ON BASS
1
Supercharge Your Sonic Options
BY VICTOR BRODÉN
Photo 1:
Having a push/
pull active EQ
option and a
toggle switch for
bridge pickup
single-coil
use opens up
another range
of tones and
makes for a very
versatile bass.
Photo 2:
A muting device
like the Fump
(shown), a
piece of foam,
or a piece of
fabric can help
make a modern
bass sound
more vintage
when used in
conjunction with
the tone control.
W
e bassists are always on the
hunt for the next perfect
bass or, more specifically, to
get closer to the perfect bass sound. The
nature of having artistic blood pumping
through your veins is that you can never
truly be happy with the sound you have.
Those moments when you feel like you’ve
struck bass-tone gold or sonic nirvana
are, alas, often short and fleeting.
Many of us have the luxury of owning
several basses and can cover the sonic
needs of a working bassist. And having all
the tools of the trade at recording sessions
certainly comes in handy for giving a
producer or artist just what he or she needs
at any given time. In most real-world
applications, however, bringing this heavy
and expensive toolbox wherever we go is
not an option, so we’re “stuck” with getting
the job done using that one magical
instrument that can somehow get close to
mimicking all these sounds. Disclaimer:
That perfect instrument does not exist.
But when you’ve picked out your one
magical bass that comes the closest to being
perfect, there are ways to make it switch
personalities and fit in like a chameleon.
This month, I’ll give you my thoughts on
what’s needed to cover as many sonic bases
as possible with one instrument.
When we contemplate what basses
should be considered classics and providers
of the must-have tones for our arsenal,
the Fender Precision, Fender Jazz,
Gibson EB-0, Hofner Violin, Music Man
StingRay, Rickenbackers, and the Warwick
and Spector families come to mind. I am
well aware there are more classics and
that we are swimming in very subjective
waters, but so many of the records we’ve
grown up on—regardless of our age—
were made with these instruments.
Pickups. The bass I’ve relied on the
past six years for emulating the tone of
the aforementioned classic instruments is
a 5-string with a Jazz-bass body—nothing
out of the ordinary. Its true versatility
begins with a pickup combination I wish
I had started using years earlier. It’s a
106 PREMIER GUITAR SEPTEMBER 2016
Music Man-style splittable humbucker
in the traditional Jazz bridge position
(instead of the slightly more forward
StingRay position, where you often find
this pickup) and a Jazz bass pickup in the
neck position. Since the humbucker is
splittable, it gives me the option to use it
as a single-coil pickup to access a range of
classic Fender bridge-pickup tone types—
from Jaco to Marcus Miller—all from a
bass that doesn’t look like a traditional J.
When the bridge pickup is used with
both rows of magnets active, it provides a
very strong presence in the low mids, at
around 250 Hz, which does wonders for
being heard in a dense mix on a record
or through a large-arena PA system. Used
in active mode, this low-mid bump also
allows the bass to cop the vibe of the
modern Spector or Warwick sound that’s
so often heard on hard-rock records.
Passive/active switch. I am normally
a fan of playing my bass in passive mode,
but for the times I need a modern-rock/
metal tone or a modern-fusion tone, I’m
very appreciative of an easily accessible
active/passive switch. That said, it’s
crucial there is no volume difference
between active and passive when toggling
between the two. You would be surprised
at how many upscale bass manufacturers
make it hard to switch between active
and passive without having a drastic
tonal and level difference, rendering such
a switch close to unusable in a real-world
gigging situation. When the change
between active and passive provides a
different color—rather than the feeling
of a completely different instrument—
your FOH engineer will be very happy.
Personally, I like to switch between active
and passive within a song, which is a
tremendously usable tool for playing a
solo or adding sparkle to a slap part in a
number that primarily requires a passive
fingerstyle technique.
The mute. In a session when vintage
soul and rock tones are needed, we
simply grab a P bass with flatwound
strings and call it a day, right? Since our
2
one chosen bass also has to produce the
aforementioned modern sounds, our best
bet to achieve flatwound glory is to turn
the tone knob way down—sometimes
all the way off—and use a mute. Muting
with the palm of the plucking hand
limits the player to mostly playing with
the thumb, so using a device made
specifically for muting, like the Fump,
a piece of foam, or even a sock (which I
have resorted to in emergency situations)
will make your modern bass capable of
producing so many more tones.
Needless to say, the ability to produce
several different voices from your bass
is mostly in your hands, not the bass.
But owning that one versatile axe and
knowing how to use it is a big step
in the right direction that will help
make your bandmates (and your back)
much happier.
VICTOR BRODÉN is a Nashville
bassist and producer who has
toured and recorded with more
than 25 major-label artists,
including LeAnn Rimes, Richard
Marx, Casting Crowns, and Randy
Houser. His credits also include
Grammy-winning albums and
numerous television specials
on CMT and GAC, as well as
performances on The Tonight
Show and The Ellen DeGeneres
Show. You can reach him at
v [email protected].
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