What makes a bass growl?

[Dean Roddey]

A hot looking little mandolin maybe?

Anyway, definitely some of it is just physical design of the kneck and frets and the wood for the finger board, which controls how the strings vibrate against them, since you can hear the growl just playing a bass unplugged.

I'd think, but don't know since I've not tried it, that using lighter gauge strings is going to be part of it, since they will vibrate more and rattle a bit more against the frets. I always use lighter gauge strings, so I don't know what heavier gauge strings would do to the growl personally.

Probably using roundwound instead of flat or pressure wound contributes, since that has a lot to do with the amount of rattle against the strings. And playing somewhat more agressively to cause more of that to happen.

I assume pickups can contribute by emphasizing the mid-range where a lot of that growl seems to live, but with some emphasis on the 'nice' part of the string rattle, instead of the clacky part of it.

To me, the classic Rickenbacker bass sound is the ultimate nice growly bass sound. Fenders can do it also though.

[BOWIE]

It's a combination of a number of things. It's really hard to force a good growl out of a bass that just doesn't have it naturally.
Warwicks and Rickenbackers are some of the best for that sort of thing.

[HobbyCore]

tigers

[AjanovicH]

Originally Posted by BOWIE

It's a combination of a number of things. It's really hard to force a good growl out of a bass that just doesn't have it naturally.
Warwicks and Rickenbackers are some of the best for that sort of thing.

+1, in addition, the fingers and the feel (experience) make the extra touch.

[gwailoh]

Originally Posted by AjanovicH

+1, in addition, the fingers and the feel (experience) make the extra touch.

Which of course is exactly what I lack.

I've noticed hefty growl sometimes in P-Basses which players bring into the studio. Also I have a Lakland 5-string which will growl from time to time - under my fingers and feel, no less - particularly when it has new strings. The actual conditions which create the growl are frustratingly mysterious to me.

Thanks so much for the responses so far!

[the donal]

With strings, Warwick Yellow strings have a nice growl to them - more than other strings I've played.

Sadly, I may have to abandon these, as Warwick have hiked the price of them up by nearly 50 percent (I was getting the the 5's for about £19, now they're nearly £30!).

[jdtrbn]

My Ibanez 5-string has too much growl, I wish I could smooth it somehow.

I think I'm going to try switching from light-gauge stainless steels to heavier nickels or something.

[FFTT]

Round Wounds and hot pickups with the help of CTS AlNiCo's and a great amp.

YouTube - Reeves Custom 225 '79 Schecter USA Custom Shop

[davet]

My American Precision Deluxe growels pretty good. It's now equiped with a Sadowsky on board preamp and Barts. I run both pups, the bass flat and crank the treble to half way. If your looking for that "Walk This Way" kind of bass, that gets it done.

I worked with a player a while back that had a old stock Precision doing the bass line from Stevie Ray Vaughn's "Crossroads". That worked too.

Played with a pick BTW through a stock Ampeg rig. Not rocket science by any means. A lot of the tone is in the hands too.

DaveT

[Blast9]

To me "growl" = 2 pickups on a Jazz Bass with new roundwounds >>> slightly overdriven preamp/amp -

e.g. Geddy Lee

Or a split signal with clean/dirty a la Chris Squire Stone, Temple Pilots, Rage against the machine etc

[Joe Porto]

I have a couple of Warwicks that definitely have the growl. I use tapered strings on them, which definitely is part of that sound. As others said, it's a combination of things.

[gwailoh]

Thanks all for the responses. Very much appreciated.

[dnaflr2]

Growl for me means playing a J-Bass with bridge PU selected only, and playing all the way back at the bridge w/fingers. Takes some experience to pull on the strings hard enough to accomplish what your after.

[popvulture]

I've found that certain basses are definitely more growly than others. Other people have mentioned the P-Bass, which is for sure a good one. The Ric bass is also good for some nice growl.

There are two others I'd recommend - the Gibson SG bass (EB-3 I think) that has the bridge and neck pickups. Those things are snarly as hell. Also the Gibson Ripper.

Roundwounds, heavy picks and a little overdrive help a lot. The Fulltone Bass Drive is good for adding some wool, or try messing with a Sans Amp. My bass player uses a Rat Juggernaut, and I've heard some pretty monster stuff come out of that.

And I'll just add that the Bob Weston Shellac bass tone is pretty much the holy grail of growl in my opinion. You might wanna try looking up how he gets that.

[Dean Roddey]

Originally Posted by dnaflr2

Growl for me means playing a J-Bass with bridge PU selected only, and playing all the way back at the bridge w/fingers. Takes some experience to pull on the strings hard enough to accomplish what your after.

Yup, that's a good way. I assume that there's also something about the much greater amount of odd and higher frequency harmonics involved when playing back that close to the bridge that contributes as well. That Pastorious sound basically.

[Milliken]

Originally Posted by dnaflr2

Growl for me means playing a J-Bass with bridge PU selected only, and playing all the way back at the bridge w/fingers.

Definitely, tone is in both hands and both sets of fingers. The bass will contribute. The other element of "growl" as I take it to mean. Has to do with the amp.....a tube amp....it's where distortion comes from. Guitar players should know this. I love old ampeg SVT's. (and I'm talking about subtle growl, not lemmy from motorhead.) Speakers also break up or growl when pushed. Then a run through an 1176 or something similar adds a very agressive midrange grit.

