DDR4LYF wrote: Justin Chancellor from Tool gets that sound in most of the songs on 10 000 days.
Is it just drop tuning with a pick or is there some kind of distortion that those guys use? I just have no idea! Any wisdom on the topic of this 'mysterious' bass tone would be appreciated

I'm not too sure about the other bands, but perhaps I can shed some light on Chancellor.



It's a combination of bass, amp, a solid understanding of effects and the way that he (they) plays.

My opinion, anyways.

Don't know any of the bassists mentioned, but the "growl" from a bass comes largely from the player's fingers - playing a little harder and a little closer to the bridge. It tends to be easier to get with brighter basses though - specifically maple boards and ash bodies (or maple bodies - like the Rics). I like growlier basses - I play a maple neck and body Hohner with humbucker pickups that growls very nicely.

Growl can also be accentuated by a bit of distortion - one of the reasons Ampegs are so popular is the way they have an upper mid focused distortion that really pops the growl.

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Chad Adam Browne wrote: =

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Justin Chancellor's rig looks so awesome!

Here are some songs from my first post.

This is the link to a Closure in Moscow

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A He is Legend song...

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Is growl the right word for these kind of tones?

@Alan: is this the "growl" that you were talking about?

The Closure in Moscow doesn't growl, but has a big low end. Nice stuff, BTW and new to me - reminds me a bit of the Mars Volta.

The Legend track growls from distortion and a bit of fret buzz (which I forgot to mention as a factor, but adds some definition to a good bass track).

I define growl as anything with a Ric or a maple board Fender. ? Entwistle, Harris, Glover, Fraser, et. al. all growl, regardless what they play.

Can the effect also not be achieved through a very light fuzz maybe?

I get what you mean by growl now!
How much of that growl tone do you guys think comes from the amp?

@Alan: When I first heard Closure in Moscow, I immediately thought this fits right inbetween The Mars Volta, Coheed and Cambria, and Circa Survive. One of my favorites at the moment!

@21Fretter: I don't know if fuzz is the right effect... its too much of a 'buzzy'. If fuzz is like a formula one engine then this growl is like a Mustang Engine, if that helps at all.

All this talk of sounds reminds me of the Frank Zappa quote, "Talking about music is like dancing about economics" ? ?

PS Entwistle's tone is fantastic!