I need some advises to recreate this bass tone

[YellowDrake961]

Dear Bassist Community,

I've been so into the vintage thumpin' bass tone. Compare to the brightness that most of the modern songs have, I personally prefer this dead, muted kick drum ish sound by thumbing.(Please find the reference video below)

References:




My Gear:
Bass // Music Man Stingray Classic
String // LeBella 760fs-TB (Old flatwound strings)

I've try many effects, compressors and been looking up on the internet. The result is still not what I'm looking for. The tone remains bright to me (of course it's already less than new stings).

To recreate this sound, I can use the wistom of bassist community. Every reply and advise would be much appreciated!

 

[sector7g]

Have you tried contacting him directly? Fellow bassists tend to be very open about what they used.

 

[TheArchitect]

Thump is dead simple. P Bass, flat wounds and foam under strings

 

[Malak the Mad]

Greetings and welcome to TalkBass!

I can't say for sure if this would work, but changing strings is a less expensive proposition compared to pickups. With that in mind, I once tried a set of DR Legends flatwounds on a P/J parts-bass. They were very deep and thumpy, but without much brightness. It's possible they might work for you. (Personally, I did not keep them on long. I live for a bit more growl and brightness in my sound, but that's just me.)

I've heard some say a Stingray really shines when you run the volume at a bit less than 100%. I can't say for sure, but it might be to compensate for the extra loudness that comes from boosting the bass EQ.

 

[MIMike]

The traditional slap sound is a scooped midrange, or boosted bass and treble.
What I hear in that reference clip is a very midrange forward sound. Not your traditional slap tone.
I like it too!

 

[cxcxcx]

My remarks will likely be steamrolled by all sorts of suggestions for compressors, EQ, plugins, universal-panacea HX Stomp presets, or other distractions from the actual mission. Getting this kind of sound is not arcane sorcery.

Respectfully submitted, this tone is (in the case of Fernando Rosa) or all that tone was (in the case of Bernard Edwards and others) is a stock Music Man Stingray with a the important factor of a comfortable action and dead roundwounds, sometimes flatwounds, with the tone knob set to back off on the normally strident sound that this bass can get ( you are allowed to do this…)

It really is that simple - when this kind of tone was really popular and first emerged in the world of popular music, there was no internet and only a couple of music magazines. Players didn’t have a method of obsessively nerding out over gear and just got to the task at hand with the tools that they had. This tone is a result of that reality.

To deaden a set of flatwounds that might be too bright as a result of being new, you can use the Jimmy M / Sean Hurley trick of vigorously wiping Eucerin, Vaseline, or vaseline into the strings and removing the excess. Lanolin is the best, most expensive, and most smelly of all these choices. It may not make a night and day difference, but it does take off some of the sheen and adds a bit to the deadness. With dead strings, a new or old classic Stingray bass, the proper low action set up, and a good amount of cut on that tone knob, I can’t imagine a situation where something close to the tone you’re looking for can’t be had.

 

[Wasnex]

Getting the sound live is unlikely, but getting the sound on a recording IMHO is easy. Get the bass and the strings and plug into a system that provides accurate, hi fidelity monitoring...such as headphones or studio monitors. When I was a kid, I rigged up some adapters to play through my stereo. Got pretty close and I was playing a Ric 4001.

In my experience getting that exact sound live, acoustically through an amp is a lot more difficult....I have never really succeeded and trust me I tried. There are two primary limiting factors IMHO, 1. Bass cabs aren't very good at producing that type of sound, 2. Even if you use cabs that do sound like that, the typical live acoustic environment will make a mess of it.

 

[hieronymous]

The fernandorosabass video and the other one sound vastly different to me. The second one sounds like bass super-boosted - when he pops, you can hear the round wound zing. But the first video - I agree with @cxcxcx - just set your bass & treble to "zero" - maybe boost the bass a little but to me it sounds like his doesn't. I'll also echo @sector7g and suggest you message him directly - you could even ask if he has his bass set flat...

 

[YellowDrake961]

Have you tried contacting him directly? Fellow bassists tend to be very open about what they used.

Thanks for replying! I've try to contact some of them, but unfortunately they didn't reply. I'll keep trying

 

[YellowDrake961]

Greetings and welcome to TalkBass!

I can't say for sure if this would work, but changing strings is a less expensive proposition compared to pickups. With that in mind, I once tried a set of DR Legends flatwounds on a P/J parts-bass. They were very deep and thumpy, but without much brightness. It's possible they might work for you. (Personally, I did not keep them on long. I live for a bit more growl and brightness in my sound, but that's just me.)

