Bass Tone Guidance?

[Spokid]

Alright, so I am well aware that this has been asked several times already in some form or another, but I figured I'd give it a shot anyway.

I cannot figure out how to get this particular bass tone I'm shooting for (the tone people generally get with Zombass, Chango Bass, Texas Grind, etc...). I do NOT want to use bass samples, I'd like to actually get this bass tone. However, several days worth of messing around with settings (in POD Farm, with other emulation software, AND with my rackmounted SansAmp unit), I have yet to achieve an ideal tone. I've tried just bass stuff, I've tried just guitar stuff, and I've tried combining them, and still nothing yet. (I'm not asking because I want to sound like any particular producer or whatever, I just really enjoy that bass tone.)

Can somebody help me out?

 

[3tuxedo]

Yeah man the bass is pretty hard to get to a point where you really like it. Especially starting out (I'm just saying in general, I'm not saying you are just starting out). But here are some good tips to start with.

1. Idk how often you check the Sneap page if at all, but there are some really knowledgable guys over there. Ermz being one of them, check this thread out. http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/f-o-h/863389-bass-processing-tutorial-systematic-style.html there is also another one in the F.O.H. section about bass that is pretty good check it out too http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/f-o-h/874787-having-trouble-getting-gold-bass-tone.html

2. It's hard for us (by us I mean DeclanWhite and oroinvictus and whoever else wants to chime in here) to help if you don't get specific examples of chains, pictures of chains, or sound clips to listen to. So if you do that, a lot more people could help you out.

3. There are plenty of guys here that can help out your tone, Nigel is a great way to get a snarling bass tone, so if you don't have it, find someone who does and get them to reamp it for you. Just remember to record a DI to send out if you are going to throw effects on it to track with.

 

[Gujukal]

It depends on what type of tone you want. If you want a real gritty tone, you could try and use Pod farm guitar chain and turn up the drive on the amp. Use two separate buses though. One for the high end and distortion and one for the low end which is pretty much clean, this should give you the same result as many modern metalcore band. If you want a slightly overdriven crunchy tone (like ABR - Empire) you could do the same but instead of using a Pod farm guitar chain you could just use your SansAmp and give it some slight overdrive.

 

[Spokid]

I'll check out those threads.

It'd be hard for me to provide a chain, since I've seriously been trying as many different options as I can think to try, with very little in common between any of the chains. I've messed with settings on the POD Farm and/or other emulated amps and cabs, and I've messed with my SansAmp settings. Nothing. I've toyed with EQ and compression. Nothing.

Just in case I wasn't clear enough, here's an example of the tone I'm currently shooting for (it's about a minute in): I know I'm far from the only person searching for this tone, but I've tried my best to dial it in so I wouldn't have to bother you guys, ha ha. (I think a similar tone is also used on the new Chunk! No, Captain Chunk! but I could be wrong...)

There are a couple problems with my attempts, but to my ears, the main thing I notice is that I can't get the same growl to the tone as I'd like. It seems like if I get a decent tone for the lower strings, the upper strings have an awful, unappealing and completely different distortion to them, but if I adjust to fix that, I lose the effect on the lower strings. I know a big part of the metallic "clank" sort of sound is new strings, and a billion other things that have more to do with the player and bass than with myself, but it'd be really nice if I could at least get a workable tone with what I have to where I could just make subtle tweaks, and not have to worry about an unbalanced and unlistenable bass tone throwing things off.

 

[oroinvictus]

I'll check out those threads.
it'd be really nice if I could at least get a workable tone with what I have to where I could just make subtle tweaks, and not have to worry about an unbalanced and unlistenable bass tone throwing things off.

here you go: http://signalsaudio.com/site/zombass-2/ barring sampled bass, get yourself a fender jazz bass, fresh out of the pack strings, a Sansamp bass driver unit ans start there.

 

[abaga129]

I think this is the 3rd time I've seen someone post this exact video here haha

 

[Spokid]

Yeah, I know. I didn't want to post that video again, but it's the first one I could think of that gave a clear example of the tone I'm trying to achieve.

And as I mentioned before, I do NOT want to do sampled bass, and I already have a SansAmp. I'm just having a really tough time dialing in this tone with the SansAmp and/or amp/cab emulation software.

 

[tmitchell33]

Pod farm bass tones are pretty good. I would suggest after following Orinvictus' pre processing advice to duplicate the bass track. Then choose a clean tone from pod farm (Bass overdrive pedal pre amp is a must, do not use the distortion but use it to shape tone (Like using tube screamer), get a solid clean bass tone. Run the second track into pod farm and use the line 6 big bottom amp, keep the gain low - you just want a bit of crunch and use a bass cab. Blend the two and this will be a good starting point! Oh and compression compression compression. Did I mention compression?

 

[tmitchell33]

BTW Chango's new recordings are amazing!! Memphis may fire's challenger sounds great! F*#%ing HUGE!