Do you use your onboard EQ?

[Jim Nazium]

Just wondering how many people really use the onboard EQ on their active basses. Those who do, do you "set it and forget it" or do you adjust it between, or even during songs?

[ehque]

I use it on my Zon to give a slight bump at 250. Just to make it sound less "modern".

[totallybacan]

On my L2000 I usually boost the treble all the time, and keep bass at slightly cut during faster songs and move it to flat on slower songs with longer notes.

[MaxOnBass]

On a bass with a A/P switch, I set up one sound on the active (mostly slap sound) and only use the switch to have 2 sounds under my hand. On actives, I mostly make just minor adjustments during the gig. On passives I turn the tone knob like crazy

[phatbass]

On my ATK I pretty well leave it flat. On the occasional song where I want a smoother sound, I'll roll the mids back just a bit to take the gnarl out...

[CYDbass]

i usually use my onboard EQ to set my sound, with just a bit of mids boost on the amp to cut through.
this leaves my EQ pedal free to change my sound, so like MaxOnBass said, i have two sounds available. i do change bits for some songs, and use it alongside the pickup selector to go from a full bass sound on the neck pup to a thinner one at the bridge.

[JTE]

I start with it flat, and tweak it for particular songs on particular stages. My actives include Laklands with Bart PUPs/pre, and a fretless mongrel with Duncan's Steve Bailey "Fundemental Fretless" pre-amp.

John

[scowboy]

Playing pretty much only worship these days it is a two part answer:
1. When I use either of my amps the answer is generally no because I do set the eq on the amp. On my Warwick I will occasionally solo up the neck pick up to make it bark.

2. When playing on Sunday's our church has a IEM system so the eq on my bass is all I have got! In which case I say thank goodness for onboard active eq systems!

[NortyFiner]

I usually just leave the preamp on my Ibanez SR505 flat. I wish it was passive, but passive humbucking/noiseless five-strings are rare beasts these days...

[depalm]

I rarely use but I like to be able to use when I need, so my main basses have onboard EQ.

[Jefenator]

Hey, that's what it's there for!

I used to leave it flat on my old Yamaha 6-string all the time for years and years. The a guy sat in on it and I was blown away by the tone and when he handed it back, the "bass" was cranked. [light bulb]

I usually set the "bass" at the beginning of the gig & leave it (usually flat or maybe a bit of boost, kind of like a "loudness" bump on quieter jobs).

The treble, I'll vary between songs. All the way down for old-school, way up for in-your-face slapping, somewhere in between the rest of the time. (Kind of like the way I use a passive tone knob.)

[Valerus]

Often. I roll my highs off a little and pump up the mids and lows a little. provides a slight amount of punch without overpowering the bass presence.

[Lincoln]

I always use my pre- I find that as the other musicians in the group change their tone per song, I tend to alter the tone of m instrument to still make a good mix. I also change it to alter the character of the song.

I find that unlike others who've posted, that I set the amp at a certain EQ to accomodate the room. And then tweak the onboard for tone and character options...

[mikezimmerman]

It depends on the bass. With the Wals, I tended to use the EQ a lot--there were so many different sounds there with the filter-type EQ! And on the MTDs and Curbows I've had with Bart switchable mid controls, I tended to play with the different midrange frequencies. But with most basses (both active and passive), I rely primarily on the blend between the pickups to get the different tones I'm after.

Mike

[RTL]

On both of my Roscoes, I tend to use the bridge pickup by itself 80% of the time. I'll usually bump the bass a touch above the center detent, and boost the low mids a little more. Treble usually stays flat, as one is a fretless (not always desirable to have a bunch of highs), and the other has a solid ash body, with the bridge pickup nice and close to the bridge (plenty of cut). Sometimes I'll boost the highs for a particular song, but I usually don't have to in order to be heard. A Roscoe will always make room for itself in the mix.

PS: I'm not a "set and forget" guy either.. I'm always changing my eq to match the song/style.

[bassbenj]

Originally Posted by Jim Nazium

Just wondering how many people really use the onboard EQ on their active basses. Those who do, do you "set it and forget it" or do you adjust it between, or even during songs?

I use it often. By far the EQ I use the most in general circumstances is the mid control on my Fender V to control the character of the tone. With an Amp I tend to set it and forget it using the amp controls for adjustments if needed. For tonal changes during songs I prefer switches so that a choice is made rather than a finely tuned adjustment. For example I commonly use the "boost" and "extra boost" switch on my G&L but tend not to like to do the same thing with the actives with just knobs.

But for me where my Active basses really shine is when I'm playing through a DI. [Which I love to do by the way, because although you may sacrifice some tone, coming to the gig with just a bass case like some horn player and no ton of amps and cabs is the bomb.] Playing through a DI there is no amp there to tweak on. What is on the bass is IT. So if I want to boost some lows or roll some highs, the active bass is all there is to do it.

All I can say is that playing with a DI and a passive bass can only be described as "limiting". Without my Active EQ, you sort of end up spending the whole evening with "you only get, what you get". Period.

[tom once dead]

Set and forget. I sometimes adjust treble if im using tweetered cabs

[GODSBASSMAN]

Never really thought about it but using the pup mix is what I use most to change up the sound that I am looking for as well as plucking finger position. I feel both of these techniques render more usable tone changes than a preamp other than the radical settings that are possible like "deep mud" or "saw chain grind".