Do I even need to use my onboard mid/high?

[Damani311]

I play a rig that may just be too hi fi to pump high and mids through and still get a sound that's bassy.

As a rock/drumnbass/funk player, I may have gone the wrong route on choosing equipment, although it will be nice if I actually get to end up playing Fusion like I want.

I have a Warwick SSII (active preamp), and an SWR head and cab. When I have my mids and highs on they sound fine through the monitor, but when i set the amp on 'flat' and the bass on 'flat' it sounds like I am adding overdrive to it. Sounds very harsh and brittle and you can hear EVERYTHING i'm doing on the strings, which I don't like (granted i'm not a great player, but the string/fret noise is just too much).

So I'm wondering, when using my amp, should i just turn off the high and mids? Or will I 'not be able to cut through the mix in a band setting', as seems to be the default answer to this sort of question?

Thanks!

[bassguitarded]

i say start by setting both your bass and the amp eqs flat and adding just the frequency's you need to get the tone you want. start with the swr preamp volume nice and low to prevent any overdrive say at like 2. a little eq goes a long way with an on board pre. the graphic EQ on my bass head always ends up in the "boob scoop" positions i keep my low low and my mid mid and my high highs at 0 and step the low mids and the high mids down so that it looks like two shallow "u"s like a b cup. if you still have too much rattle roll off the highs in your on board pre and keep the mids they are those "cut through the mix" frequencies.