Efforts you have made to find right tone

[norvegicusbass]

Just what it says in the title really, what efforts have you gone to to get the tone you desire. I admire bassists from many genres but despite what my screen name implies I prefer the mellow full sounding bass that you hear in jazz primarily and Motown. I dont have the best bass guitar currently as I am getting back into playing some twenty years after giving it up. I got a Lindo semi acoustic bass for Xmas last year ( cost less than £100 ) and I am, if I say it myself, somewhat pleased with my progress tackling bass lines far more complex than I did as a teenager. I wish I had never put my bass aside all those years ago as I might have been a fair player by now. I have though always struggled with tone. I used to rest my strumming hand right up on the neck to achieve the mellow sound I was after but have resorted to buying flats now for the first time ever. What lengths have you all gone to to achieve the sound you want and has it been a long journey for you?

[Happy Jack]

I'm replying to this question in a 3-volume boxed edition which covers just the last five years.

For the full story, you need to refer to my Complete Works as stored at the British Museum ...

[norvegicusbass]

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1324996176' post='1478954']
I'm replying to this question in a 3-volume boxed edition which covers just the last five years.

For the full story, you need to refer to my Complete Works as stored at the British Museum ...
[/quote]
I have seen the Complete Works at the BM. I thought the idea of you selling your granny to achieve Stanley Clarkes tone just about right as a price but coming on Xmas day maybe not the right timing

[Marvin]

I tend to fiddle with my knobs quite a lot.










Someone had to

[norvegicusbass]

[quote name='Marvin' timestamp='1324996490' post='1478959']
I tend to fiddle with my knobs quite a lot.










Someone had to
[/quote] I fiddle constantly but doesnt seem to effect my tone more makes my wrist go numb

Edited December 27, 2011 by norvegicusbass

[Musky]

...Not to mention the completely revised and updated editions every time you join a new band and find your old tone doesn't work!

[norvegicusbass]

[quote name='Musky' timestamp='1324996658' post='1478963']
...Not to mention the completely revised and updated editions every time you join a new band and find your old tone doesn't work!
[/quote] Havent been in many bands unless you count school ones but yeah the bassist seems to have to yield a fair bit

[JakeBrownBass]

I find having a reliable transparent amp, a versatile bass & are able to adapt new techniques for new situations you can get by in any situation.

Well it works for me anyway.

[Dad3353]

[quote name='norvegicusbass' timestamp='1324996008' post='1478950']
......What lengths have you all gone to to achieve the sound you want and has it been a long journey for you?
[/quote]
Tru-Bass 88 Black Nylon strings on a Hofner Verithin bass, Hiwatt DR203 PA amp (4 x KT88...), Fender Bassman 2 x 15 or Ampeg 4 x 10, all setting flat. I mostly use the neck p/up, and vary the volume a tad on the bass or, occasionally, the tone pot. Fingerstyle only, no pick. Long journey..? The first 40 tears were the hardest, after which things got (slightly...) better.
Tone chasing is a blood sport, akin to chimera hunting. To me, it's all in the mind. There are those eternally unsatisfied that keep a whole economy going, and those that use their fingers to get what's required (I'm assuming a certain minima here; silk purses, sow's ears an' all...). There are some demi-gods that create particular sounds that identify them, and it can be fun trying to replicate, but I humbly believe that 95% of 'normal' bass can be covered by any half-decent gear. Heretical, surely, or maybe I'm more deaf than I think, but the laws of diminishing returns make me satisfied with an 'average' tone, more especially as I am a less-than-average player.
(With drums, it's the same. Birch, maple, oak shells, single or double-ply heads, matching stick weights... All that and much more just to bash out 'Highway to Hell' etc... Maybe I'm just cynical..?)

Edited December 27, 2011 by Dad3353

[norvegicusbass]

[quote name='JakeBrownBass' timestamp='1324997861' post='1478975']
I find having a reliable transparent amp, a versatile bass & are able to adapt new techniques for new situations you can get by in any situation.

Well it works for me anyway.
[/quote]
This thread seems on the verge of degenerating into a " how bassists adapt " thread which wasnt my intention. I was more interested in the tone you desire aside from what band members wish you to play. Practical issues aside playing in a band that pays etc what about the kind of tone you really want and maybe do in private practice sessions

[JTUK]

[quote name='norvegicusbass' timestamp='1324999502' post='1478987']
This thread seems on the verge of degenerating into a " how bassists adapt " thread which wasnt my intention. I was more interested in the tone you desire aside from what band members wish you to play. Practical issues aside playing in a band that pays etc what about the kind of tone you really want and maybe do in private practice sessions
[/quote]

I bring my sound to the gig... it works all the time, IMO.

[ZMech]

Well on doubt bass I occasionally spend a 20 min practise session just playing open strings to work on my right hand technique. Don't go to that extent on my bass guitar though, although obviously the right hand is still the master of the tone.

[EssentialTension]

Fender Precision, flats, a combo. That's it.

[Marvin]

I'm always tweeking my tone tbh. Generally it's remained sort of constant since reading a post by Cetera on here about using mids. However, apart from that general 'rule' I don't seek a specific tone and just try and find something that works.

