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Help with P Bass Tone

#41
Where you sculpt your tone matters a lot. The isolated tone we dial in at home may be wonderful yet terrible on a gig in a band.

Back in the 80s and 90s when my go-to was a GK amp and a Hartke cab, I loved the sound with that mid-shift button in. It was so pleasant and smooth in the house, but out on the gig I just disappeared. Disengage the mid cut and there it was. I’ve learned to be very careful with the mids.
 
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#42
bigdaddybass12 said:
Here it goes, get reply buttons ready,,,,
A p bass generally has a fat muddy tone. (Let me dodge a few bullets) I take it is passive. Even more muddy. Try a 3 band eq pedal to clean up the sound. Ease off the lows, add a little highs.
This is the reason I quit playing passive p basses.
I’ll probably get kicked off talkbass for this reply.
Click to expand...
IMG_7375.jpeg
 
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#43
mambo4 said:
"a LOT of bottom end" can be done wrong, and inexperienced players often do so.

The low mids ~250-500 Hz are where the articulation of low notes comes from.
These are the EQ ranges that will let a bass sound like a bass through the crappiest, smallest of speakers.
Most bass / low knobs are impacting frequencies under 150 Hz

the best way to "do it wrong" is to boost knobs labeled "LOW" or "BASS" at every opportunity.
Those knobs are for reducing mud , to add clarity, in rooms with boomy acoustics.
Boosting "LOW" or "BASS" knobs do not make better bass tone, they make mud.

As lots have posted "HPF" High Pass Filters - ones that cut out the lows - are popular for good reason.

Another effective way to do it wrong
is to dial in your tone alone in your bedroom,
and ignore the result when you play with others.
bedroom tone is irrelevant, you must Mix for the band at hand
Click to expand...

very good post :thumbsup:
 
#44
Ive played for 40 years with just a P bass and an Ampeg amp. No effects, plug-ins or gizmos and my tone cuts like a sabre and its all to do with amp settings and technique. You gotta play a P bass with a light touch, back edge of the PU and the bass dialled back and mids pushed and technique, thats all it is and for my money nothing beats it.
 
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#46
GalardiGrooves said:
"a LOT of bottom end" (which is what I thought is what we go for as bass players)... Fender Precision Bass (Limited Edition Player 2) ---> shure wireless ---> seymour duncan studio compressor ---> ...
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There's too much of a good thing. Bass needs to be appropriate to the room and the band. Your chain is sufficiently complicated that you should simplify (as numerous people have already stated).

And if your Seymour Duncan is on the LOW switch switch it off that to MID for now
 
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#47
My 10c worth as a non gigger. Fender flats, bass at noon, Treble at 1-2 o'clock. Sometimes vary the mid's a little either side of flat. I also dial in some comp and about 10% of the available onboard octave effect. Everything else is in the fingers.
 
#48
Three things, and some may not agree with parts of this:
1. Start with turning bass knob down on amp

2. EQ Pedal - EQ not above flat on lower bass and lower bass mid frequencies (below 800 on that on EQ pedal should be flat or maybe try to cut some, especially 50, 400, and 500)

2. Tech21 blend, if that blend is more than 50%, turn it back further. Even try without it altogether. The VT is pretty fat on the lower frequencies and Hartke are pretty fat sounding amps.

3. Play with using less compression or more, whatever makes it sound better.

4. HPF
 
#50
micguy said:
The comments seem to all point towards you having too much low end. A high pass filter may help that, but a compressor will work against you - compression helps the tail end of a note (which is all low end) stick out more. In this case I'd say take away the compressor if you have one.

And yes, you have too many pedals. The Sansamp and eq pedals might help, but they could also hurt you sonically - unless we can hear what's going on, and see (at the same time) where things are set, I'd suggest nixing those from your signal chain.
Click to expand...

I see what you mean. Although in my experience, light compression has helped me have a well-defined sound, which may (or may not) be part of the problem.
 
#51
On that Hartke LH1000 amp, bass, mids, and treble controls when all set to 5 result in a slightly mid-scooped tone. That’s how they colored it.

