Blown away by the bass tone

[chris_b]

The rattle doesn't come through in a band setting.

John Bentley from Squeeze came along to an SE Bass Bash a few years ago and his sound had a surprising amount of clank and buzz in it. That doesn't bother me. IMO it gives the note its definition, a leading edge, and improves how we hear the rest of the note. It's one way of making a bass stand out in a mix.

The sound will change when a solo is taken, but during solo's I'm listening to the playing rather than the sound.

[Pow_22]

Im a sucker for a woody growly P bass tone:-

Blondie - Dreaming

Fratellis - Halloween Blues

Clash - London Calling

Queen - Keep Yourself Alive

 

[dmccombe7]

I get the digging in thing as i tend to do that a lot in my own playing but obviously i'm not doing solo's to the same level as these guys. Doug Johns i had forgotten all about and its great to hear him again. He really impressed me when i first came across him. His pick-ups are very close to the strings which i'm not a fan of to be honest. I hate to hear my strings touch the pick ups especially with metal core types as it gives off a really loud pop. Its not as bad with my enclosed covers tho.

Like the idea of adding that bit more "clank" to my tone as it sounds a lot more defined within the song. I'm gonna try that a bit more at next rehearsals. Recently i've been using flats and lightened my touch a fair bit to reduce blisters and general aches in my fingers / hands. Maybe i've just gone a bit too far altho i def like my flats tone with my VM4 bass.

Off to listen to Doug Johns some more. He's so good.

Dave

[4000]

5 hours ago, dmccombe7 said:

Had another listen and it reminds me of Mark Kings tone when he solos finger style without the slappy thingy. When he goes back into the song its such a sweet tone.

I think I actually prefer them solo-d, and I’ve had 2! But I love buzz/rattle. Most of my tone guys have quite a lot of buzz in the tone.

[4000]

3 hours ago, jazzyvee said:

I know what you mean about the rattle. I think that rattle is result of really low action and probably a bit of digging in to emphasise that. I hear it in quite a few big name players.

Marcus has the same thing in his playing too. 

https://youtu.be/G7Q8Ual3coM iDoug Johns,

 

Also Alain Caron.

That’s an epic tone, I absolutely love that. I had an MVP once, one of the best basses I’ve ever had. I px-d it against a Wal Custom in Music Ground, and it was one of the worst decisions I ever made. I wish I knew where it was. 

Edited April 15, 2020 by 4000

[Japhet]

Always loved Willie Weeks sound on all of this album;

 

[visog]

Great another tone thread. I get to post this again! Compressed squelch clank for days...

 

[Stub Mandrel]

5 minutes ago, visog said:

Great another tone thread. I get to post this again! Compressed squelch clank for days...

I love how messy it sounds isolated, yet in the song it's spot on.

[Kiwi]

11 hours ago, dmccombe7 said:

Had another listen and it reminds me of Mark Kings tone when he solos finger style without the slappy thingy. When he goes back into the song its such a sweet tone.

Yes,  same thing.  I was tempted to post a clip from the Live At Wembley DVD but refrained as it's a bit cliched now and I'm probably dating my tastes in the same way the p bass guys are!  But that articulation in the mids was fundamental in shaping my tastes. Plus it feels so good to play basses with that character, the string tension is loose.  The p bass clips are the same sort of thing but neck pickup. Especially Tiram Porter. 

[4000]

12 hours ago, Kiwi said:

Yes,  same thing.  I was tempted to post a clip from the Live At Wembley DVD but refrained as it's a bit cliched now and I'm probably dating my tastes in the same way the p bass guys are!  But that articulation in the mids was fundamental in shaping my tastes. Plus it feels so good to play basses with that character, the string tension is loose.  The p bass clips are the same sort of thing but neck pickup. Especially Tiram Porter. 

One of the reasons I never liked Marcus’s tone compared to say Stanley’s or MK’s is because his strings sound so stiff. It just doesn’t sound fluid to me at all, and I like twangy and fluid sounding. Obviously YMMV. 

[Chris2112]

I could really sit all day and cite variations of the wonderful tones that Jeff Berlin has had from his instrument over the years. Although he has always tended towards a specific and very distinctive tone, I have listened so much that I can discern the subtle variations in it from different records and eras. Isn't that what being a keen listener is all about? 

I had to think of which piece to pick to link to that would demonstrate the various facets that I so enjoy in his tone. I think 'Freight Train Shuffle' really does it. You get that very deep, tight and punchy staccato sound in the verses and choruses and the solo sections have an astounding chorus warble that really makes them stand out.

 

[inthedoghouse]

On 12/04/2020 at 22:15, 3below said:

Phil Lynott - Vagabonds of The Western World,  Andy Fraser - Free Live, John Entwistle - Live at Leeds.

All of these have inspired me over my many years of bass playing, the tone, the technique.  I might get there one day  

I'm glad you mentioned the Vagabonds tone - I love that too but it hardly ever gets a mention.  I remember seeing TL when Whiskey in the Jar was released (with Eric Bell) and Phil was using two Acoustic heads and cabs - awesome tone 🙂

[Mickeyboro]

2 hours ago, inthedoghouse said:

I'm glad you mentioned the Vagabonds tone - I love that too but it hardly ever gets a mention.  I remember seeing TL when Whiskey in the Jar was released (with Eric Bell) and Phil was using two Acoustic heads and cabs - awesome tone 🙂

A chance to drop in some interview material from a chat with Eric Bell in 2010 about Phil. Most not published...forgive the thread derailment!

