How to Get Khruangbin’s Bass Tone

[@soultabs]

I saw laura lee in an interview saying she only uses the front pick up and tone is wide open... and she plays chromes light and dimarzio ultra jazz pickups....so a lot of her tone must come from the amp settings... wich is a bassman tube combo if i recall correctly. Nice tone, no doubt.

[@viniciuscomacento]

the openness of the tone may vary according to how old the strings are as well.

[@jsupe]

There is also 14 years of funk on those strings. "The funk is in the funk" Go and listen to the PG interview with her from about 6 or 7 years back that was very recently re-posted. She is isolated and the tone is phenomenal. Even though she stresses that she likes style (ashtray covers, rings on hand, etc) you can see that her playing is in the pocket all the time. She may not be a virtuoso but she is very talented.

[@carlosgoldstein1057]

I'm glad I found this video. It's really insightful to see the mechanics of the Khruangbin bass sound. Mind you I'm hearing this from this guy and not Laura herself ..but.. I like this breakdown. It makes me respect all that Laura has accomplished..from learning bass initially to honing her craft and using these techniques and just evolving... her story is such an amazing part of Khruangbin. Thx for the video it makes me appreciate the band even more

[@GWGuitarStudio]

Yeah, I’m a huge fan, even more so after seeing them live in December 2021. It’s hard to believe what a full sound they get with just three people. Mark couldn’t do what he does without Laura’s bass. It’s so melodic and solid. She’s not a flashy player, but she has great feel and is very disciplined. The secret to good funk is repetition and it takes a lot of concentration to keep the groove solid. Her live tone is perfect, deep, but not too deep, full, but not too loud, and it just hammers the beat.

[@carlosgoldstein1057]

@@GWGuitarStudio I saw them 11/5/2021 and it was amazing, absolutely amazing. The vibe created at that show with just 3 people.. it stole my breath. One of the things I was wondering about was Laura's sound. All of the notes were there, strong and proud.

[@GWGuitarStudio]

@@carlosgoldstein1057 There was an opening act when I saw them. They were way too loud for the venue-the bass was so loud and EQ’d so deep that it felt like it was going to suck the air out if your lungs. It was so loud that there wasn’t really a sense of pitch to it. I thought at first that it might have been bad acoustics in the room. Then the Khru came out and the sound was perfect. Every note of Laura Lee’s playing was solid, pure, and present. I was so relieved that it wasn’t a bad sonic space. It was a super-enjoyable experience.

[@carlosgoldstein1057]

@@GWGuitarStudio I missed the opening act at my show. But ya sometimes a performance can be sonically horrible.

[@karllathan731]

Saw them in Dallas on the 17th of December last year , I've never heard a bass tone cut through so perfectly afterwards picked up my bass for a few hours, all three of them make want to practice to get to a level of proficiency with bass guitar and drums

[@Theodorevonz]

I got my bass before i found Khruangbin, its a fender jazzbass with rounded strings and some mics the owner before changed to it and I fell in love with that strangely woody and round sound in which is pretty much the same sound as Laura has in hers. i like to play it really soft and close to the neck. Beautiful!

[@rorow3r]

Thank you for sharing this, very spot on. I use Pyramid flats (goes pretty cheap on Amazon once in a blue moon) with foams at the bridge.

[@themagikian4237]

Thank you. Great examples and info

[@diydirtbag]

Great video! Thank you for doing this!!

[@fribersson]

Very helpful, thank you. Commenting for the algo (and your motivation :) )

[@GazelemsStone]

Thank you kindly!

[@eldude-iv8dw]

Thank you, love this was very helpful. What are alt to the foam solution but w the same results? Would a neck wrap work?

[@GWGuitarStudio]

I never tried a neck wrap. The old-school way of the old Motown bassists was foam under the strings. Fender used to ship their basses with foam glued to the bridge covers.

