Capt. Snazzy
New member
Okay, I've been recording/playing live for quite some time and have slowly been honing my tone. I've gone through several brands, on my fender aerodyne and stingray 5, and am getting kind of frustrated.
I have gotten beautiful tone from the stingray (active pickup) with the standard ernie ball 2836 super slinky round wound 5 string set (.045 to .130) through a mesa m-pulse 600 into 2 avatar 4x10 kappa pro's. Okay, so I feel good about that, however, with the fender bass, I've gotten the best tone so far out of a heavier set of elixir strings .050 to .105. My main problem is with the E string on the fender bass, on any set of strings (except for the elixirs) that give me a strong, almost piano like attack, the E string is, for lack of a better term, flubby and unfocused.
I'm looking for a good rock picked sound, I use purple dunlop picks (between orange tortex and green tortex in thickness, don't recall exact numbers right now). My ideal bass tone, from speakers, is a very fretty (is the high end determined by plating on the strings?) sound, with a focused high-mid, somewhat attenuated low-mid, strong low type of feel. something that you can barely make out in a good mix, hearing mainly the occasional buzzing of string fret interaction. I know this is a somewhat difficult and very subjective question, but I also know there are some great players in the homerec group who've been at this for much longer who might have some input.
Basically, if you're getting a strong picked, tight, sound, with a very present upper frequency range, I want to know what strings you're using.
Thanks in advance, and I already know that a good deal of people hate elixir strings, so I don't need to hear about that. They've been the best I've tried so far for my ideal tone, I'm just looking to get even closer...
Aaron
EDIT: This may or may not help...but.
Good tone:
Tool
Stavesacre
Nirvana
Chevelle
Embodyment
Bad tone:
Flyleaf
Metallica black album (st. anger was markedly better regarding bass tone imho, however that's where the positives end for that steamy turd...)
I have gotten beautiful tone from the stingray (active pickup) with the standard ernie ball 2836 super slinky round wound 5 string set (.045 to .130) through a mesa m-pulse 600 into 2 avatar 4x10 kappa pro's. Okay, so I feel good about that, however, with the fender bass, I've gotten the best tone so far out of a heavier set of elixir strings .050 to .105. My main problem is with the E string on the fender bass, on any set of strings (except for the elixirs) that give me a strong, almost piano like attack, the E string is, for lack of a better term, flubby and unfocused.
I'm looking for a good rock picked sound, I use purple dunlop picks (between orange tortex and green tortex in thickness, don't recall exact numbers right now). My ideal bass tone, from speakers, is a very fretty (is the high end determined by plating on the strings?) sound, with a focused high-mid, somewhat attenuated low-mid, strong low type of feel. something that you can barely make out in a good mix, hearing mainly the occasional buzzing of string fret interaction. I know this is a somewhat difficult and very subjective question, but I also know there are some great players in the homerec group who've been at this for much longer who might have some input.
Basically, if you're getting a strong picked, tight, sound, with a very present upper frequency range, I want to know what strings you're using.
Thanks in advance, and I already know that a good deal of people hate elixir strings, so I don't need to hear about that. They've been the best I've tried so far for my ideal tone, I'm just looking to get even closer...
Aaron
EDIT: This may or may not help...but.
Good tone:
Tool
Stavesacre
Nirvana
Chevelle
Embodyment
Bad tone:
Flyleaf
Metallica black album (st. anger was markedly better regarding bass tone imho, however that's where the positives end for that steamy turd...)