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Fretless sound from fretted bass....


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Been around for a couple of decades now.

You cant do fretless slides on that system.  It doesnt sound too much like a real fretless.

This other one is far better ..  a fretted and fretless in one bass.   Dont think they're available anymore though - or maybe they are.

 

 

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Zoom and Boss multi fx pedals do an OK fretless simulator, it's not the same as the real thing but it does the job for the odd cover that needs a bit of a fretless sound. The alternative is to play a fretless bass with a metal bar at the end of the fretboard for if you want a fretless to sound like a fretted. 

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Dominique de Piazza's 'fretless' bridge sounds the best of the lot. He was once congratulated on his intonation by John Patitucci no less. Then Piazza told him it was a fretted bass so good was the fretless sound.

 

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44 minutes ago, uk_lefty said:

Zoom and Boss multi fx pedals do an OK fretless simulator, it's not the same as the real thing but it does the job for the odd cover that needs a bit of a fretless sound. The alternative is to play a fretless bass with a metal bar at the end of the fretboard for if you want a fretless to sound like a fretted. 

Yeah, Ive got an old Zoom pedal that I haven't used for years but the fretless sound on it pretty impressive. Like you say, not as good as the real thing but saves you a few quid instead of buying one.

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3 hours ago, BassBus said:

Dominique de Piazza's 'fretless' bridge sounds the best of the lot. He was once congratulated on his intonation by John Patitucci no less. Then Piazza told him it was a fretted bass so good was the fretless sound.

 

He’d make anything sound good 😁.

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17 hours ago, ubit said:

Yeah, Ive got an old Zoom pedal that I haven't used for years but the fretless sound on it pretty impressive. Like you say, not as good as the real thing but saves you a few quid instead of buying one.

Or saves swapping basses for a single song in a set. 

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Just play fretless and with the right technique you can get a fretted sound very easily.

I played the 3 systems available : the Neuser Fretless System, the Mike Sabre Dominique Di Piazza and the Eyb DDP. They all get that fretless sound with loads of mwah when perfectly set up, the NFS having the advantage of getting to a real fretted bass too by moving the bridge system.

It's, as I already explained, simply a "flat" sitar bridge needing yearly maintenance (sanding the bridge to have it "flat" again).

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I saw Nim Sadot play in London with a Boss GT 10B. I am old and opinionated and think I know everything about everything. I had to actually ask him what was going on. It had a really good fretless sound. 

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29 minutes ago, owen said:

I saw Nim Sadot play in London with a Boss GT 10B. I am old and opinionated and think I know everything about everything. I had to actually ask him what was going on. It had a really good fretless sound. 

The Roland VB99 (and I think GR55) has an advanced version of the Boss effect which tracks and processes each string separately, you can even pan them and apply separate reverbs and eq to each. I’ve got a fretless patch set up with the on-board bass assignable knob for varying the high cut which goves a great variety of sounds. Weirdly because it sounds so good I start playing like I’m on a fretless, too.

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9 hours ago, owen said:

I am old and opinionated and think I know everything about everything.

Is that your own opinion or were you told that?

 

9 hours ago, owen said:

He was playing a fretted Jazz. Nice player. 

Did he (Nim Sadot) tell you his secret?

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9 hours ago, ped said:

I’ve got a fretless patch set up with the on-board bass assignable knob for varying the high cut which goves a great variety of sounds.

image.png.c4005b5fe81af94cad4fd69ae418233f.png

That's the second time I've had to play this card.  I get a tenner if I get three in a row don't I Ped?

Edited by SpondonBassed
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4 hours ago, owen said:

When you know, you know.

Boss GT10B :)

According to the late Mr Bowie;  The moment you know, you know.

From Where are We Now? David Bowie

Quote

Where are we now?
Where are we now?
The moment you know
You know
You know

I've only got a Zoom B3.

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Roland VB99 for sure.

or the other way around...….I did a year in the 80s with a cover band doing all sorts of stuff with a Aria TSB550 (Bank loan edition 😉) defretted and lined by Jimmy Moon. Even the fashionable (i.e. dubious ) brass percussion plate up at the dusty end.

No one knew it was fretless until I played it in that style

(yes, there was an Octaver involved, and yes there was a good bit of Paul Young/Pino going on 😁)

Edited by 2pods
speeling ;-)
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