Confession: I Never Turn The Knobs On My Active Bass

[Rib 13]

Do people who use these knobs just not care about how the signal variance might affect their comps or their filters or even dirt pedals? Or maybe I'm looking at this wrong.

When soloing the bridge pickup for "jaco/Faux fretless", I turn the highs almost completely off.......when soloing the near pickup (neck pickup but its not at the neck lol) for "faux upright", I also roll back highs and use thumb-side/palm mute.........the signal variance is expected in variety band situations where one might play Smooth Operator by Sade (faux fretless), All About That Bass (faux upright) and Wanted Dead or Alive by Bon Jovi (fully dimed) in the same set....Of course, this is only useful when the rest of the band changes dynamics from song to song as well

 

[Blankandson]

Our venue decided a year ago to not have any on-stage amps or pre-amps, so once they finished putting the tube amp in a sound-proof box in a back room, they had to deal with bass. We have three bassists, one with all passive and two with push-pull knobs for either/or. So when I am playing I need a short talk with the sound person. I play active 100% of the time, but don' t change much. If what I do change will make a difference in the house, they need to know what I'm doing and on what song. So far it's worked for all three of us who play. We use IEM so we can all adjust our sound for ourselves just fine. A short talk with the sound people will solve a lot of problems before they happen.

 

[blowinblue]

I always turn the knobs on my active basses. Then I immediately turn them back to the positions they were at.

M. M.

 

[EatS1stBassist]

I have owned a couple of basses with active electronics: an Ibanez SR505 and now my Ibanez BTB745. But here's a confession: I never turn the knobs when I play. I always have the volume maxed out and each of the three EQ knobs at their center detent.

Why? It's because I want the signal going to my board to remain constant. If I start using volumes other than max, or tweaking the bass or mid knobs, the signal going into my compressor is going to swing a lot. Like to the point where it might be compressing too much or even not at all.

I do like to have different EQ settings going into my sound, though. I have often used a mid-forward EQ for finger style and then a more scooped one for the slappy songs. But I always achieved this post comp either on the board with an EQ pedal, or with a switchable graphic EQ on my amp.

Do people who use these knobs just not care about how the signal variance might affect their comps or their filters or even dirt pedals? Or maybe I'm looking at this wrong.

Call the knob police!

 

[rtav]

On all my basses I take all controls and max them out, adjusting vol, tone etc further down the line.

works for me

 

[mikeoso]

Why do you even need active basses? You’d be better off with passive basses with no knob.

None of my basses have any knobs, but I wouldnt call them "passive".

More like "heritage".

 

[bigdaddybass12]

Mine aren’t set at the centre detent but they aren’t far off that. Once I dial in the sound I want I won’t touch them for the duration of the show for reasons similar to your own. I like a consistent signal and so does our sound guy.

Same here

 

[Rip Van Dan]

I have owned a couple of basses with active electronics: an Ibanez SR505 and now my Ibanez BTB745. But here's a confession: I never turn the knobs when I play. I always have the volume maxed out and each of the three EQ knobs at their center detent.

Why? It's because I want the signal going to my board to remain constant. If I start using volumes other than max, or tweaking the bass or mid knobs, the signal going into my compressor is going to swing a lot. Like to the point where it might be compressing too much or even not at all.

I do like to have different EQ settings going into my sound, though. I have often used a mid-forward EQ for finger style and then a more scooped one for the slappy songs. But I always achieved this post comp either on the board with an EQ pedal, or with a switchable graphic EQ on my amp.

Do people who use these knobs just not care about how the signal variance might affect their comps or their filters or even dirt pedals? Or maybe I'm looking at this wrong.

Hey, I hear you Scott - the one active bass I have is a 5-string and I play it in passive mode which only lets me adjust the blend of the two pickups and the volume. To me it sounds better in passive mode than it does fiddling around with the bass and treble in active mode.

 

[BluesWalker]

same here, I use my Bass FlyRig to set eq

 

[lomo]

If you're not using the onboard preamp, I see no reason to waste a battery unless your instrument cable is very long (>25'), or you're running single coil pups that are noisy when played solo.....and you wanna play 'em solo. On the other hand, I see the disadvantages of wasting a battery and adding somewhere around 1/4 lb of dead weight (battery + preamp) over your shoulder. The compressor can accomplish any gain staging your chain may require.

 

[jjk2007]

I have an older Peavey TL-Five that I pretty much always play in active mode. I usually have the bass knob at 75%, the mids at 75% and the treble at center detent. I either have the pickups blended 50/50 or will favor the neck pickup some on as we play some older country numbers and that sound seems to work. We play a few 'curveball' type songs where I might throw in some slap parts so I might move the mids to center detent to get that classic scooped slap tone. Some rooms we play are brighter than others too so I might back the treble knob down to 35-40% to help fatten things up a little bit. So my knobs stay pretty much alone for about 80% of the gig but there are times I adjust the EQ on the bass for a handful of songs.

