How do i get a good Tone for Worship?

[74hc]

You're always going to be in the frequencies of a 88 key piano. So it's more on the style of the piano player and what they do with their left hand.

The trouble with giving advice for worship bands is these run the gamut. What works for me in backing up a choir wouldn't cut it for the super churches like Seacoast.

 

[Bassclef46]

I don’t know what worship tone is but instead of messing with compression and pedals and whatever, just get a p bass and labella flats. Practice using your fingers to get the compression you want.

 

[nickpc]

The biggest thing I had to learn about tone when I started playing in our worship band:

Good bedroom tone often doesn't work well in a band/live situation.

What I do is get feedback, in the worship setting, from the Worship Leader, sound tech, and my drummer and guitarist (both of whom are incredible musicians). That helped me get dialed in just right for our services.

And since the WL is on keys it also helped him realize he was playing in my sonic space. Him moving improved the overall sound of the band as well.

 

[Treblefree]

I played a SR400 for years in church and still break it out now and then. Very similar to your 300. If you boost bass too much, you will just create a mud explosion. A lot of the smoothness and roundness comes from mids and too much treb creates clang on top noise.

I'd suggest a starting point of take your bass to about 5.5 of 10. Take the mids to about 7. Let the treb sit about 5.5. Use your sans amp faily flat, but add some gain to it just to get a little grit on it. This should be a good starting place to fit in with the live situation. Then as another said, spend some time really listening to the FOH mix and see where you fit in with the whole band and make adjustments from there. Like I said, too much bass boost becomes unclear mud instead of nice boom like you'd imagine in your head.

 

[bigdaddybass12]

I played a 5 string with active EQ humbuckers. It have me the good big sound that is needed. No pedal. Usually 2:00 on bass, 10:00 on mid, 12:00 on treble worked for me. I used to play a Fender P and tried a Fender Jazz, P is a little single sounding, jazz just was not big enough of sound.

 

[Grapevine921]

Your tone goals scream flatwounds to me. I'd get some flats and turn off the pedals. Add them back in as needed. Active + rounds + scooped sansamp isn't the recipe for warmth.

 

[byacey]

You could pray for a better tone, but I think you'll find the boss man doesn't work that way. Instead, thank him for all the good advice you have been offered here.

 

[SLPimp]

Pray, I'd assume.

 

[ejaggers]

This is why I changed out the active electronics on the two Ibby basses I own. It is voiced for the bass tone on airplay. Nothing to help with warmth or presence or support of the ensemble.

What did you replace the active electronics with, and how expensive is the upgrade?
The OP said he was a student with limited funds?....057912

 

[iiipopes]

What did you replace the active electronics with, and how expensive is the upgrade?
The OP said he was a student with limited funds?....057912

EMG active preamps; one bass has EMG active soapbars; the other has Bart soapbars in the MK shape. Dead quiet and versatile.

 

[english4bw]

As a former (retired) worship bassist of many years for a couple of big mega-churches, I can tell you that the best thing you can do is to get a setup for in-ears that allows you to get the sound YOU want in your own ears and not worry about the sound the congregation is hearing. You have no control over the FOH sound people and how they mix on any given Sunday. Let that go right away and concentrate on getting the sound you want for yourself.

If you are still using an amp onstage, you should find a way to split your signal, so that you can hear one thing and the soundman will get your clean signal. You may still find that sound people will just tell you to turn the amp down anyways. That's a fight you won't win either because the congregation always comes first.

If you have an active/passive bass like an Ibanez, never use the active section. It's just going to mess with the soundman if you are constantly changing the EQ of your bass tone. Try to send him/her the cleanest passive bass signal you can. They will do whatever they are going to do to it anyway.

I will echo some of the posts on here - play with a flat EQ through a REALLY good DI box. Sansamp BDDI is great as a preamp but the thing that is between your bass and the FOH sound is your main DI. They will give you something like a Radial DI box, typically. These are okay, and give a decent clean tone, but if you want pure bass tone you might think of getting a tube DI box somewhere down the line (if you can afford one). And just practice, practice, practice. Simple bass lines and quarter notes using a metronome or drum backing track. You aren't going to be playing anything too complex on a worship stage (usually) unless you are in a Gospel rhythm section.

As for mixing your own tone for in-ears you can try something like I use to use... maybe?

This is my setup from around 2017 - I used two Sansamp BDDIs, and an Ampeg SCR-1. Forget about the rest of the signal chain for now. Here's how the signal chain runs:
Bass into the input of BDDI 1 > output to DI (in my case a REDDI) for FOH signal (this is what the soundman gets). I just set this first Sansamp to flat (knobs at 12 o'clock) and NEVER change it. This is your flat bass signal.

Parallel output from 1st BDDI to 2nd BDDI input. This is how you split your signal. This signal is now independent of the signal going to FOH sound.

Output from 2nd BDDI to input of Ampeg SCR-1.

Ampeg SCR-1 has an Aux input - plug in the signal from whatever monitor system you have (we had individual packs so I just ran a 3.5mm lead from the phone output of the pack) into the Aux in of the Ampeg. Now plug your actual in-ears into the phones out of the Ampeg. Mix to your own liking using ONLY the knobs on the 2nd BDDI and the Ampeg SCR-1. Leave the first BDDI alone.

