pic to go to the gallery

I can't help you with the fbass, but I know someone who can I had an AC6 for a brief period... it was an amazing bass! PM me if you're really interested in getting the fbass.

 

[3notesAbar]

Victor Lai is it..

 

[cherns]

LOL... who else

 

[3notesAbar]

u know how much is a basic/barebone BN5 and BN6?

 

[cherns]

Not too sure, but I checked out a used one for you - check you pm The BN6's don't pop up very often. I suspect you'd have more luck getting a used one through the Fbass users forum.

 

[FeElDaGrOoVe]

erm what kind of sound do u all normally plae with? i dun like those clear tone sound, i normally plae with those extreme low and unclear sound. am i being weird?

 

[Pyro]

Nope, everyone have their own preference. For me, I like a really low sound with a touch of treble (best way I can describe it).