My bass sound

[larrikin]

I own a gibson thunderbird, and dislike clean sounds! how can i make my tone heavy on higher frequencies? to sort of make it sound like a baritone guitar...

i would assume it's all to do with the amp, i have an ashdown electric blue amp, and also an ampeg svt, but that's no good as i have no speaker!

[lemmywinks]

The Ampeg would do the trick!

Alternatively look at the Sansamp or MXR M80 pedals. I use an M80 to mimic an overdriven head and it does the trick, you can blend the two signals so you keep the low end.

[larrikin]

Thanks! what about a Voodoo Lab Ground Control, would this work? i'm not entirely sure what the Voodoo pedal even does... but someone told me it might help?

Edited April 15, 2009 by larrikin

[Musky]

[quote name='larrikin' post='463014' date='Apr 15 2009, 02:16 PM']Thanks! what about a Voodoo Lab Ground Control, would this work? i'm not entirely sure what the Voodoo pedal even does... but someone told me it might help?[/quote]

Me neither, so I googled it. It's switching unit!
[url="http://www.voodoolab.com/gcontrolpro.htm"]http://www.voodoolab.com/gcontrolpro.htm[/url]

I would have thought if you want a distorted baritone guitar type sound you can roll off the bass below about 100Hz and use a distortion pedal that suits (which could be almost anything really - everyone has their own favourite).

Edited April 15, 2009 by Musky

[EBS_freak]

[quote name='larrikin' post='463014' date='Apr 15 2009, 02:16 PM']Thanks! what about a Voodoo Lab Ground Control, would this work? i'm not entirely sure what the Voodoo pedal even does... but someone told me it might help?[/quote]

Umm... it wouldn't do much for you at all...!

[Rich]

Well, it would give you lots of ways of finding the same sound that you don't like

[stoker]

i stick my bass though a danelectro 'daddy o' distortion. sound like a heavy baritone when i use it for power chords but i use flatwound strings so don't loose the bottom end thump.

[larrikin]

Ok, here's what I use.

Gibson Thunderbird IV
Strung with d'addario medium nickel round wounds

I have a russian big muff pedal, mxr micro amp and a line6 delay modeler.

At the moment i am using a sh*tty little ashdown electric blue, as i don't have a cab for my ampeg, which is annoying!

The sound i'm looking for his heavy tone on higher frequencies because i want it to sound more like a baritone.

If my ampeg was set up, would i set the frequency to its highest setting??

Also, what are these voodoo ground controls actually used for??

[Musky]

Not really the answer you're looking for, but you might like to check out one of the Danelectro basses like the '63 or older DC's. I saw someone using one on Saturday and I reckon it would nail the sound you're after - it sounded amazing when he kicked in a fuzz as well.

Oh, and that Ground Control is a sophisticated switching unit - it allows you to switch between patches on midi gear, and switch in and out multiple pedals. With 3 pedals and no midi gear you don't need one.

[larrikin]

Thanks, but i really want to stick with my t-bird, i love it!

What's midi gear then?

[skankdelvar]

It's not about distorting the higher frequencies (which you could achieve by splitting your T-Bird signal through an A-B box and running some output through a graphic or a high-pass filter, then through a fuzz, then re-integrating) - fuzzing the high freqs fuzzed will just give you a very tinny sound. It's about the actual notes you're playing .

Quick way to make your T-Bird sound like a Baritone is stick a capo on it. Or run it through a pitchshifter with 100% wet output.

Or just buy a baritone.

[Rich]

[quote name='larrikin' post='463868' date='Apr 16 2009, 12:52 PM']Thanks, but i really want to stick with my t-bird, i love it![/quote]
I can't help thinking that getting a Tbird to sound like a baritone is going to be like getting an orange to taste like an apple...

[quote]What's midi gear then?[/quote]
MIDI = [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midi"]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midi[/url]

Typical MIDI effects gear =

[larrikin]

I basically want the same sound as kings of leon now, if you hear them playing live you can hear his bass doesn't sound the same as most bass'...

Thanks for that info on the midi stuff, all way too complicated for me though!

[Musky]

Listening to some of the live stuff on you tube, it sounds like quite a middley sort of sound - still a decent amount of bottom end without much at the top. In fact quite a classic flatwound tone.

You shouldn't underestimate how much of someones tone lies in their fingers.

[funkypenguin]

i would recommend you use heavier gauge steel wound strings (D'Addario prosteels?), run your bass through an MXR M80 pedal and through your Ampeg (see if you can get hold of a cab with 10 inch speakers!)

hope this helps

[larrikin]

[quote name='Musky' post='464236' date='Apr 16 2009, 06:09 PM']Listening to some of the live stuff on you tube, it sounds like quite a middley sort of sound - still a decent amount of bottom end without much at the top. In fact quite a classic flatwound tone.[/quote]

How do you mean, flatwound tone, the strings? i think he uses the same strings as me, d'addario nickel round wound mediums - i used to have d'addario prosteel regulars, but thought it sounded far too bright.

I just love that sound

[larrikin]

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSa7qfSY00k"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSa7qfSY00k[/url]

prime example of the sound i want

[LukeFRC]

big cab with lots of 10 inch speakers and whack the gain up on the ampeg.
play with a pick near the bridge.
Theres still a lot of bass there though I think.

[larrikin]

Thanks for the advise everyone! also, i think my bass needs to be set up, as the strings are quite far away from the pickups (think cheese grater)! so the bridge needs to be lowered... would this do anything to the sound?

[Musky]

If the action is ok as it stands you should raise the height of the pickups (assuming you've got enough adjustment in there).

[larrikin]

What will raising the pickups do?

[Musky]

[quote name='larrikin' post='467330' date='Apr 20 2009, 11:42 AM']What will raising the pickups do?[/quote]
At the risk of stating the obvious, it will narrow the distance between the strings and the pickups!

Benefits will be increased volume, which may add a bit of grunt to your sound. There's an optimal height for the strings/pickups, so you don't want to take it too low.

If the strings are too high from fingerboard as well, you're best off starting with your original idea and lowering the saddle height.

[markdavid]

[quote name='Musky' post='464236' date='Apr 16 2009, 06:09 PM']Listening to some of the live stuff on you tube, it sounds like quite a middley sort of sound - still a decent amount of bottom end without much at the top. In fact quite a classic flatwound tone.

You shouldn't underestimate how much of someones tone lies in their fingers.[/quote]

Musky is right , I have 2 Jazz basses , one with nickle roundwounds and one with old flatwounds , the Jazz bass with flatwounds nails the sound on Sex on fire , the Jazz with nickel rounds is way too zingy , there must be a way to get that tone with nickel rounds as the bass player from kol uses them , however ive found flats will get you closer to that sound

[larrikin]

I got the 4x10 hlf cab recently, and i tried to copy the sound, even set my the amp to the same settings he has! but it still didn't sound like that sex on fire video i put up.

i found out that these are all the pedals and effects he uses, so it must be something in here, right??

# Ampeg SVT Classic Head and 8x10" SVT Cabinets
# Avalon U5 DI preamp
# BOSS TR-2 Tremolo
# BOSS ME-50 multi-effect (With the expression pedal set to +1 octave for the song 'Closer'.)
# BOSS DD-3 Digital Delay
# BOSS RV-5 Digital Reverb
# Line 6 DL4 Delay Modeler
# Voodoo Lab Ground Control Pro controller
# Electro-Harmonix Big Muff
# MXR M-133 Micro Amp

[spinynorman]

Have you got a white Thunderbird? The paint makes a huge difference.