What is "flabby" to you?

[Mark Hammer]

(No fat jokes please)

I've heard the term "flabby-sounding" and "flabby" used, but I've never really understood what people mean by this.  I'm assuming that they are not referring to what some call "farting out" or an inability of an amp/speaker to handle high amplitude low frequencies very well without distortion.  But I still don't know what people mean.

Could you kind and gentle folks give some examples of this in action, perhaps some sound samples or known recordings, or maybe even something you did to fix said problem.  I'd like to understand a little more about what people mean and maybe arrive at some common understanding.

[phaeton]

I always thought Jack Bruce's bass was 'flabby' sounding in Cream's rendition of Spoonful.  Particularly right after the guitar solo.

But I'm not 100% sure what is meant by 'flabby' either.  That's *my* definition, and I'm usually wrong as compared to convention.

[$uperpuma]

my guess maybe a lack of mid-bite... or much bite at all... (although if its flabby, you'd assume it would bite quite a bit...OH he said no fat jokes...)

[gez]

I've always thought of it as too much bass or 'body'...or does that make things sound more 'muddy'?  

Reminds me of a George Martin interview on the radio a few years ago.  He said he always found Paul easier to work with as Lennon would ask him things like 'can you make it sound more orange?'.

[JimRayden]

(although if its flabby, you'd assume it would bite quite a bit...OH he said no fat jokes...)

LOL

Anyway, the term for me is the opposite of 'thick', as sarcastic as it might seem   As to amp-terms, closed-back cabs have a more focused sound, open-backs are more 'flabby' to me.

I guess it could be used as a synonym for 'loose': low-gain, soft drive, a bit on the bassy side. If you've heard a flag flapping in the wind, you know what I'm talking about. The stronger the wind, the quicker and more focused the flapping is. I'd say a Fuzz Face is quite flabby at lower gain and tone settings.

---------
Jimbo

[JimRayden]

Reminds me of a George Martin interview on the radio a few years ago.  He said he always found Paul easier to work with as Lennon would ask him things like 'can you make it sound more orange?'.

I bet most of us here would turn up the compressor.

----------
Jimbo

[WGTP]

Not to make fat jokes, but the reference seems to be related to the physical aspects of having fatness about the body.  The movement of your speaker while reproducing this sound.

Loose, out-of-control, jiggley, bouncy, overly thick, difuse, opposite of tight, solid, controlled, focused, etc.

The reference many times is used with Farty.  The act of flatulating can excite local area fatness resulting in a flabby farty sound.

I agree that it is a term I associate with fuzz a lot of times, because to me a fuzz is a distortion device that has too much bass going thru the circuit i.e. needs a 4X smaller input cap.  

[phaeton]

(although if its flabby, you'd assume it would bite quite a bit...OH he said no fat jokes...)

LOL

Anyway, the term for me is the opposite of 'thick', as sarcastic as it might seem   As to amp-terms, closed-back cabs have a more focused sound, open-backs are more 'flabby' to me.

I guess it could be used as a synonym for 'loose': low-gain, soft drive, a bit on the bassy side. If you've heard a flag flapping in the wind, you know what I'm talking about. The stronger the wind, the quicker and more focused the flapping is. I'd say a Fuzz Face is quite flabby at lower gain and tone settings.

---------
Jimbo

Flag flapping is an interesting analogy.  Suddenly you've reminded me of the Howlin' Wolf song "How many more times".  IIRC it was recorded in the 1940s (!), long before uh... "distortion was discovered".  Hubert Sumlin's guitar is definately distorted to hell.  Dunno if he razored the speaker or what.  I'll see if I can dig up some soundclips tonight.

I'm also remembering snippets of Jeff Beck era Yardbirds.  Lots of unfocused, farty distortion/fuzz.  Real squishy, with sag and all the other mojo shit happening, probably because he was beating the hell out of whatever he was playing.

[markm]

"Jailbreak" by Thin Lizzy always sounded flabby to me.
Don't know why, it just did.
Also Neil Young's tone sounds that way to me also.
Lot of people like that tone and I guess it was "hip" at some point.

[$uperpuma]

the "Spirit in the Sky" tone sounds like it may be along these lines...barely a little fuzz sound buried in the speakers max-X sound....maybe this'll help if we are trying to "define" what flabby will mean for identificatin purposes here for this forum ....

[MartyMart]

I've always thought of it as too much bass or 'body'...or does that make things sound more 'muddy'?  

Exactly, I wouldn't use the term "Flabby".... too much bass/mush I would call "muddy" same thing IMO

MM.

[Paul Marossy]

To me flabby = lack of definition in the bass / low mid frequencies.

[Processaurus]

Its what happens when your tone gets too "phat"...

Muddy to me means lack of highs, where as a flabby sound can have nice sounding highs, and just have an abundant, unfocused bass response.  

[RDV]

This.

[markm]

Whoa, whoa, WHOA 
don't go there!!!!!!!!

[John Lyons]

To me flabby =
Farty, too much bass,  but not in a tight way, along the lines of farty.
Garbled maybe semi distorted in the lower notes.
Basically some kind of unattractive distortion in the low end.

Flabby as to flapping and over modulated...?

John

[trevize]

To me flabby  is when you turn to 0 the tone of your guitar
and the gain pot of a silicon fuzz face with high hfe trannyes to the max.

[zachary vex]

if you look at tight-sounding heavy distortion schematics you'll usually find a lot of high-pass filtering going on in the early stages during the distortion buildup.  the process of knocking down the lows as you increase distortion can keep the sound tight... then to equalize it later, you usually end up filtering off the highs again (and scooping out some mids) to smooth it out and re-balance the lows with the highs. 

[jonathan perez]

toooooo much lows in a guitar amp.

remember guys, WERE NOT BASS PLAYERS!

[george]

I used to think fender tweed-style distortion was flabby - now I think of it more as a "graunchy" kind of sound, as it affects mostly the bottom strings.   And Neil Young and post-Cream Clapton makes that sound so cool along with a host of blues players eg David Lindley.

I have most issues with "muddy" neck-pickup distortion (ie lack of definition on all the strings).

I have next-most  followed by too much bass "post-distortion".

But then again what sounds "flabby" on the neck pickup usually sounds really good on the neck pickup ...

just my $AUD0.02 ....