 

Philip said he wanted to start playing the bass, he said he was taking lessons, and secondly he wanted to do some of his original songs onstage. I said fair enough as long as I can hear you playing bass and hear some of your songs. He hadn’t much of a clue about the bass but he had a great feel and he was very unorthodox because he hadn’t played it. He came up with these lines which were pretty original.

One of his bass heroes was Paul McCartney and heard McCartney sang his bass patterns a lot of the time and then learned them on the bass. So Philip started doing that and that’s how he came up with a lot of those lines.

 

He used a Ricky?

The thing was he was insecure because I’d been playing guitar for quite a while and Brian had been playing drums for quite a while, so when Phil picked up an instrument he felt intimidated. So he would be working at it day and night and in the dressing room before a gig, sitting there with his bass. The other thing was that any money he got, royalties or anything, he would… It was like every time I went to rehearsal he would have a different bass guitar or a different amp. He said he wasn’t the best bass player in the world but wanted to have to get the best sound. 

 

He had a Dan Armstrong see thru bass (Top Of The Pops) and a very old Fender Jazz that got stolen. Then he got a Rickenbacker and then a Fender Precision. He had different amps: he had a Marshall and when we did the Slade tour the tone that the Slade bass player Jim Lea got was excellent. He used Acoustic amps so a month later Philip got an Acoustic amp. He was always chopping and changing his equipment.

 

In the studio – vocal after backing track?

He’d put a guide vocal on as we did the songs, a rough vocal, and then he’d put the vocal on after. But sometimes the guide vocal came out with a better feel, more spontaneous, and they would clean up the track when Philip said No, man, I wanna keep that one. If it wasn’t too rough we would go with it.

 

Bass became more prominent as albums passed – Vagabonds, Gonna Creep Up – helps define the song.

It does. Like I said he as a bit insecure about his bass playing so he worked at it very hard. He knew Brian Downey for a long long time before I ever came on the scene and he understood his drumming and would fit in his bass playing with it. Some rehearsals when we’d be trying a new song for the first time I’d be sitting in the corner reading Melody Maker for 45 minutes, not having played one note. He’d be saying Hey Brian, what’s that break you play after this? Brian would play it and Phil would pattern his bass playing around the drum break. It took forever, but he got the results. 

 

Was that good to play over? 

Absolutely! I didn’t realise at the time but it was the best rhythm section I ever played with.

 

Singing lead over bass. Not easy.

You have to develop an independence of the vocal form the bass line. It seemed to come very natural to him. The thing was anyway that Phil would play guitar while he was writing songs, he would play a nylon-strung acoustic to work out the chord patterns, so he actually approached the bass as a rhythm guitar in a way, all down strokes with the plectrum. He would get the basic rhythm, dum dum dum, and then he would start flowering it up, adding different patterns and so on. I think it was his lack of knowledge on the bass that worked for him rather than against him.

 

 

[inthedoghouse]

17 minutes ago, Mickeyboro said:

A chance to drop in some interview material from a chat with Eric Bell in 2010 about Phil. Most not published...forgive the thread derailment!

 Great!  Thanks a lot for that interview with Eric, I haven't seen any of that before 🙂  I've met Eric a few ties after his gigs and he's always such a lovely chap.  I remember maybe 10 years ago after a poorly attened local gig we sat on the stage for about 20 mins chatting - we had a mutual friend and some places.

When I first saw TL (in Penzance), and I might be wrong, I seem to have a memory of Phil playing that plexi Dan Armstrong through the Accoustic gear.  Eric had a HH stack and sounded awesome. 

Ha ha, the other memory of that gig ... the audience was sitting on the floor before the band started and Phil almost trod on my hand when he was walking past me to the stage 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

[P-Belly Evans]

 

Anything by Rob Wright. Try this for size.... oof. 

[fleabag]

Lovely understated fretless

 

[fleabag]

Nothing understated about this bad boy thumping bass from Amy Wino House

 

Edited April 20, 2020 by fleabag

[gareth]

I always liked this. Nothing complicated just nice n solid 

 

[Graham]

17 hours ago, fleabag said:

Lovely understated fretless

 

I never realised Emma Bunton convered this, I'd always assumed it was an original, hence the awful lyrics 

[ezbass]

I’ve just been listening to CD1 of Peter Gabriel’s Secret World live, whilst mowing the lawn. Tony Levin’s tone, both on the NS EUB and MM 5 string, is thunderous and fantastic.

[Reggaebass]

Bit of a thread resurrection, I was going through some Sean Hurley’s videos as I like his playing style and this came up on his list , such a great tone from this 73 P bass with flats 

 

[jazzyvee]

 

[petebassist]

Always loved the bass tone on this track, I think it was Neil Murray.

 

[christhammer666]

the whole of panteras far beyond driven

[chris_b]

I'm always blown away by Nathan East's tone on this track. . . . . .

 

And Reggie McBride's tone and playing on this. . . . .

 

And anything by Bob Babbitt. . . . .