Jeffs bass sound

Marcus Maximus

can anyone help me to produce jeffs bass sound on ten and vs ive seen his stage set up but no way can afford all the pedals anyone know hww to create it with one or two pedals

prytocorduroy

wolfman wrote:

can anyone help me to produce jeffs bass sound on ten and vs ive seen his stage set up but no way can afford all the pedals anyone know hww to create it with one or two pedals

If you're talking studio, you'll need a fretless bass and a 12-string for a few songs. Oceans sounds horrible on my fretted bass.

Marcus Maximus

its live sound im looking for you know his bass sound in the early days, hoe he gets that hight to low end

prytocorduroy

wolfman wrote:

its live sound im looking for you know his bass sound in the early days, hoe he gets that hight to low end

I know most of the studio sounds, but being a new fan in 2002 I can't say I'm familiar with his early live sound.

I think your best bet is to invest in a 12 string (I've seen him play his live a bunch on youtube back then). That will give you extra edge. But beyond that I won't be much help with live sound.

Marcus Maximus

cool man been looking atteh 12 string idea but they are expensive gonna invest in the pedals see if i can get it from them

harrisonmerwin

Its not so much the gear. watch his hands. Unlike alot of rock bass players, he plays the neck, not the top half. If you notice say in 4/4 timing, he will start off on bar 1 with low stuff, then bar 2 he'll slide into somethign higher, then slide back low into bar 3 for his low riff again. Also, he has a very well rounded eq setting, with the peak of the curve at the low mids. for example

low: 5
low mid: 7
high mid: 5
treble: 3

he also plays very clean on fretted bass, no buzzing, scratching, etc. Hes a skilled presice player, somethign that only comes with experience. So yeah, thats the tips i can help you out with, not alot of pedals, probly a gate and compresser, possibly an overdrive but i doubt it.

dirtyfrankdahmer

jeff most definately uses an overdrive pedal. i'm not sure you can nail all of his sounds with one or two pedals. i can tell you that the fretless bass is a BIG part of his sound. i'm not sure if you can tell a fretless bass by ear or if you are thinking its some sort of pedal making that sound. but if i were you, i would not worry about the pedals so much as the fretless.

i think another big part of his sound is whether or not he is using a pick. a pick will give you a totally different tone then your fingers. jeff switches back and forth from a pick to his fingers depending on the sound that he wants.

i'm also fairly sure that jeff plays exclusively vintage ampeg heads live. i could be wrong, i dont know. these are very expensive amps though. i would say in order of importance to get started in the area of jeffs sound...

1.fretless bass
2.determine if he is using a pick or his fingers
3.eq pedal
4.overdrive pedal

my old bass player in my tribute band had jeff's sound down very good. i will check with him to see what other pedals he uses and get back to you. overdrive and eq i know he uses for sure.

All Those Yesterdays

Screw the pedals! Just get a 70's SVT and your tone will come.

Julien

Not easy to find a good sound for a bass... as a bassist, it seems to me that it's more difficult to have a good bass sound than a good guitar sound. No ?
I mean, without an equalizer pedal, the sound is horrible (I have an Ibanez bass and afender amp)...
The minimum you'll need is an equalizer pedal if you don't have yet...

harrisonmerwin

ok, we need to break this down, jeff really has 3 sounds. He has his very mellow sounds. stand up like (he does use one) for real soft songs, his intriguing bass lines in mid tempo and others (black, jeremy) and then he also has his more punkish (breakerfall is a good example) what tone are we lookign for, because were getting nowhere with this. when someone says jeffs tone i think of his mid-tempo grooves.

Marcus Maximus

cool response guys, its so hard to describe a sound aint it lol , the one i love is the jangley (if thats a word) fat slightly distorted bass sound on once, why go and jeremy i hear what your saying with the fretless bass but if i were to come close just with pedals id be happy im not doing a cover band i want it for my own original band and i can hear people screaminf "well then get your own sound" but hey evey time i hear jeffs bass i want it, i appriciate all the help guys. i heard a few samples on the boss website from the overdrive and chourus pedals thinking of mixing these two together and possible might come close what you guys think?

