Hey yall! I didn't know where to put this thread but here goes: I've been struggling with my bass tone lately. By myself it sounds great. In band practice and performance it's hit or miss. Specifically, the E string is always super great sounding, rich tone etc. But the other strings tend to get lost in the mix especially the G string. Thoughts? What can fix this?
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Bass Tone?
- Thread starter AbraBASS42069
- Start date
LoveThatBass
Supporting Member
Double-check your set-up (routine). Setting your EQ / balances while solo'd rarely translates well in an ensemble setting as you've discovered...usually too-severe cuts in the mid range.
Probably belongs in "Live Sound" but it's still a great question.
Riis
As @Zooberwerx said, you almost certainly need to EQ differently in a band setting than when playing alone.
Also, another important factor in the band context is where your speakers are relative to your ears. If you have a cabinet/combo sitting on the floor and you're standing right in front of it, you'll only be the only person in the room who can't hear you well: You'll only hear the (omnidirectional) low frequencies while the mids and highs blast your legs. If this is the case you need to solve this problem first, and then adjust your EQ as necessary.
Also, another important factor in the band context is where your speakers are relative to your ears. If you have a cabinet/combo sitting on the floor and you're standing right in front of it, you'll only be the only person in the room who can't hear you well: You'll only hear the (omnidirectional) low frequencies while the mids and highs blast your legs. If this is the case you need to solve this problem first, and then adjust your EQ as necessary.
“Bedroom tone” is a phrase you’ll see in lots of threads like this. Big scoop-out of mids, big greasy buttery heart attack helping of bottom and deep fried to a hard crunchy crispy shell of treble.
Live, you have to hand off the crispness to the guitars, keys, horns, cymbals, and snare, and hand off a big portion of the gut & chest crushing bottom to the kick drum & resonating toms. The low mids is where we slot in unless the band is an artsy minimalist thing and the bassist has to fill in other slots as well.
Trust the bass amp & cab designers to have given you a good starting point for most popular genres with all of your eq knobs pointed at noon or sliders in the middle, and leave any “Boost” or “Ultra” switches off. Just lightly tweak the eq “for the room” if the band as a whole is sounding off just due to the bass guitar spiking or deficient in one or another frequency range.
Live, you have to hand off the crispness to the guitars, keys, horns, cymbals, and snare, and hand off a big portion of the gut & chest crushing bottom to the kick drum & resonating toms. The low mids is where we slot in unless the band is an artsy minimalist thing and the bassist has to fill in other slots as well.
Trust the bass amp & cab designers to have given you a good starting point for most popular genres with all of your eq knobs pointed at noon or sliders in the middle, and leave any “Boost” or “Ultra” switches off. Just lightly tweak the eq “for the room” if the band as a whole is sounding off just due to the bass guitar spiking or deficient in one or another frequency range.
