Sting's Bass Tone and how to get it?

[MrGuitarguy]

I really did Sting's bass tone (my favorite player as well) from The Police days as well as his new tone (sounds killer live). I know he ses his '54 P-Bass as well as other P-Basses, but what kind of amp does he use? On some Police videos I have he has a Marshall rig behind him (n idea what head or cabs). On his newer stuff he appears to be using Ampeg heads of some sort and 4x10 cabs.

Can anyone tell me how to get either of those tones?

[HAMERMAN]

I would be interested to know too.

BTW: During the Police era he also used Steinbergers, Spectors and Hamers at various times.

[Monacosis]

One of my all time favorite bass tones (up there with Paul McC). I know that back in the day, he often used this thumb to pluck the strings. He also has a jazz background (pre-Police) that seems to influence his sounds. Like they say: Tone is in the fingers!

mike

[Steve Haynie]

I remember seeing a photo of Sting with a fretless Music Man back in the Police days.

[MrGuitarguy]

He did use other basses, but I know that his main basses were his 54 P-Bass and a 54 P-Bass that was fretless (on Syncronicity). I think 90% of his recordings were done wth these. Most of the basses he used live had P-Bass pickups on them. I know he said he recorded everything of his 54 P-Bass (fretted) when he was refering to his solo stuff. He had cool explorer P-Bass. I think it was a gibson, but it could have been a standard I guess.

I would still like to know more about his amp setup though.

He had a ton of awesome bass lines: Walking On The Moon, Contact, Oh My God, to name just a few. All his bass parts were extremely memoriable.

[darc]

Coolest thing about his bass line is how they were often syncopated against his vocal lines, ie. Invisible Sun.

[lonote049]

The P-Basses Sting uses do not have the split P-Bass pickup but, rather, a single coil. Fender didn't start using the split P-Bass pickup until 1957. If I recall, he uses a 1954 and a 1956. I believe Sting is now an Ampeg endorser. When I get home I'll check through my Bass Player magazines because they had an article about his current rig a few months ago. IMO he's a very talented guy.

[MrGuitarguy]

Thanks Lononte049! I'd really appreciate it!

[Jeff R]

The P-Basses Sting uses do not have the split P-Bass pickup but, rather, a single coil. Fender didn't start using the split P-Bass pickup until 1957. If I recall, he uses a 1954 and a 1956.

Something like this?

[lonote049]

Yep, that's the '51 reissue with the single coil. The 2nd generation P-Basses like Sting's had bevels where the 1st generation (51 -53) were just slabs. I also think Sting uses Duncans his basses.

[MrGuitarguy]

Yeah, the original P-Basses had a single coil until '57. The added a bevel contour to the back in '54.

[Guest galejt]

I like these basses. Simple is good!

[Smakutus]

He did use other basses, but I know that his main basses were his 54 P-Bass and a 54 P-Bass that was fretless (on Syncronicity). I think 90% of his recordings were done wth these. Most of the basses he used live had P-Bass pickups on them. I know he said he recorded everything of his 54 P-Bass (fretted) when he was refering to his solo stuff. He had cool explorer P-Bass. I think it was a gibson, but it could have been a standard I guess.

I would still like to know more about his amp setup though.

He had a ton of awesome bass lines: Walking On The Moon, Contact, Oh My God, to name just a few. All his bass parts were extremely memoriable.

Back in 1980 or so he was using some sorta Ibanez bass like this one as his main fretted bass:

Ibanez bass..

Along with an electric upright, and he also used a red Hamer Standard fretless bass the night I saw them. (If you ever saw the photos of this Hamer bass in Creem magazine they were from the show I saw..)

He was using SVT's on stage that night.

One of the coolest things I ever saw was Sting playing the upright bass along with a droning G note on the bass pedals they used. He would slide the G note on the E string down slightly making it out of tune with the bass pedals and the whole room would shake like crazy. He'd then slid the note back into tune and everything would stop shaking.. He did this over and over. They jammed on alot of their tunes even at that point. It was very cool and the best show I have ever seen..

On the Ghost in the Machine tour I think he used the Steinberger bass for the fretted parts and they weren't as good live.

On Syncronicity you mostly see him playing that white Spector bass.

out..

Jeff.

[cmatthes]

He also used a few Ibanez Musician Series basses throghout the Police. He also slung a nice 4-digit fretless Standard bass (maple board) on occasion.

