You refine your gear searching for THE sound

[janmaat]

Fact is far too little singers care for their sound

both on the side of vocal chords and gear.

this is a fab thing that I believe every live singer should have

[url="http://www.tc-helicon.com/products/voicetone-create-xt/"]http://www.tc-helicon.com/products/voicetone-create-xt/[/url]

seriously, it blew me away.

there is really a lot of gear for vocalists coming out
recently (boss has done something similar), so hopefully they will start
bothering for their own sound at least (get their own microphone and
wedge monitor at least, i am bored by singers who don't have any gear
and rely on other band members for anything)

[Kiwi]

I've got my sound. Its warmth and growly with soft, clean attack like a Ken Smith but with more midrange bark. Other basses I own are for other sounds but MY sound is the one I've created by modding the Spectors.

[Doddy]

[quote name='hillbilly deluxe' post='1124947' date='Feb 12 2011, 01:45 PM']1,an amp/speakers make just as much,if not more difference to the sound than a bass does.
2,technique plays a much bigger role in shaping the sound.
3,the cost of equipment does not always justify the end result.
4,If you are looking to replicate someone elses sound,pay more attention to their technique than their gear.[/quote]

I just want to put my two penneth in on these points....

1.Having heard Janek Gwizdala play through my Roland Cube a couple of times,I will safely say that he sounds exactly
the same as when playing through his TC rig. It's the same when I've heard him use other amps(including Trace,EBS and
Mark Bass). Which takes me to........
2.It's all about the technique,like you say. The specific player and their technique is the biggest factor when it comes to tone.
Sure,a Jazz and a Precision have certain idiosyncrasies,but a good player will sound pretty much the same on either.Like
I've said before,there is a track on the SMV album where Marcus and Stanley swap basses and they still sound like themselves.
3.You spend a fortune on a top of the range rig? Great. It means you spent a lot of money.That's it. A good player will sound great
on a Squier,while a poor player will suck on a Fodera. Spending money on gear won't make you sound good.
4.You can try to replicate your heroes by buying all the same gear and copying their technique and licks,but you won't sound the same
as them,because you aren't them.However,while copying these guys you may be lucky enough to find your own sound.

[ThomBassmonkey]

[quote name='Doddy' post='1125632' date='Feb 13 2011, 01:59 AM']2.It's all about the technique,like you say. The specific player and their technique is the biggest factor when it comes to tone.
Sure,a Jazz and a Precision have certain idiosyncrasies,but a good player will sound pretty much the same on either.Like
I've said before,there is a track on the SMV album where Marcus and Stanley swap basses and they still sound like themselves.[/quote]

I only partially agree with this. It's something that's said a lot but it's not strictly true.

I sounded just as much like me when I played my Ibanez BTB406 through my Carlsbro Bassline 150 as I do now with my Sandberg and GK stack. It's nothing to do with my tone that I sound the same though, it's my style. I'm actually selling my Thumb at the moment because, although it's a lovely bass, the Sandberg is better at doing MY sound in my band.

Doubtless if a bassist has a recognisable style (which overlaps with technique) they'll always sound like the same bassist. Give that bassist a P and an Ampeg or a Wal with a Genz they'll always have the same style. They'll sound very different tonally though.

Right hand technique is a big part of your tone, but there's only so many places you can hit a string and a dynamic player will be plucking/picking with different amounts of power anyway.

When I think of how to judge tone versus style, I think tone is "how would that sound if I simply played crotchets on the same note?". Gear would and does have a big impact on that. Of course once you start getting into EQ and FX, players start to sound more like themselves tonally irrespective of gear.

[skej21]

Totally agree with Doddy. It's all about technique and your own style coming from that. If that wasn't the case, all the famous players wouldn't keep switching amps/endorsements all the time.

People who spend such silly amounts of money crafting a specific sound, appear to do so as a way of searching for the missing character/style in their playing, mistaking their playing style for some "sound" that only money and high-end rigs can create.

