How to pimp my bass?

johnnyseven · Post by **johnnyseven** » Thu Apr 15, 2010 11:09 am

I've just started playing bass in a noise rock band (i'm normally a guitarist) in the vein of Shellac/The Jesus Lizard etc and as i'm really anal about getting the best sound/tone available, but at the moment am skint, I was after some tips on pimping my bass to make it sound as good as possible without having to fork out for a whole new bass.

I have a Peavey Zodiac BXP which has 1 P bass style pickup and 1 J bass style pickup in it, obviously upgrading the pickups was my first idea but the question is to what? Also what kind of difference would changing the bridge to something like a badass make? Also would upgrading the volume/tone controls make much difference and if so can anyone recommend what to change them to?

Any help would be gratefully received.

Dave · Post by **Dave** » Thu Apr 15, 2010 12:00 pm

I don't know about the pickups but I did see a guy over at Offset produces a pedal called the Rusty Box that is designed to get that jesus Lizard/shellacy type bass tone if your amp doesn't do it. If I recall its based on a traynor gain stage or something like that. There is a demo on youtube.

johnnyseven · Post by **johnnyseven** » Thu Apr 15, 2010 12:10 pm

Thanks for that, i'll check the pedal out. However i'm not necessarily trying to sound that way it's just that is the kind of music we'll be doing. I'd rather get my bass pimped up to sound as awesome as possible as cheaply as possible without focussing on trying to sound like anyone imparticular.

Johno · Post by **Johno** » Thu Apr 15, 2010 12:17 pm

I think an easier way to improve the sound would be to try out a good comp pedal, my bassist has a few think the EBS & Harke are his faves. Apparently they eliminate 'wolf tones' & tone shape.

johnnyseven · Post by **johnnyseven** » Thu Apr 15, 2010 12:29 pm

Thanks for the suggestion, however using my experience of guitars replacing budget pickups with more expensive and better sounding ones makes a world of difference to the quality of sound. Hence me trying to work from the source of the sound (the instrument itself). Surely pedals, whoever good or expensive they are, can only manipulate the sound that comes out of the instrument in the first place.

I'm trying to avoid getting into using pedals with my bass and just have a good sounding bass going into an amp, if I start getting into bass pedals i'm likely to start another never-ending quest for my perfect sound like i'm still on with my guitar.

Bacchus · Post by **Bacchus** » Thu Apr 15, 2010 1:28 pm

What sort of bass is is? Would a new bridge help? I understand that these from Guitar Fetish will make a big difference and are easy to install:

http://store.guitarfetish.com/bagubr.html

kim · Post by **kim** » Thu Apr 15, 2010 3:27 pm

for the music you mention, i know it's not 'cheap' but a sansamp bass driver will get very close to that typical slint/shellac bass sound. puts you amp on steroids if you don't wanna haul around two 810's and bigass valve tops

i had the programmable one (three footswitches) programmed it for a clean bass sound, overdriven bass and heavy overdriven bass.

gives you lots of 'oomph!' in pedal size and still consider it to be the best sounding overdrive for bass because you don't fall out of the mix lots of definition but can get really dirty (no distortion regions though, heavy overdrive is as dirty as it'll get).

the regular single switch sansamp bass driver is cheaper. but i'm sure it sounds the same, jsut not programmable. it's also a great tool for recording without an amp or using it as di box for gigs if you can't have your amp mic'd.

i regret selling mine.

hotrodperlmutter · Post by **hotrodperlmutter** » Thu Apr 15, 2010 3:48 pm

BacchusPaul wrote:What sort of bass is is?

johnnyseven wrote:I have a Peavey Zodiac BXP which has 1 P bass style pickup and 1 J bass style pickup in it

Haze · Post by **Haze** » Thu Apr 15, 2010 4:12 pm

You keep on saying "expensive" along with saying that will make something better. You have much to learn.

In my opinion the most important part of a basses sound comes from the quality of the neck. Not the amount of money it costs, but QUALITY.

Another easy fix can be the bridge. The badass bridges seem pretty good, you could probably find a good price for one on eBay.

A properly cut nut is also a big one. My tech charges $30 including the nut and I couldn't be happier with the results. No binding, no strings popping out of the grooves, etc.

Electronics can make a small difference but in the long haul it's worth improving upon. Guitar Fetish sells good quality pots and caps for a good price. Higher value pots will increase volume and brightness so more signal can hit your amp. Start out with 500k pots maybe.

Tuners can add weight and maybe resonance to the neck (right?) so if you're having problems with the ones on it try some nice meaty ones out.

