How to make your 4 string sound like a 5 string!

Sometimes a specific bass line or groove really calls out for the deep low end you can only get from the low B of a 5 string bass. But what do you do if you only have a 4 string?? Buy a 5 string?! What happens if you prefer the feel of a 4 string bass but you know that some of your bass lines could really do with that deep low end? Well in the past I've found myself in that very same situation - even to the point where more than once I've been playing in a theatre band and the music has been written for a 5 string bass with lots of low C's and D's etc but I've been playing my trusty 4 string Overwater jazz bass. So what's the trick?! Well this is how I do it...

I use an EBS OctaBass with all of the original ('normal') signal rolled off, the 'Octave' up full and the range switch set to 'low'. This setting will basically make your bass sound an octave lower than the original signal. This means that when you play the B on the 7th fret of the E string it will actually sound like the low B of a 5 string bass! BOOM - instant 5 string! The only thing to watch out for is that anything below that B tends to start sounding a bit weird - but on a 5 string bass you wouldn't have anything below that anyway!