# Tesseract-ish bass tone



## kaiowatribe (Nov 24, 2015)

Hey folks! I recently got a 5 string bass to record and I want to get a closed tone how I can to Tesseract. I'mguitarrist ad I play in drop A, but the 5string sounds too floppy and y dont know how eq it.

I have a Pod HD PRO (yes, I know, for bass the pod sucks) and if I can get a nice tone with it, i'll be lucky.

Thanks!


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## HeHasTheJazzHands (Nov 24, 2015)

Make a completely clean patch and use either the tube or boost comp. The key to Amos' tone is the EHX Black Finger comp he uses. He also uses a tube mic preamp for some warmth. Besides that, he doesn't use amp amps or sims. Just bass > comp > tube pre > mixer. I don't believe he EQ's his mixes, but the tube pre does shape his sound, so you might want to use the parametric EQ and roll off the extreme highs and add an EQ bump in the 1.5 - 2k frequency range (which I believe is somewheres around 65% on the POD's para EQ).


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## kaiowatribe (Nov 24, 2015)

HeHasTheJazzHands said:


> Make a completely clean patch and use either the tube or boost comp. The key to Amos' tone is the EHX Black Finger comp he uses. He also uses a tube mic preamp for some warmth. Besides that, he doesn't use amp amps or sims. Just bass > comp > tube pre > mixer. I don't believe he EQ's his mixes, but the tube pre does shape his sound, so you might want to use the parametric EQ and roll off the extreme highs and add an EQ bump in the 1.5 - 2k frequency range (which I believe is somewheres around 65% on the POD's para EQ).



Wow, thank you man! I hope that it helps to can make the low A sounds better!


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## HeHasTheJazzHands (Nov 24, 2015)

I compressor should help a bit. I was having the same trouble you were having, in which my 4-string sounded muddy even when tuned to Eb  A compressor helped a good bit.


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## Insomnia (Nov 25, 2015)

It'd be useful to know what kind of bass you have. That low A could have a string as thick as a .160 on it, if you want it to sound really good.


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## Winspear (Nov 26, 2015)

Aye I'd definitely recommend .150-.160 to get into the good tension range where you can really pull a great tone from


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## kaiowatribe (Nov 26, 2015)

Insomnia said:


> It'd be useful to know what kind of bass you have. That low A could have a string as thick as a .160 on it, if you want it to sound really good.



Thats my bass Harley Benton B-550 QTB Progressive Series - Thomann UK

Cheap, but nice!


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## Insomnia (Nov 28, 2015)

kaiowatribe said:


> Thats my bass Harley Benton B-550 QTB Progressive Series - Thomann UK
> 
> Cheap, but nice!



Looking at that bass, it might be slightly harder to get Amos' tone. He uses deep-wooded, natural finished Warwicks that cost over a grand most of the time.

Also, check out 'April' and 'Of Matter' where you can actually see him play it. Super useful for technique.


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## cGoEcYk (Dec 2, 2015)

I saw Tesseract this weekend. I imagine Amos is a cool guy and you can tell he loves what he does based on his stage moves. His bass tone however I find undesirable. If what Jazz says is true, I think it's cool that he uses such a direct sound- basically the sound of his high end Warwick (that is also how Martini recorded, Thumb to board basically). But why would you want that invisible sound? I guess u arent a bassist.

To get his sound just use so much compression that you no longer have a tone, then make sure it sits in the mix just below the kick.

If you want a tighter bass tone in a low tuning it is just like guitar- keep the lower part of the low end under control (<100Hz on bass) and use low mids instead (100-250Hz). Use as much midrange as you can bear. If you want an aggressive sound for aggressive styles be sure to play aggressively. Appropriate string guage and all that.


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## HeHasTheJazzHands (Dec 2, 2015)

He still uses tht rig, yeah. In a recent rig rundown, it was just Darkglass > Black Finger (he claims this is his "tone") > Avalon DI pre > FOH.

I THOUGHT the Avalon was tube, but no, it's pure SS.


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## Veldar (Dec 3, 2015)

cGoEcYk said:


> I saw Tesseract this weekend. I imagine Amos is a cool guy and you can tell he loves what he does based on his stage moves. His bass tone however I find undesirable. If what Jazz says is true, I think it's cool that he uses such a direct sound- basically the sound of his high end Warwick (that is also how Martini recorded, Thumb to board basically). But why would you want that invisible sound? I guess u arent a bassist.



The last time I saw Tesseract was in 2013, can't remember the tone at all but on the recent record I liked it, it think it sounds great when he's playing bass lines but when they all lock in it becomes the low for the guitars.

But that's the tone they want.


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