[gwailoh]

Thanks all, again, for the interesting and helpful replies.

I have access to a closet full of Ampeg amps from back in the day: B-15, SB-12, B-25b, V4b, SVT. So that's covered. Also an Aguilar pre-amp head and most of the usual stomp boxes. I don't however have many basses available, so I'll have to figure out how to beg or borrow some of the models suggested. The Gibsons seem interesting, and I like that word "snarly".

So far, my best success achieving the growl thing was with brand new strings on my Lakland through the Aguilar and a Sans Amp bass DI blended. I'll try replacing strings more often, but that's not something I'm keen on doing every ten minutes.

Unfortunately I suspect, as many of you have suggested, that it comes down to me and my fingers. Good luck! :-)

Again many thanks for the thoughts and suggestions.

[initialsBB]

Does growl refer to that sound the strings make acoustically when they buzz against the frets? If so, isn't it partly a function of setup? Or when people say growl are they referring to an overdriven amp?

I've been wondering this myself as I have one bass that sounds nice but is just pure and clear and a bit sterile, and another that has this wonderful...I guess "growl... as it goes in and out of notes. It's a short scale with really old strings that I have never changed, so I thought maybe that was a factor.

[George Necola]

I usually use a swr valve pre or mesa. 2 mics on the bass cab (witch is usually a fender or hartke cab). I use a DI, and compress eq the shit out of it (analog).

It helps to have a good bassplayer, pickups and room.

Growling = distortion/clipping + enough mids. Lowend management is important. Cut cut cut.

[George Necola]

Originally Posted by initialsBB

Does growl refer to that sound the strings make acoustically when they buzz against the frets? If so, isn't it partly a function of setup? Or when people say growl are they referring to an overdriven amp?

I've been wondering this myself as I have one bass that sounds nice but is just pure and clear and a bit sterile, and another that has this wonderful...I guess "growl... as it goes in and out of notes. It's a short scale with really old strings that I have never changed, so I thought maybe that was a factor.

Snarling = buzz against frets
growling = midish rooaring basssound

listen to the band "mindset" (this album with the angel on the cover).

[gwailoh]

Originally Posted by George Necola

Growling = distortion/clipping + enough mids. Lowend management is important. Cut cut cut.

Thank you George.

Cut where? At the amp?

[opentune]

double post ... sorry.

[opentune]

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[opentune]

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[opentune]

Most important factor is the player/fingers. It´s got (obviously) to do with
how hard/soft you play.
Once you have found how to get that cool growl sound out of a simple
bass line played solely on the (let´s say) A string, change to the E or D string,
and you´ll find out that the instrument will react completely different to your playing.

It´s a little hard to describe (sorry, no native speaker here), but in the end
it´s quite simple: pay attention to how the bass sounds on each string and/or
to how the bass sounds on different sections on the fretboard. That´s the key.

You have to control each and every f***** note. Sometimes you have
to strike harder, sometimes softer, on some notes you gotta stay away from
the fret (i´m talking about the left hand here)... and so on...it´s just about
nuances... evening out the "rough edges" of your instrument...

Equipment? Not that important. As a guitar player you´ll probably understand my post.

[jdtrbn]

Try a classic Fender Precision bass and compare the sound to say, a modern 6-string with the neck pickup and play a bit closer to the bridge. I may be in a minority here but I think the most important factor is the basic sound of the bass, which I think I hear even without amplification. It may have directly to do with the mass of the neck (which is always a factor when designing an instrument) but it's just my best guess at the moment. A forum like talkbass.com could be helpful for more information.

[George Necola]

Originally Posted by jdtrbn

Try a classic Fender Precision bass and compare the sound to say, a modern 6-string with the neck pickup and play a bit closer to the bridge. I may be in a minority here but I think the most important factor is the basic sound of the bass, which I think I hear even without amplification. It may have directly to do with the mass of the neck (which is always a factor when designing an instrument) but it's just my best guess at the moment. A forum like talkbass.com could be helpful for more information.

Good stuff!

Low cut (plugin or hardware eq), mid bump, start trying to cut between 200 and 500 hz. Get the fullness from 60 to 130 hz.
Boost some 800 to 1.4 khz.

Remember: i am talking about my experience. I usually use the same caps, fx and heads. Mostly 421, s600 microphones + di. In reality it depends 50% on zhe player and his axe.

Also preamp, di is important. Well its everything.. But i hope you get a starting point.

[lobsty]

Originally Posted by gwailoh

What makes a bass growl?

A StingRay!!!

[Joe Porto]

Did some recording yesterday with my Warwick Thumb 5 string. One thing I noticed is the growl really occurs on the open strings, up to the third fret. By the 5th fret, it is much less pronounced. So in this case, positioning is key. Most bass players will walk up the neck and stay on the two lowest strings, but for maximum growl, you would want to stay near the nut.

The other thing, as mentioned, is to pick near the bridge. The way the Warwick's pickups are positioned, with both being within inches of the bridge, I tend to rest my thumb on the pickup, which by default puts my plucking fingers close to the bridge.