I don't have "a sound". Is something wrong with me?

[LukeFRC]

I hear you are the best sounding bassist in the Carluke area.

[xgsjx]

[quote name='EssentialTension' timestamp='1358701281' post='1943615']
He certainly has [i]A [/i]sound and, if he's anything like me, it's a sound that may show some variability from one room or gig to another but it's hardly [i]HIS[/i] sound in the normal sense as used here on BC to refer to a particular sound which has been searched for, successfully or not, over a period of time.
[/quote]

I get what you're saying, especially in relation to gear, but his fingers will give him [i]his[/i] sound (whether it's any different from many others or not is unknown).

[Cameronj279]

[quote name='dmccombe7' timestamp='1358686897' post='1943260']
You're from Carluke - is that not even more weird

The sound you end up with by dialling out any odd resonances is "your sound"

Havin a laugh with where you live is a good old Scottish tradition.
I'm from Motherwell and live up near Biggar so i shouldn't make fun of anyone

Dave
[/quote]

I agree. People from motherwell should be the recipiant of most jokes.

[Marvin]

No sound you say. Have you tried turning the volume up?

[EssentialTension]

[quote name='xgsjx' timestamp='1358701760' post='1943626']
I get what you're saying, especially in relation to gear, but his fingers will give him [i]his[/i] sound (whether it's any different from many others or not is unknown).
[/quote]
It is in the fingers first.

[thepurpleblob]

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1358685318' post='1943208']
Set everything flat? [i][b]Set everything flat???[/b][/i] How can you call yourself a musician if you don't spend a few minutes twiddling knobs while the expectant crowd gazes, open-mouthed, at your vocational brilliance?
[/quote]

Because I don't know what the knobs do.....

[risingson]

[quote name='Doddy' timestamp='1358696148' post='1943480']
It all starts with your hands.
[/quote]

+1, that's a lot of what I believe too.

[gub]

I tend to just add some brightness for some songs I feel need it by twiddling my tone knob and take a bit off for more trad songs that , that's it really !

[umph]

Getting it to sound right is half the fun!

[Guest bassman7755]

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1358686466' post='1943240']
Yes, you're weird! You have to play with the gear you've got, decide you don't like the 'sound' of it, scour BC gear threads for recommendations on stuff that will help you find your 'sound', get terrible GAS, haunt the FS threads on here, beg, steal, borrow, trade and otherwise fret about getting the gear you are sure will produce your sound, finally get the gear, decide you don't like the 'sound' of it... and so on.
[/quote]

In short do almost anything to avoid actually practising your instrument,

[steve-bbb]

[quote name='thepurpleblob' timestamp='1358684842' post='1943195']
I read a lot of threads on here and there's a lot of chat about finding "your sound". I don't have one. Am I ok?

I turn up at a gig, set everything in sight flat. I have a listen. If there are any odd resonances or other oddness in the room I try to dial it out then off to get a diet coke. That's it.

I'm weird aren't I
[/quote]

not at all i do pretty much the same but with full fat coke

Edited January 20, 2013 by steve-bbb

[thepurpleblob]

I played with the same Ashdown gear for years. Then I got ancient and I couldn't carry it anymore so I bough a Barrfaced gear. It sounds a lot different but there's still a bass in there somewhere.

Yep, I live in Carluke but I came from Hull originally so I have everything working against me.

[12stringbassist]

If setting everything flat is how you want your bass to be then that is your sound. Flat is the default start point for tone setting.

Adding more top or bottom doesn't necessarily mean you are any less or more adept at making your bass sound right.

As long as you and your band think it sounds good you're winning.

[dmccombe7]

Its not just about where you live - oopps that's another thread

Its not just about the tone but the way you play. Your particular emphasis on certain notes, how hard / light you play, accenting all plays a major part in "your sound"

I think you have your sound but just don't appreciate or realize it's yours.

Dave

[seashell]

[quote name='thepurpleblob' timestamp='1358704658' post='1943690']


Because I don't know what the knobs do.....
[/quote]

In my band they play guitar and sing

( Coat already got)

[skankdelvar]

I know it's not really got anything to do with it, but I always worry that use of the phrase 'my sound' might possibly lead to sentences like:

[i]'I dialled in my signature tone and unleashed some blazing licks from my toadally awesome arsenal of chops, dude'. [/i]

Or something.

[thepurpleblob]

[quote name='skankdelvar' timestamp='1358709913' post='1943845']
I know it's not really got anything to do with it, but I always worry that use of the phrase 'my sound' might possibly lead to sentences like:

[i]'I dialled in my signature tone and unleashed some blazing licks from my toadally awesome arsenal of chops, dude'. [/i]

Or something.
[/quote]

I think you may have hit the nail on the head. I don't want to be "that guy"

In my experience, such as it is, factors you have no control over make the biggest difference. Size of the room. Whether anybody is in it. Type of floor.... that sort of thing.

[thisnameistaken]

If you haven't found 'your sound' yet I don't want to spoil the surprise but it's a P bass into an Ampeg, no effects 'or any of that rubbish'.

I've seen enough 'OMG I found my sound' threads to know that it's always the same sound, and it's odd because it seems like it would be the first sound you'd try.

[BigRedX]

[quote name='thepurpleblob' timestamp='1358684842' post='1943195']
I read a lot of threads on here and there's a lot of chat about finding "your sound". I don't have one. Am I ok?

I turn up at a gig, set everything in sight flat. I have a listen. If there are any odd resonances or other oddness in the room I try to dial it out then off to get a diet coke. That's it.

I'm weird aren't I
[/quote]

Is this with the same band, or with different bands?

[thepurpleblob]

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1358710872' post='1943875']
Is this with the same band, or with different bands?
[/quote]

Never thought about it. Always done the same I think. Back in the day, I would fiddle about the all the buttons and knobs but they always did absolutely nothing or made it sound worse. So I gave up. Flat generally seems like a good compromise to me *and* I don't have to think about it.

[phil.mcglassup]

One band I joined years ago had been gigging without a bass because no-one else was interested, so when I turned up making low notes in tune I was in!!

[Dave Vader]

[quote name='thisnameistaken' timestamp='1358710761' post='1943870']
If you haven't found 'your sound' yet I don't want to spoil the surprise but it's a P bass into an Ampeg, no effects 'or any of that rubbish'.

I've seen enough 'OMG I found my sound' threads to know that it's always the same sound, and it's odd because it seems like it would be the first sound you'd try.
[/quote]

Yep, and I managed to do it with a Ric and an ashdown once.
Still sounded like that one though.

[JapanAxe]

[quote name='skankdelvar' timestamp='1358709913' post='1943845']
[i]'I dialled in my signature tone and unleashed some blazing licks from my toadally awesome arsenal of chops, dude'. [/i]
[/quote]
That's what I always do. Then I go to the gig and play crap licks with the sound of suspension-bridge cables being hit by sacks of cement.

[BassPimp66]

I echo other comments already made... drop the diet coke.
Seriously, aspartame is a poison.

The rest is fine.

[Les]

[quote name='thepurpleblob' timestamp='1358704658' post='1943690']
Because I don't know what the knobs do.....
[/quote]

Both the bespoke Japanese nose flute combo and the bespoke Bagpipe combo I gig with regularly sound great with the knobs flat so I've no reason to believe a bass amp won't be voiced to sound ok without dicking about with the flat sound.