Looking for a punchy live tone

[Eraserhead0508]

So when it comes to sounds, gear, amps and what not, i consider myself tone-challenged when I try to figure out what my amp can do.

I got a Peavey Grind 4 BXP NTB 4-String Electric Bass running through an Ampeg B2R.

I am pretty much looking for a nice set tone I can use for a punchy crisp sound. I have found myself getting it occasionally, though I never look at how my amp is set.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[Toolmybass]

i take a pic of my knob settings and assign it to a folder for that particular bass.....so a month down the road when i want that sound again i know the settings.

[Eraserhead0508]

i will most definitely do this from now on.

any ideas on what i can set my amp settings to for this tone?

[Toolmybass]

Try page 6 for a reference
http://www.ampeg.com/pdf/B-2R.PDF

[walterw]

Originally Posted by Eraserhead0508

I got a Peavey Grind 4 BXP NTB 4-String Electric Bass running through an Ampeg B2R.

into what kind of cab?

Originally Posted by Eraserhead0508

I am pretty much looking for a nice set tone I can use for a punchy crisp sound. I have found myself getting it occasionally, though I never look at how my amp is set.

well then maybe you should start looking

seriously though, in general, "punchy" means more mids and less bass and treble, both on the bass and on the amp. if you dial up a sound that's maybe a little harsh and "honk-y" by itself, you'll likely find that you can hear it easily when the band's playing.

the trick is to balance the barky sound you might need to hear yourself with the deeper sound that makes the band sound full and stays out of the way of the guitars and vocals.

[allexcosta]

Have a certain sound in your inner ear and match your amp to that from room to room...

That's how everybody does it...

Believing that the same settings will deliver similar tone in different rooms is an illusion.

[groove pump]

Make sure you're getting enough mids out of your bass - I think yours has an H-H layout? Running both pickups wide open might be okay, but it might also be a bit "mid-scooped" without the clarity you're trying to find.

I play a passive Jazz bass and also have a MM Sabre, which is sort of like a Sterling with H-H pickups, but the preamp will only boost lows or highs, not the mids. The J-bass gives me a solid dose of mids with both pu's turned all the way up, but the Sabre is seriously light in the mids with both pu's switched on (no fader or individual volume control for each pickup). To get the punch I like from that bass, I solo the bridge pickup and also boost the on-board lows enough so that the tone isn't too thin.

Your bass may give you enough of the overall punch with enough of those mids if you can cut only a little of the neck pickup output. That could ensure that your sound still has some fat fundamental to it, yet lets more of that burpy, nasally sort of tone come out. The more you cut your neck pickup, the more you might want to boost your on-board low eq to compensate.

As for your amp, noodle around with a little bump in your low mids, maybe in the neighborhood of 400-500 Hz. Keep the other stuff set more or less flat.