 

[BtaylorTheRogue]

I can absolutely see that if you're not using input-sensitive effects like compression or envelope filters or even certain kinds of OD that you would absolutely not care about whether you were hotting up your signal by bumping the bass and treble for a slappy tune. Or maybe cooling down your level by leaving bass and treble where they are and just dialing back a 500hz mid to achieve a similar scoop. But if you are using any of those things... the idea is just madness.

I use compression, so it doesn't really matter to me if I increase my amplitude, or if I decrease it slightly.

If I didn't use compression, I would be concerned about keeping volume steady.

Different hat!

 

[sethlow3]

And that’s why active basses kinda suck…

Sure there are lots of great ones, but having an EQ to basically keep it flat the whole time seems like a bit of a waste. Lots of things can go wrong. Ugggh… and batteries/usb charging…

25440479[/URL], member: 195734"]I have owned a couple of basses with active electronics: an Ibanez SR505 and now my Ibanez BTB745. But here's a confession: I never turn the knobs when I play. I always have the volume maxed out and each of the three EQ knobs at their center detent.

Why? It's because I want the signal going to my board to remain constant. If I start using volumes other than max, or tweaking the bass or mid knobs, the signal going into my compressor is going to swing a lot. Like to the point where it might be compressing too much or even not at all.

I do like to have different EQ settings going into my sound, though. I have often used a mid-forward EQ for finger style and then a more scooped one for the slappy songs. But I always achieved this post comp either on the board with an EQ pedal, or with a switchable graphic EQ on my amp.

Do people who use these knobs just not care about how the signal variance might affect their comps or their filters or even dirt pedals? Or maybe I'm looking at this wrong.

 

[Old Fart]

My active bass does not have batteries installed. The switch works like a kill switch. Volume is never dimed, which gives me the ability to make adjustments. Same with the tone knob. After initial sound check and the first song or two, I don't touch knobs much. Unless the other band members start playing games.

 

[Matty Koff]

I have owned a couple of basses with active electronics: an Ibanez SR505 and now my Ibanez BTB745. But here's a confession: I never turn the knobs when I play. I always have the volume maxed out and each of the three EQ knobs at their center detent.

Why? It's because I want the signal going to my board to remain constant. If I start using volumes other than max, or tweaking the bass or mid knobs, the signal going into my compressor is going to swing a lot. Like to the point where it might be compressing too much or even not at all.

I do like to have different EQ settings going into my sound, though. I have often used a mid-forward EQ for finger style and then a more scooped one for the slappy songs. But I always achieved this post comp either on the board with an EQ pedal, or with a switchable graphic EQ on my amp.

Do people who use these knobs just not care about how the signal variance might affect their comps or their filters or even dirt pedals? Or maybe I'm looking at this wrong.

If I boost EQ at the bass I can compensate by lowering the volume knob at the bass, and because it's an active circuit that's going to be just fine.

There are times where I want thumpy muddy bass.. there are times where I want strong mids. There are times I want scooped mids. And I can do that without touching a pedal or my amp. *shrug* You do you.

 

[OldSchoolFlats]

Do you adjust your EQ, somewhere, for the room during the initial sound check?

I just play "for fun" these days (alone at the moment), but both my amp and bass have tunable mid-range controls (cut and boost).

When seeing Marcus Miller describe the variable mid-range control on Sire basses, and also at a Groove Workshop he did, he really emphasized how rooms have resonant frequencies, and you need to adjust for the room.

 

[Phalex]

I leave my active controls alone. (A little bass boost and high end right in the middle). I do fiddle with the PUP mix and the passive tone control, depending on the situation.

 

[Jared Lash]

I tweak knobs on my preamps a fair amount and it can change the overall output. I also use volume sensitive effects (filters, comps, even some dirt pedals or modulation that can get overloaded like a Phase 90 or clone) so it can be an issue.

For me it's the same thing I do when playing guitar and just ride the volume knob when needed.

For instance, my j-style bass has Nordstrand Big Singles and their 3 band preamp. My stock tone is both pickups on, tone up full, midrange cut slightly at 1 kHz, bass flat and treble boosted slightly. It's the same overall output as all knobs flat.

When I roll to the bridge pickup I boost mids at 400 kHz, boost the bass a bit, leave the treble flat and roll back the tone about halfway. It's more output than my base tone so I roll back my volume to maybe 8 out of 10.

Same thing when I roll to the neck pickup. I boost the mids at 1 kHz a bit and roll back the treble, bass, and tone. It's actually lower output than my base tone but I tend to play significantly harder so I also roll my volume off just a touch.

Playing guitar through a cranked one channel amp has helped me with making quick volume adjustments.

 

[MYLOWFREQ]

I use passive basses. Vol is always maxed, and I don't touch the other knobs much either.

 

[Blues Bass 2]

Wednesday I was playing with the band and I always play my Sire in passive . I have Nordy single coils and it sounds so great that way I don't need much EQ . We started the Allman Bros. song Dreams and the bass starts it off . I wasn't getting the low mids tone to give it some heft so I switched to active and gave the bass control a slight turn . There was the tone I wanted . Most of the time I don't mess with my active bass EQ but sometimes it comes in handy .