Settings for jazz

[manutabora]

Mr. Nitti,
Another big fan of yours here. I went through one of your courses on improvisation through Music Dojo, and it has been very helpful.
My question concerns eq settings. I play jazz mostly and I use a Peavey Cirrus bass. This bass has an inherently modern, very hi-fi sound. I'm finding that a lot of the time this type of tone is not the most appropriate for jazz. What would you recommend, as far as settings? I know that technique obviously play a role and sometimes playing closer to the neck helps. One of my big pet peeves is that in big band playing, you really have to grab those hits with the band very strongly. Also, it's good to be able to dig into the strings for up-tempo walking lines. It's tough to even get an appropriate volume level that weill be strong enough for big hits while not overpowering during the rest of the song.
Also, the director of the jazz ensembles at my school recommended that I use flatwounds. Do you have any experience with using flatwounds on a more modern bass like a Cirrus, or a Warrior in your case? It doesn't seem like a great idea to me, but I guess I won't know until I try.
Sorry about the megapost. Thanks for your time and for any advice that you may give me.

[adamnitti]

hi manutabora!

you are correct... given the basic tone of the cirrus, it is a bit more challenging to get more of a 'traditional' sound... this is due to several factors, but the main reasons probably have to do with the pickup placement on that bass coupled with the way the preamp is tuned... i have several basses exhibiting this more midrange-strong quality, myself. there are a few things you can do to help, but the fundamental tone of basses like these is one that's going to be a little bit harder to tame. it sounds like you are already on the right track, though.

-turn your treble control all the way down or almost all the way down to 'smooth' out the edges

-if you have a midrange control, back that off, as well. however, with some preamps, you will find that backing off the mids too much will have diminishing returns, because a lot of the low end frequencies are shelved in there, as well. my yamaha trb basses are like this.

-maybe boost your bass control to the point that it helps to shroud more of the high-mids and high-end of the bass. essentially, what you are trying to do with your tone controls is create more of a midrange/highend 'scoop' in an effort to make the tone more round.

-play with a lighter touch, but closer to the very edge of the fingerboard, so that you get maximum amplitude out of each string's vibration. this will round out the tone significantly and make it a bit 'thuddier'. depending on the setup of your bass, you might have to raise the action in order to deal with the playing dynamics associated with playing the strings in a less-taut location.

-if your action is super-low, consider raising it some. this will remove some of the metallic quality associated with your tone, and allow it to blossom more in the low end.

flatwounds will also help to darken your tone, yes... however, you will still have to contend some with the eq of the bass.

of course, the easiest solution is to have another bass that exhibits these qualities already, but not everyone can just load up on different basses to satisfy every situation. i still think you can get pretty close with what you have, as long as you know how to deal with the limitations or basic characteristics of it. me personally, i have a lot of different instruments and use them all in different settings, but it has taken me a long time to build up my collection. in any case, i hope this helps you out some!