harrisonmerwin

wolfman wrote:

cool response guys, its so hard to describe a sound aint it lol , the one i love is the jangley (if thats a word) fat slightly distorted bass sound on once, why go and jeremy i hear what your saying with the fretless bass but if i were to come close just with pedals id be happy im not doing a cover band i want it for my own original band and i can hear people screaminf "well then get your own sound" but hey evey time i hear jeffs bass i want it, i appriciate all the help guys. i heard a few samples on the boss website from the overdrive and chourus pedals thinking of mixing these two together and possible might come close what you guys think?

chorus? interesting. im not sure how that will sound, ive never actually played with a bass player who uses chorus. One of the first things you should get is an EQ. You can get cheap boss (GE-7) 7 band graphic equalizer for 100 bucks (70 Euros-ish) My bass player has a 31 band 1/3 octave EQ, he really shaped his sound, and it sounds remarkable with what we play. I woudl suggest getting a GE-7, and then maybe a bass overdrive, just make sure you set the EQ first how you like it, then shape the overdrive, if you set teh drive first then the EQ, when you turn the overdrive off, your bass may not sound like you want it too.

dirtyfrankdahmer

wolfman wrote:

cool response guys, its so hard to describe a sound aint it lol , the one i love is the jangley (if thats a word) fat slightly distorted bass sound on once, why go and jeremy i hear what your saying with the fretless bass but if i were to come close just with pedals id be happy im not doing a cover band i want it for my own original band and i can hear people screaminf "well then get your own sound" but hey evey time i hear jeffs bass i want it, i appriciate all the help guys. i heard a few samples on the boss website from the overdrive and chourus pedals thinking of mixing these two together and possible might come close what you guys think?

sounds good to me. although i think you should get an eq pedal as well.

dirtyfrankdahmer

wolfman wrote:

if i were to come close just with pedals id be happy im not doing a cover band i want it for my own original band

i would also think hard about an original 70's ampeg svt if you are seriously playing out and want to make music more then a hobby. not that you need that amp to be a pro, i'm saying the price won't be worth it for a beginner to intermediate player.

dirtyfrankdahmer

dirtyfrankdahmer wrote:

sounds good to me. although i think you should get an eq pedal as well.

you know after thinking about this, i changed my mind. it just dawned on me that i think what you are trying to do is use the chorus to try to emmulate the sound of a fretless. that "chorus" sound you are hearing is just the natural tone of a fretless bass. glorified g is a good example among many others. his bassline really sticks out in that tune and you can really hear the beautifull fretless tone.

i'm going to stick to suggesting an original ampeg head from the 70's and a fretless if you want to get jeff's sound. eq and overdrive and all that crap comes later. i keep going back and forth with this, but that is what i'm sticking to. using a chorus pedal to try to emmulate the sound of a fretless is rediculous man. but.. good luck to you man.

oh, i will see my old bass player tonight and ask him about any other pedals that he thinks jeff may use. BUT GET THE FRETLESS BASS FIRST!! haha! seriously man.

Marcus Maximus

yea the bands been going 3 years so we will be recording soon, thats why i want to nail my sound ill go with your advice guys and buy an eq

harrisonmerwin

the over-emphasis with the fretless bass is really going to end up costing alot of time, and re-learning in the long run. for "select" songs its nice but allround you can play 99% of pearl jam songs, and any song for that matter with a fretted bass. Just make sure the clarity of yoru playing is up to par. Vintage Gear again is another way to spend alot of money, on somethign that can be easily modeled, with higher quality gear. Im not basing DF Dahmer here, but realistically, goign out and buyign fretless's and vintage SVT's are just out of the question for 9/10 players.

All Those Yesterdays

harrisonmerwin wrote:

the over-emphasis with the fretless bass is really going to end up costing alot of time, and re-learning in the long run. for "select" songs its nice but allround you can play 99% of pearl jam songs, and any song for that matter with a fretted bass. Just make sure the clarity of yoru playing is up to par. Vintage Gear again is another way to spend alot of money, on somethign that can be easily modeled, with higher quality gear. Im not basing DF Dahmer here, but realistically, goign out and buyign fretless's and vintage SVT's are just out of the question for 9/10 players.

Vintage SVT's aren't that hard to come by. Just need to spend a little money. If one really things about it, instead of going thru 2 or 3 different amps trying to find the tone, they probably already spent the 2 grand it would take to get a vintage SVT. I've been down that road for years. Buying new amps thinking "this is the tone, I can make this work", and after doing that a few times end up buying what I knew I really wanted in the first place.

It's tone, if its that important to you, save your pennys. Sell your blood, do what you got to do, to get what you want.