| Author | Message | ||
| alembic76407
Senior Member Username: alembic76407 Post Number: 633 Registered: 5-2002 |
The word ‘TONE” cracks me up, I hear people say I want this tone or that tone, but the truth is if you were to pick up This’s bass and play it through This’s amp chances are you will not have This’s tone, you will have your tone played through This’s equipment. Tone is about technique | ||
| mica
Moderator Username: mica Post Number: 6706 Registered: 6-2000 |
Don't forget it's about what's between your ears too! | ||
| alembic76407
Senior Member Username: alembic76407 Post Number: 634 Registered: 5-2002 |
its that stuff between my ears that tells me I'm good singer, but the mike and PA make's me sound not so good, it's all the equipment's fault I feel better Sir David T (Message edited by alembic76407 on April 15, 2010) | ||
| jazzyvee
Senior Member Username: jazzyvee Post Number: 1915 Registered: 6-2002 |
Or maybe lack of something between your ears.... :-) Jazzyvee | ||
| alembic76407
Senior Member Username: alembic76407 Post Number: 635 Registered: 5-2002 |
I sing like Robert Plant in the shower, no, I'm sticking with the Equipment thing Sir David T | ||
| lbpesq
Senior Member Username: lbpesq Post Number: 4378 Registered: 7-2004 |
Sir David: I wonder how you know what Robert Plant sounds like in the shower ... then again, maybe I don't want to know! hehehehe Bill, tgo | ||
| wayne
Intermediate Member Username: wayne Post Number: 184 Registered: 5-2002 |
Y'all just don't know how much I needed that laugh. Thanks!! (now the mental image on the other hand......) C-Ya.......wayne | ||
| llobsterbass
Member Username: llobsterbass Post Number: 71 Registered: 5-2004 |
Tone is indeed *primarily* about technique. But I still wouldn't trade my Alembic Series I for a generic import P-bass. Tone is technique mediated by equipment. | ||
| s_wood
Advanced Member Username: s_wood Post Number: 313 Registered: 5-2002 |
"Tone is technique mediated by equipment." Just perfect. That wisdom is worthy of permanent enshrinement in the FAQ, and maybe on a T-shirt  | ||
| sonicus
Senior Member Username: sonicus Post Number: 846 Registered: 5-2009 |
Eloquently stated my friends . (Message edited by sonicus on April 16, 2010) (Message edited by sonicus on April 16, 2010) | ||
| sonicus
Senior Member Username: sonicus Post Number: 847 Registered: 5-2009 |
P.S. Add_________ Sonic Regards ! | ||
| davehouck
Moderator Username: davehouck Post Number: 9229 Registered: 5-2002 |
At the suggestion of Steve Wood, the statement on tone has been added to the Must Reads section of the board. | ||
| ajdover
Senior Member Username: ajdover Post Number: 814 Registered: 11-2003 |
Tone is ... what happens when you work out a lot ... Sorry, couldn't resist. Alan | ||
| lbpesq
Senior Member Username: lbpesq Post Number: 4381 Registered: 7-2004 |
Tone? One member of a band from Oakland - hangs out with Tony and Toni! Bill, tgo | ||
| gtrguy
Advanced Member Username: gtrguy Post Number: 297 Registered: 9-2004 |
Tone is all that other stuff that MIDI doesn't address! Dave | ||
| davehouck
Moderator Username: davehouck Post Number: 9237 Registered: 5-2002 |
Tone is technique mediated by equipment, modulated by hearing loss, and manipulated by the brain trying to make up for the hearing loss. Tone is what I had last night but can't find for the life of me this evening. Tone appears to be why the people listening to me play seem to be wincing in pain. | ||
| jazzyvee
Senior Member Username: jazzyvee Post Number: 1917 Registered: 6-2002 |
This is such an interesting subject with echoes of a previous conversation here on the lines of, "if I was to play Stanley Clarke's bass or Marcus Millers bass for example, would sound like either of them". I think the consensus there was that in reality is we would sound like ourselves playing their instruments. Which brings to my mind that a large component of what we consider to be our tone is ourselves, our fingers, muscles idea's. So maybe what we consider to be tone isn't exclusively the just the note quality .... I think it could be that when we listen to stanley or marcus for example we recognise phrasing note choices and techniques that we have associated with their "sound" and so we recognise their tone by association with all of those things. That said we can't take away the fact that certain musicians choose certain instruments for a particular tone that they want to identify with. So for the way that Stanley plays he possibly feels that an alembic allows