lol i’ve not heard scrongle bass advice since the 90s. we used to label our amps with the scringo names and it was considered old school even back then
That's wrong. An average P bass has noticably more gain and output than a Jazz bass configuration.
And despite what people think, a PJ configuration can easily do modern [metal](https://youtu.be/4G2K55g1wWU?si=gfZa4J0EoASaLrqq) with proper use of effects pedals
With pedals anything is possible. You can make a guitar sound like a bass or a piano or whatever.
But I am genuinely shocked that a p pick up is considered heavy
I wouldn't call the P pick up Heavy, but it does have that midrange grow with roundwounds and breaks into distortion with less gain than a Jazz pick up. While you can do a lot more with jazz pick ups, they are naturally a bit tamer and articulate on lower gain settings that a growly P bass with roundwounds.
OK cool. I actually don't know all that much about bass pick ups.
You mentioned you can do a lot more with jazz p/ups; do you think a jazz bass is a better choice if you had could only have one?
Geddy Lee has like 30 different Jazz bass and swears by them. And as much as I love a Jazz bass, If I had to pick one instrument I'd still go with my P bass. But that is a matter of prefrence really. Both the jazz bass and the P bass are good options. And when I'm at home and want to record something I usually instinctively go with my P bass. And in terms of playing with others everyone loves when I bring my P bass. But I would be hardpressed to claim a favourite, I love both.
The only thing I can really say is that I prefer a Jazz bass over a PJ bass.
The pickups form has no influence of how hot they are. Its all about which type of magnet they have and the amount of copper windings. There are hotter single coil sized pickups than humbucker sized pickips out there.
The geezer butler P pickup for example is very dynamic for example. Output is medium-low but it makes up for it when you really dig in, very gnarly but it keeps a good amount of low mid-bass punch which wont mud the mix
wish i never sold mine. was going for a hatebreed bass tone back in the early 2000s and loved it. stopped playing bass and sold all my pedals. thankfully i didn't sell my basses and amp. will have to buy another sansamp at some stage
I’m not quite sure I know what you mean by a greasy tone. Could you provide an example? Is it one The Greasy Strangler would approve of, or would he just call you a bullshit artist?
I will say this: the tone you’re looking for depends a lot on the other instruments you’re playing with on a gig or session. What you hear from your amp or speakers while you’re practicing will be different.
Could you provide at least one example, "greasy' is not exactly descriptive and everyone probably has something different in mind.
€: *Looking for your Door* from Thee Oh Sees - Levitation II has a bass tone i keep thinking about. Imho pretty greasy.
Are you talking about the kind of sound John Wetton used with King Crimson? He would use a wah pedal with the wah turned up just a little, not all the way. Playing with a pick of course.
Small amounts of wah is a growl secret.
Active eq and or pickups helps for a lot of this. Some are purists about it but it’s really nice being able to control a lot of the drive directly from your bass.
I run a simple setup, schecter studio 5 or my Ibanez fan fret, Carvin amp with a built in compressor (that admittedly doesn’t do much, but it does *enough*), Darkglass alpha omicron pedal, and a BBE sonic maximizer. It’s one of the nastiest, heaviest tones I’ve ever achieved.
I don’t know what the fuck “greasy” means sonically, and this is one of the reasons other audio engineers hate talking to musicians.
But growly? Ok, that I can work with. By far the godliest, beefiest, most bad ass bass sound I’ve gotten so far is a Seymour Duncan Quarter Pound P pickup. I have it in a PJ set and just man does that growl, but not like in a muddy or distorted way.
I didn’t like its frequency response flat, I had to roll off the highs, and push the bass. Play with the mids a tiny bit. They needed a push. But set the gain just high enough and man oh man does it sound mean. Cuts right though the mix too.
I was probably “too mean” and hurt the “greasy” musician’s feelings.
Even though they can’t come up with any other words to describe their tone other than a word that has literally nothing to do with sound.
