Finding a certain bass tone

[ThirdBird]

How would I go about achieving the following bass tone:

old school
motown
james brown
kind of beatlish
funky/but not slap
some fuzz
some growl
deep reggaeish
big fat dirty


What kind of bass?
What kind of amp/direct?
What kind of mixing/panning?
What kind of EQ?
What kind of compression?
Any other fx?
How should it sit in the mix?



Thanks!

 

[Davedog]

P-Bass. Vintage P/U's. Flat Wounds. I like the Fenders and the Tomastiks. A preamp with a Fender tone stack.....SWR, Alembic, Conrad, Ampeg....tubes in the pre. A positive attack. Level and sure. not much compression going in....A lot coming back out. Make sure the basses frets are clean and level. No dead spots in the neck.

Play like James Jamerson.

 

[soapfloats]

Play like James Jamerson.

The most important part!

 

[BobRogers]

P-Bass. Vintage P/U's. Flat Wounds. I like the Fenders and the Tomastiks. A preamp with a Fender tone stack.....SWR, Alembic, Conrad, Ampeg....tubes in the pre. A positive attack. Level and sure. not much compression going in....A lot coming back out. Make sure the basses frets are clean and level. No dead spots in the neck.

Play like James Jamerson.

Absolutely! I've managed to make do with a Bass POD XT Pro for the direct box rather than going on a long search for the ultimate tube pre. You can also try a foam mute for a faster decay. I've never gotten what I wanted out of that trick.

No dead spot!!?? In this house we obey the laws of physics, Lisa! Fish gotta swim; birds gotta fly; P-bass gotta have a dead spot around the C on the g string. It's like the nodes in the middle of a rectangular room. You can minimize the effect, but you can't make it go away. Learn to love your dead spot. (On a related note, in the '70's I had a slot head Gibson EB3 with so many dead spots that I named it after an ex-girlfriend.)

 

[ThirdBird]

What kind of change would having an active jazz have on the sound?


Thanks for the help!


Bob, what was the name of that bass?

 

[Davedog]

(On a related note, in the '70's I had a slot head Gibson EB3 with so many dead spots that I named it after an ex-girlfriend.)

Bob, THAT is funny!

 

[pmolsonmus]

Dave, you must have been laughing too hard at Bob's comment to mention the point I was sure you were going to make. Most of the sound comes from.........(wait for it)









The player's fingers!

Practice, practice, practice


Phil