Is anyone saying what is actually wrong with your tone? are you going through the PA and how, your DI out, DI box from line out or bass, mic.
There has been really good advice given, I can only try add my bit and say begin at a starting point and work from there, it sounds obvious but many times I have seen people just changing all what they can with no direction, and just get frustrated that nothing works.
Again these are just starting pionts you can work from here;
1) Play over your pickups mid position, you can move to the neck and bridge for effect but at this stage do this in moderation, you want a good mid position tone that is going to cover 90% of what you are playing
2) Set the volume on the bass to full and tone to full, have the bass amp loud enough so the volume is ok for the loudest number you play, you can roll off a bit if the bass starts over powering the quiter songs, at least you know where you are rather than being at some mid point that you can't find again. Same with the tone, start with it full and set your sound there, you can roll it off a bit for a certain song if needed but all in moderation, if I'm in the main PA which is the usual case on a bigger venue, I keep things as consistent as I can for the sound guy.
3) Playing technique, are you managing to keep unplayed strings muted, an underlying drone of unmuted strings does not help at all.
Playing solid consistent notes, try play a scale at slower and slower tempos, it's on slow tempos that notes can start to sound weak and out of time, very slow tempos are good practice for tone and producing solid notes.
Pay attention to note length don't just play notes full count one into another, on 1 5 bass parts try keep notes solid and short then use some full length notes on the walkups to add dynamics.
4) EQ settings, as was said start with things flat, you may want to invest in an EQ pedal to add to your settings.
When starting out, if you are dealing with a muddy booming tone the very low midd is often the culprit around 200Hz try cutting that a bit, work in small amounts untill it starts to sound right, don't just scoop a big chunk out, remember that often what does not sound to good on it's own works with the band and sometimes a great tone you get on your own does not work at all.
As a rule of thumb to correct a sound problem try cutting a signal before you boost one, like if your bass thick and booming try find that frequency and cut it a bit before boosting the treble to cover the problem.
Boosting the midds just a bit around 400 to 600 Hz can help cut through and keep your tone quite warm, or boosting midds around 1200 to 1600Hz can give some extra bite and presence.
These are rough guides and as was said, one needs to sit with the amp and get used to the sounds and what you want.
Hope this helps and good luck
There has been really good advice given, I can only try add my bit and say begin at a starting point and work from there, it sounds obvious but many times I have seen people just changing all what they can with no direction, and just get frustrated that nothing works.
Again these are just starting pionts you can work from here;
1) Play over your pickups mid position, you can move to the neck and bridge for effect but at this stage do this in moderation, you want a good mid position tone that is going to cover 90% of what you are playing
2) Set the volume on the bass to full and tone to full, have the bass amp loud enough so the volume is ok for the loudest number you play, you can roll off a bit if the bass starts over powering the quiter songs, at least you know where you are rather than being at some mid point that you can't find again. Same with the tone, start with it full and set your sound there, you can roll it off a bit for a certain song if needed but all in moderation, if I'm in the main PA which is the usual case on a bigger venue, I keep things as consistent as I can for the sound guy.
3) Playing technique, are you managing to keep unplayed strings muted, an underlying drone of unmuted strings does not help at all.
Playing solid consistent notes, try play a scale at slower and slower tempos, it's on slow tempos that notes can start to sound weak and out of time, very slow tempos are good practice for tone and producing solid notes.
Pay attention to note length don't just play notes full count one into another, on 1 5 bass parts try keep notes solid and short then use some full length notes on the walkups to add dynamics.
4) EQ settings, as was said start with things flat, you may want to invest in an EQ pedal to add to your settings.
When starting out, if you are dealing with a muddy booming tone the very low midd is often the culprit around 200Hz try cutting that a bit, work in small amounts untill it starts to sound right, don't just scoop a big chunk out, remember that often what does not sound to good on it's own works with the band and sometimes a great tone you get on your own does not work at all.
As a rule of thumb to correct a sound problem try cutting a signal before you boost one, like if your bass thick and booming try find that frequency and cut it a bit before boosting the treble to cover the problem.
Boosting the midds just a bit around 400 to 600 Hz can help cut through and keep your tone quite warm, or boosting midds around 1200 to 1600Hz can give some extra bite and presence.
These are rough guides and as was said, one needs to sit with the amp and get used to the sounds and what you want.
Hope this helps and good luck