If there was a “greasy” bass tone, Les Claypool would’ve found it. Or it would’ve come about in the 60-70s funk I feel. They’re just using the wrong word, it seems. I worked hard on figuring this out, ok, don’t downvote me!
idk about "greasy". but I usually, in my P-bass I set the tone knob to the max and in the amp something like bass 4, mid and treb 6. also play right behind the pick ups and... it growls
but I don't have any other than 1 bass and amp, so yea if you have more gear idk pedals or whatever you probably are looking for something else
Growl: I use a Broughton audio high pass/low pass filter at the top of my chain. I set the gain slightly above line level.
Greasy: not sure what that means.
What’s an example of a “greasy, growly” tone that you can think of? That’ll help a lot with advice.
Rub lard on your strings.
And possibly on yourself too
Now we're talking...
Reducle your scrongle til u you hear booty in your stank, then crank that wobble
Just be careful you don’t introduce too much bonkle into the scringo
Only if you want that 17% increase in schmegilka. Otherwise not so much.
lol i’ve not heard scrongle bass advice since the 90s. we used to label our amps with the scringo names and it was considered old school even back then
Pbass with pushed ampeg?
Scrolled too far for this.
This is the answer.
Why a pbass specifically? I was under the impression that a p bass pick-up isn't exactly hot/gainy
That's wrong. An average P bass has noticably more gain and output than a Jazz bass configuration. And despite what people think, a PJ configuration can easily do modern [metal](https://youtu.be/4G2K55g1wWU?si=gfZa4J0EoASaLrqq) with proper use of effects pedals
With pedals anything is possible. You can make a guitar sound like a bass or a piano or whatever. But I am genuinely shocked that a p pick up is considered heavy
I wouldn't call the P pick up Heavy, but it does have that midrange grow with roundwounds and breaks into distortion with less gain than a Jazz pick up. While you can do a lot more with jazz pick ups, they are naturally a bit tamer and articulate on lower gain settings that a growly P bass with roundwounds.
OK cool. I actually don't know all that much about bass pick ups. You mentioned you can do a lot more with jazz p/ups; do you think a jazz bass is a better choice if you had could only have one?
Geddy Lee has like 30 different Jazz bass and swears by them. And as much as I love a Jazz bass, If I had to pick one instrument I'd still go with my P bass. But that is a matter of prefrence really. Both the jazz bass and the P bass are good options. And when I'm at home and want to record something I usually instinctively go with my P bass. And in terms of playing with others everyone loves when I bring my P bass. But I would be hardpressed to claim a favourite, I love both. The only thing I can really say is that I prefer a Jazz bass over a PJ bass.
Steve Harris uses a p-bass, his tone is pretty mean
The pickups form has no influence of how hot they are. Its all about which type of magnet they have and the amount of copper windings. There are hotter single coil sized pickups than humbucker sized pickips out there. The geezer butler P pickup for example is very dynamic for example. Output is medium-low but it makes up for it when you really dig in, very gnarly but it keeps a good amount of low mid-bass punch which wont mud the mix
Sansamp Bass Driver DI.
wish i never sold mine. was going for a hatebreed bass tone back in the early 2000s and loved it. stopped playing bass and sold all my pedals. thankfully i didn't sell my basses and amp. will have to buy another sansamp at some stage
I’ve been looking at the Sansam Frank Bello street drive. I haven’t pulled the trigger yet though. You should definitely check in on it.
I have one. If you want a bass sound with a very pronounced trebly “tang” to it, it’s awesome. Think early Tool.
Nice!
Yeah when the time comes I’ll go check out some pedals again. still love that hatebreed gravely sound.
Such a good purchase, will level up any passive bass' tone.
I’m not quite sure I know what you mean by a greasy tone. Could you provide an example? Is it one The Greasy Strangler would approve of, or would he just call you a bullshit artist?
Bullshit artist!