I would start by plugging directly into the amp and, leaving bass and treble centered, play with the mid control. You might only need to nudge the mids up to 6 or 7. But it depends on the frequency they chose to center that mid control on. You might need to do the exact opposite, and cut the mids back a little. Use your ears, and your singer’s ears if possible. Most P basses have a pronounced upper mid bump, and that doesn’t sound muddy to me, but some people hear anything other than a very scooped bass tone as muddy.

I don’t know for sure, but I would bet that the Hartke has a HPF built in.
 
#53
An HPF actually allows you to have more low end. Without one, I have to back the bass knob way down to not be mud. With
IMG_0791.jpeg
the HPF I can leave it at noon or even turn it up a bit. The HPF will take out the muck and let you enjoy the low mids you are craving. That’s an FDeck. Only effect I’ll ever use
 
#54
Well, first off, the singer and some rando in the audience are not exactly my go to source for opinions on my tone...

That said, Its easy to fall over the mark for even the best of us. V/T on 10. Turn the pedals off... EQ flat on the amp and see where you are. Compare that to bypassing the pedals. Lets make sure we don't have a bad unit or a bad patch cable. While bass player do like bass, the frequencies we play at creates all we should need. I virtually never boost bass with EQ. A small cut in the 200-500hz range to reduce congestion and maybe a small bump somewhere between 2-5k at most. I am talking about 1-2db at MOST. Its a nuanced type of move.

That really should be all you need at the very most. FOH will be handling the over all low end in the house. You should be focused on the midrange. That's what creates the clarity to be heard in the mix. Any pedal you don't absolutely need should be removed. Anything that is left should be compared closely to the base sound you just created to see what its doing. Sansamp stuff always sounds pretty bass heavy to me because the off mid cut built into them for example. If things sound bright, cut top end before boosting lows.
 
#55
bigdaddybass12 said:
Here it goes, get reply buttons ready,,,,
A p bass generally has a fat muddy tone. (Let me dodge a few bullets) I take it is passive. Even more muddy. Try a 3 band eq pedal to clean up the sound. Ease off the lows, add a little highs.
This is the reason I quit playing passive p basses.
I’ll probably get kicked off talkbass for this reply.
Click to expand...
uhhh, P-basses aren't muddy unless you turn the tone all the way down. Listen to Live at Leeds by The Who. The p- bass naturally cuts through a mix.
 
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#57
aprod said:
To me that is nonsense. That is why there is a bass knob on your amp.
Click to expand...
Clearly you don't know what a HPF is. I would be able to INCREASE my bass knob using a HPF, but it would still sound clean, where you would just get more and more extreme low end that would get muddy. Don't knock it till you try it. Hitting that little button was my biggest tone epiphany in 10 years.
 
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#58
TheArchitect said:
Well, first off, the singer and some rando in the audience are not exactly my go to source for opinions on my tone...

That said, Its easy to fall over the mark for even the best of us. V/T on 10. Turn the pedals off... EQ flat on the amp and see where you are. Compare that to bypassing the pedals. Lets make sure we don't have a bad unit or a bad patch cable. While bass player do like bass, the frequencies we play at creates all we should need. I virtually never boost bass with EQ. A small cut in the 200-500hz range to reduce congestion and maybe a small bump somewhere between 2-5k at most. I am talking about 1-2db at MOST. Its a nuanced type of move.

That really should be all you need at the very most. FOH will be handling the over all low end in the house. You should be focused on the midrange. That's what creates the clarity to be heard in the mix. Any pedal you don't absolutely need should be removed. Anything that is left should be compared closely to the base sound you just created to see what its doing. Sansamp stuff always sounds pretty bass heavy to me because the off mid cut built into them for example. If things sound bright, cut top end before boosting lows.
Click to expand...
great advice
 
#60
A P bass straight into an amp with relatively flat settings should sit well in the mix. It sounds like through your effects pedals you’re cutting mids. And perhaps have too much bass. Boost the highs to get a little bit of articulation.
 

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