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that lemmy bass sound


ashgeezer
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My guess is that on record and live there is no DI involved - everything is mic'd. Marshall Superbass 100 into a 4x15 and a 4x12 just like his signature rig in the current BGM. Tricked up Ric with a high action thrashed to within an inch of its life every time it is played would be my guess.

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Last time I heard he had bass and treble on his amp turned right down and mids boosted all the way. Also he was just using the neck pup. I don't know if this is totally accurate. Also when I last saw 'em live his action wasn't [i]that[/i] high and he wasn't hitting the strings [i]that[/i] hard either.

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You need a fully cranked up Marshall (Dial back bass and treble, full mid, full presence, a jump lead can sometimes help to get a grittier sound depends in the amp), a 4x12 Marshall cab (or two!), a Rik with mini humbuckers (or similar) and play with a pick guitar style, Lemmy often plays chords and drones which helps to create the sound.


I'm sure yo can achieve similar results with a good OD and any amp and bass with some experimentation. I love that sound mysef land have re-created it with many differnet set-ups over the years.

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[quote name='uptonmark' post='219421' date='Jun 15 2008, 08:37 PM']lemmy`s sound just sounds like he wants to be a guitarist who just got lumbered into playing bass, IMO![/quote]
That's precisely the case. Before he joined Hawkwind in the mid 70s, he'd apparently never picked up a bass. He's actually been quoted as saying that bass is played by failed guitarists.

Jon.

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Wikipedia:

He uses hot-rodded Marshall JMP Superbass II amplifiers from the later 1960s/early 1970s. Each amp, with a nominal output of 100 watts, is used with a 4x12 speaker cab and a custom-made 4x15 cab. He uses two such stacks, one on each side of the drum riser. For many years the amps were nicknamed "No Remorse", "Killer" (left side amp) or "Murder One" (right side amp) with appropriate nameplates. "No Remorse" was subsequently replaced by a new amp nicknamed "Marsha" when, as Kilmister said in an October 2004 interview, it "blew up". "Killer" and "Murder One" were destroyed in Argentina when all the other equipment was stolen. They were not seen for many years, but in 2006 "Murder One" got on stage again. In 2008 Marshall released the "1992LEM", a signature series copy of his 1992 100 Watt Super Bass Unit, "Murder One".

The phrase "everything louder than everyone else" sums up Lemmy's sonic approach, as he plays at the loudest possible levels. He uses the neck pickup exclusively (giving his bass sound more definition) and turns all the tone and volume knobs on the bass up full. On the amplifiers, he turns the bass and treble off, and the midrange up all the way, with the volume and presence up to the 3:00 position. The result is a biting midrange sound which is somewhat distorted but not "fuzzed out" or "blurry", a formula well-suited to his use of open-string drones and power chords. In the 1990s after a Motörhead show at Hultsfred, Sweden a radio reporter asked Lemmy "If you were to play here again in ten years, how do you think you would sound?" Lemmy replied "Same, but louder..."

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