[Lylodile]

D'addario strings and an EBS Multi-Comp have got me the desired tone on every instrument I own .

[icastle]

Is it possible to have 'your own tone'?
The tone I use varies according to what works best with the tune being played at the time.

The only 'constant' is a smidgen of chorus that stays on the whole time, backed off so far that people only realise that 'something' was there if I switch it off.

[Clarky72]

The eternal tone search has found me buying and trading basses, amps, strings and pedals for years... that elusive tone is out there somewhere.

[Doctor J]

I only keep basses I like the tone of straight into a DI. I usually bypass the amp EQ anyway so if I can't get the sound I want out of my hands and the bass I tend to move it on or else start changing out the electronics to see if I can get to where I think it should be. I don't have one fixed tone for everything and I don't expect one bass to do it all. My ESP jazz sounds like I want a jazz to sound. My P sounds like a P should, etc and I use the appropriate bass for what I think the appropriate sound should be. I don't crave mega-versatility in one instrument anymore, I'm happy that it can do it's own thing superbly, rather than passable imitations of everything.

So, it sounds good on its own or it finds a new home.

[steve-soar]

I first started to play live and record in 1985 and my tone has not really altered since then. It's a combination of what I first heared in my head and what I could achive with my first gear. (McGregor 200w amp, into a HH 2X15" cab, played with an Ibanez Blazer P Bass copy). I then had a custom made KGB Status Series II copy built made for me, left handed, going into a Peavey mark VI amp, into a peavey 2x15" Black Widow cab. Then, a 1976 Gibson Thunderbird, into an Ampeg SVT II, into an Ampeg 8x10" cab. Then up to date, a 1980 Musicman Stingray, 2002 Status S2 Classic, 1999 Japanese Fender Jazz, with EMG pickups and an East J Retro preramp, 1995 Squier Precision, with added Jazz pickup and EMG preamp and pickups and my KGB Status replica, with EMG pickups and East U Retro Deluxe preamp. These go into an Aguilar DB680 Preamp, or, Ampeg SVT IIP preamp, then into a QSC PLX 3102 power amp, then into either, a Glockenklang 2x12" "Double" cab, or, a Techsoundsystems 6x10" Neo cab. All of the above combinations sound like a more powerful an articulate representation of the very first sound I had in my head when I first started out playing the bass guitar.

Edited December 27, 2011 by steve-soar

[Randy_Marsh]

I bought a Stingray. Job done

[norvegicusbass]

[quote name='norvegicusbass' timestamp='1324999502' post='1478987']
This thread seems on the verge of degenerating into a " how bassists adapt " thread which wasnt my intention. I was more interested in the tone you desire aside from what band members wish you to play. Practical issues aside playing in a band that pays etc what about the kind of tone you really want and maybe do in private practice sessions
[/quote]

Wow how pompous do I sound there about threads "degenerating"!!? I mean take this thread wherever you wish LOL. Seems I am obsessed with tone right now so anything about it and how you achieve certain sounds is good to know

[steve-soar]

[quote name='Randy_Marsh' timestamp='1325011909' post='1479122']
I bought a Stingray. Job done
[/quote]Agreed.

[risingson]

No great effort. I see a lot of people throw so much money and time into trying to get a particular sound, but there are far too many variables involved in live and studio performance so the 'pursuit of tone' and the thousands of £'s involved in purchasing very expensive gear becomes almost completely redundant. The best you'll ever be able to do is to have a nice bass guitar, a nice amp, good technique and that's it. After that you tend to be at the mercy of other people in professional performing environments.

Don't get me wrong, nice gear is great, I love it as much as any bass player does. But it's not the be all and end all, and I have seen cases of people throwing money at something with the assumption that it is somehow going to drastically improve their sound. I just don't really subscribe to that kind of thinking.

[EssentialTension]

[quote name='risingson' timestamp='1325014751' post='1479162']
No great effort. I see a lot of people throw so much money and time into trying to get a particular sound, but there are far too many variables involved in live and studio performance so the 'pursuit of tone' and the thousands of £'s involved in purchasing very expensive gear becomes almost completely redundant. The best you'll ever be able to do is to have a nice bass guitar, a nice amp, good technique and that's it. After that you tend to be at the mercy of other people in professional performing environments.

Don't get me wrong, nice gear is great, I love it as much as any bass player does. But it's not the be all and end all, and I have seen cases of people throwing money at something with the assumption that it is somehow going to drastically improve their sound. I just don't really subscribe to that kind of thinking.
[/quote]
Agreed, and anyway once you're in a different room it will sound different anyway, or the FoH engineer will change it, or what you can hear standing next to your equipment won't be what the audience hears. I'm sure we all, including me, have tonal preferences but there is no perfecting of tone.

[lee4]

[b]When was the last time any of us had an audience member make [i]any[/i][/b][b]comment about our tone?[/b]
[b]IMHO you should get a sound that fits the music(but it does'nt stop me trying to find 'that'sound).[/b]