Best bass type for slap?

[Simon Barden]

Our bass player wants a bass that's good for popping and slapping for a couple of the covers the band currently do and is happy for me to make a kit bass for him to do so. My first thoughts were a Jazz style, probably with active electronics. To that end I did remind him that some years ago I gave him a Yamaha BB604 with 3-band EQ which I fitted with Bartolini humbucking pickups (the original single coils were very noisy) and which he now has got back from his son. I've just taken it from him to check it over as it hasn't been used for a while.

His bass amp isn't the best in the world - a Line 6 Lowdown 150, but it does have various amp emulations. Whilst he normally keeps it on the rock/Ampeg setting, he can easily set it to a more hi-fi amp sound as he has the Line 6 footswitch for it.

But I'd appreciate people's thoughts on the best type of bass for slapping (apart from the obvious "don't do it"), plus pickups and EQ styles and compression (yes/no?). Even to the best type of strings.

Thanks in advance.

[Hobastard]

I reckon the IB 4 or 5 might be alright although I don't know what the pups are like. A Jazz Bass with a maple fingerboard would be nice and bright too.

[andrewdosborne]

From the PBG kit range I reckon ash jazz bass w/maple neck

[wazkelly]

The standard humbucker PUP's in the EX-5 & IB5 are not as bright or loud as traditional F style's and may not work so well with slap.

Not a technique I have mastered yet so cannot comment any further. On Youtube it looks like anything and everything can be used so maybe it is more a question as to what tone he is seeking. For example, I watched a vid on MM Stingray in the past few weeks where they showed how versatile the active eq was and the dude was slappin it silly and sounding great.

[Hobastard]

MMs are kikass. I don't know if the PB one compares, but there are a few active preamps out there that would help too. I'm looking at a Seymour Duncan one for around $80.00 that looks pretty good.

[wazkelly]

MMs are kikass. I don't know if the PB one compares, but there are a few active preamps out there that would help too. I'm looking at a Seymour Duncan one for around $80.00 that looks pretty good.

Pabs & Woks have bought a cheaper Belcat 2 band on eBay for about $20 bucks and here is the link... http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/400368322...%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

Pabs also built a sweet looking PBG MM using this eq unit.

[Simon Barden]

He (another Simon - and yes it gets confusing ) has an OLP MM copy as his main bass, which is very much like the PBG kit with one passive twin coil pickup with separate outputs per coil. In my mind a lot of slap bass sounds seem to be all bass and treble with the mids cut. So I'm not sure if a 2-way EQ would work, as the overall effect (if the bands overlap as they have a wide Q) would still to bring the mids up a touch, even though the bass and treble are comparatively louder. But he may be able to counter that with some EQ on the amp.

[Hobastard]

The SD blurb for the preamp says that the treble boost frequency has 2 preset options, one for Slapping.

Either way, I suggest a maple Fingerboard, they seem to have the sweeter top end.
My PB prebuilt 5 String JBass certainly has the tone for it.......
A tweeter in the Bass Cab is a good idea if he doesn't already have one.......

[ZenAndZen]

I would suggest staying away from 'modelling' amps. There must be some E.Q. shenanigans going on to achieve those models & they would interfere with the tones we would normally expect from magnetic pickups.
I have a couple of basses - a Jbass(copy) & a Hohner headless & a Pbass(copy) - none have trouble with slapping which I find is more technique than the instrument being played.

[pablopepper]

I've never really found any particular model of bass suits or hinders slapping or popping. I agree with ZenAndZen above as in it's more technique than the bass itself.

That said, I prefer active electronics for a crisper top end, a defined bottom thump and a bit more 'touch'. The MM Waz mentioned is pretty much spot on (for my tastes anyway) using the stock pickup and a cheap preamp. Scooped mids has always been my go to eq setting for slap.