him to access a range of sound options that combined with his note choices, techniques and articulation give him a "Sound" that he prefers most of the time. ( cos we know he has other basses and instruments). I tend to think we really mean sound rather than tone. For example A clavinet sound on a keyboard is a pretty basic sound and pretty much every one who plays it has the same tone. But if you were to hear Stevie Wonder play Superstition, that somehow has a very distinctive "Sound" although it sounds pretty much like every other clavinet tone. It's stevie's note choices and rhythms , articulation etc that give him an exclusive sound. I guess the next thought is , if I was to get Stanleys bass & rig and plucked just an open A and he then plucked an open A how similar would the sounds be? Would we sound the same? ps:In my home country of St Kitts & Nevis "Tone" is a slang word for a certain part of the male anatomy. Just thought i'd share that information with you. Have a great day. Jazzyvee | ||
| slawie
Intermediate Member Username: slawie Post Number: 190 Registered: 8-2002 |
Jazzyvee, Are you trying to tell us your big on tone? slawie | ||
| slammin
Junior Username: slammin Post Number: 33 Registered: 10-2009 |
Tone or sound, I still think the instrument itself plays the biggest role in 'what you hear'. For instance, string bending on a 35" scale is not near as effortless as on shorter scale instruments and technique, strings or setup can make up for that, at least in my experience. Also, even modifying technique, it's difficult, if not impossible for me to mimic the 'sound/tone' I get with my Alembic with any other bass that I own. Just can't do it. I can get everything from rubber-band attack to piccolo/piano articulation with my 32" Persuader, and I have not played any other bass that allows such a range of technique, resulting in just as big a range in sound/tone. So, I think the instrument itself can be the biggest determining factor when it comes to tone and sound. | ||
| jazzyvee
Senior Member Username: jazzyvee Post Number: 1918 Registered: 6-2002 |
Slawie, my Alembic tone is MASSIVE..... !!!! and I can go from 25.5" to 34" depending on needs...... ;-) Jazzyvee.... | ||
| bigredbass
Senior Member Username: bigredbass Post Number: 1378 Registered: 9-2002 |
The most unnerving thing is I can sound GREAT today . . . then come back tomorrow to the exact same place, settings, amp, etc., and it sounds different. Or the same thing happens in the course of a five hour gig. I will never understand or conquer the physical and psychoacoustic aspects of this. This happens to me a lot and I'll never understand it. J o e y | ||
| slawie
Intermediate Member Username: slawie Post Number: 191 Registered: 8-2002 |
mas·sive –adjective 1. consisting of or forming a large mass; bulky and heavy: massive columns. 2. large and heavy-looking: a massive forehead. 3. large in scale, amount, or degree: a massive breakdown in communications; massive reductions in spending. 4. solid or substantial; great or imposing: massive erudition. 5. Mineralogy . having no outward crystal form, although sometimes crystalline in internal structure. slawie | ||
| jazzyvee
Senior Member Username: jazzyvee Post Number: 1919 Registered: 6-2002 |
Yes..... and.... :-) 1) There is a large mass of Cocobolo in one of my basses and mahogany in most of the others. To carry them all at the same time would be bulky and heavy. 2) My Europa is large and at around 12.5lbs is also heavy ( yes anyone headbutting it is likely to develop a massive forehead) 3) My Europa is a larger scale bass than my SC Deluxe, there is a greater amount of wood in it too and the angle it hangs on the strap is a few degrees different. ( Also since my last alembic purchase there has had to be a massive reduction in my GAS spending after the breakdown in communication between me and my bank balance.) 4) The Alembic construction is solid and very substantial... just check out the bridge with sustain block... very substantial indeed. 5) I do believe that brass has a crystalline structure which cannot be seen by the naked eye externally however with a microscope it can be clearly viewed Have a great day Slawie, Jazzyvee | ||
| benson_murrensun
Advanced Member Username: benson_murrensun Post Number: 255 Registered: 5-2007 |
My theory: Tone is a product of technique, equipment, and the sonic environment (or lack thereof, in the case of headphones or direct input!). I would venture to say that technique has the most profound effect on tone. |
