60's Bass Tone

rayc

rayc

retroreprobate
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLOTAJQF0Fo
Scott Walker's Montague Terrace (In Blue) is the above example but the bass tone is similar in his classic 4 albums.
I doubt he plays the bass on these (though he was Scott Bros bassist) but I love the tone.
NOT, I avow, a tone I'd use on most of my own stuff, but one that I'd like to have in the haversack if I felt I'd like to try it on.
I have an old Emperador semiacoustic bass with flat strings; what else do I need?
Compression?
Tube amp?
Foam?
Sponge?
 
130 nibbles & NO bites?
Flat wound Fender strings, plectrum (any particular type?), EQ setting on amp, pick up selection (bridge or neck), mic placement, anything?
 
The closest I could find, so far, was this great info from Carole Kay:
I've always used medium-gauge flatwound strings since I play exclusively with a hard pick (with a flat wrist, not like guitar players). Most of the 1960s hits out of Hollywood were cut on flatwound strings by bass players who played with a pick. And I always use a doubled up piece of felt muting on top of the strings just over the bridges to dampen the over- and under-tones for a cleaner recorded sound too (good for live work also). If you play with fingers and maybe sometimes with a pick, I'd advise to use only the foam underneath the strings barely touching the strings for this sort of muting of unneeded extra-tones. Strings still ring if the muting is done correctly.
First of all, you have to use a very hard pick (a felt pick doesn't get a good defined sound, and limber picks don't either) as that gets the thicker bass sound and with the right amp/bass settings, you never hear a "click" either unless you set the settings for more treble. But you must play with the beat: downstrokes on the downbeats and upstrokes with the upbeats, with a flat wrist, the bottom of your thumb muscle usually touching a bottom string (no, not for muting but for a home-base" strong solid feel), this is where your fine deep bass sound comes from as well as picking close to the end of the neck , never next to the bridges.
I tried Scott Walker on the net & his arranger wally Stott but no detail about the bassist or the technique.
 
Hey Ray, I used to get a sound similar to that when I played electric bass in a psychobilly band. Kind of like this:


Real plucky, as I used to call it. I used an Epiphone hollow bass, pretty much exactly like this one. It was stolen:
030.jpg


I used flatwound strings and the bridge pickup and picked hard right near the bridge. I also had an ancient Rickenbacker bass combo that was also stolen. I didn't really think much about that kind of sound, it just sort of happened naturally with that kind of equipment. I switched from an upright to electric bass, and the flatwounds were my only real consideration as far as maintaining some of that upright sound. I traded an old strat copy and a Hondo P-bass for the Epi bass just cuz it looked cool.
 
emperador bassz.jpg
This is my oldie. Fender flat wounds on an ancient Emperador Bass (late 60's).
I used to play this right at the bridge bacuse the band all played at full tilt & being heard was all about loud & cutting.
This with a little felt under the strings beneath the bridge cover may be a 1st step.
The Epi certainly looks nice.
The Cramps - Gotta love a little Lux.
Thanks Greg.
 
Yup, RIP Lux. Great frontman, great band. They were one of the first "punk" shows I ever saw, and I've seen them about 5 or 6 times in total. Lux was a maniac, and the image of (a much younger) Poison Ivy slithering around in her cat suit and giant Gretsch....man, I can still see it like it was yesterday. She was pure scary, sexy, rock and roll.
cramps+poison-ivy.gif
 
Two years ago, I recorded 8 tracks of classic country for a friend. I ended up using an early 80's Squier P-Bass with passive EMG's, flat wound strings, and a 1/2 inch thick piece of sponge placed near the bridge that spanned the width of the strings. My signal path was bass > Boss TU-2 tuner > M-Audio DMP3 preamp, and I used some minor EQing with a VST. I managed to nail the sound for most of the recordings, though I would have loved to have an upright for "Misty Blue".
 
Try drowning out the axis on your cabinet but it depends on how old the cabinet is, if it is anything after an 88 you may have some troubles.
 
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