Do ALL your Basses sound good thru your rig?

[hibachiduck]

Yes. With some adjustments to my compressor though. I plug in my passive Jazz: turn up input gain, lower the threshold a hair. I plug in my Sterling and I do the opposite. I do it without thinking now. I do have to say I prefer passive basses though. I use a Streamliner 900

[JimmyM]

I would certainly say you're not the only one. I have some basses that require some extra EQ if I try to use them on the same show. My violin basses especially need it. For that reason alone, I don't do much bass switching anymore, and if I do, I end up having to use outboard EQ on one of them.

[garmenteros]

All my basses (10+) sound good through all my rigs. I think it might have more to do about knowing how to sound like you want and how you approach each bass. If you play all of them the same even though they are different and voiced differently you won't get good results.

Most easily understood example is a 35 scale set with low action jazz bass which I use for tapping and for my metal project and any of the vintage 4 stringers with med high action I have with flats that I use for my sabbath and zeppelin tribute bands. I play these basses very differently. The ones with flats I stick between the neck and front pickup 90% of the time while as the jazz 5er gets played between both pickups and between the bridge pup and bridge exclusively. You have to EQ accordingly and vary how hard you hit the strings as well.

[Sartori]

Originally Posted by Passinwind

Makes total sense, I was just laying out my personal wants and needs. I never carry a spare on gigs, but I reckon something completely different would work fine for me if I ever did decide to.

It would really depend on what the band overall was like for me. I think with my folk rock band, it would work okay if my backup was a Fender Jazz, or a Gibson T-bird or EB-3 or a P-bass or something, but maybe not so well with something more different than that. For my metal bands, ironically, I think the mix overall might get weirder if I used way different sounding basses. But maybe not.

It all depends on one's own preferences and one's musical situation, I suppose.

[bassgod0dmw]

Yes, everything sounds great through it. I may need to tweak here and there to get the sound I want, but it's no different than tweaking for the room that I'm playing in.

[bstark]

I primarily use a Fender P Bass and a Jazz Bass in my current band and I like to switch them often. This may be more of a Genz Benz club type response, but I really appreciate the dual EQ input channel section of my ShuttleMax 12.2.

I can't yet discern the a difference between the Tube and FET sound, so I set up the Tube channel input settings for my P Bass and the FET channel for my Jazz.

The input levels and tone between the basses are quite different, and pressing a channel selector button makes setup quick, and best of all, I don't have to change EQ/Level settings everytime I switch basses.

This really helps me maintain consistency and response out of my amp.

Bob

[Steve]

all of my instruments sound good through all my gear. They also sound good straight into a mix console. If they didn't, they would be someone elses instruments.

[fjadams]

Everything I have sounds good thru the GK and the Orange. With one exception, the Kala hollowbody sounds good thru the GK, but can't get a good tone with the Orange.

[77 StingRayBass]

Originally Posted by atomicdog

OK, great thread—my basses all sound different through my rig and some sound like crap. At times, all my basses sound like crap and I start thinking its the rig. But . . . maybe it's me!!! But seriously, am I the only person on TB that can say that has to dial every axe in to to get a good sound?

I'm with you atomic...
Only my Musicman consistantly sounds good in EVERY amp/speaker combo. I can pretty much just bump the lows on the amp, BUT, my Jazz...that's a different thing.

[39-Bassist]

I have found that "sound" I like. My main bass is EQed to my liking on my amp, and then by trying different pickup configurations on my other basses I have great sounds also.

[jmattbassplaya]

I've yet to play something that wasn't at least passable through my rig. Personally, I think I have a really solid rig. I've gotten nothing but compliments on my tone.

[mam1862]

Originally Posted by 77 StingRayBass

Thanks everyone for chiming in!
It just seems no matter the amp/cab combo, my StingRay sounds great, but those Fender basses take a little more work, but sound cool also.

+1. My Pbass and Jbass sound good but take a little more tweaking. I have two amps I use, the GB Streamliner 900 and MB Big Bang and I find that I can dial in the Fenders easier with the Big Bang. The Ray and the Ric sound equally as good with either amp.

[Baird6869]

All of my basses sound great thru my rig. Actually, all of my basses sound pretty good thru most rigs.

I have a very heavy attack and pretty unique playing style (play closer to the neck than bridge, play higher up the neck than most, etc.) so I end to sound like me on most basses.

[Basstardus]

almost all basses sound good thru my Orange rig, mine and of my friends, BUT, flatwound stringed basses sound bad...so after a long period of time using flats, I went back to rounds and it sounds amazing

[HolmeBass]

Not through my main loud rig, my Jazz sounds lifeless through my GB SM 9.2 into fEARful. But all of them sound good through my acoustic/winery/coffee house rig, an Eden WTX-260 and D112XLT, although I just got a Hartke HyDrive 112 that I think will take over solo op from the D112XLT. It has a baked-in sound, but it's a good baked in sound.

I am going to try some flats on the Jazz and see how that goes with both rigs, with the steel rounds it's just too twangy right now, although the Eden head seems to be able to EQ it well.

[VanillaThundah]

Originally Posted by 77 StingRayBass

1 amp, multiple Basses. Are you able to plug any of your Basses and get your sound? I find thru my Carvin BX500/Avatar 2-10 cab, my StingRay ALWAYS sounds right, with not a lot of EQing, BUT, I really have to tweak this and low/high mid that to get a decent sound from my Fender's. Does anyone else run into this? My StingRay thru my Metro with a basically flat eq sounded great also. Just curious.

It is so funny you say that, I have the exact same rig and the exact same problem. I do have to tweak (usually give up and use the graphic EQ) to get a decent sound with my Fenders too. My Warwick? All I have to do is turn the master volume on the amp up lol

[soulman969]

To me yeah, absolutely they do. But we're talking about a PBass and a JBass with passive Bill Lawrence pickups and they also tend to sound good through any rig. I'm into simple vintage style tone and these get the job done.

The tc BG250 I typically use is a great combo amp and for my purposes that and those basses plugged straight in are all I need.

[Munjibunga]

Some basses like some amps and vice-versa. Same thing with amps and cabs. You just have to mix and match until you know what sounds good with what.

[audiorep2]

Originally Posted by Sartori

The upright bass does not sound good through my rig, as it feeds back too much.

All the electric basses sound good through my rig, though, as they all sound somewhat similar.

I have this problem as well. Ramirez Baby Bass ( active/passive ) and various 4 string basses. A Radial Bassbones helps a bit to match them up.

[wcriley]

I don't understand why anyone would want to make a Fender and a Musicman sound the same to get "my sound".
Each of my bass guitars has it's own distinct personality and sound.
Maybe I'm the odd-man-out here, but I don't have "my sound". "My sound" changes with my mood and playing situation, as does the particular bass guitar I chose to play on any given night. Rather than EQing to make each guitar sound similar, I EQ to bring out the best attributes of each.