How do you EQ your P bass

[Mushroo]

You had it right the first time. I'm curious of amp settings.

What kind of amp & cab are you using?

 

[mattj1stc]

It depends on the room, but I always start flat and usually add some bass, a little mid and cut some treble - this on a VT Deluxe. Say bass +3, mid +1, treble -2.

 

[JTE]

Settings for the P are the same as the Laklands, the Guild Pilot , etc. I use the basses for what they sound like, and EQ on the amp is for the room/cabs, the guitar and/or keys EQ, etc.

 

[LoTone]

I cut the bass and treble slightly and I keep the mids at noon.

 

[SLO Surfer]

Flat-ish. But depends on the amp and the room.

 

[deste]

In the very rare gigs I used (I don't use it anymore, the only gigs I had this summer after the lockdown were all on double bass, except one where i used my Ibanez Musicians keyboards) my Squier CV 60 (D'Addario Chromes), with a blues band, I set my GK MB 112 like this: lows on 12, mid-lows on 9, mid-trebles on 12, trebles on 9, contour on 9, no hi-boost; tone on half, or closed.
My tone ideal on P bass is George Porter Jr. with the Meters: dark and soft.

 

[SMonroeB]

Settings for the P are the same as the Laklands, the Guild Pilot , etc. I use the basses for what they sound like, and EQ on the amp is for the room/cabs, the guitar and/or keys EQ, etc.

100% agree. These days you can emulate most any pickup to sound like whatever you want so it's nice to have a bass with a "signature" sound. I love the sound of the P pickup. Because
I'm simple, I feel there are really 2 sounds that I love. Volume up full with tone down or volume up full with tone up.

 

[bassliner50]

Traynor SB 115 almost flat at 12:00 slight mid boost. Tone on the P turned down 1/4-1/3. My sweet spot. Oh yes, fingers and rounds.

 

[MDBass]

How do you set the EQ on your amp for your P bass? I'm curious if a pattern emerges with the answers.

As you can see from the first three answers, you can literally do dozens of different things depending on the sound you’re after.

The only “pattern”, is “however you want”

 

[Chrisk-K]

The P doesn’t need the freaking amp EQ.

 

[Slapndbayass]

To me it would depend on the room/area I was playing. You would want to know what you want to hear out of your bass and then set the controls to get that. For me getting a clear sound by shaping wolfy boomy frequencies out and then using the volume knob on the amp and turning that up to increase warp factor.

In short get a clear clean tone on the EQ and then increase the volume. I would turn the tone knob on the guitar down often. You're not trying to sound like a guitar unless you're into Animals/Tosin tones and fluidity.

 

[Gyver]

My EQ for my Fender basses (Fretless PJ with light gauge rounds, P Bass w/ flats, Jazz w/ standard rounds) is generally the same:

AMP - GK Legacy 800
-Treble - 10:00 - 11:00
-Hi Mids - 1:00 - 2:00
-Low Mids - 10:00 - 11:00
-Bass - noon - 2:00

For my Ric 4003 I boost the treble to noon, back the bass off to 10:00 - noon and back the Hi Mids off to noon.

 

[Pdaddy1978]

Pbass:
Tone control dimed....all the way, all the time

Ampeg:
Hi boost...off
Lo boost...off
Bass tone....12 O'clock
Treble tone....1 O'clock

 

[nun lover]

On my Lakland 44-64 with Geezer pickups, I have the tone control right about 50%. On my amps it's fairly neutral but I like a bump in the high mids. Really depends on the amp though because they all have different curves and controls. In my band I want to 1) feel the bass, and 2) hear it cut through a little.

 

[Jared Houseman]

Flat

I made a varitone type thing and use the .033uf tone cap 90% of the time. It adds little more mids than a standard tone cap. I'll occasionally boost bass but that's because I use a really small cab most of the time

 

[bassboysam]

I just crank the SVT or GT200. the key is the ampeg 810, pretty much all the EQ I need.

 

[two fingers]

How do you set the EQ on your amp for your P bass? I'm curious if a pattern emerges with the answers.

Slight low-mid bump in most rooms. My tone knob is almost always dimed. Other than that, I let it do what it do.

 

[Jack]

a wide dip in the neighborhood of 250 to 300 Hz seems to tame the worst of it.

a wide dip in the neighborhood of 250 to 300 Hz seems to remove the best of its personality, so don't do that.

 

[shawshank72]

Bass flat
Low mid +2
Mid flat
Hi mid -1
Treble -2
Tone knob on bass between 25-75% for certain songs.
Run thru a Traynor head.
Settings are my go to but the room can drastically change that.

 

[logdrum]

Pre-amp Gain affects tone as well. So I turn the gain up and find the sweet spot. THis is specially true for tubes in the pre-amp. If it s fender tone stack - including older Mesa Boogies - Flat EQ is not knobs at noon.

For band playing a not so sweet sounding bass is usually the best sound in a mix specially if we are talking loud music lie pop. rock and fusion. Reggae, a cranked bass is okay to a certain extent.