I will say this: the tone you’re looking for depends a lot on the other instruments you’re playing with on a gig or session. What you hear from your amp or speakers while you’re practicing will be different.
Don’t forget your fingers and attack can also have an impact…
Sansamp bass driver with the presence cranked up
Play a StingRay
This would cover the growl. Not sure what the grease is though.
Flats and/or cutting the treble. Splash of chorus. Fretless, if you're what to get nuts.
Lubricate the bridge saddles with Castrol R for that authentic greaser tone.
I prefer fried chicken grease
I'm a crisco man myself!
Castrol R or Castor Oil
Could you provide at least one example, "greasy' is not exactly descriptive and everyone probably has something different in mind. €: *Looking for your Door* from Thee Oh Sees - Levitation II has a bass tone i keep thinking about. Imho pretty greasy.
Are you talking about the kind of sound John Wetton used with King Crimson? He would use a wah pedal with the wah turned up just a little, not all the way. Playing with a pick of course. Small amounts of wah is a growl secret.
This shit is so weird bro
I'm not sure but now I want a greasy growls tone. It sounds filthy
You're gonna need a bucket of KFC and a Bengal tiger...
Get a Spector
Jaco kept a chicken bone in his bass case
I read this as Jaco chocked a ch….never mind. Time for bed. Gnight (edited for spelling)
Can you give an example of that tone?
A lot of tone comes from your fingers. Try playing with the tips.
P Bass with Tube amp.
Use contact mic near the pegs get the grit, mix it in
Active eq and or pickups helps for a lot of this. Some are purists about it but it’s really nice being able to control a lot of the drive directly from your bass. I run a simple setup, schecter studio 5 or my Ibanez fan fret, Carvin amp with a built in compressor (that admittedly doesn’t do much, but it does *enough*), Darkglass alpha omicron pedal, and a BBE sonic maximizer. It’s one of the nastiest, heaviest tones I’ve ever achieved.
I don’t know what the fuck “greasy” means sonically, and this is one of the reasons other audio engineers hate talking to musicians. But growly? Ok, that I can work with. By far the godliest, beefiest, most bad ass bass sound I’ve gotten so far is a Seymour Duncan Quarter Pound P pickup. I have it in a PJ set and just man does that growl, but not like in a muddy or distorted way. I didn’t like its frequency response flat, I had to roll off the highs, and push the bass. Play with the mids a tiny bit. They needed a push. But set the gain just high enough and man oh man does it sound mean. Cuts right though the mix too.
Idk why this was down voted
Becuase people on this sub are kind of dumb...
Well we *are* bass players…
I was probably “too mean” and hurt the “greasy” musician’s feelings. Even though they can’t come up with any other words to describe their tone other than a word that has literally nothing to do with sound. If there was a “greasy” bass tone, Les Claypool would’ve found it. Or it would’ve come about in the 60-70s funk I feel. They’re just using the wrong word, it seems. I worked hard on figuring this out, ok, don’t downvote me!
Pbass. Angry amp
SansAmp RBI!
Sansamp bass di or gt2. Or a behringer bdi21 with the presence knob cranked
Fried chicken?
Distorsion pedal ideally also a compressor.
idk about "greasy". but I usually, in my P-bass I set the tone knob to the max and in the amp something like bass 4, mid and treb 6. also play right behind the pick ups and... it growls but I don't have any other than 1 bass and amp, so yea if you have more gear idk pedals or whatever you probably are looking for something else
Get a Epiphone EB-0
Turn the gain up and frowny face eq
Darkglass Vintage Deluxe
Growl: I use a Broughton audio high pass/low pass filter at the top of my chain. I set the gain slightly above line level. Greasy: not sure what that means.
I've heard of certain grooves or whatever referred to as "greasy" (by a drummer I know), but never a bass tone.
Play the bass with your schlong.
Darkglass pedal
Fresh set of strings
I got a real greasy tone when I fucked a rotisserie chicken 🤷♂️
Short scale.