Best way to a snappier slap tone with mahogany bass?

[hakon]

Hello from Sweden!

As being new to this forum and new to the bass (and of course, swedish) I might be a bit confusing, but I'll give it a try...

I quite recently bought a 1980 "Westbury Track 4" mahogany bass and I love it! It's heavy like an average european car, but it's beautiful and feels great to play!
It has two sets of P-bass pu's, looking exacly like Dimarzio dp122 (?) (I believe they are the originals), plus a set of "Ernie Ball super slinky", but... I'm not totally happy with the sound...

So, now is the question, what to do? I would like to keep the original look if possible, or at least only do reversible changes, but I would like a more "snappy" funky slap sound.
Let's say, more Les Claypool, less Jaco Pastorius. And let's say I want a radical change!

New to bass (usually play guitar) I'm not sure how to get the sound I want...
Do I need to go for a different type of pu, like J-bass, Musicman or soapbars? Active ones?
Or might just an active EQ do the trick? Or is my only hope a divine interference?

To complicate things I'd prefer if I could achieve this while using flatwounds...
I understand they rather do the opposite, but I love the feel of them and use D'addario chromes on most of my guitars (but then again, I don't slap on the guitar...)



Hope someone can help me with ideas...
Thanks /hakon

 

[jeremy]

Re: Best way to a snappier slap tone with mahogany bass?

welcome to the forum!!

a brigher set of strings would be my first suggestion. stainless steel sets like dr hi beams will help. using flatwounds you are really going to struggle to get a bright sound, they do the exact opposite of what you want to hear. rotosound flats are a little brighter than the chromes but if you want radical change i dont think flats are what you want to use.

there is no reason that you cant get a great slap funk sound from p bass pups. most look the same so its hard to know what is in there right now. have you taken them out and looked at the back to see if there is anything on them that might give you a hint as to what they are?

if you wanted to put in active electronics you could and that would let you alter the sound as much as you like.

 

[bagouser]

Re: Best way to a snappier slap tone with mahogany bass?

I've always liked Bartolini pickups for slap bass (Sorry!) . They have the PERFECT crisp midrange and punch for that type of thing.

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: Best way to a snappier slap tone with mahogany bass?

I want to suggest active electronics - either the EQ controls or the pickups - but I suspect that you want to stick with your passive DiMarzios.

Why not add active EQ in the form of a footpedal?

Yamaha offers the Nathan East model 3-band EQ pedal for bass guitar.

Seymour Duncan also offers a 3-band EQ pedal for bass guitar. This has a dedicated "Slap Contour mode" switch that provides a preset tone for slapping. This feature might even overcome the shortcomings of your beloved flatwounds. (I doubt it.)

Claypool is an EMG pickup endorsee. Nothing else makes that exact sound. Having said this, I found that a fretless Stingray through the Envelope Filter and Overdrive sections of a Boss ME-50B came pretty darned close.

 

[hamerfan]

Re: Best way to a snappier slap tone with mahogany bass?

Hook off the tone pot on a passive circuit and get a pedal. Or an active on board circuit

 

[hakon]

Re: Best way to a snappier slap tone with mahogany bass?

Oh, hello again! (I had obviously missed to activate the subscription of the thread, so I thought I hadn't got any reply, but here they are!)

Thanks for all your answers!

So, in general, "Brighter" & "Active" seems to be essential keywords..? Guess I've ruled out the flats...
A few following questions though:

>but I suspect that you want to stick with your passive DiMarzios<

No, not at all, or... I mean, I'd prefer to keep the original LOOK if I can get the sound I want with P-bass pu's
(looks kinda cool and unusual with the symmetric body and the two sets of precisions),
but It's totally possible to make a new pickguard and put in, well, anything really.

>I've always liked Bartolini pickups for slap bass<

Any special type/model?



...and i wonder, would it be possible to list pu-types according to the "brightness" it seems I want?
I mean, maybe it could look something like:

1. musicman, 3-coil, "single"-coil mode
2. soapbars
3. P-bass
4. musicman, 2-coil, parallell
5. J-bass

What I guess I'm really after with such a list is to find out where the greater differences occur...
Like, would a switch from passive to active (still P-bass) be the major upgrade,
or would a switch of type, like to (still passive) soapbars, MM or J-bass, make more of a difference?
I mean, I do understand that, for example, an active soapbar would make a real difference,
but I wouldn't know if it was mostly because of the "activity" or the "soap"

...hope you understand what I mean? (not sure if I do)


Thanks /hakon

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: Best way to a snappier slap tone with mahogany bass?

Another suggestion. This is "borrowed" from "How To Customise Your Electric Guitar" by Adrian Legg. (Yes. The finger-picking acoustic guy from some European G3 tours.)

One of DiMarzio's Jazz Bass replacement pickup models is a two-coil, noise-cancelling design. Rather than stacking the coils, the pickup employs two short coils, one for the G and D strings, the second for the A and E. You could think of these as two Precision Bass pickups. This is precisely what Legg did in one of his wiring suggestions. It would work equally well with 4-conductor + shield P Bass pickups.

Making sure to align the pickups correctly, Legg wired the halves of the two pickups to a 4PDT switch. One position is normal operation - full pickup output, in parallel to individual volume pots. The second position coil taps the pickup halves to leave the bridge G/D and neck A/E coils on. Result - bright top strings, deep bottom strings. Well, that was the theory. Not a PP3 clip in sight!