How to get Rock Reggae tone with a 'ray H.

[Armbruster]

Hi fellow Reggae Rock players,

Can you tell me how you get your tone with your Stingray H? I play roots reggae, and rock reggae, and want to see how you guys get your sound just right.

Thanks!

 

[five7]

Roll the highs and mids almost off and boost the bass almost full on.

 

[stretch80]

...and fingerpick up by the neck..

 

[rizzo9247]

+1

Palm mute and fingers...

 

[Big Poppa]

big bob marleys help/........JUST KIDDING!

 

[Chuck B]

Try different strings, maybe flatwounds...

 

[spencer]

Roll the highs and mids almost off and boost the bass almost full on.

This or Treble Fully Cut, Mids anywhere from slightly boosted,to slightly cut and bass slightly boosted.

Play near neck

 

[CW Zing]

Check out Dave Marks review of stingray 4 a few pages back... he gets a good reggae tone. Uh, he doesn't exactly say how he gets the actual tone, though.

 

[kevins]

play near the neck with flatwounds or dead ass rounds. too many people think "this big pickup near the bridge is perfect for a thumbrest!" to me personally i never liked the sound playing above the pickups, id have to roll off the mids to oblivion to get the grittyness out of the tone, so since i played on a HH and realized that it sounded a lot better when i turned off the top pickup and used the top pickup as the thumb rest i havent turned back.
boosting the bass a little over halfway up and cutting the trebble a little more than halfway and boosting mids slightly helps too

 

[Fuzzy Dustmite]

I seem to recall that in some of Ed Friedland's reviews of the newer models he demos a reggae tone, and describes what he does to get it.

I could be wrong though. I just think Ed can do pretty much anything...

Bass Whisperer

 

[Powman]

Plucking up near the neck makes a huge difference. Place e.q. more bass, less highs. Easy

 

[Grand Wazoo]

The use of a compressor to squash the bass tone is also essential, reggae bass sound is almost subsonic and their sound never goes over the midrange spectrum, hence the compressor will need to keep the lows low, so to speak.

If you have mutes on your bass all the better, I have seen Robbie Shakespear live and he had a roll of foam the size of a cigar by the bridge

 

[oli@bass]

Use flats, and pluck closer to the neck heel. That will give you a big fat sound. It's more about the attitude than about equalizers or effects.

 

[Northray]

All the advice here is sound.

There were (are) several ska punkers who played Music Man instruments in the 90's and early 00's.

I'm pretty sure Matt Wong (Reel Big Fish) and the guy from Less Than Jake used Music Mans. Didn't Eric from Sublime use a MM Sabre?

Although most of their songs were rock/punk edged, there were some that required quintessential roots reggae tones.

Might be worth investigating.

 

[Northray]

Another player who's no stranger to Jamaican bass lines is Matt Freeman (Rancid).

According to an interview with Bass Player Mag, he says he used a '78 StingRay on the Life Won't Wait album (LOTS of reggae on that record - Buju Banton collaborated on a number of tracks).


Google it, and I'm sure you'll be able to find it.

 

[Armbruster]

You're all awesome. Thanks!

 

[kevins]

i play with a lot of 40s-80s ska overtones on my tone so i get what you're trying to look for there.

 

[keko]

On single H SR there's no neck pickup to fatten your tone, what is need for Reggae, so guys already said above cut some highs, boost bass, with midds do what ever You like and play closer to the neck, but not necessary all the way to the neck! Maybe just one inch from pickup to the neck could be enough to get fatter tone and that allow You to push harder!

I play HS model, so for a few Reggae songs which I play I just switch to coils 2+3 in series and don't need to touch the preamp at all! (coils 2+3 are Single neck pickup coil in series with inner/neck closer coil of bridge H pickup)

 

[Powman]

On single H SR there's no neck pickup to fatten your tone, what is need for Reggae, )

Yes, that is true. However, even on a single H bass, playing near the neck will focus on the fundamental frequency and less on the harmonics. Hence a deeper sound appropriate for Reggae.

Having a neck Humbucker is even better of course. Which is why my Bongo on order is an H H model.

But don't let a single H bass stop you from playing Reggae (or any genre really).

 

[keko]

But don't let a single H bass stop you from playing Reggae (or any genre really).

Right!

It's all in fingers anyway!