Altering tone during a performance

[zagralin_arf]

With my metal band my tone is always the same, for some lead parts I'll click on the distortion and wah, sometimes put a little envelope or bassballs on some chords for a synth like sound. Other than effects, my tone stays the same.

[beggar98]

I change tones constantly. One, my plucking hand moves all over the bass, from right by the bridge to plucking on the fretboard. Then, I adjust my pickup blend all the time. Finally, I use the two channels on my head for two totally different tones, one eq'd flat and the other with the mid scooped out and the bass and treble boosted. Does the audience care? I dunno, but it makes a huge difference to how I feel about my playing, and we all know that feel is everything.

[JKT]

As far as overall tone is concerned I am using more varied sounds now than in the last twenty years or so. Especially since using 2 very different instruments. I've foundmyself gravitating towards my Barker more and more except when I need a more aggressive sound or some prolonged slapping and then the P-bass is what I usually end up with.

For many years it was just me and the P-bass. So many options these days...

JKT

[Just J]

I've wondered about this, only not for myself but the lead guitarist. He uses a PodXT Live and usually switches up tones between songs... the problem is it takes him a while, and he usually ends up noodling.

[jaywa]

I use one bass - a 78 Fender P with EMG PJ pickups. I run a SansAmp BBDI in-line between my bass and my SWR WorkingPro 400. Between the SansAmp and the footswitchable Bass Intensifier on the WP 400, I can get three main "tones" as follows:

1) Motown/R&B/ballad - Bass Intensifier on, SansAmp off. I set my WP 400 to get a solid, punchy "core" sound, almost Motown but with a little more punch and articulation. P pickup runs just a hair under wide-open and the J pickup is off zero just a touch (I don't have a pickup blend knob, each pickup is 0 to 100%).

2) Classic Rock - Bass Intensifier off, SansAmp on. The main difference between this and tone 1 is a little less "thud" and a little more high end, drive and tube emulation provided by the SansAmp. Out of courtesy to the sound tech I set the Level knob on the SansAmp to keep the output level the same between this tone and #1. P pickup is wide open and J pickup is open about 1/4 (less if I'm using a pick).

3) Modern Rock/Modern Country/Funk - Bass Intensifier and SansAmp both on. This is a really ballsy tone ("a lot of everything") which isn't appropriate for a lot of the material we play but is just what some of the songs need. Since this setting basically stacks two tones on each other I usually back off the volume of the bass to roughly equal the output of the other two tones, plus about 10% if the song is really bass-centric.

So that's three tones without ever hitting more than two (analog) footswitches which is all I ever want to really deal with. Then of course any of these can be tweaked by neck vs. bridge finger placement, fingers vs. pick, etc. Although by the time all this gets through the P.A. a lot of the subtleties are gone anyway so I don't obsess about it too much. If your bandmates are grinning and the dance floor is hopping then your tone is probably "right".

[Standalone]

I had my first large venue gig, in my jazz group playing basically cocktail/dinner background music in a huge domed space, about 600 seated. I had my basic tone set, but felt like I discovered what the jazz bass's bridge p/up was truly for as I turned it up. It was like a little revelation!

That space really needed a little more neck p/up to balance and blend and cut a little. It mellowed out the boominess more than it added cut.

[OtterOnBass]

Definitely I use different tones, both of which are 'my sound.' I've found two tones that I like to use in general:
1. For my alternative country band I set the switches on my G&L to passive/bridge pickup and the preamp on my amp to tube with a little distortion.
2. For modern rock/Worship music I change the switches to active with treble boost/both pickups. On the amp I bring up the solid-state side of the preamp to clean up the sound, though I leave just enough tube to distort when I really dig in.

Other than that I change for specific songs. For Johnny Cash I mute the strings and play with my thumb for a bottom-heavy upright sound. For 'The Distance' by Cake I switch to active with bass boost/neck pickup and blast away with the reggae-like tone. Does anyone notice? They don't notice that they notice, but they do.

[GianGian]

My tone never changes...not on rehearsals, not live, not at home. Always the same...works wonderfully.