Tone control

[FinLux]

Hi there,

I am building a bass guitar made out of Warmoth neck and body and EMG pickups.

I have two questions:

Why tone and volume controls on the bass? Aren't these controls on the amp as well?

If I decide to use tone control on the bass itself, wouldn't it be nicer if i had tone control per pickup?

Most basses that I've seen have 2 or 3 band tone control, don't have it per pickup.

Thanks in advance and friendly greetings from The Netherlands,

Steven

[line6man]

AFAIK, most amps have active EQs, not all have a passive low pass filter control.

It's a simple control that lets you mellow out the highs when you want to. Just because an amp has the same controls doesn't mean you can't have them available on the bass itself. The same could be argued about having onboard EQ. It gives you versatility from the bass itself.

It wouldn't be a good idea to have more than one tone control on a bass, because tone controls run parallel to the signal path, so when you have two, they will both act as master tones whenever the pickup volumes are equal.

Having separate 2 or 3 band EQs per pickup would also be absurd. How often are you really going to be EQing the pickups differently? (Unless you have dual outputs.)

[mikezimmerman]

There are a few basses that have separate EQs for each pickup (Wal, Alembic, old Tobias Growler) but most folks find that to be unnecessary.

[FinLux]

Hey guys,

Thanks for the replies. Line6man, technically, it is possible to give each pup it's own EQ without any problem. Having read some more about this subject, I have to conclude that you are right. It is just too much.

I decided to go for 1 main volume, 1 active balance, and 3-band EQ, including a total of three switches. Two of them to select single/dual mode on mu EMG pups and 1 on/off switch. That should do the trick.

Thanks!

[line6man]

Originally Posted by FinLux

technically, it is possible to give each pup it's own EQ without any problem.

Yes, you can have an EQ on each pickup if you wanted, there is no reason why it wouldn't work. It's just totally overkill.

[geekabit]

I'll have to agree with FinLux. I never use any of the controls on my bass. The only thing I do is make sure the volume pot is all the way up and the tone controls are in the middle. This has been bothering me for a while and I was thinking of removing the controls from my bass all together. Also, this can only improve the sound quality of my bass. It's not that it sounds bad, but I hate to have unnecessary stuff in the signal path. My amp has an excellent tone control and volume pot, so why add another one on your bass?

Cheers,
Maarten
(also from .nl)

[Jaco Taco]

I've always found tone controls to be unnecessary.

[Cadfael]

Hi Maarten,

greetings from Germany - but lived nearly 40 years only 10 km from Venlo.

You can remove all controls.
But "better sound" doesn't always mean all frequencies. Remember a distorted guitar played direct into the PA. An E-Guitar needs a guitar amp (and its speaker) for frequency cut to sound good.

If you love a very bright and harsh bass, you can simply remove all pots.
If it sounds too harsh/bright, add a parallel wired 250k resistor (for active basses 25k). this will let it sound more "natural" / "as usual". By the parallel resistor you imitate a full open volume pot without having one.
You can also install a 500k or 1M trim pot parallel and find out which resistance is best for your "natural sound feeling".

You mustn't - but you can ...

[Beatlejuice53]

Just something to consider. A G & L SB-2 (p/j) has 2 volume controls and no tone controls. I have problems with mine. Although an SB-1 (p) has a volume and tone. Might want to check one out.

[Beatlejuice53]

Sorry ment no problems with mine

[Davo-London]

I've always wanted a volume only bass ... But now I have a Pre-CBS Precision I find I use the tone much more than I did with my 70's Precision. Don't ask me why! I prefer controls on a bass than on an amp though. I'd happily have a volume only amp.



Davo

[Cadfael]

I have a Roland CUBE-100 ...
I use the tone control on my bass and the modeling switch (3 of the models).
The amp EQ is only in use when the room acoustic changes. So, I have a "room adaptor EQ", three primary settings and the bass. I love it ...

[Maz]

Geekabit, don't assume your bass will sound better without a preamp. You might be wrong. I would suggest wiring in a bypass, easy enough to do, and play around with it for awhile. One of mine is set up for active/passive and I can tell you, on active with everything flat, it still boosts the signal and makes the instrument sound fuller.

[ps10black]

what about installing a Steinberger pot that has a true Bypass direct to jack, that way you can cover more ground they are available from Stewmac

Lee