[@arggyfedg]

I would think a neck wrap would only mute open strings - if you're pressing down on a fret it eliminates the effect of the neck wrap that's further down by the nut.

[@Mingaura]

You’re the best!:)

[@GWGuitarStudio]

Thank you, fellow Khru member!

[@trashmail8]

What type of amp are you using? :)

[@alexandredoyen8227]

thanks

[@mikegarwood8680]

The Frankenstein P-Bass clone my dad brought back from Viet Nam had the foam in the cover of the tail stock as you described and those awful FLAT wound strings. It is a very strange thing indeed; the body's only 60% of the size of a normal P-Bass, with a large single coil pickup (it's occupies the same space as a humbucker) that has alloy steel set screws interfacing the magnets and the strings...but they seem too short for the job. It also has a Tele-inspired long scale neck, exactly like the neck on Sting's old war-horse. I learned how to do basic set-ups for the bass from that thing (as a young teenager). Those AWFUL flat wounds must have been sentimental to him; they were the "same" ones that came with the bass (ala Laura Lee) from wherever he bought it in SE Asia. Pa wouldn't let us kids change them. He "hated" the sound of round-wound bass strings and never bothered to get new ones (despite me maintaining it...and I'm really a drummer). After he passed away, of course, I pulled those horrible strings off and ritualistically melted them down into misshapen buttons of slag. I still do have the bass. The neck has always been rather thin and it can barely handle the lightest gauge strings without me having to unstring it, pull off the neck, and adjust the truss rod (even) more. "Now" it has a nice, punchy tone with the round-wounds--not sounding like a broken, uncurled inside out tuba under an ocean of methane. That is, if the head doesn't snap clean off (into my face...which some people would welcome). The 'moral' of my 'tale of woe'--if someone offers me flat wounds (thinking they're the sh*t), I just tell them, "No.".

[@GWGuitarStudio]

To each his own. Flatwounds seem to be an acquired taste for experienced bassists. They are THE SOUND of hundreds of hit songs that pretty much define the role of the bass in popular music. I have heard some session bassists relate stories about going into the studio and laying down a killer track, only to have the engineers struggle to get it to sit right in the mix. Then, upon request, the engineers would ask the player to re-record the part with a P-bass, with flats. Then the “magic” happens. It just sits perfectly in the mix. Experienced players who use flats know that they sound better the older they get. Rounds have their uses, but all those hit songs of the past, especially classic Motown, Dub, and Reggae are the sounds of flatwound strings.

[@rorow3r]

Flatwounds are the best.

[@mikegarwood8680]

@@rorow3r That is why they should be banned on pain of death. They deceive the player to think them superior. No evil flat-wounds or blasphemous half-wounds.

[@hempmaiden]

Please can I ask, what you mean by Frankenstein P-bass clone? Is this as in, the original first prototype P-bass made by Fender with the Telecaster headstock, and the single coil pickup and funky pick-guard? As has been reproduced by Squier recently as the ‘Classic Vibe 50s’ precession bass? I assume this may be the style you refer to as Frankenstein bass? Ie, prototype? As never heard that term before. Many thanks

[@trashmail8]

Thank you so much, really useful. Especially the foam at an angle bit. I own this very same SX bass, only in a nice green color, and I'm trying to find my way towards this lovely Lee bass tone. The Fender Bassman amp that she's using is awesome as well, but a bit too big for me lol. (Edit: I'm currently using a Fender Rumble LT25). Apparently she also uses different pickups: "Laura Lee’s main axe is her 2009 SX Custom Handmade J-style bass that’s been upgraded with DiMarzio Ultra Jazz pickups and strung with D’Addario Chrome flatwound strings." From the rig rundown @ kzbin.info/www/bejne/nqOahJami89kh7s

[@strettoasino9006]

So it's not about hip implants and hip swivels ?

[@GWGuitarStudio]

I can sound like her, but there ain’t no looking like her!

[@petedazer3381]

More interested in the bassist, instead of the bass….