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Do you prefer simple or complex controls on your bass(es)?

Ideal onboard electronics setup

  • Simple Active

    Votes: 92 17.9%

  • Simple Passive

    Votes: 341 66.5%

  • Complex Active

    Votes: 60 11.7%

  • Complex Passive

    Votes: 20 3.9%
  • Total voters
    513
#162
scuzzy said:
So what do most of you prefer?
Click to expand...

I have two P's, two J's, and a Ric. So I like simple passive! :thumbsup:

My basses.jpg
 
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#163
I feel I should clarify. I did not mean complex as hard or impossible to understand (though some can be) but more the physical schematic and amount of controls. Simple being fewer components and controls. 6 knobs and 4 switches can be a complex circuit, but easy to use.

As for me personally, I typically keep the eq portion set pretty much the same once sound check is compete. I do pickup switching of various sorts to achieve the overall sound for the most part. If one song uses a jazz, one uses a stingray, one a precision, and one a neck solo'd Rick, my OCD will not let me use the same exact setting for each song. The tone control is arguably the most useful knob on a bass, but it can't manipulate the sound like the change of pickup wiring or placement.... IMHO of course. This is why I have taken a liking to 3 pickup basses. Multiple pickups can do more than larger eq, imo.

Even my bass vi with the pickup selectors and a single V/T can be a very versatile instrument with tonal versatility.
 
#166
dbsfgyd1 said:
As for an board EQ, if you have an amp without a baked in sound with adequate EQ controls, an onboard EQ is rather redundant. I have an onboard EQ on my active bass, but don’t use it, much preferring a flat signal allowing the amp to shape the sound.
Click to expand...

That's ok when you play with an amp!
But what if you're DI'd? What if your amp is just your on stage monitor?
 
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#169
Basta-bass said:
That's ok when you play with an amp!
But what if you're DI'd? What if your amp is just your on stage monitor?
Click to expand...
I'd like to reply to this.. First, I very rarely go through the PA. So the amp is my monitor. And even when I do go through the PA, I don't tend to change anything. Bassically (sic) I like the sound of my bass!

But I do own several preamp pedals I can use. And it is easier to change outboard pedals than internal.
 
#170
Basta-bass said:
That's ok when you play with an amp!
But what if you're DI'd? What if your amp is just your on stage monitor?
Click to expand...

I use an Eden WTDI that has tonal shaping capabilities in those circumstances. Let me add here that in these situations you are likely dealing with a sound engineer who would much appreciate not having a heavily modified signal to have to work around.

One other point with regard to playing with floor wedges as your monitor, or IEMs for that matter. Those are not going to give you the same experience as playing ambiently with your own rig. At best you’re going to have to deal with something you can live with, and also highly dependent on the the sound engineer. Best not to make their job harder.
 
#171
scuzzy said:
disclaimer: This thread is a great excuse to post a pic of my favorite basses.

I believe that the majority of the folks on this forum will likely say simple, ala Precision bass with a volume and tone, or simply a volume, or perhaps straight to the jack. I have one p-type bass, and I do love to play it on occasion due to it's simplicity and versatility within that simplicity. But although I own and enjoy playing several passive basses, I still default to basses that are primarily active, with the ability to go passive.

I think that I now have my primary 4 basses. They are all 4 active with passive options. I would group them into "boutique" -style 4 and 5 string, and more "traditional" (non-coffee table) -style 4 and 5 string.

View attachment 3801052

Between these 4 basses, there are....
  • 10 pickups
  • 23 knobs
  • 14 switches
  • 8 batteries
  • 38 pickup combinations
All can go from active to passive. 3 out of the 4 have a passive tone control, which has proven to be a very useful thing. One of them, the passive tone control works in active or passive mode.

It has taken quite a bit of exploration and tweaking to learn each up to this point, and how I can utilize their potential. I certainly have more learning to do. I primarily play at church and at home. Playing at church is comparable to playing in a cover band (but with less booze) so you never know what bass or amp might show up on a recording. Versatility has been good for my mental state, as I like to sound as close to the recording as possible, although I'm sure most people don't know or care.

So what do most of you prefer?

Simple Active - no switches, simple 2 band EQ or similar
Simple Passive - no switches, tone control
Complex Active - Lot's of knobs and switches
Complex Passive - Lot's of knobs and switches
Click to expand...
It's funny - as soon as I saw your post (before opening it,) the first bass that came to mind that I did not purchase because I couldn't figure out some of the controls was a MusicMan Bongo bass (I see you have 2 beautiful MM basses.) I'd always been a huge fan of MM and I was very familiar with active electronics on basses from all over, but the controls on that bass were not intuitive at all.
 
#172
nixdad said:
It's funny - as soon as I saw your post (before opening it,) the first bass that came to mind that I did not purchase because I couldn't figure out some of the controls was a MusicMan Bongo bass (I see you have 2 beautiful MM basses.) I'd always been a huge fan of MM and I was very familiar with active electronics on basses from all over, but the controls on that bass were not intuitive at all.
Click to expand...
That's interesting. I know many bassists, several of them on this forum, that consider the bongo 4 band preamp to be one of, if not THE greatest, active onboard preamp.

It's all about perception and taking the time to learn it well I suppose.
 
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#173
I have an MIJ Jaguar (the one with all the Jaguar switches and rollers). I always read people saying things like "it has so many tones but the controls are so complex." But that's weird to me because all the decisions you make other than volume and tone are binary, unlike a normal jazz bass where you have infinite combinations of pickups. (Active controls add some complexity but still less than most active jazzes I think.) So I'm not sure if it's simple or complex, but since I only have to answer yes or no questions when deciding what I want there's definitely less knob twiddling than when I play my jazz bass.
 
#175
seanm said:
First, I very rarely go through the PA. So the amp is my monitor. And even when I do go through the PA, I don't tend to change anything. Bassically (sic) I like the sound of my bass!
Click to expand...

dbsfgyd1 said:
I use an Eden WTDI that has tonal shaping capabilities in those circumstances. Let me add here that in these situations you are likely dealing with a sound engineer who would much appreciate not having a heavily modified signal to have to work around.

One other point with regard to playing with floor wedges as your monitor, or IEMs for that matter. Those are not going to give you the same experience as playing ambiently with your own rig. At best you’re going to have to deal with something you can live with, and also highly dependent on the the sound engineer. Best not to make their job harder.
Click to expand...

I understand that. It's not what I meant. I don't play just for myself, having my Trace Elliot sounding top notch while the audience listen to the FOHPA according to the sound guy wills. Changing my amp eq only changes my stage sound. Changing my bass eq changes my overall sound. The level of my output is fixed by my comp/limiter in order not to clip, and my changes are rehearsed not to blur the guitars freqs.. so the sound engineer has no complaints...
:thumbsup:

​
 
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#176
RumbleBot said:
With my main rig, I only need the volume and pickup blends on my basses since I handle tone shaping with the preamp in there. With other amps that don't have the tone controls I like or that I don't own (I don't like messing with other people's settings), I do tend to use the onboard active eq more often.
Click to expand...
that's just plain reasonable....no place for that here!



;)
 
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