DUB DISCUSSION BOARD

Synth bass aint natural enough &#40;juno 6 and KorG MS10 &#41;So i tried Stienberger Bass &#40;true dub machine&#41; but what is the true setup for bass guitar, P in a Trace?? I aint sure what does LSP use anyone? What about the Fender Studio Bass for preamplification &#40;these still exist i have a 69&#41; <BR> <BR>1 in 1 love

I use a Fender P-BASS with flat wound strings, going through a 1966 AMpeg B-18 amplifier. It's mic'ed with an ev RE 20. I also go direct thru a Sansamp bass driver as well..blending both sources at the board. Sometimes i will use my Turner fretless for super low ilbient style dub, where whole notes are more important than movement. that is for heavy dub..for earlier styles, i have had good tones from short scale basses with flats..hofners, or my old Kay electric. Again, always through an amp. <BR> <BR>in a real &#40;real expensive&#41; studio, I go thru the Ampeg, and try to get a Demeter tube preamp to replace the sansamp. If there is a Neve channel strip, I'll use that instead. <BR> <BR>I also use several envelope filters, set so as NOT to open, this gives the bass a VERY low punch, depending on the pedal and where the filter is set..they also respond dynamically. a good bass overdrive is nice too..just make sure to run all the effects on a separate channel so you can blend them right at the sub mix. <BR> <BR>whew..a lot of stuff- <BR> <BR> for those starting out- get a Fender P bass, string it with flats, and find a small ampeg &#40;or other&#41; tube amplifier with a 15", and mic it. <BR> <BR>Most of the JA players from the 70's used the Jazz bass, less used the P, but I think most of them used whatever was there..same with blues players here in Chicago. <BR> <BR>Learn how to play first, the rest is easy. <BR> <BR>jp- who is still learning to play after playing for 30 years.

theres not much point buying high end equipment if you cant really play ; i got a shortscale bass and 50W amp for &pound;50 off a friend who treated himself to a 5 string , headless fretless bass monster! i like to layer it with synth bass and throw in the occassional sub bass too, sounds a lot more organic. obviously im gonna upgrade as soon as i figure out how to actually play this thing <IMG SRC="http://www.interruptor.ch/cgi-bin/discu ... /happy.gif" ALT=":&#41;">

concerning dub-stylee bass.... i think that copying the vintage sound is strictly over-rated... the feel is much more important, a grooving dub bass player is a trickster with the pocket and is often slightly behind the beat to make the drum and bass interaction that much more powerful... in other words, they live in the land of the groove and their pocket is a mile wide!!! Apparent simplicity is often the hardest thing to do... obviously, having access too a good drummer who knows the one-drop style is a big help... after years of playing, we all figure out we know nothing relative to the pioneers of the hypnotic bass as a narcotic groove... practice listening to the slight tricknology fucking with the rythymic pocket as well as playing it... what are we waiting for, its time to practice more!!!! chill on and stay free....

Slightly off-topic <BR> <BR>How does Mad P likely achieve this very <BR>special bass sound, one moment I spot <BR>him to be a synth-addickt, next moment <BR>I am sure that I listen to the work of <BR>a heavy sampler feeded with relativly <BR>clean samples from a bass guitar,..... <BR> <BR>Yeah I know he does witch-craft with the <BR>filters, but lets start with the root- <BR>sound,... what do you think <BR> <BR>-HM

Mad P, just uses real bass played by musician. After on the desk, putting the signal through a filter. In fact all instruments are played by the robotiks in the studio. Drums as well but triggered samples after. <BR> <BR>DC

The ultimate bass for dub is a Gibson EB0.One neck pickup the size of a pack of smokes. The biggest tone secret is to jam something beneath the strings at the bridge to serve as a muter and play only with your thumb...demolishing!

I just bought a Hohner B2A <BR>and strung it BEAD <BR>I'm trying to get hold of flatwounds <BR>this bass dub really good <BR>DR Das, the bass guy from Asian Dub Foundation has 4 of them! <BR> <BR><A HREF="http://www.guitarist.co.uk/gear/gear_page.asp?ID=934" TARGET="_top">http://www.guitarist.co.uk/gear/gear_page.asp?ID=934</A>

and I just got a DOD FX25B too <BR> <BR>DUBBBBBBBBBBBBBB

It doesn't look the part, but I use a longish scale Hondo Flying Vee &#40;honest!&#41; strung with a two year old set of flatwounds. <BR> <BR>Played through a Zoom effects pedal on the "Power" setting it certainly sounds convincing enough. <BR> <BR>If you want the dub sound, try and avoid roundwound strings &#40;especially brand new&#41;and make sure you've got a pickup close to the end of the neck. <BR> <BR>Steve

I think about 95% of a bass sound comes from your fingers. <BR> <BR>Just practice with out an amp and learn how to get fat round tones out of the wood. That is where it all starts.

This thing gives you a great deep thumpy sound....hard to find though.



An Ampeg AEB-1 from about 1967/68.

An Ampeg AEB-1 from about 1967/68.

WOW MAN, ITS BEAUTYFUL ! ! !
Has it got black tapewound strings on it?

Is has yeah. I've got some more flatwounds for it just in case but so far I haven't changed them. There's an earth problem on it which needs sorting out, so I'll have to take the strings off at some point. It's very hard to get strings for it, the scale length is a huge 35" and the tailpiece hangs right off the back so no standard long scale strings fit. There's a guy in California called Bruce Johnson who makes a modern version of it, he gets strings custom made for them and as far as I know he's the only person in the world who you can get strings for one of these from.

I use a Squire P-bass, but I changed the pickups for better ones, I don't think it's necessary to have a particular expensive bass for reggae as the it's usually set with the highs all cut off anyway.
You can pretty much get that sound out of any bass just by turning the treble nob all the way down.

That's my opinion, but I could be wrong.