Do you set it and forget it at gigs?

[Brad Johnson]

Set it, 99.99% of the time by leaving the EQs alone and tweak my tone on the fly with my technique.

 

[rufus.K]

usually, yes.

 

[ShirazBop]

Set and forget...

 

[kesslari]

Amp - set and forget. I bounce between neck and bridge pickups for different sounds. Technique also comes into play.

 

[Waytootrue]

Sooner or later its inevitable that I will find a sound that fits perfectly with my style of playing at the time.

I don't think anyone wants to see the bassist fiddle with dials during a set live. If I did want to adjust on stage, I'd use an EQ stompbox.

 

[Sam Dingle]

80% of the time no. 90% if we don't count adjusting volume when the room gets fuller. It takes 2 or 3 tunes before I figure it out for the room. After that I dont touch it.

 

[Blaze Barlow]

I am using an external rack mounted preamp before my ampeg head..I have mine set up where I like it at the preamp & amp..rarely make any changes except sometimes a little more low end on the deep blues and the slow ballads..I have a Lexicon effects processor in my rack..I can really get a lot of stuff from it if I feel like I want to go for it..the Lex does it all..a little flange like Les Paul did in the late 40's..a little phasing here and there..even light plate reverb..also symphonic bass..gates and compressors are available..and fatness and thickening of all kinds all over the place..every kind of modulation is available..with so many parameters..the rack mounted Lex is so flexible..lots of players just dont know all the things that it can do because they have never used one..or learned to use one of these units..it replaces every stomp box and much more..so..you just find the sounds you like while rehersing at home..store the program..and recall with the push of a button on the unit or a footswitch..

 

[packhowitzer]

My amp stays static once eq'd for the room. If I need versatility, I change the way I attack the strings with my hands (playing style), and occasionally change pickup selections.

 

[Charlzm]

I buy my amps in part because of their versatility and I love playing around with gain and eq at home, but find that I get my sound at a venue and never look back again. I rarely even touch my bass controls on some gigs! How about you?

I never touch the controls on my basses except to check that tone is neutral (no boost/cut) and volume is full.
I don't touch the controls on my amp because they're set the way I like them.
I do have a multi-FX unit with a bunch of presets that I switch between from one song to the next, however...
...but none of those has changes in volume or EQ.
If there is a sound guy, I send him my post-EQ signal DI from the amp. If not, well... I don't.

 

[superheavyfunk]

Yep. Tweak in the beginning and then forget it's there.

As the night goes on,I find I'm sometimes giving it another goose (probably because I'm going a little dear at that point) but for the most part, set and forget, for sure.

This is partly why I'm often thinking about an entirely pedalboard solution. Since I so rarely fuss with the amp controls, why not just take advantage of the full range PA, and save myself the trouble?

 

[Manticore]

I'm in the set and forget forget camp. I usually play an Alembic live. With an Alembic, virtually any tone I need can be dialed in from my bass.

 

[4SG]

+1 for set and forget.

 

[faulknersj]

I buy my amps in part because of their versatility and I love playing around with gain and eq at home, but find that I get my sound at a venue and never look back again. I rarely even touch my bass controls on some gigs! How about you?

Same...maybe I’m lucky but I dial my rig the same regardless of venue and get exactly what I’m looking for. The one thing I mess with a little during the first set is volume; where I want to sit in the mix will vary based on PA support; if there is no PA support I make sure I am present in the mix. If there is PA support, I keep my volume on check so that the sound engineer can dial me in properly without stepping on his toes.

 

[Rumbledore]

 

[BoogieZK]

I'm just using the EQ to make my tone fit the room, so i tweek it every time i jump on stage.

 

[juancaminos]

Seldom touch anything unless I am in one of "those" rooms then I twiddle a bit.

 

[interp]

After setting my rig for the room I very rarely touch it, except to make adjustments for changes in the acoustic environment, for example when a small room fills up with people later in the evening.

 

[el murdoque]

The signal I send to IEM is from the output transformer of my amp.
That signal is split for FOH.
If I touch my amp, all the mixes will be off.

 

[FronTowardEnemy]

I know what my live gigging tone sounds like in my bedroom so I dial that tone in with each of my basses and snap a pic of the settings.

I gig either a Fender Super Bassman or a GB SM 9.2. I prepare the week of the gig by testing my gear of choice for that weekends gig.

I rarely if ever have to adjust anything but the volume knob on either one of those amps at any venue I play.

I guess I am lucky.

 

[Wisebass]

How about you?

Hi Mrmatt1972

Fiddling with controls, noodling, tuning without muting, changing sounds, changing instruments,

changing batteriess or changing strings , between songs…

...will only be accepted and seen as normal, when you are a guitarist!

Whatever you want to do, do it at the soundcheck!

Nobody will give you the time to change anything, once you started playing!

Because you are a bassplayer!

We’re into the next song before I have a chance anyway.

exactly!


may the bass be with you

Wise(b)ass