What important extras add to your sound?

yogibbear · Joined: 01 Jul 2006 Posts: 1

Hi,

I'm pretty much a new comer to bass. I've been playing around and trying to emulate some of my favourite bassists but I often find my bass sounding nothing like many of the different sounds that can be achieved.
So, I was wondering what extra equipment do I need to purchase to get some more distortion and/or effects if I want to be able to play songs by Muse (e.g. Stockholm Syndrome) and Incubus with the right distortion?

Also, what kind of distortion techniques work well with slap and pop?

And a summary of what I've got at the moment:

5-string Ltd Esp goaway bass
Vox Amp (23W, but that doesn't sound right...)

Oh and I've only been teaching myself for around 5 months... so I'm not too sure about anything. But i've been trying out some chilli's, some muse, incubus, bloc party, gyroscope and basically anything that I like. But what I really want to learn is how to play slap and pop properly. My only problem is that I'm not getting lessons, and unlikely to due to a hectic lifestyle, but I'm still managing to play bass 5-10 hrs a week.

Cheers for all your help

fuxton t spicotitz · Posted: Sun Jul 02, 2006 4:15 pm Post subject: bass toys

as far as sounds goes, i have a builtin compressor on my hartke head
i keep it barely on so it doesnt tighten my sound too much , i ve also used a bass chorus to get the 80s sounds when were playin music from that period , btween those two it can be like the difference tween night an day
but my favorite bass toy is a water glass with 3-4 fingers of TEQUILA ...
after a few of those, ya dont know if yer effects are working or not, but it
always makes for interesting conversations among the band ,
remember kids dont try this at home, it might become risky
["im not a doctor . i just play one on t.v." so take 6 of these an call me in the morning if ya live thru the night !!!!!]hahahahahahah Laughing

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happy nookie, cause ya cant have a good day with mad nookie !!!!!

fuxton T

kyuss · Joined: 23 Jul 2006 Posts: 1 Location: Raleigh

One of the best things to do is to subscribe to bass player or bass guitar magazine. You can read from multiple bassist and find out what they use to get their sound.If you like distortion in your sound,the best way to get a killer sound is to use two diff. amps.One for your distortion and one for your clean sound.You will need to mix them together for best sound.Distortion alone lacks bottom end and punch and you will be lost in the mix with the guitars.The clean amp will give you the bottom end and punch.If you read around from other bassist you will find out that is how alot of them do it.A bass pod is great to have since they so many quality effects to experiment with.You can also record d.i. with it as well as play live with it.After you experiment with the pod you will have a good idea of what effects you want & you can buy the actual seperate effects that will give you an even better sound. Good luck!!

fuxton t spicotitz · Posted: Mon Jul 24, 2006 5:11 pm Post subject:

good answer kyuss
_________________
happy nookie, cause ya cant have a good day with mad nookie !!!!!

fuxton T

kingfreeze · Site Admin Joined: 20 Oct 2005 Posts: 302

Get a whoopie cushion...
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Kingfreeze