50s bass sound

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I am trying to get a nice deep 50s bass sound if anyone can help. I'm using a 1975 fender  jazz going into a boss GEB-7 pedal ,and then into a channel imput on my Roland VS 2400. I was then thinking I could use  the onboard equaliser to tweek it even more if need be,but it seems when ever I get close to the sound lm  after,it takes my needle into the red. 
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  • Winny_PoohWinny_Pooh Frets: 7732
    edited August 2018
    Ideally you want flats on there. Either way you should run it into a decent sized guitar amp and mic it. 
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  • BridgehouseBridgehouse Frets: 24579
    Ideally you want flats on there. Either way you should run it into a decent sized guitar amp and mic it. 
    And I’d be tempted to go one further and say la Bellas or roto flats... 
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  • EricTheWearyEricTheWeary Frets: 16253
    What kind of tracks? Still quite a lot of doghouse basses in blues and jazz and country then, although sometimes doubled on muted guitar. Apparently the first hit single featuring an electric bass was Jailhouse Rock in 1957. 
    Monk Montgomery ( probably the first person on record using a Fender bass) would not only have had flats but played with his thumb near the neck. 
    Tipton is a small fishing village in the borough of Sandwell. 
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  • FunkfingersFunkfingers Frets: 14323
    Gibson's reaction to the Fender electric bass guitar was the EB-1 - a solid mahogany, short scale lump with a Mudbucker pickup right at the end of the fingerboard.

    Ampeg had an electric upright bass.

    Danelectro produced some primitive short scale electric basses. These did not sound particularly deep. This led to their use on session recordings. The plectrum style Dano provided the ("tic-tac") transient peak whilst the upright bass provided the low end. Two well-known exponents of this were Glen Campbell and Carol Kaye. 
    Be seeing you.
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  • StuckfastStuckfast Frets: 2393
    "Deep" isn't a word I naturally associate with 50s bass sounds. More like "largely inaudible". What 50s tracks are you thinking of?
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  • valevale Frets: 1052
    edited August 2018
    maybe experiment with a piezo contact mic (try it all over the bass for best response) mixed into your neck pickup sound.

    also try addding a gate or compressor to kill off the attack on your guitar pickup (or steeply eq it so there are no clicky tappy frequencies), so all that remains is middy thump and low end flump, and mix the toppy part in from the contact piezo.

    if you haven't got a piezo just tape a little mic to it. may have to gate it for hiss and ambient noise.

    think joe meek. record on the stairs. in your bathroom. on the toilet. any means to the end.
    hofner hussie & hayman harpie. what she said...
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  • Winny_PoohWinny_Pooh Frets: 7732
    Piezo? No
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  • EricTheWearyEricTheWeary Frets: 16253
    vale said:
    maybe experiment with a piezo contact mic (try it all over the bass for best response) mixed into your neck pickup sound.

    also try addding a gate or compressor to kill off the attack on your guitar pickup (or steeply eq it so there are no clicky tappy frequencies), so all that remains is middy thump and low end flump, and mix the toppy part in from the contact piezo.

    if you haven't got a piezo just tape a little mic to it. may have to gate it for hiss and ambient noise.

    think joe meek. record on the stairs. in your bathroom. on the toilet. any means to the end.
    Apparently Joe Meek DId bass. I guess flatwounds, valve board/ pre amp and he used compressors. You can buy a Joe Meek branded  pre amp or compressor - just reading about these that bass hump you hear is more upper bass than deep bass. Very few people had the gear to hear deep bass off vinyl in 1957 so it was boosted at higher frequencies than on modern recordings. 
    Tipton is a small fishing village in the borough of Sandwell. 
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  • jpfampsjpfamps Frets: 2723

    Can you give us some examples of records?

    There would be little deep in the 50's.

    A lot of music doubled the bass line on guitar or baritone.

    Flats would be a step in the right direction.


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  • What kind of tracks? Still quite a lot of doghouse basses in blues and jazz and country then, although sometimes doubled on muted guitar. Apparently the first hit single featuring an electric bass was Jailhouse Rock in 1957. 
    Monk Montgomery ( probably the first person on record using a Fender bass) would not only have had flats but played with his thumb near the neck. 

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  • I get what your saying,thanks,I think lim getting to where I want to be.regards
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  • whenever I aim for a motown/50's bass sound with my Jazz I use the neck pickup on full, dial the bridge pickup to around 1/3 (with 1 being full on, 0 being off) and turn the tone down to around 1/3 as well.
    Flats would be better but its not always possible to do a quick string swap.

    Maybe not quite what you were after but maybe it will help?
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