[Mike_C]

These can be had for fairly cheap and they sound pretty good.

Artist

Sting Precision Bass

0251902

From his tenure in The Police, to a prolific solo career, Sting is responsible for bringing the bass out front in pop music. This ’50s P Bass® features a contoured 2-Color Sunburst body, one vintage single-coil pickup and sports his signature in the block pearl inlay at the 12th fret.

[lonote049]

Naturally, I couldn't find the right issue of Bass Player yesterday but I'll find it eventually.

[MrGuitarguy]

Thanks for looking. Please let me know if you find it. I can never find any info about his rig online.

Ampeg's site s messed up and mention the cabs he uses, but the part that mentions the head he uses is not working properly. I knew that just seemed like it was too easy! lol!

[HamerHokie]

In my opinion the music comes from the man so the best way to get a Sting tone is to remove all rock influences, do a lot of brooding, diss your bandmates, and come across as a humorless SOB.

[MrGuitarguy]

In my opinion the music comes from the man so the best way to get a Sting tone is to remove all rock influences, do a lot of brooding, diss your bandmates, and come across as a humorless SOB.

Actually he has a lot of humor in his songs, like how he makes fun of TV game show hosts frequently. But you did leave out that you also need to become incredibly proficient on about a dozen or more instruments, understand music theory at a very indepth level, be able to sing while playing the most screwed up rhythms and be able to perform your songs in any key and any style from jazz, to blues to reggae to country regardless of how the were originally written. (he always does this live)

[Tres Aardvarks]

can someone tell me why no earth that thing has a bridge with only 2 saddles??

[AdmiralB]

can someone tell me why no earth that thing has a bridge with only 2 saddles??

Because the Telecaster/Esquire only had three?

With a bass intonation isn't as big a deal, because the scale is a lot longer, so a discrepancy of small dimension doesn't affect intonation to the degree that it does on a guitar. Also you're not fighting the wound/unwound issue.

[HamerHokie]

In my opinion the music comes from the man so the best way to get a Sting tone is to remove all rock influences, do a lot of brooding, diss your bandmates, and come across as a humorless SOB.

Actually he has a lot of humor in his songs, like how he makes fun of TV game show hosts frequently. But you did leave out that you also need to become incredibly proficient on about a dozen or more instruments, understand music theory at a very indepth level, be able to sing while playing the most screwed up rhythms and be able to perform your songs in any key and any style from jazz, to blues to reggae to country regardless of how the were originally written. (he always does this live)

You forgot to add that he's in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (for the Police).

[MrGuitarguy]

In my opinion the music comes from the man so the best way to get a Sting tone is to remove all rock influences, do a lot of brooding, diss your bandmates, and come across as a humorless SOB.

Actually he has a lot of humor in his songs, like how he makes fun of TV game show hosts frequently. But you did leave out that you also need to become incredibly proficient on about a dozen or more instruments, understand music theory at a very indepth level, be able to sing while playing the most screwed up rhythms and be able to perform your songs in any key and any style from jazz, to blues to reggae to country regardless of how the were originally written. (he always does this live)

You forgot to add that he's in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (for the Police).

Nah, that takes 25 years minimum.

[lonote049]

I found it, it's in the 10/04 Bass Player with Brian Wilson on the cover. For his touring set-up, he uses 2 old Fender P-Basses, a '55 and a '57 that looks identical except that it has no pickguard; the '57 does NOT have the split coil pickup P-Bass pickup. Both are equipped with Basslines Single Coil Stack pickups and strung with DR High Beams (.040 - .100). The '57 is his main bass. He uses a Samson U1-UA wireless into a Pete Cornish switching system to an Alembic F1-X preamp (fed to the front of house) to a Court GE60 1/3-Octave EQ to a Urei 7110 compressor to an E-V XEQ-3 crossover. The highs and lows are each sent to a Carver 2.0 amp. The lows are sent to 2 Claire Brothers ML-18 (1 X 18") cabinets and the highs to 2 Claire Brothers 12 AM-7 (1 X 12") cabinets. Hmmm...so much for the Ampeg endorsement.

[MrGuitarguy]

Hmmm...so much for the Ampeg endorsement.

Guess he may have switch recently. At least I've seen him using Ampeg on TV recently. Who knows?

Thanks for going to the trouble to look that up for me Lonote049! I really appreciate it!