Gibson and Slap Bass

[bassballs]

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?

[clankenstein]

a  g3 or an  rd standard might be worth a look.

[gweimer]

I think you should be thinking long scale, and a Thunderbird could easily do the job.  Just don't funk on a Nikki Sixx...

[exiledarchangel]

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.

[slinkp]

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.

[chromium]

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.

[chromium]

'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.

[Highlander]

... 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...?

[chromium]

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 

[Highlander]

Flock of Squirrels...?

[Pilgrim]

Flock of Squirrels...?

[Highlander]

Pah! mere kittens-play...



(btw, baby squirrels are known as kittens...)

[Pekka]

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:


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.).

[clankenstein]

whoo thats kinda gnarly .a bit more nasty sounding on an eb2 perhaps.

[gearHed289]

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!