How to get the 70's 80's classic punk bass tone?

[VOODOO U]

Also, i don't own an actual guitar i use sample libraries

Ouch. Good luck with that. Use this: https://plugins4free.com/plugin/3187/
You'll need it. It's no magic formula obviously but every little bit helps.

[donkey tugger]

Playing this kind of stuff on bass isn't (for the most part) technically difficult, it is punk after all! Hardest bit is probably the speed you're playing at. Of course with today's technology you can cheat.. (moi? )

Why not get a cheapy budget bass (plenty of decent ones these days) or something secondhand and have a go. Won't take long to get up to speed playing mostly 8ths in downstrokes only, and you've got the basics (boom, tsssk..) right there.

[donkey tugger]

Reading on here, for new stuff a lot of people are saying the Harley Benton'ss are great value at around £100+;

https://www.basschat.co.uk/topic/481666 ... cent-bass/

https://www.thomann.de/gb/search_dir.ht ... ilter=true

[revvy]

I’ve got a Harley Benton PJ in Sid Vicious style Olympic White. Needed neck relief but was easy to adjust the truss rod.

Sounds nice for the money. Never used a pick on it though

[Alyctro]

...software can do the real live thing but you want to use algorithms not IRs or anything similarly static. An algo moves the same way that an amp/speaker/box does. You simply need to learn

This is long and detailed but shows all you need to know to start your journey.
https://youtu.be/o8VTu0cU87I?si=2aiMImR249neCcfx

Did you mean algorhythmic reverb plugins or cab sims? I haven't found anything about this on google. And if you meant reverbs then i also don't understand. I've never heard about it being used as cab sim. I can't even think of a way how, or which specific one even work that way.

This is all explained in the video. An algo can be made for anything "real world". It may not have as many factors as the real thing (like reverbs) but can definitely deliver a very cool result. Watch the video (above) and see me build and alter the algo for a guitar cabinet thingee.

Further, I even made a simple VST for Higher Hz built on these ideas - an expansion of one of the devices in the first video.
https://youtu.be/UcVbnJPV5kg?si=wtawAFGY-OpWRYIE

I tried your vst, and it's one of a kind. I'm struggling to use it on my instruments despite the manual and the video. Or rather, i'm not sure if it's supposed to sound lik i set it up. I wanted to try to feed a raw amp signal into hzbox (as a cab), but it didn't work out. So then i tried Voxengo's cab maker and put it after that, just got pure fuzz. Then i went back and used hzbox as a cab, and wanted to capture an eq curve of an ir. Which should get the results i'm after, i'm just not sure if i'm overthinking these things or i need to better understand them. I can't really use plain reverb as my cab, that's just not practical. Am i supposed to use a cab sim and then hzbox? It does introduce variety for sure, but the way i see it it only adds resonancies and fuzz.

[Alyctro]

A lot of this is playing style. Lots of heavy "gouging" at the strings with repetitive spite.

As you may have noticed your first video sounds like it has no bass in the mix at all, yet the bass part is strong and present. This is the clue. Rather than focusing on the 40-60hz range, the drive (and clanky playing) is pushing the bass part into the mids. Some EQ will help pull that though wherever it is needed in the mix.

This was a GREAT answer (excuse the snip).

There's a terrific bass in Trilian called Hardcore Finger. It's a really gnarled thing you'd think would be good for punk, but it's 100% wrong for it. It's got a really rich range, tons of low end and crisp strings for the highs. Perfect for modern day aggressive stuff, but punk has none of that low end. It's all mids. And yes to a picking style, as rough as you can get.

Most VIs aren't good for that, they're too hi-fi, so there's a lot of EQ and trickery needed. Interesting ideas from donkey tugger above.

I tried trilian my self but i dropped it because of one small issue. Which is the lack of articulations, and horrible control over the existing ones. On the other hand, the sound is unmatched.

[Alyctro]

In true punk style don't overthink it.

