Getting "that" sound from my rig.

[santucci218]

Its not my bass, i dig it a lot. Fender Highway 1 Jazz.

Heres the setup

Bass, full neck and bridge, full tone knob

into

BBE Opto Stomp, compression around 5 with -15db on

into

GK 1001, contour to 0, all flat except for low mids, a little boosted to make it fatter sounding.

from the effects loop

BBE Sonic Max with Noise Reduction, Its brand new, i hear the difference but dont know how to dial in what i want.

Into effects loop

Avatar 4x10 Neo with tweeter at 50%

thats my whole setup. I just spent about 2 hours fiddeling with all my new knobs and such and cant get the right tone out of it.

For those of you who use a sonic max, what do you keep the knobs at?

Tone im going for - Good solo tone, strong, punchy, full sounding...BUT one thing i hate is boomy lows and harsh highs.

Any information on any of these products would be great!

[Taylor Livingston]

I would try removing the Sonic Maximizer from the signal path. The low shelf and high shelf boosts you get from that can create the boomy lows and harsh highs that you're not liking.

I also think that buying effects to fix a rig you don't like is a bad idea. Work on getting a sound you like with just your bass, amp and cab. If you really can't get a sound you like with just the basics, you should then look at getting a different amp and/or cab. I've found I'm able to get pretty close to my sound with most gear I've played. The other 15% is where the quest for the right gear comes in.

I will never recommend buying an effect to make up for a deficiency in your amp/cab.

[santucci218]

well its not really an effect... i would label compressors and the sonic max under something else, i just dont know what.

[bongomania]

If it was me, I'd go without the Maximizer for now. The descriptors you used- strong, punchy, full, but not boomy or harsh- I know I could get that with just the amp and the compressor. I'm not dissing maximizers, I know they are great for a lot of people, but in this case I think it might just be getting in the way of your tone.

[santucci218]

i managed to get it to somewhere what i want.

EQing question... What makes the tone fat and punchy? what makes it growl? what makes it harsh, and what makes it boomy?

[Nick Kay]

Fatness and punch is in the low mids. But so is tubby and bloated, so be careful.

Growl means different things to different people. It could be a little bit of grit (from your Boost knob perhaps), or it could be the solo'd J Bridge sound with a bump in the mids. Experiment for that one.

Harshness is attributed to too much of a frequency, and ANY frequency above about 800Hz could be described as harsh if there's too much of it. In my case, it's usually around 2.9kHz and its harmonics.

Boom is usually too much midbass (around 60hz), and is usually paired with tubbyness in the low mids.

[mothmonsterman]

Originally Posted by Nick Kay

Fatness and punch is in the low mids. But so is tubby and bloated, so be careful.

Growl means different things to different people. It could be a little bit of grit (from your Boost knob perhaps), or it could be the solo'd J Bridge sound with a bump in the mids. Experiment for that one.

Harshness is attributed to too much of a frequency, and ANY frequency above about 800Hz could be described as harsh if there's too much of it. In my case, it's usually around 2.9kHz and its harmonics.

Boom is usually too much midbass (around 60hz), and is usually paired with tubbyness in the low mids.

+100
Thank you so much, i was looking for something like this.

[santucci218]

thanks a lot man, looks like i got some playing around to do when i get home!

[JanusZarate]

Don't be afraid to turn up the Level and Boost knobs.

[santucci218]

i dont like the "gk growl" that much really. makes it sound stagnant to me...

[stingray69]

I always run a 5-band, fully parametric as a standard part of my setup. So many amp & cabs have so much coloration (which is not a bad thing, just saying) that it is damn near impossible to find a perfect match that sounds perfect to ones specific tastes (even keeping within "matched" heads & cab combos from the same manufacturer). Pros include shaping "your" tone precisely to what you want, more precise EQ'ing for troublesome rooms on gigs, etc.,... Naturally, I find that the better the amp's natural voicing & EQ options sound, the less I lean on a parametric to put the EQ icing on the cake, but I'll never part with mine. To me it is essential gear. The downside is that a slight learning curve is required with a fully parametric EQ, but the tone rewards are well worth the effort, IMO.

Just throwing out options, .02 cents, what-have-you. I hope you find what you are looking for tone-wise.