So it seems I've joined my friend's band for the moment, as a bassist, and I've just realized that although I'm pretty good with guitar tones, I have absolutely no ear for bass tone. I suppose I'm fairly good at playing bass, but I don't actually own any gear (I'll be borrowing my drummer's cheap spare bass, and I'll borrow an amp from a different friend), so I've had nothing to practice with in terms of sculpting proper sounds.

What I'm looking for, tonally, is basically something middle of the road -- something that sounds defined without being too sensitive and quacky, something that sounds full without being too muffled. Given this, can anybody offer me some general bass tone tips? what frequencies to accentuate/minimize, is a compressor a good idea, etc? For what it's worth, I'm playing a P-bass rip-off with a passive pickup, and the strings are very dead.

I feel like a compete dunce posting such a beginner question after all my years of playing music, but for some reason I just can't get any usable bass tones and I figured you guys would be able to help me out.

First, get new strings. They will help a lot. Roundwounds will give you more growl, flatwounds a smoother sound. A compressor can help even out your strings if adjusting your pickups and playing style isnt doing the trick, but it will also tend to cut your attack a bit. That may be a good thing, I dunno. I often like one of those cheap blue Boss pedal compressors at the front of my signal chain, if anything at all, and little else.

Lotsa people on here like those Rusty Box pedals that theMilford is making, but that's a pretty specific sound. Also, youre gonna have to wait if you order one now.

There isnt much else I can add, you kind of have to play around with the amp you end up with to get the sound youre looking for. I will say that 200-400 Hz is usually where the mud lives, so if your bass tone sounds muddy, try cutting just a smidge in there. And of course, always cut as much of the bad as you can before you try to fix through boosting.

Good luck.

get that bass setup. Shitty basses can sound good if someone went through them, if it's in a bad condition, then just stick it through a distortion box!

Start by setting your amp's eq to flat, I like having my eq set to flat, or putting all the bands to maximum, that also works and gives you some sort of a "delicate" overdrive. It changes from amp to amp though.

Get big speaker cabinets. Go with 2X15 or 1X15. or like 8X10 or whatever they are.

Are you playing with a pick or you fingers?
What pick to you use? How do you hold your pick? I know it sounds silly but it does change the sound alot.
Holding and plucking with the pick parallel to the strings will give you a "flatter" sound, you might call it "dull" too. I like it for certain things.
I hold my pick with an angle to the strings(probably a 40-50 degrees, not, I didn't measure that!). That way when ever the pick hit the strings, it also scratches them a little bit, resulting in a sharp/bright attack.
If you really like this attack, you might want to consider using thin picks, they'll give you a better "scratch" sound, or thin brass picks. They last longer and always sound the same.

Yes, I know it sounds like I'm talking out of my ass. the angle of the pick? the thickness? It does make a difference! I swear!

eliya wrote:Yes, I know it sounds like I'm talking out of my ass. the angle of the pick? the thickness? It does make a difference! I swear!

he ain't lyin' about this.

um...don't crakn the bass, you're speakers will probably crap out and sound shitty. pull back treble if you've got no gain/drive. trebley bass on a clean tone sound shit. don't bump your low mids too much or, to quote watt, "you'll bogart the room."

um...lemme know when you get an amp.

yes. change the strings.
you can't go wrong starting with a fender bass. go to a store, try a mexican precision bass and a mexican jazz bass. notice the difference. what brand the bass is? maybe it's good enough and maybe it only needs a pickup swap or something.
what style of music do you play?

New round wound strings. That'll give your p-bass the grr it wants.

Be very careful when you pick a bass head. Don't go for one that's got an eq, and a reverb, and a fucking 1972 Sean Cassidy ball-jiggler who spoons coke for you. Go super simple. Get something that's got power to spare. Pay for power, not gimmicks.

Has the bass been set-up recently?

ubercat wrote:Pay for power, not gimmicks.

amen to this, brother. the simpler, the better. plus, with twenty different features on an amp, that's twenty different things that can break or degrade your sound in some way. I've always hated the idea of those SWR heads with "sonic maximizers" and "subwave circuits" and ten other bullshit things.

oh yeah, buy used. you'll get twice the amp you would buying new.

eliya wrote:get that bass setup.

This. It isnt tough/shouldnt cost too much if you dont know how to do it yrself, but it will make a world of difference. Should be step two after new strings.

Thanks for the help guys. I suppose I shoulda mentioned a couple of things, though.

1) The bass is a Cort, a P-bass ripoff like I said. I will be changing the strings today. Also, originally, I was playing with those huge-ass triangular Fender bass picks, but after reading Eliya's post, I realized that I had some thin metal picks lying around, so I started using those. They actually improve the sound considerably. Thanks for the tip!

2) I'm only going to be a temporary replacement, so buying a new bass, swapping in a new pickup, and purchasing an amp are sort of pointless in my case. After a few shows, I'll go back to all my guitar/drumming duties, and probably never need to play bass on a regular basis again. But should I ever have to buy an amp, I'll focus on wattage over extras.

And thanks for not patronizing me and posting overly-obvious advice.

"its not about the gear its about tecnique. remember, if jaco psaotrius played thru your rig it would stil sound like jaco!!!!"

Don't forget to take yer bass to the local luthier and get it set-up. :)