Tips for "Growly" Bass?

D

df88

Member
Im not a bass player but do have access to a warwick that Ive been playing through the Axe 2. Does anyone have some advice on how to achieve something akin to the saturated (idk if that's the right description) - growl tone on Karnivool's song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDKsosOvVmw

or similiar to 4:00 in Meshuggah's (4:00 the bass is prominent):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9LpMZuBEMk

Both bass tones in these songs have that similiar growly/saturated sound to them. What's the best drive/amp/cab combo to come close to this? Does anyone have any presets they don't mind sharing?

Thanks for any help.
 
The bass itself is the biggest part of Karnivool's sound IMO. If you grab a warwick and crank some distortion it sounds close straight up.
 
I'm not one for "all in one" DAW plugins, but I was recently messing with the CLA Bass plugin from Waves.

CLA Bass Plugin | Waves

That plug nails the tone you are after. Might be worth getting a demo of the plug and work with it to figure out what it does. I'm guessing its the standard combo of compression, EQ, distortion but it definitely nails those bass tones (used in post on a bass track in a DAW).
 
AdamCook said:
I like to use two amps in parallel. One for your "clean" bass tone and another one that you use to dial in the appropriate level of grit.

Also, check out Nolly's preset on Axe-Change:
Axe-Change - Download Preset - Nolly Smacky Bass - by Periphery
Click to expand...

Do you typically EQ the grit chain to acheive only grit on specific frequencies? Im going to give another shot at this method.

Ive played around with the Nolly patch. Its a good tone but not the saturation/gain style Im looking for, although it may be a good starting point.


Thank you all for the tips.
 
I personally don't think one needs a Darkglass pedal to get this tone with the Axe-FX II. But if you insist I'd suggest you borrow your friend's Darkglass and dial up a Drive block to sound like it and then give it back to him :).
 
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