What is your favorite bass to down tune?

socialleper

socialleper

Bringer of doom and top shelf beer
May 31, 2009
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Canyon Country, CA
#1
The title kinda says it all. If you down tune your 4, 5, or 6 string basses lower than a standard 440, 5th tuning, what kind of bass do you prefer doing it to, or have heard and love the sound of. What did you like so much about it? If you want to talk about setup tricks\tips to get what you want, or you've heard of someone using, feel free.
 
#4
I have a Peavey Forum PJ that does drop D pretty well, but anything lower than that doesn't sound good. On the rest of my basses I just can't seem to match the strings, setup, and pickups to get an even, natural sounding tone on C or B.
 
#5
ClassicJazz said:
My Roscoe Century Custom 5. Since it’s 35” scale, it doesn’t loss as much as a standard 34” scale bass in regards to tone or feel of the strings. Good tension even when tuned down.
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35" scale is really where it is at when it comes to lower tunings. My Spector 5LX has such a great B on it. Sadly, 4 string 35" scale basses are rare.
 
#6
I bought an MTD Kingston for $60. Re-fret job my self (great practice). 35" scale, aftermarket 2 band, so it's very stingray-ish. It sounds phenomenal in A standard.
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#8
I've tuned pretty much all kinds of basses to D standard and they've all worked just fine. Tonally I have noticed a couple of things:
- Can't beat EMG's (J/DC/et.c). The inherit compression and clarity lends itself well for downtuning
- Stingrays work well, too. They don't get muddy.
- Strings, setup and amp/pedals matter more than the bass itself. You can make any bass sound good downtuned with quality gear
 
#9
socialleper said:
The title kinda says it all. If you down tune your 4, 5, or 6 string basses lower than a standard 440, 5th tuning, what kind of bass do you prefer doing it to, or have heard and love the sound of. What did you like so much about it? If you want to talk about setup tricks\tips to get what you want, or you've heard of someone using, feel free.
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Rickenbacker 4003S for BEAD. I use the bottom 4 strings of a 5 string set.
 
#10
socialleper said:
The title kinda says it all. If you down tune your 4, 5, or 6 string basses lower than a standard 440, 5th tuning, what kind of bass do you prefer doing it to, or have heard and love the sound of. What did you like so much about it? If you want to talk about setup tricks\tips to get what you want, or you've heard of someone using, feel free.
Click to expand...

My '78 Music man takes down tunning really well but surprisingly the bass I have found the most luck with is this old BC rich warlock. .. it's my buddies bass but I've borrowed it for a few shows here and there where it required a 5. Tuned it BEAD and it sounds great. Low action with no fret buzz.
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#11
I still proudly own a 25yo Ibanez Sr1306pm Custom Made in Japan

I used to keep it a fullstep downtuned (A, D, G, C, F, Bb) to play 'tallica's Sad but True in a former "four horsemen" tribute band of mine

I don't play with'em anymore, but the bass stays there, still downtuned (with fresh 32-130 elixirs on) and it's a 34" scale... if need be, I'd be more than happy to downtune a 35" scale Ken Smith 5er that I got (with an aftermarket old "no VTC" Sadowky pre on) but, unless forced to it, Ibanez Soundgear is more than enough at the moment.

Cheers,
Wallace
 
#14
My band down tunes a semi-tone. The only two basses that I have that can handle switching from half a tone down to standard tuning without a set are my Pedulla and my Roscoe. To me, it's the neck stiffness that determines how the bass will react to changes in tuning.
Fishheadjoe
 
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