Bad ear or bad tone?

[Depth_Charge]

I chose General Instruction over Live Sound because I'm asking in the context of wanting to improve my ear.

Over the weekend I played a short notice fill in gig (less than 24 hours prep time) and while sound checking, the bandleader complained all he was getting from me was "80 hertz". I was playing my Fender Jaguar with old strings, so we messed with my bass and amp tone controls to get more midrange into my tone, but it was nowhere as good a tone as this guy was used to, very low end etc.

This got me wondering whether having a "low" tone affects my ability to hear and learn by ear?

I do tend to have a good ear for picking notes on the lower register of the instrument, and have been trying to improve my ear. After this weekend Im wondering if my ear isn't developing because I can't hear myself properly when jamming against recordigns?

Sorry for the long thread.

[colcifer]

Too much info is usually better than too little...

The guy just didn't like the way you set your EQ; carry on.

[Depth_Charge]

Thanks, I thought that was part of it. I'd still have liked to know how to achieve a tone closer to what he was chasing from my gear, being a fill in situation and all. Poor guy had his bassist cancel 2 days before the show and was scrambling to find someone to show up! Best he got was me and we didn't even have time for a jam beforehand!

His old bassist was playing a gig down the road and we went to check in during a set break. His tone was awesome! But I didn't get the opportunity to ask how he gets it. I did see the bass he plays and part of his rig, so thats a start I spose