With People like JJ Burnell, Paul Simonon and even Sid Vicious it's all about pluggin in and turning up and hacking into the guitar.

Play down near the bridge and lower the action for extra clank. Bright roundwound strings work best.

Marshall or Hiwatt for the amp heads and whatever you're having yourself for the cab. A busted speaker won't go amiss!

I can get a decent punk sound from softube's Marshall JCM 800.

I'd most associate Punk with a P-bass.

I have amplitube 5 and there are lots of amps dedicated to bass and guitar respectively. But, i wasn't sure which ones can cross over, thanks.

[Alyctro]

Also, i don't own an actual guitar i use sample libraries

Ouch. Good luck with that. Use this: https://plugins4free.com/plugin/3187/
You'll need it. It's no magic formula obviously but every little bit helps.

Hahaha, such retro. I think i've used this at some point. But i was a noob who looked more for esthetics than decent sound. Now it's the opposite.

[Alyctro]

Playing this kind of stuff on bass isn't (for the most part) technically difficult, it is punk after all! Hardest bit is probably the speed you're playing at. Of course with today's technology you can cheat.. (moi? )

Why not get a cheapy budget bass (plenty of decent ones these days) or something secondhand and have a go. Won't take long to get up to speed playing mostly 8ths in downstrokes only, and you've got the basics (boom, tsssk..) right there.

I was thinking about it. I used to play guitar, and there budget is the king. But for bass, it seems even the ones on marketplace under 100 would be good. I could translate the fundamentals.

[Alyctro]

I'm also open to tips about the electric guitar tones. Which i'm suspecting is either fender jazz or marshall plexi.

[kraster]

Playing this kind of stuff on bass isn't (for the most part) technically difficult, it is punk after all! Hardest bit is probably the speed you're playing at. Of course with today's technology you can cheat.. (moi? )

Why not get a cheapy budget bass (plenty of decent ones these days) or something secondhand and have a go. Won't take long to get up to speed playing mostly 8ths in downstrokes only, and you've got the basics (boom, tsssk..) right there.

I was thinking about it. I used to play guitar, and there budget is the king. But for bass, it seems even the ones on marketplace under 100 would be good. I could translate the fundamentals.

You're almost certainly not going to get any punk tone out of sample libraries.

As I said above a lot of punk P-bass setups had very low action with the string hitting against the pickup, fret buzz and all kinds of clanky weirdness going on.

No sample library is going to have that kind of tone. They're all too pure and balanced.

The Harley Benton basses are great bang for the buck.

[fedexnman]

I'm guessing a heavy pick and a cheap P-bass would get you there Squier or Harley Benton old pawn shop Peavys from the 80s who cares . I don't hear a whole lot of distortion on the bass ? P-basses are volume and tone knobs only . Punk was more of an attitude than a tone thing . The Police (Sting Summers n Stewart ) were supposed to be Punk and he plays that old fender tele bass thing still to this day . Old U2 War Boy , I think that was P bass with a pick . It's basic stuff .

[fedexnman]

Get some lofi plugins too like DAW cassette .

[noiseboyuk]

You're almost certainly not going to get any punk tone out of sample libraries.

As I said above a lot of punk P-bass setups had very low action with the string hitting against the pickup, fret buzz and all kinds of clanky weirdness going on.

No sample library is going to have that kind of tone. They're all too pure and balanced.

All true. I think you can simulate the amp side of things quite well, but a really shambolic source is tough to find.

There's a gap in the market here...

[kraster]

You're almost certainly not going to get any punk tone out of sample libraries.

As I said above a lot of punk P-bass setups had very low action with the string hitting against the pickup, fret buzz and all kinds of clanky weirdness going on.

No sample library is going to have that kind of tone. They're all too pure and balanced.

All true. I think you can simulate the amp side of things quite well, but a really shambolic source is tough to find.

There's a gap in the market here...

I was just thinking the same thing!