What elements contribute to a growly bass?

[Clint 55]

What elements contribute to a growly bass?

The same elements as on a guitar. Only due to the bass would be: Pickup towards the bridge, brighter wood and body design, the type of pickup. You can probably get growl from any type of pickup, but you're going to want pickups that naturally emphasize the mids and highs more than only the fundamental. Like bridge J, P, Music Man humbucker. You'd probably want the pickup higher too as that makes the tone more aggressive.

Other factors not due to the bass: brighter strings like stainless steel, overdriving the cab, how the bass is eq'd and the tone is shaped. You'd probably want to bump the mids. You could compress it a bit for more impact. Using an aggressive pick style, though pizz playing can obviously growl too, but pick will be brighter and edgier. You could add some overdrive.

Didn't Lemmy just crank the mids?

I believe he used a Marshall stack AND cranked the mids, so double growl.

 

[Mincer]

Is there a question to which FUZZ is not the answer

A stereo bass with one pickup through some fuzz is a remarkable tone.