Mike Dirnt's G3 sound.

[Blazer]

I just finished watching the Green day video for "When I come around" from their "Dookie" album and I was reminded that I LOVE Mike Dirnt's G3 sound on both that track and the album.



I love that clear twang he got from his G3 and he used it to such a great effect, his current P-bass tone doesn't cut it for me.

[angrymatt]

Yah... I've always loved that tone too. 

[Barklessdog]

Someone said that his recorded sounds were with a p bass and not his G-3. I have seen no proof of that.

[Blazer]

Someone said that his recorded sounds were with a p bass and not his G-3. I have seen no proof of that.

Well if you see live clips of Green Day with Mike Dirnt using his G3 it sounds exactly the same as on the recordings so I would call Bullshit on that one. It sounds so different from a P-bass that it just can not be true.

[Dave W]

Dirnt said in an interview with Bass Guitar magazine that the majority of Dookie was recorded with a rented Precision, Evil Twin DI and seventies SVT. He said he brought the G-3 to the studio but that Rob Cavallo wanted something more aggressive.

[Blazer]

Dirnt said in an interview with Bass Guitar magazine that the majority of Dookie was recorded with a rented Precision, Evil Twin DI and seventies SVT. He said he brought the G-3 to the studio but that Rob Cavallo wanted something more aggressive.

Well then I guess that rented P-bass had an extra J-bass pickup added, because that twang displayed in those recordings just cannot come from a stock precision.

[Dave W]

Well then I guess that rented P-bass had an extra J-bass pickup added, because that twang displayed in those recordings just cannot come from a stock precision.

I really doubt that, it doesn't sound at all like a J pickup and there's no mention of it. The Dookie bass tone sounds different to me than his tone on the earlier stuff I have, 39/Smooth and Kerplunk, where he did use the G-3. For a good example, compare the tone in the break before the last verse on Welcome To Paradise, which is on both Kerplunk and Dookie.

I've located the article online in .jpg form at Green Day Authority I don't want to take their bandwidth by hotlinking to their images but you can find it here, just scroll about 2/3 of the way down. It's actually an interview with Dirnt and Rob Cavallo. Rob mentions using the 3K switch on the Evil Twin DI and going direct into the tape machine, and that may account for a lot of the tone.

[Chris P.]

It's always one of the difficult things for me: Recording a bass. Normally I have a bass and an amp and than my ears. Now it's bass, amp, mike and DI, tube pre amps, recording stuff, a lot of compression, mastering, a pc, some small speakers and then my ears. What's the bets recording sound after which your bass will sound good on iPod earphones or tiny PC/car speakers...

In the end I'll just adjust my sound as I play live and I trust the engineer...

My point: A lot of things happen to a sound and Dave could be right.