Pickups for bass I know nothing about so eh, don't replace them unless you really aren't happy with the thing. All of my favourite bass players seem to play vintage jazz or p basses so I'd hit up Novak for his vintage spec pickups.

After all of that I have to say that I've played some ibanez sound gear basses that were phenomenol. Super easy to play from a guitartsts view point, super slim body, 5 strings, active circuitry so the tone shaping was great, really light and the neck felt great. I couldn't find a flaw on it. Really nice for $600. Dare I say I'd spend the $600 on the Ibanez before I did a Jaguar bass like I've always wanted

SKC Willie · Post by **SKC Willie** » Thu Apr 15, 2010 7:34 pm

Lindy Fralin Pups are my personal favorite. The sound good and they're insanely priced.

Also, the sans amp is awesome. My good friend plays an 6x10 ampeg cab and uses some PA head for power but controls his entire sound with the sans amp and it sounds killer.

laterallateral · Post by **laterallateral** » Thu Apr 15, 2010 7:37 pm

sex lights

johnnyseven · Post by **johnnyseven** » Thu Apr 15, 2010 8:27 pm

Haze wrote:You keep on saying "expensive" along with saying that will make something better. You have much to learn.

I actually said 'more expensive' and there is a difference between that and 'expensive'. Pickups that I have seen from GFS at $33 are going to be more expensive that the ones currently on my bass, however I wouldn't call $33 expensive. Obviously I realise that more expensive gear isn't necessarily better than cheaper kit.

However, thanks very much for the rest of the info - it's really helpful. I presume by changing the pots it is just a case of soldering the wires in the same place they were soldered on the old pots but on the new ones.

Post by **Doog** » Thu Apr 15, 2010 11:04 pm

Save the money for a half decent amp, seriously. It'll make a thousand times a bigger difference than changing pickups and pot values will. Speaking as a gigging bassist who always borrows a fellow band's amp, I've heard my same bass-pedal setup sound like grinding bass sex and also sound like a pile of shit, all based on the amp I was using that night.

Ashdown amps get my continual thumbs up; one day I shall actually own one.

Ankhanu · Post by **Ankhanu** » Fri Apr 16, 2010 1:00 am

Before I offer up any advice, I need to know what you mean by "awesome"... Bass is just as dynamic as guitar and different players and genres make better use of different tones.

I mean, I love Geddy Lee's Jazz Bass and Rickenbacker tone... it's awesome; lots of low rumble with high clarity and heavy attack and just a bit of extra power to drive the front end of an amp.

I love James Jamerson's tone; straight up dead string P-bass tone there, nothin but low end smoothness and thump; it's awesome.

Tim Commerford's tone has some great midrange and bottom end, nice and defined, smooth, but with a good bit of funk... it's awesome.

Point's made, I'm sure

Define your target better (sound/video clips would be ace) and the answers you get will be more refined... though there have been some solid suggestions already.

Doog's got it on the bass amp front too; the amp is a MAJOR component to bass tone.

rodvonbon · Post by **rodvonbon** » Fri Apr 16, 2010 1:07 am

Doog wrote:Save the money for a half decent amp, seriously.

I'm with Doog on this. The bass is my natural instrument to play and has been way longer than I've played guitar. I've owned a bunch of cheapo basses that sound like ass, but when plugged into this monster, you can dial in just about any sound your looking for.

The Fender Studio Bass. It's a 1X15 combo with somewhere around 14 or 16 tubes in it. The whole right side is a tube driven graphic eq and the sound is fucking amazing. I currently own 2 of them and they can be found for 'cheap' compared to SVT's and the like, maybe 400 bucks if you look hard enough (I paid less than that each for both of mine). A lot of them were converted into heads and you can get them for super cheap. I can plug in ANY bass into it and find a good sound. It's got to be one of the most underrated bass amps ever made and they only made them for a couple of years.
It will change your life!

And I guess if you want to 'pimp' it, you could put a fuzzy hat on it?

Ankhanu · Post by **Ankhanu** » Fri Apr 16, 2010 1:30 am

Daaamn that's a nice amp. I'll have to look into those a bit harder.

Oh, and a common misconception is that a bigger speaker leads to bigger bass frequency response. You will not get more "bass" out of a 15" than a 10"... in fact, I tend to find 15s to be more mid-range heavy than bassy. That said, with the right EQ, you can get whatever you want out of just about any speaker size.

How to pimp my bass?

How to pimp my bass?

Re: How to pimp my bass?