You may need a few extra cables and an in-ear headphone cable extension for this setup but you will be able to get your own mix and never worry about how you sound out front to the congregation again. Plus you still get the mix from the monitor system as well. One day, when you can afford to, try it out.

 

[JohnNash]

Pray, I'd assume.

That's the first thing I'd too. The J Man knows a thing or two about bass.

 

[Treblefree]

As a former (retired) worship bassist of many years for a couple of big mega-churches, I can tell you that the best thing you can do is to get a setup for in-ears that allows you to get the sound YOU want in your own ears and not worry about the sound the congregation is hearing. You have no control over the FOH sound people and how they mix on any given Sunday. Let that go right away and concentrate on getting the sound you want for yourself.

If you are still using an amp onstage, you should find a way to split your signal, so that you can hear one thing and the soundman will get your clean signal. You may still find that sound people will just tell you to turn the amp down anyways. That's a fight you won't win either because the congregation always comes first.

If you have an active/passive bass like an Ibanez, never use the active section. It's just going to mess with the soundman if you are constantly changing the EQ of your bass tone. Try to send him/her the cleanest passive bass signal you can. They will do whatever they are going to do to it anyway.

I will echo some of the posts on here - play with a flat EQ through a REALLY good DI box. Sansamp BDDI is great as a preamp but the thing that is between your bass and the FOH sound is your main DI. They will give you something like a Radial DI box, typically. These are okay, and give a decent clean tone, but if you want pure bass tone you might think of getting a tube DI box somewhere down the line (if you can afford one). And just practice, practice, practice. Simple bass lines and quarter notes using a metronome or drum backing track. You aren't going to be playing anything too complex on a worship stage (usually) unless you are in a Gospel rhythm section.

As for mixing your own tone for in-ears you can try something like I use to use... maybe?

View attachment 4528652

This is my setup from around 2017 - I used two Sansamp BDDIs, and an Ampeg SCR-1. Forget about the rest of the signal chain for now. Here's how the signal chain runs:
Bass into the input of BDDI 1 > output to DI (in my case a REDDI) for FOH signal (this is what the soundman gets). I just set this first Sansamp to flat (knobs at 12 o'clock) and NEVER change it. This is your flat bass signal.

Parallel output from 1st BDDI to 2nd BDDI input. This is how you split your signal. This signal is now independent of the signal going to FOH sound.

Output from 2nd BDDI to input of Ampeg SCR-1.

Ampeg SCR-1 has an Aux input - plug in the signal from whatever monitor system you have (we had individual packs so I just ran a 3.5mm lead from the phone output of the pack) into the Aux in of the Ampeg. Now plug your actual in-ears into the phones out of the Ampeg. Mix to your own liking using ONLY the knobs on the 2nd BDDI and the Ampeg SCR-1. Leave the first BDDI alone.

You may need a few extra cables and an in-ear headphone cable extension for this setup but you will be able to get your own mix and never worry about how you sound out front to the congregation again. Plus you still get the mix from the monitor system as well. One day, when you can afford to, try it out.

My question is, did you ever run the Ampeg to the Sanamp or either by themselves to the dUg and then the FOH? I only use my dUg in church green lights only. It seems over the top, but I always want to kick it in on full-on King's X mode, but haven't ever done it in church. It sounds so good through my SVT-7 and 810 though......

 

[english4bw]

My question is, did you ever run the Ampeg to the Sanamp or either by themselves to the dUg and then the FOH? I only use my dUg in church green lights only. It seems over the top, but I always want to kick it in on full-on King's X mode, but haven't ever done it in church. It sounds so good through my SVT-7 and 810 though......

Ha. No I did not, but that would have been something indeed. LOL
No I ran the 2nd BDDI into the dUg and then into the Ampeg if I wanted a little bit more. It was merely for my own amusement and if I needed more punch to cut through the monitor mix.
The one BDDI straight to the REDDI was enough for FOH

 

[Ethereal Thorn]

I'd start by blending in abit of your bridge pickup and add some mids back into your sound. The neck pickup is good for adding in lows but lacks definition so blending in the bridge will allow Abit more punch and clarity. A good set of D'addario chrome flatwound strings might work very well in this situation too as they can help take away some of the harsh high end and string noise and allow you to blend more high end back in without it being too harsh. Slotting frequency in is good but if it where me I'd have the keyboard/piano work on moving around your tone first they are working in a much larger frequency range then your bass and thus have more room in the mix to move around. I'd just worry about slotting your bass frequency in with the kick drum. You already have good gear I'd just work on dialling it in with the mix in rehearsal. Maybe in the future you can save up and work on getting some good over ear headphones or in ear monitors so you can hear yourself and see if you can get a small mixer ,rolls box, Aviom/p16m personal mixer ect with a headphone extension cable zip tied to your bass cable to blend the monitor mix and your bass signal. Trying to hear yourself with a stage wedge and no bass amp in any live situation is tough because more often then not you aren't able to have it loud enough to hear yourself clearly without causing feedback issues this is compiled with it usually being a mono mix becomes muddy and cluttered very quickly.