Do you LOVE your bass tone?

[JRA]

Do you LOVE your bass tone

i depend on decent tone....not sure about "LOVE."

Do you feel joy, elation, or bliss due to the voice of the notes

not exactly....but maybe there was that one time after the purple micro-dot kicked in.

Or do you not really care?

i care, but i don't worry about it --- i get good sounding parts out of all my axes.

Maybe it's the notes, not the tone that matters

yeah --- i'd be chasing notes before i'd be chasing tones. IME: good tones are easy.

 

[getbent]

Yes! I've been playing the same Jazz bass for 30 years, with flatwounds for the last 20+. I can plug in anywhere and it sounds like me. A lot of it's in the hands. I've been totally happy with the headphone sound I get plugged straight into a Behringer mini-mixer (don't use a fancy DI/pre when recording at home), and it sounds even better when I'm standing in front of a full SVT fridge too, but I'm never going to buy or haul one around (I miss those backline-provided gigs!).

 

[Smith357]

Yes, Fender P, La Bella tapes, and Hartke. I have other gear that gives a large pallet of different tone should I want it.

 

[matt-o-]

Do you LOVE your bass tone? Do you feel joy, elation, or bliss due to the voice of the notes as you lay down a sweet groove?

Yes. All. Just my playing abilities are well below the tone I am able to achieve...

 

[ProbablyTooLoud]

Do you LOVE your bass tone? Do you feel joy, elation, or bliss due to the voice of the notes as you lay down a sweet groove?

Or do you not really care? Maybe it's the notes, not the tone that matters.

Or maybe you aren't happy with your tone, and you can't find that tone in your head that you are yearning for.

Heck yes holmes.

I love the way my 4003 sounds through my GK MB212ii. Perfect for me, perfect for my band mates, perfect all around.

 

[Killing Floor]

Yes, I am very happy with my tone on the basses I play regularly. If I don't like something I'll change it.
I know how to get what I want from my gear.

BUT THAT DOES NOT STOP ME FROM WANTING OTHER GEAR. NOR SHOULD IT.

 

[Engle]

I've never lost a second of sleep over tone, and I certainly don't with this hookup:
View attachment 4137176 View attachment 4137177

I’ve played lots of gigs with that amp/cab and it sounds great. 2 cabs is even better!

 

[dalkowski]

I’ve played lots of gigs with that amp/cab and it sounds great. 2 cabs is even better!

I love it to death, and you know what? The tone it gives my Kala UBass causes so many double-takes I've had to hand out neck braces at my gigs.

 

[LanEvo]

Yes...now that I'm back to a good P-Bass. Sounds great through any amp, but especially nice through the Demeter/Acme rig.

 

[Engle]

I love it to death, and you know what? The tone it gives my Kala UBass causes so many double-takes I've had to hand out neck braces at my gigs.

Nice! For me it’s the Casady with Labella DTFs.
I also have a PF50T, but using the MB200 effectively means one less thing to carry.

 

[chriss]

I am certainly happy with the sound I had when I worked. The last ten years was exclusively direct to FOH. I have a 96 Jazz with older EMG's that sounds great and a Reverend Mercalli 5 that I really dig. When I switched to a RNDI I liked it even more! And I have had the benefit of listening to recordings/videos of every week I worked during that period.

 

[jdwinva]

Sadowsky Will Lee -> Diamond Bass Comp -> Demeter VTBP-201-800D -> Greenboy F112 stack. Amazing!!

 

[REV]

It's tolerable.

 

[Bunk McNulty]

In the days long ago (last March) when I had a sound guy, I let him worry about my tone. I’m hoping someday in the not too distant future to continue this relationship.

 

[dalkowski]

In the days long ago (last March) when I had a sound guy, I let him worry about my tone. I’m hoping someday in the not too distant future to continue this relationship.

In a perfect world this would be my approach to tone. As others here have stated, I'm more concerned with notes.

 

[fjbass78]

Do you LOVE your bass tone? Do you feel joy, elation, or bliss due to the voice of the notes as you lay down a sweet groove?

Or do you not really care? Maybe it's the notes, not the tone that matters.

Or maybe you aren't happy with your tone, and you can't find that tone in your head that you are yearning for.

depends on the room

 

[Pings Bass]

The notes matter the most; the tone just allows the notes to fit in and be heard in the mix. If I don't like what I hear, the first thing I check is the notes I'm playing, then my technique. Nine times out of ten, it's one of those things.

The best players I've ever encountered spend approximately zero time obsessing over the nuances of string selection, pickup upgrades, tone wood, pedals, eq, amp settings, etc., and sound like themselves on any instrument they pick up, through any rig.

That's a long way of saying... tone is in the fingers. You can try to cover up bad technique with electronics, but if what you're playing isn't musical or doesn't fit the piece or isn't executed well, no amount of "tone" is gonna help ya.

 

[JimmyM]

Absolutely! Always have, although there were certain times looking back I could have done better. Quitting fighting the Fender thing helped immensely although it took me a long time to find just the right P pickup. Still, my tones have always been at least very good, except for a couple months when I finally decided to use effects again in 2008...there's a learning curve on some pedals

 

[Drifter8230]

Do you LOVE your bass tone? Do you feel joy, elation, or bliss due to the voice of the notes as you lay down a sweet groove?

Or do you not really care? Maybe it's the notes, not the tone that matters.

Or maybe you aren't happy with your tone, and you can't find that tone in your head that you are yearning for.

I love my bass tone. My overdriven bass sound, that is. I get excited to plug in and hear it, and I have taken photos of all my settings in case the kids or the cat touches them.

It is the tone that lives in the part of my brain responsible for gratification and I'm so happy with it.

My clean tone, not so much...and I don't lose sleep over it. It sounds great and gets the job done, but my overdrive sound is my primary focus.

 

[Ric5]

Do you LOVE your bass tone? Do you feel joy, elation, or bliss due to the voice of the notes as you lay down a sweet groove?

Or do you not really care? Maybe it's the notes, not the tone that matters.

Or maybe you aren't happy with your tone, and you can't find that tone in your head that you are yearning for.

yes ... and no ...

I love many different bass tones ... no one bass provides all of the tones that I like ...

So I own many different basses and with them I can get many bass tones