Is there a Gibson that has a particular good slap sound? I have 2 Gibson basses and I love them, but in the 80' I used to play funk on a Music Man Sting Ray. These days I play mostly hippie 60' style on my Gibson SG standard and EB 2 and they sound so much "no Funk" as a Bass can sound, but perfect for the music I play now. Is there any Gibsons that has this funky bite like a Jazz Bass or Music Man?
a g3 or an rd standard might be worth a look.
I think you should be thinking long scale, and a Thunderbird could easily do the job. Just don't funk on a Nikki Sixx...
Another vote for the G3, good treble responce and no pickup next to fingerboard. Also an active RD Artist would do the job, I'm not sure about the standard.
Awful video quality but... Me'shell on some sort of '90s Les Paul:
http://www.myspace.com/video/matthew/meshell-ndegeocello-attempts-to-wake-up-prince-1994/366721
I think that's one of the models with the active Bartolinis. She hasn't played those in a while, but it was her thing when she first got known.
The cover band I'm in has done a couple songs that require slap, and believe it or not... my 73 Triumph does it most excellently. I'm not much of slap player, but can do it when I need to.
I typically rotate between the Triumph, 76 Thunderbird, and a 73 Ric as gig basses (one bass per gig). They actually all sound nice doing slap... round wounds and a compressor help. The bird and ric give off more of a 70s slap vibe (ala Mary Jane, etc..), but the Triumph can be more hi-fi/modern-sounding.
Quote from: slinkp on May 19, 2012, 01:54:06 PM
'90s Les Paul
Andy/Nokturnal had one that I got to play on a few occasions. That was a fantastic sounding bass.. one that could cover pretty much any style of music you throw at it IMO.
Quote from: chromium on May 19, 2012, 01:55:39 PM
... round wounds and a compressor help.
The Artist version of the RD had a built-in compressor that gave that "bright" sound but I never let mine do that before I killed the Moog circuitry... ;)
An odd thought sprang into my mind... 20/20...?
Quote from: BUFF on May 19, 2012, 02:41:33 PM
An odd thought sprang into my mind... 20/20...?
That's only advisable if you cover a lot of punk rock artists, like The Fixx and Flock of Seagulls ;D
Flock of Squirrels...?
Quote from: BUFF on May 19, 2012, 03:03:16 PM
Flock of Squirrels...?
(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JnBLpioYIls/TgRsVKOI2yI/AAAAAAAAB6c/XVWXVB0a_3w/s640/secret%2Bsquirrel%2Btraining%2Bfacility.jpg)
Pah! mere kittens-play...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8emKfCbHaFs
(btw, baby squirrels are known as kittens...)
Quote from: bassballs on May 18, 2012, 05:56:21 PM
Is there a Gibson that has a particular good slap sound? I have 2 Gibson basses and I love them, but in the 80' I used to play funk on a Music Man Sting Ray. These days I play mostly hippie 60' style on my Gibson SG standard and EB 2 and they sound so much "no Funk" as a Bass can sound, but perfect for the music I play now. Is there any Gibsons that has this funky bite like a Jazz Bass or Music Man?
EB-2 slapped:
http://youtu.be/dPR3p0xmZgM (http://youtu.be/dPR3p0xmZgM)
I personally love the slap sound with a pickup near the neck. Much more funky and dirty than the usual "standards" (Sting Ray, 70's Jazz etc.).
whoo thats kinda gnarly .a bit more nasty sounding on an eb2 perhaps.
My '94 Les Paul with Thunderbird pups works great for slap. TB+ are some of the most active sounding passive pups I've ever used. If you have an EQ to scoop some mids, even better, and as mentioned, compression helps too!
Hi!
Thank you for all your input about Gibson and slap bass, not that I plan to start a new career 8) as a slap bass player again, but after I have fallen in love with Gibson basses I was just very curious about it's ability to play this genre, because I have never seen any serious funk player use a gibson (apart from the guy on the EB-2 from Finland :mrgreen:)
Best "modern" Gibson sound I have heard is Ralph Armstrong playing on Enigmatic Ocean and Live with Jean-Luc Ponty. If you have not heard them give them a listen, I think he uses a G3.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TjyLU0-9SE (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TjyLU0-9SE)
My Gibson Money bass was a nice slapper when I had it, I really dug the sound and feel. She's gone though.
What about a Bass IV?
TB plus pups and a conventional shape (for those of you that "need" that) ;)
I'm gonna be a stuck record about Meshell Ndegeocello. That is some serious funk.
Here's another one... fast-forward to 3:00 where she gets off the keyboards and on the (Gibson) bass.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Mx4Mp1sQ38
Shame that she had such a bad experience with Gibson that she wasn't an endorser for long.
Quote from: slinkp on May 21, 2012, 10:03:36 PM
I'm gonna be a stuck record about Meshell Ndegeocello. That is some serious funk.
Here's another one... fast-forward to 3:00 where she gets off the keyboards and on the (Gibson) bass.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Mx4Mp1sQ38
Good riff but no presence on slap. To 5:40 you can see the real slapper, a Fender Jazz Bass.
Quote from: Dave W on May 22, 2012, 08:19:54 AM
Shame that she had such a bad experience with Gibson that she wasn't an endorser for long.
Did she have a bad experience? I wasn't aware of that. I thought she just moved on in her quest for another sound, more recently she played JBs. All her albums and sounds are vastly different, the newest one for instance is decidedly unfunky and very introvert. I like whatever she does.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rITArm2Rvx0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_1kVuvIfc0&feature=related
I have her LP De Luxe Bass that she had customized by Gibson for a more JBish sound, i.e. turned passive and with single coils.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v615/uwehornung/IMG00231-20100722-1707.jpg?t=1279811442)
Quote from: uwe on June 04, 2012, 10:23:53 AM
Did she have a bad experience? I wasn't aware of that. I thought she just moved on in her quest for another sound, more recently she played JBs. All her albums and sounds are vastly different, the newest one for instance is decidedly unfunky and very introvert. I like whatever she does.
She made some comments in an article I saw somewhere two or three years ago. She wasn't real specific, I just gathered that she wasn't happy with the bass and that Gibson didn't really do anything to promote her.
I guess the changes she asked for evidenced that Barts with a TCT active circuit were not her dream combination! Herr bass actually sounds nice but nothing like an LBP-2.
She's a good little doughnut bumper, I like her earnestness.
I know I'm jumping in late on this, but if you're talking slap bass you have to mention Louis Johnson. He thumped on a Ripper at one point in his career. If you haven't heard of this dude you owe it to yourself to check out the brothers Johnson. He also recorded on an obscure album called thriller by some guy Mike Jackson.
Come to think of it, I knew a guy in college who slapped on a fretless Ripper.
google google google... aha. Everything is on the interwebs somewhere:
http://www.bard.edu/bardmakesnoise/suedewicked.php
... hmm sounded a lot better to me at the time. ;D