Like Doddy said already, "the sound in your head" should come from your fingers and should sound like you on any bass/rig. Then you can use your rig to refine what you already have by using slight tweaking (i.e. some EQ tweaks or altering compression slightly) to play on any idiosyncrasies of your gear.

[Happy Jack]

[quote name='Doddy' post='1125632' date='Feb 13 2011, 01:59 AM']You can try to replicate your heroes by buying all the same gear and copying their technique and licks, but you won't sound the same as them, because you aren't them. However, [color="#FF0000"][b]while copying these guys you may be lucky enough to find your own sound[/b][/color].[/quote]

And that's it, really.

Nail --> Head.

[mrtcat]

[quote name='janmaat' post='1125194' date='Feb 12 2011, 05:47 PM']Fact is far too little singers care for their sound

both on the side of vocal chords and gear.

this is a fab thing that I believe every live singer should have

[url="http://www.tc-helicon.com/products/voicetone-create-xt/"]http://www.tc-helicon.com/products/voicetone-create-xt/[/url]

seriously, it blew me away.

there is really a lot of gear for vocalists coming out
recently (boss has done something similar), so hopefully they will start
bothering for their own sound at least (get their own microphone and
wedge monitor at least, i am bored by singers who don't have any gear
and rely on other band members for anything)[/quote]

+1

If you play / sing in a band you have a responsibility for your own kit / sound. I really hate that the guitarist and singer in my band have little interest in investing in solid kit or pedals even though we are a busy band playing week in week out. I own our PA system and regularly upgrade it to help our overall sound. I firmly believe that if I didn't sort the PA we wouldn't be gigging as none of these guys would bother investing. I also have invested in a nice solid, reliable (not fancy but not cheap) bass rig so I can reproduce "my sound" at a decent level. Our singer uses a fake Sure mic that sounds sh1t and gets moody when I say he could really do with using the money he earns from the band to buy a real one. Our guitarist (who is really good) won't buy ANY pedals as he can't be bothered and still uses a small combo (I have to really work hard with the PA to get him sounding right).

I agree that "your sound" comes from your playing but in a live situation there's a difference between "your sound" and "sound quality". A decent engineer will really help to accurately reproduce "your sound" at a higher level and tweak it to sit well in the mix. A really good engineer will even be able to overcome shortfallings in your kit to a certain extent by taking a DI (ie pretty much completely bypassing your kit) and sorting it out at his end. Many of us however rarely get to work with a really good sound engineer and therefore if our amps / cabs / basses etc don't cut it then the overall sound won't be great. If you're serious about playing in a band then out of respect for the rest of the guys and the audience then at least make sure your kit is up to the job.

[Bilbo]

The hardest thing about finding your own sound is in the acceptance that you already have it.

[Earbrass]

[quote name='risingson' post='1124583' date='Feb 12 2011, 01:53 AM']Bass is bass, I'm a firm believer in thinking that most bass guitars sound more or less the same. That may sound a bit ridiculous but to a wider audience without a discerning ear, this is for the most part a universal truth. Yes a jazz bass is going to sound different to a P bass or a Stingray, and yes certain pickups/preamps will sound different than others etc. but who's going to notice? Not as many people as you'd like to think.[/quote]
+1
[quote name='spinynorman' post='1124826' date='Feb 12 2011, 11:55 AM']Rather than looking for "the sound", I look for light weight and as little as possible to carry, set up and go wrong.[/quote]
+100
[quote name='hillbilly deluxe' post='1124947' date='Feb 12 2011, 01:45 PM']1,an amp/speakers make just as much,if not more difference to the sound than a bass does.[/quote]
I'd add that choice of strings can make just as much, if not more, difference to the sound than amp/speakers do. But since these don't have big logos on that tell everyone how flash / expensive they are, they get less attention than bass or amp.

[fatback]

Totally agree about electric, but wondering if it's not different for upright (and any acoustic instrument).

As a noob to that game, I can see why there's a lot of chopping and changing of kit. But in this case people aren't looking for 'their' sound, they're looking for an amplified sound that bears some resemblance to their acoustic sound.

Expensive and frustrating business, it seems. On the upside, I suppose if you solve that problem, it's job done.