Who influences your tone?

[icastle]

[quote name='Gust0o' post='1032374' date='Nov 22 2010, 11:03 AM']Here's a question for the tone masters - even when you're admitting that you sound like yourself, how much variation do you find within your playing and gear?

I had an odd weekend of seeming to play everything I own; and then spending an inordinate amount of time trying to make it all sound the same, instead of simply enjoying the different basses and set-ups for what they are.

I'm not sure if I'm on the right or wrong tracks with that one (possibly a bit of both!) but it made for an annoying weekend, given my usual obsessive compulsive tendencies.[/quote]

If I [b]wanted[/b] everything to sound the same then I'd have bought the same bass six times over and saved the trouble

[Michaelg]

i think i try and go for a 'vintage' tone, which for me is heavily compressed, warm, clean and punchy. very little low end boom or high end twang. however i think i end up sounding like a hybrid between the bassists from bands such as i am kloot, decemberists, beatles (sigh), jefferson airplane and fleetwood mac.

having said that i happily embrace different gear and drastically different sounds when recording! also during performances i like to vary my sound as much as possible, for some songs i end up trying to sound like andy rourke both tonally and rhythmically

Edited November 22, 2010 by Michaelg

[Gust0o]

You'd think so icastle, but my mind is now starting to work in strange ways. Am considering continuing to blame the painkillers for my back!

[sk8]

[quote name='steve-soar' post='1031997' date='Nov 21 2010, 10:24 PM']Me.[/quote]


+1

[risingson]

I sound like me, I don't try and sound like anyone else and I never sound like anyone else!

[JTUK]

I think it all evolves back to you anyway...with a twist.
A new tone emphasis from a new bass will be there but over a few months you will start to hear your sound evolve and come through stylistically and then phrasing and you will not be too far away from where you started.


A new bass would only sound better and project better, not so fundementally different so the little changes mean a lot but in real terms, sound less so. IMO.

[Low End Bee]

I sound like a Precision through an Orange Terror Bass. There's not much you can do no matter how much you twiddle the knobs with these two. Thankfully I like the sound.

[Wylie]

With the P-bass, it was all fat. Now, with the J, it's still fat, but with the bridge pickup rolled on enough to give it definition and edge. The more I fiddle with it, the less defined it becomes, and after a while I realize I am spending valuable practice time trying to find a tone ... basically, I don't want to stand out in the trio (violin, piano, bass) but don't want to disappear either.

[thisnameistaken]

I don't think I try to sound like any specific bass player, to be honest I don't know who played bass on a lot of my favourite recordings and I don't really care either.

Edited November 22, 2010 by thisnameistaken

[icastle]

[quote name='Gust0o' post='1032459' date='Nov 22 2010, 12:11 PM']You'd think so icastle, but my mind is now starting to work in strange ways. Am considering continuing to blame the painkillers for my back![/quote]

LMAO!

Well I get blamed for enough as it is so it's always a pleasure to see something else getting blamed for a change!

[Mog]

Kinda Inez meets Newstead via Duff.

[Skol303]

Well, I'm back to being a beginner after a 10 year absence from playing bass... so I guess this is more a case of who I aspire to, rather than who I actually sound like!

But in general, I tend to tweak towards:

Aston 'Familyman' Barrett (Wailers), Horace Panter (Specials) and Doctor Pablo/Errol Holt (Dub Syndicate) when churning out the dubby stuff.

Cliff Burton (Metallica) whenever I plug in the distortion and wah pedals (yeah, my rendition of Anesthesia tends to get the dogs barking!).

[the_skezz]

A lot like early JJ Burnel, though sometimes I'll meddle around and try to get it to sound a little less harsh.

[Doddy]

[quote name='Gust0o' post='1032374' date='Nov 22 2010, 11:03 AM']Here's a question for the tone masters - even when you're admitting that you sound like yourself, how much variation do you find within your playing and gear?

I had an odd weekend of seeming to play everything I own; and then spending an inordinate amount of time trying to make it all sound the same, instead of simply enjoying the different basses and set-ups for what they are.

I'm not sure if I'm on the right or wrong tracks with that one (possibly a bit of both!) but it made for an annoying weekend, given my usual obsessive compulsive tendencies.[/quote]

I find that no matter what I'm using there are always similarities in the tone I get,but with different subtleties.

There is a track on the SMV album where Stanley and Marcus are playing each others basses,and they still sound the same as they
usually do.

[purpleblob]

"Who influences your tone?"

Ian Waller/Pete Stevens primarily.

However if I were to get a bass custom made for me and somebody said who/what do you most want to sound like, I'd say I want the modern clean sound of Stanley Clarke, with the ability to get a deeper funk tone of Marcus Miller plus the ability to get the lighter soloing tone of Tony Grey.

Maybe one day I'll ask Martin Peterson to make me a Sei that can do all these things

EDIT: Did the title of this thread change to include "which players do you sound like" ? If so, then I doubt I sound like anyone else, you might hear my influences (see another thread on those) but I do not have the sound or technique or ability of any of my influences, so I doubt I sound like them.

