Do we really need high-end basses with intricate active electronics?

[JazznFunk]

My experience is that the extra headroom and extended frequency range tend to EXPOSE deficiencies in technique. If you want to hide them you should get a P Bass with Flats.

I guess Pino Palladino would probably disagree, since he's gotten a lot of mileage out of his P-Bass with flats and likely has nothing to hide.

 

[Doc Mojo]

We are talking about EQ? Not effects? If there's an EQ out there that I can use as a crutch, I want it. This is like telling a painter he/she cant use certain colors because it will cover up natures true colors. To me it's all good in the name of art. We could all be Doo Wop Bass singers and save a lot of money on equipment.

 

[JazznFunk]

I ain't trying to ruffle feathers here, folks. My point, again, is that anything can be a crutch if overused - even EQ. If you can't get along with your bass and its natural voice (whether that's 100% passive, or an active bass that's set 'flat' and has the preamp as part of its 'voice') as a starting point, then it's time to see if it's the bass that's the issue or if it's your technique. The painter analogy is great, BTW. Painters start with a blank canvas and then add (or leave out) things as they need to... they don't go throwing all the paint on the canvas at once. That's not to say it's 'WRONG' to do that - it's just not practical or typical. I'm a 'less is more' guy... I like having a musical onboard EQ so that if I do have to make adjustments, I have to make very minor ones. I like to use EQ in general as a more 'organic' thing, as opposed to an 'effect' in and of itself. YMMV.

Ya know, I think if I had included the customary 'YMMV' disclaimer in my original post it would have really helped. Again, play your basses, play set your EQ how you want... max it out even! Have fun and let's be cool.

We are talking about EQ? Not effects? If there's an EQ out there that I can use as a crutch, I want it. This is like telling a painter he/she cant use certain colors because it will cover up natures true colors. To me it's all good in the name of art. We could all be Doo Wop Bass singers and save a lot of money on equipment.

 

[Doc Mojo]

It's a growing experience for me. I love bass because you can do such a variety of music with the same basic tone. I can do a rock gig one night then funk and country with the same well rounded tone. Try that being a guitar player. Bass equipment's come along way since my first effect. The plugin bass box that turned you into an instant Tuba.

 

[bassbenj]

YMMV.

Ya know, I think if I had included the customary 'YMMV' disclaimer in my original post it would have really helped. Again, play your basses, play set your EQ how you want... max it out even! Have fun and let's be cool.

You know the idea of maxing out EQ is an interesting point. Coming from an audiophile background I found that I have always had a great reluctance to max out any EQ control. This is also sort of a cousin to the idea that you really want speakers with the most accurate reproduction as in audio speakers rather than cheap music speakers.

Well eventually I came around to the idea that both ideas are dead wrong. As I like to say: tone is where you find it. Experimenting with putting a high quality audio speaker in my Fender 15" combo I was surprised to find that it didn't magically make my tone suddenly come alive with detail. In fact it was much more subtle than that. What I discovered that some of my basses sounded much better with the quality speaker and others sounded much worse. And even more interesting was that this meant that the cheapo Fender speaker (which clearly had certain resonances and was not meant for accurate sound reproduction) was making those basses actually sound BETTER!

Same thing with EQ. I finally came to realize that EQ is placed there for you to USE! You twiddle the knobs and try to find the tone you can use. There is no philosophical sin in maxing out a control. It's not like sound reproduction where a maxed control implies a very poor system that is not flat to begin with. There is no benefit to limiting all your EQ adjustments to minor tweeks from flat because there is no flat! Your instrument does what it does! "flat" is just what the builder's idea of "best" was. It may not be yours.

So I try to deal with my reluctance to max controls. And what I've discovered is that few instruments have so much EQ range that you have to be afraid of over-doing things. The point clearly is not what number the knobs are set on, but what your ears tell you about your sound. You may not choose a maxed out control setting, but then again you might.