Bass guys - tell me about Bass Distortion

[PFDarkside]

Re: Bass guys - tell me about Bass Distortion

Personally, unless I'm playing blues or real traditional style bass I like a little grind on the tone. Not Big Muff or Bass Distortion style, but like slight amp/Sansamp style.

Checkout isolated bass tracks on YouTube, I like the tones of Geddy Lee, Mike Starr and Mike Inez, Justin Chancellor, Matt Freeman and even JPJ on Heartbreaker.

EDIT - Looks like Jolly beat me to some of the isolated tracks

 

[eclecticsynergy]

Re: Bass guys - tell me about Bass Distortion

A lot of great classic bass tones have a bit of overdrive that isn't obvious in the mix, but somehow helps it all hang together. I heard some isolated Beatles bass tracks and there was a little of it going on there too.

 

[JOLLY]

Re: Bass guys - tell me about Bass Distortion

Billy Sheehan did something like that didn't he?

Yes

Doug Pinnick also does/did something similar. His new Tech 21 amp is really made for that. He dials in a real plinky distorted sound for the highs, and a super deep clean tone for the lows. It's basically two amps in one.

 

[Falloffthebonetone]

Re: Bass guys - tell me about Bass Distortion

85-90%of the time, I like to just crumble up the highs so it smooths out and growls a bit. Less clacky and more rumbly with a little harmonic shimmer. Blend knobs work wonders to keep the lows in tact so the crunchy harmonics and distortion just sort of peek out over the core clean tone.

10-15% of the time it is heavily fuzzed out boom and buzz, 100% effected signal. Super sustainy and fat.

 

[Aceman]

Re: Bass guys - tell me about Bass Distortion

So I have been listening a lot, and I'm hearing what you are talking about. I see how I wouldn't hear it in the mix, but that it would really help the bass no "pop" out like a piano string…

 

[Demanic]

Re: Bass guys - tell me about Bass Distortion

I want the cleanest sound that I can get for bass. I love it when it sounds like a piano string. Oh, and when I play, it's in a power trio.

Sent from my MotoE2(4G-LTE) using Tapatalk

 

[HiFiRebel]

Re: Bass guys - tell me about Bass Distortion

I usually play clean as well. Every so often I use a little dirt. But not enough to make a habit of it.

 

[Demanic]

Re: Bass guys - tell me about Bass Distortion

I keep trying to get a nice slap style with a bump at 300hz.

Sent from my MotoE2(4G-LTE) using Tapatalk

 

[eclecticsynergy]

Re: Bass guys - tell me about Bass Distortion

For me slap style works best with cleaner tone and a little solid state compression. You can use more extreme EQ settings that likely would make overdrive sound weird. But that's just my taste.

 

[PFDarkside]

Re: Bass guys - tell me about Bass Distortion

I know it's OT, but I swear the key to a good slap tone is light stainless strings. I've always used heavier nickel strings and have struggled with it, but I put light SS on the Jazz V and it sounds like every recording I've ever heard, especially with a little compression and the "contour" button pressed (smile EQ).