I've heard some say a Stingray really shines when you run the volume at a bit less than 100%. I can't say for sure, but it might be to compensate for the extra loudness that comes from boosting the bass EQ.

I think I would agree with the statement about running the volume less than 100%. You reminded me that I once accidentally did that and it sounds fine!

Thanks for sharing! It really helps a lot, fellow bassist!

 

[YellowDrake961]

My remarks will likely be steamrolled by all sorts of suggestions for compressors, EQ, plugins, universal-panacea HX Stomp presets, or other distractions from the actual mission. Getting this kind of sound is not arcane sorcery.

Respectfully submitted, this tone is (in the case of Fernando Rosa) or all that tone was (in the case of Bernard Edwards and others) is a stock Music Man Stingray with a the important factor of a comfortable action and dead roundwounds, sometimes flatwounds, with the tone knob set to back off on the normally strident sound that this bass can get ( you are allowed to do this…)

It really is that simple - when this kind of tone was really popular and first emerged in the world of popular music, there was no internet and only a couple of music magazines. Players didn’t have a method of obsessively nerding out over gear and just got to the task at hand with the tools that they had. This tone is a result of that reality.

To deaden a set of flatwounds that might be too bright as a result of being new, you can use the Jimmy M / Sean Hurley trick of vigorously wiping Eucerin, Vaseline, or vaseline into the strings and removing the excess. Lanolin is the best, most expensive, and most smelly of all these choices. It may not make a night and day difference, but it does take off some of the sheen and adds a bit to the deadness. With dead strings, a new or old classic Stingray bass, the proper low action set up, and a good amount of cut on that tone knob, I can’t imagine a situation where something close to the tone you’re looking for can’t be had.

Much appreciated! I totally agree with your idea. I also assumed the answer might just be simple since there was no many (comapre to today) gears, effects and the internet to be nerded on. Thank you for the thought process sharing. It was detailed and accurate to what I'm aiming for. I'll keep the experiment going on

 

[dustinymichaels]

He probably also has the mutes engaged, also. For me it is critical to have this option on the stingray.

 

[Pilgrim]

I consider the sound in your first video not to be dead, "thumpish" or muted. And the slap he's doing is none of those, either. His sound is fairly bright and quite modern.

The second video is much closer to what you claim you want to sound like.

If you want old school thump, use flats, let them age at least six months, turn the treble down and if you need to, add some light foam under the strings just in front of the bridge.

But if you like Fernando, that sound is NOT dead, "thumpish" or muted.

Here's a video that tells you how to get an old school, thumpish sound - it has a nice intro with the sound referred to:



If you want to see how to install a mute on a Fender P, here's my thread on that:

Loading…

www.talkbass.com

 

[YellowDrake961]

I consider the sound in your first video not to be dead, "thumpish" or muted. And the slap he's doing is none of those, either. His sound is fairly bright and quite modern.

The second video is much closer to what you claim you want to sound like.

If you want old school thump, use flats, let them age at least six months, turn the treble down and if you need to, add some light foam under the strings just in front of the bridge.

But if you like Fernando, that sound is NOT dead, "thumpish" or muted.

Here's a video that tells you how to get an old school, thumpish sound - it has a nice intro with the sound referred to:



If you want to see how to install a mute on a Fender P, here's my thread on that:

Loading…

www.talkbass.com

I can get why you think the 2 videos sound different. I'm sorry for the confusion. Let's just focus on Mr. Rosa's video.

I was trying to hightlight the sound it made when Fernando Rosa hit the string by thumb. It sounded less percussive (way less but not disappeared) and less zing.

That is what I wanted to recreate. Do you have any advise for that?

P. S. Thanks a lot for sharing the video. I've watched that one before. It really share some useful tips!

 

[Pilgrim]

I can get why you think the 2 videos sound different. I'm sorry for the confusion. Let's just focus on Mr. Rosa's video.

I was trying to hightlight the sound it made when Fernando Rosa hit the string by thumb. It sounded less percussive (way less but not disappeared) and less zing.

That is what I wanted to recreate. Do you have any advise for that?

P. S. Thanks a lot for sharing the video. I've watched that one before. It really share some useful tips!

No idea other than putting muting foam on the strings, which will provide a classic sound - but I doubt that will work for you, as your preference seems bright and more a modern technique to me.

 

[Azari]

Sounds like roundwounds