Nobody mentioned practicing and developing your skills as a player. Why is that? It's been my experience that the bassists with the most awesome tones were really good at it.
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Help me get an awesome bass tone!
- Thread starter StayEzio
- Start date
But it is as good a place to start as any, right?
So starting with the EQ controls flat is reasonable compromise; even if it's not a true flat frequency response, you are in the middle of each control's range. Then get a good ways out in front of your cabinet, at least 6 feet, and maybe even 10 or more feet. Then you can hear the mids and highs which will be lost off-axis, which is how you are when you stand right next to a 410 on the ground.
Or you could raise your cabinet up to chest level. Then you might feel that you lost some bass reinforcement from having the cabinet on the floor, which is common.
Adjust each control by itself, both cutting and boosting a little bit at first, then quite a bit just see how that sounds. The less EQ you apply, in general, the better, and it is also considered "proper" to cut as much as you boost, so as to try and maintain a unity gain (the same volume) through your EQ section. By that I mean if you find yourself applying a lot of bass boost, roll that back a bit and try also cutting your treble and mids along with less bass boost. Or if you find yourself cutting the mids a lot, instead cut them less and boost the bass and treble both along with the more modest mid cut.
Other things to consider are strings, and most important as Jimmy and others have mentioned, you: your technique, how you pluck/strike the strings, are very important in tone generation. It's a learning process.
Well thanks guysim pretty new to bass gear so sorry for silly question :/
Given that you're pretty new to bass gear, it wasn't so much of a silly question as the one that might get you headed in the right direction. If you're able to condense the information from several of the responses, there's some useful stuff there.
An additional thing you might try is turning all of the eq controls all the way down and then isolating the effects of each one with the others turned down, turning each one up to the point of being "sufficient" (powerful enough and pleasant sounding to you). For the bass control, pluck the open E string while you turn it up. Note the position that sounded best, return the control to all the way down and move to lo-mid. For for the lo-mid control, the sound of the 5th fret harmonic of the G string can be used to gauge adequacy; pluck that and adjust upward. For hi-mid and treble, popping the G string (no pun) can be used as a guide, listening for the power of the note and "shimmer" of highs.
Somebody probably already said it and I missed it, but another thing that's good to be aware of is that what sounds like awesome bass tone while it's just you, your bass and your amp, is often not going to be optimal when playing with a band.
Often times, what sounds most pleasing without other instruments is the cutting of mid range (referred to as "scooping"). A scooped tone can sound "rich" and "fat," when the bass is by itself, but become melodically lost when playing with a group. Your amp actually has "contour" settings that lower the mids to a preset points in order to get predefined, scooped sounds. Be careful with those.
Good luck
Ok, I don´t know what´s your tone, experience...etc, but:
Tone controles were invented to compensate (room acoustics, poor pick-ups, poor electronics on bass.....and other thousands of application in sound). So yes, the best way to start looking for your tone is first go flat and than construct it from there. If you give me a boomy bass I´d have to lower the lows on the amp, if I have a poor low response from my bass I´d have to compensate it with tone controles (eq.). Of course you can use them as an artistic tool as well, but first thing you have to know is how your set-up sounds flat.
So yes, to the OP, please go flat first and start from there, You´ll thank me later.
Two suggestions. First, what sounds good alone might not sound good when accompanied by other musicians, or when playing along with songs. Generally speaking a nice big warm fat bass tone alone is too thick, dark or muddy when part of an ensemble.
Second, don't position your amp relative to other speakers in the room where speakers are facing one another. It will sound indistinct and make getting a good tone that much harder.
Second, don't position your amp relative to other speakers in the room where speakers are facing one another. It will sound indistinct and make getting a good tone that much harder.
start with strings and set up. Strings will give you a huge amount of variance in tone. It should sound good before it's even plugged into the amp. Your pick up selection, height and whatever if applicable, these are important too.
