Let´s talk fretless Bass

DanLights

DanLights

Santa Hat Forever
Jul 28, 2008
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Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain
www.danlightsaudio.com
So I´m going to make more than one question regarding this subject, so hopefully this could be an official "fretless bass" thread in general.

I´m currently doing some song-writing with my band and composition partner Lazzari, and we´re working on some progressive/technical death metal stuff, kind of like but not exactly like Spawn of Posession, Augury, Quovadis, Necrophagist and such. Now for some of the songs I could really benefit from a frteless type of bass sound like the one by Forest on Augury and Quovadis records.

Right now, I really can´t afford buying one, so I was wondering if there was any way to get a bass sounding somewhat like that in a recording? any plugs, stompbox effects, multifx box with a decent defretter effect or something like that? My old zoom 506II I used to have had a defretter effect but (surprise) it sucked.

And besides that, just to get in on it cause I will most likely be buying one in the near future, any reccomendations on a good fretless bass? 5 string preferably, it´s what I use most.
 
As ridiculous as this is gonna sound, I'd rather get a cheap bass and just remove the frets (probably using a heat gun and plyers, though I'm sure a quick google search would give better instructions), instead of trying to "create" the fretless sound after the fact (which does not seem like a plan with much chance of succeeding)

Or of course, a cheap fretless, if you can find one! :D
 
You aren't going to get a fretted to sound fretless but you can get closer by playing the fretted like a fretless --- and roll off your treble and use a softer right hand touch.
When I say playing like a fretless, I mean sliding into and out of notes, and using a subtle vibrato.

In terms of buying a fretless, I generally think a great place to start is the fretless version of a bass you already own. That way it is easy to tone match the fretled and fretless tracks on a record and also keeps things consistently comfortable.

If you want a recommendation beyond that we'll need a price range.
 
oh yeah of course I would prefer that way, I´m actually thinking of the possibility but right now I´m working to buy an amp, a new 4 string bass (for my other band) and a Bass Pod so buying ANOTHER bass is out of the question at least for what´s left of the year.

Actually instead of effects or plugs, I should´ve asked for any tips on mics, type of strings or something like that which could possibly give me a "similar" effect. I quote because I am certain the only way to get the sound is actually using a fretless, but maybe I can get close the sound of the real thing? feel free to rip my dreams apart guys
 
egan. said:
You aren't going to get a fretted to sound fretless but you can get closer by playing the fretted like a fretless --- and roll off your treble and use a softer right hand touch.
When I say playing like a fretless, I mean sliding into and out of notes, and using a subtle vibrato.

In terms of buying a fretless, I generally think a great place to start is the fretless version of a bass you already own. That way it is easy to tone match the fretled and fretless tracks on a record and also keeps things consistently comfortable.
Click to expand...

That´s a great idea man I´m gonna try that out, normally I use the tone knob on my bass all the way up, but I´m gonna try it differently, and yeah the slides and vibrato things is what I´ve been doing with the songs I´m writing right now, actually the Gp tabs where we write the songs have those slides and vibratos on the bass track.

btw the post before me is directed to marcus, I hadn´t seen your post when I posted that
 
I was thinking about that too, never tried flatwounds, don´t think I can take the risk right now that I only have one bass for my totally different bands, but when I buy the 4 string for my other band I could experiment more with my 5 string on this tech death project. thanks for the info man, I love how you´re always the first one to pop in when a thread has "bass" in the title, I do the same thing but I´m never nearly as helpful as you are
 
I`ve been a huge fan of fretless bass sound since Individual Thought Patterns and even though I`m not a bass player, I always wanted to own one.
I recently got a Stagg fretless bass which sells for ridiculously cheap. I saw it at the store and couldnt believe how good it looked.
18868068.jpg

Turned out, it`s also a super-playable instrument (so soft it plays like a guitar) and only downside are the stock pickups which I eventually replaced by EMG PJ set. Now I absolutely love everything about it.
Here`s a shitty recording of it (did I mention I`m not a bass player :p ), but it might give you some idea.
http://www.box.net/shared/g6ica42rbr
 
I'm having a 5er bass being done by a local luthier and the only thing left to shape to my needs is the neck... and I'm still not sure if I'm gonna do it fretless or not :X Although I'm quite tempted, I LUV fretless basses
 
I've got an old Zoom with a defretter effect.

http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/867382/fretless.mp3

Having owned a fretless I must admit it doesn't sound too much like it but at the same time I can definitely feel the fretless vibe. The fret noise is a dead giveaway, especially the way I play, but it would be less noticeable in a mix and if you had flatwounds it would sound better.


EDIT: You've got one too! I've not come across another stompbox with a defretter effect before. Tbh you're better off getting the cheapest bass you can find and ripping the frets out. When you want decent sounding acoustic guitar for an album, you don't use an acoustic simulator do you? :lol:
 
thedonutman said:
I've got a Zoom with a defretter effect.

http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/867382/fretless.mp3

Having owned a fretless I must admit it doesn't sound too much like it but at the same time I can definitely feel the fretless vibe. The fret noise is a dead giveaway, especially the way I play, but it would be less noticeable in a mix and if you had flatwounds it would sound better.


EDIT: You've got one too! I've not come across another stompbox with a defretter effect before. Tbh you're better off getting the cheapest bass you can find and ripping the frets out. When you want decent sounding acoustic guitar for an album, you don't use an acoustic simulator do you? :lol:
Click to expand...

That sounds like it's just compressing the initial attack and then fading in, thus defeating the initial attack. So it sounds like you're constantly messing with your foot on a volume pedal
 
Sptz said:
That sounds like it's just compressing the initial attack and then fading in, thus defeating the initial attack. So it sounds like you're constantly messing with your foot on a volume pedal
Click to expand...

I think the attack is what really makes the fretless sound different. The direct contact between the string and fingerboard must change the way they resonate or something. Granted, the Zoom does sound rather exaggerated.
 
yeah I mentioned I used to have a zoom pedal that have a defretter effect, I didn´t like it at all.

Mancha: That´s a nice looking bass there. I´m not really a fan of the individual thought patterns bass sound, it just sounds so separated from the mix, like they said "It HAS to be heard loud so just move it away from everything else", not that Steve Digorgio isn´t god (he is), but I prefer his work on other death albums and pretty much everything else he´s done (I dislike the sound on Autopsy´s debut also, same issue with individual thought patterns). I loooooove the bass sound on the Dark Hall demo, but that ain´t metal and there are no heavily distorted guitars so it´s not the point
 
This is pretty OT but my buddy Mike's (he used to post here) fretless is the featured custom on alembic's site right now.

Pretty much the polar opposite of anything at Rondo price-wise!
 
WOW :worship: This isn't Cobrahead Mike by any chance, is it? (wouldn't think so, but he's the only Mike I know of that's gone AWOL as of late)
 
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