live band performances. He and others at the
brunch felt that 500Hz seems to be the most
important definition point in order for the
bass to sit in the right place on the spectrum.
Veteran NYC bassist and bass brunch participant, Frank Canino, made a great point
regarding live bass tone. He said that you
should shape your tone according to the
character of the bass drum. In other words, if
the bass drum has a high pitch point, you can
warm it up by boosting lower frequencies on
your EQ curve. Conversely, if the bass drum
is muddy, you can make it more defined by
boosting middle and higher frequencies. This
is a good rule of thumb to improve the live
sound of any rhythm section.
Speakers and cabinet designs have also
come a long way. When speaking to Larry
Ullman, CEO of Euphonic Audio, he talked
of great progress in their enclosures with the
development of “transmission-line” technology, where the tuned port design eliminates
unwanted frequencies as determined by
the speaker size, and allows for maximum
speaker response time and “air movement.”
Euphonic Audio’s goal is to make highly efficient, yet highly portable enclosures. They
don’t make cabinets for speakers larger than
12 inches. EA’s idea is to create a lighter
speaker cone without sacrificing rigidity,
allowing for quick response with durability. Larry also said that EA uses almost 100
percent neodymium magnets, which create
a stronger magnetic field. Aguilar cabinets
are much more varied in size and are tuned
to take into consideration the specific needs
of the style of music that you’re playing.
They make enclosures of many sizes, up to
their DB810 cabinet for louder players that
demand a “stiffer midrange,” according to
Dave Boonshoft. Their goal is “coherency” of
tone across all styles of playing through the
detailed design of the enclosures for their
various speaker configurations.
The Zen
As we complete our journey in search of
bass tone, let me try to elaborate on what
I consider the most important aspect of
tone, and yet its most intangible corollary.
You can take the most well made bass, most
transparent cables, preamp, amp and cabinet
combination and have the greatest players
all play on the same equipment – yet each
will have a completely different tone! Why is
this? Why do Jaco, Jamerson, Marcus, Will
Lee or Anthony Jackson sound so unique?
Nothing can create tone more than the
player’s personal relationship to music and
his or her instrument. The mind, hands and
interpretive skills of the player can literally
“draw” tone out of the instrument. A player’s
touch can never be adequately analyzed or
defined. The years that it takes to perfect the
expression of music on the bass in a masterful way is the most complete way to attain
great tone. There are no great shortcuts.
The technological advancements made in the
various aspects that have been discussed are
primarily tools that aid in the attainment of
tone. Take it to heart and buy all the gear you
desire, but don’t try to circumvent the intensive amount of time it takes to learn the art
of bass playing. The quick route simply won’t
work. Great tone is the possession of the
master – go and become one!
I’d like to thank everyone at Premier Guitar
and all my bass brunch buddies for allow
Rontrose Heathman
Supersuckers
Audley Freed
Jakob Dylan, Cry of Love
Ron Asheton
Iggy & The Stooges
Pete Anderson
Grammy Winning
Guitarist/Producer
Tim "Izo" Orindgreff
Black Eyed Peas, Fergie
Bob Balch
Fu Manchu
Scott Sargeant
M.O.D.
Mike Cooley
Drive-By Truckers
Marc Ford
Black Crowes
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