I would then start to think about what you want, a bit of break up? A 'punch'? Chainsaw?
I like to scoop the mids 150-300k, push the bass <150k, push 800k and a little push on the plus 1k mark to taste. I also use a tube pre amp for a bit of warmth and break up, and I have a tiny amount of distortion which gives it some dirt. I run through a 4x10 cab, but would probably go an 8x10 if I had the choice. I also sometimes use a compressor in the fx loop, it tends to create more noise than I like, but is good for punch.
These are just my settings, getting my tone on my rig. So just play with it, but again, start with a good bass sound, and know what you want. If you have something to aim towards it really helps. I listened to lots of records and played with EQ until I found their basic settings (a least in relation to my gear) and tweaked to suit.
I would then start to think about what you want, a bit of break up? A 'punch'? Chainsaw?
I like to scoop the mids 150-300k, push the bass <150k, push 800k and a little push on the plus 1k mark to taste. I also use a tube pre amp for a bit of warmth and break up, and I have a tiny amount of distortion which gives it some dirt. I run through a 4x10 cab, but would probably go an 8x10 if I had the choice. I also sometimes use a compressor in the fx loop, it tends to create more noise than I like, but is good for punch.
These are just my settings, getting my tone on my rig. So just play with it, but again, start with a good bass sound, and know what you want. If you have something to aim towards it really helps. I listened to lots of records and played with EQ until I found their basic settings (a least in relation to my gear) and tweaked to suit.
Every person likes something different, so I can't tell you what will sound good to you.
However, I would advise being careful with the lows, as they are the frequencies that are hardest on your speakers.
Also, as others have said, what sounds good to you when you're playing by yourself might be completely different than what works in a band.
However, I would advise being careful with the lows, as they are the frequencies that are hardest on your speakers.
Also, as others have said, what sounds good to you when you're playing by yourself might be completely different than what works in a band.
Good save, sir.Oh come on... there's no anonymity here...that's me, right on the left. You need my name and address now?
Not to be argumentative, but the OP asked such a subjective question, offered no criteria, and we're supposed to tell him (convince him?) settings for his amp (turning his knobs...really?), not knowing his bass of choice, or what his tastes are, and somehow arrive at that which will give an 'awesome tone'? Awesome to whom? Get what I'm saying? OP, did you actually BUY this amp before you discerned whether or not it provided an awesome tone, or do buy blindly because someone suggested the amp to you too? It's a fools errand.
These questions come up so often I should just ignore them, but my 6a.m. lack of self control got the best of me.
To the OP, good luck letting others convince you on your quest for tone, instead of experimenting and trusting your own ears.
I will be 63 in November and can be intolerably irascible at times but my comment was not intended for your benefit or correction. I just wanted to encourage OP to ask away without hesitation.
Reasonably "fresh" strings go a long way for me.
Aside from that... just use your ears. That's how the rest of us do it. Maybe turn up the Bass a lot, that makes most people happy.
If you are playing with a group the whole concept of "awesome" tone radically changes! What sounds awesome by yourself (I call it "bedroom tone") comes across totally different when you add in the frequencies of guitar, drums, etc. Usually the bedroom tone gets buried in the mix. Have you ever caught a band where the bassist is rockin super hard but u cant actually hear what he's doing? That's bedroom tone. So you have to find you tone yet again (usually by adding midrange) once you are in an ensemble.
Aside from that... just use your ears. That's how the rest of us do it. Maybe turn up the Bass a lot, that makes most people happy.
If you are playing with a group the whole concept of "awesome" tone radically changes! What sounds awesome by yourself (I call it "bedroom tone") comes across totally different when you add in the frequencies of guitar, drums, etc. Usually the bedroom tone gets buried in the mix. Have you ever caught a band where the bassist is rockin super hard but u cant actually hear what he's doing? That's bedroom tone. So you have to find you tone yet again (usually by adding midrange) once you are in an ensemble.