Edited November 22, 2010 by purpleblob

[mrtcat]

I can never make my sound the same as anyone else's no matter how hard I try and sometimes it really frustrates me. Don't get me wrong I'm really happy with my sound and it cuts through nicely but I just can't get other people's sound as it's all in the fingers of the player IMO.

I have a Jazz bass and love the thought of just rolling off the neck pickup a bit for a slightly punchier sound but am constantly bashing my head against the wall as I find that I only have to move the neck pickup control about 5 degrees anti clockwise and the neck pickup seems to vanish from the mix completely and vice versa if I roll off the bridge pickup. Has happened with every Jazz I've owned - anyone else have this problem?

[Low End Bee]

[quote name='thisnameistaken' post='1032517' date='Nov 22 2010, 12:59 PM']I don't think I try to sound like any specific bass player, to be honest I don't know who played bass on a lot of my favourite recordings and I don't really care either.[/quote]

Me too. The song comes first and I just throw my two or three very similar sounds at it and hope one of them sticks.

[Finbar]

Glassjaw.

[xilddx]

[quote name='icastle' post='1032210' date='Nov 22 2010, 08:38 AM']Nobody really.
I just pick a sound and style that complements whatever it is I'm playing at the time.[/quote]
I'm with you on that. Completely.

Generally I have a fair amount of dubby low end, and low mid, with a little but of high mid for definition. Fair amount of compressor, some chorus, flanger, delay, reverb, whatever. I like a very produced sound. I Krupa's band I'm mostly dubby and deep, in Kit's band it's more high end, even a bit Chris Squire in places. Great fun playing with that sound

[DanOwens]

[quote name='mrtcat' post='1032847' date='Nov 22 2010, 04:36 PM']I find that I only have to move the neck pickup control about 5 degrees anti clockwise and the neck pickup seems to vanish from the mix completely and vice versa if I roll off the bridge pickup. Has happened with every Jazz I've owned - anyone else have this problem?[/quote]

This could be that your pots aren't great but if you're saying it's happened on more than one bass then it's probably that when both of your pickups are at full volume, the phase cancellation from the RWRP pickups will make that mid-scooped sound that you're liking (and, depending on other variables perhaps EQ humps too). When you turn one of them down, you loose it.

It's not that the pickup is removed from the mix, but this. I have the same problem with my fretless in that I like the 'scooped' tone.

[DanOwens]

[quote name='Finbar' post='1032858' date='Nov 22 2010, 04:45 PM']Glassjaw.[/quote]

Respect.

[Faithless]

[quote name='Gust0o' post='1032402' date='Nov 22 2010, 01:25 PM']Sorry, Faithless, I'll be sounding like a Luddite here - I assume phrasing is the distinctive manner of play and feel, exhibited by a given player? The unique emphasis they add to their playing?[/quote]


I didn't actually got your question/point..

Anyway, what I meant was that it is not the bass/amp/pedal/whatever makes you sound like someone - what actually makes you sound like 'player x' is analyzing that player's playing and imitating his phrasing. To make it short, it's in your hands, not in your amp or bass..

But, then, as I assume, people here are discussing the 'gear way'..

[Chris2112]

[quote name='Faithless' post='1032978' date='Nov 22 2010, 06:00 PM']But, then, as I assume, people here are discussing the 'gear way'..[/quote]

Well actually, we're discussing the "tone way". After all, my Kubicki sounds like Stuart Hamm's Kubicki, and I use that tone but I generally lack the talent to play some of his stuff!

[Cat Burrito]

Just from the point of my OP, this was really wondering where people sat tonally. Not particularly about who we [b]try[/b] to sound like. The 3 bassists I listed are not my 3 favourite players necessarily or from my favourite band. It's more a case of listening to music and thinking "this sounds like me". I would hope I sound like "me" but it was more about where we are coming from. I think tone can be quite a personal thing and certainly wouldn't want to just rip off a players sound directly - unless perhaps I was playing in a tribute act for that player. To me it's a melting pot of all the influences being put in together. Equally I've enjoyed listening to players who sound absolutely nothing like me whatsoever.

I'm really interested to read the differences. Was it Doddy who mentioned Jaco's sound? The first page had a few in the Motown camp (like me) but I am wondering about other sounds too. I bet we have players who sound quite synth like but nobody has mentioned that yet.

Do keep 'em coming!

[quote name='icastle' post='1032407' date='Nov 22 2010, 11:33 AM']If I [b]wanted[/b] everything to sound the same then I'd have bought the same bass six times over and saved the trouble [/quote]
It worked for me!

[Rayman]

No matter what make and model of bass I have in my hands, I always gravitate to a similar tone. A cross between JJ Burnel, Steve Harris and Adam Nitti would sum it up I think. I like to play quite aggressively and with staccato on the Spector, but quite mild an mellow on the GWB35, and again with a lot of staccato. That's at home for fun of course, with the band it's whatever the song needs to work, but generally my tone remains the same, it's [i]my[/i] sound.