Bass Tone Troubles

Dumb question, but have you rolled back the tone on you bass all the way?

If it's still too bright and you've even rolled off on the amp a bit, you could look into the cap values on the tone pot and swap for something that will roll off at a lower value.

 

That amp has a 4 band eq... I think. Bump up the low mids and fiddle with the hi mids.... should help

 

Both the tone knob on the bass and the EQ section of that amp should he able to get you to fat, round bass bliss.

We're not getting the whole story.

What settings are you using on the amp (pic would help)? Have you turned the tone knob way down on the bass?

 

Perhaps a low pass filter? A simple way to try would be with a wha-wha pedal (a friend may lend you one) and depress the pedal up to a depth you like the way it sounds… if you do, perhaps a filter may help things out.

 

In my experience, GKs can sound great...but they can also sound awful. It sounds like you want a tone that the GK does not excel at. It could also be your bass. I suggest thinking of the amp, cab, bass, strings, and setup as a system. All parts of the system are potential sources of the problem.

I own GK RB series amps. The me they are fairly bright, they are not the best choice for heavy lows IMHO. If you like lean lows, they can produce some really nice growl and grind. But when you crank the lows up too much, they seem overly woolly and loose .

It can be challenging to find amps and cabs that are voiced the way you want. Play a bunch of different gear and there is a good chance you will find a better choice.

 

Try some tapewound strings. Or foam under the strings at the bridge.

 

Don't forget that the "GK sound" includes a non-flat voicing of the 4-knob EQ section. I measured the curve, and twiddled the knobs until it was roughly flat. The settings on my MB200 and Backline 600 were both similar, about:

Treble = 10:00, Hi-Mid = 2:00, Low-Mid = 1:00, Bass = 10:00, Contour = Off

Now, flat response is not necessarily the holy grail, but might be a useful starting point for finding a tone that you like.

 

Two thoughts:

1) Have you tried experimenting with strings? What's your take on flatwounds?

2) It sounds like you're trying to set your tone in a bandless setting. Frequency masking in a band setting may tell you that your tone is already dark enough actually, it's just that without any other instruments, anything that wouldn't stand out in a mix will jump out at you because you're putting it under a microscope.

 

There's ur problem...bassy and smooth..just about the worse type of bass tone there is as it will emphasis the treble frequencies as well as rendering you basically inaudible. You need more mids to balance things out. Strings, plucking hand..amp settings all contribute.

 

Agreed!
OP, GK makes great amps, but they are scooped so you need to fix that by boosting low and high mids. Than try cutting treble and/or tone on your bass.
If it gets boomy, back of bass or low mids. Also, try moving your cab. Raising it above half a meter (2 feet) from the floor and out of room corner will help.

 

1. Flatwound strings. No need to go for the bassy sounding ones (like the LaBella Deep Talkin Flats), a standard set will do - whatever tickles your fancy. These will have way less high frequency content, less sliding noises and less 'zing' right out of the box, and they will get more mellow with age. They are expensive at first, but when you've had a set on a bass for more than two years, you're actually saving money. They last a very long time.

2. It sounds counter intuitive, but a high pass filter will help you. Even better, a high & low pass filter.
A variable high pass filter will eliminate the low end rumble (AKA mud) from your tone, but keep the bass intact.
By cutting off everything below the threshold, you're able to boost more bass above.
A variable low pass filter works a bit like your tone knob (if you're running a passive bass) - a tone knob is a low pass filter by itself, but I found that with a filter pedal, you have a different feeling.
I set my HPF and LPF the same way: I start with the filter wide open and then slowly close it while playing. The sound gets better and better until I hit the area where it starts cutting stuff I don't want cut. Now I back off a little and I am done.

3. Your means of transferring the bass signal from your fingers to your ears should be capable.
When you want deep, clear bass, your cabinets and/or headphones need to be able to produce that bass without breaking a sweat.

4. Peak limiting/compression.
When you have something in place that will catch any unwanted spikes, you will be able to turn up your signal so loud that playing softly gets you loud enough. Do that and you will play with less noise. Pluck the strings further towards the fretboard for more bass response. Don't do that without a comp/limiter, though - on occasion, you might hit a hard note by accident and when your amp is set that soft playing gets you audible in the mix, hard playing will earn you dirty looks and requests to turn down your rig.

 

Play closer to the neck, and make sure you are using the pad of your finger and not your fingernail.

I apologize if you already know this.

 

Don't boost the lows on your amp (maybe even cut it a little) and cut the highs but not the high mids. You want to keep your high mids there to retain clarity and cut (all the way to 0 if necessary) just the trebble to avoid that snappy brightness.

Flatwounds and foam mutes are also your friends.

 

Are we talkin solo at home playing by yourself tone or what you sound like in the mix with other instruments? 2 VERY different things in my experience.

 

What strings are you using?

 

When I was amp shopping I found GK has a very bright baked in tone that I did not really care for. Start w bass tone control, amp eq, strings.

 

I find that GK's (I have an MB112-ii and an MB212-ii) take a compressor really well to smooth out clicky highs.