Probably the wrong section redirect if necessary
 

I'm having a little trouble trying to dial in a decent sound with my bass / amp / cab.. :help:

Its like, I'll set it one day, and it'll sound really good.
Yet the next, I get this really muddy sound in the bottom end..

I've got a Ibanez SR 300 (neon strings, no mods)
Ampeg SVT 7 pro
Ampeg Classic 810E

My head's EQ has the bass knob dialed a little less than middle, and my mids and highs set a little more than middle. My compression/gain is set to about 80% or so before it starts clipping.

The bass has it's own EQ.. One for high, low, Finger/slap, and volume knob. I've got them all dialed back a bit further than 12 o'clock to get rid of some of the extra bottom end I'm getting. :confused:

Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

What changes between it sounding good, then muddy? Location or something else?

It sits pretty stationary at my house unless we have a show to play. Then I have to tweak the settings regardless to get a decent stage tone...

It just bewilders me how I can play and sound great during practice one day, then plug in the next to practice only to get a really flat muddy sound. :hmm:

I sometimes go through the same thing but I'm an obsessive fiddler and one day it sounds perfect and the next I start screwing around with everything ? I would try a different bass if you have one are you using any pedals?

I think you are experiencing the difference between "Good sitting in the mix tone" and "good practice tone." What may sound fantastic in the mix at practice may not be exactly what you want to hear by yourself. This is why we have EQ's. ;)

Nah. I bought a Boss ODB-3, but didn't like the tone I got from it. Just direct plug in from the bass to the head

Are you standing in different positions relative to the front of 810?

This is true.


Also, just out of interest, have you tried changing the battery in your bass?

That Ibanez 300 also has the super special "tone suck" knob