HOW DO YOU FIND YOUR BEST SOUND?

[noeinstein]

I hope this makes sense. I'm looking for systematic way to find the sound I want without chasing my tail all night. Between the gain and volume (never mind EQ, Contour, etc.) on my amp and the volume and tone knobs on my bass, there are a lot of combinations.

My amp manual (GK MB Fusion 500) says turn your (passive) bass tone and volume all the way up (check), set the Master (amp) volume at 3 o'clock (check), then turn the Input Volume (I guess this means Gain) up to the desired output level (check).

Okay, cool It makes sense to keep all the variables except one constant while you try to find the sound you want, but using the method above has limitations, like I can turn down on my instrument, but I can only turn up at the amp.

If that's the price I have to pay, okay, but I'd like to hear how you dial your sound in. Do you like to make adjustments on your instrument? Just on your amp? Both?

 

[walterw]

using the method above has limitations, like I can turn down on my instrument, but I can only turn up at the amp.

If that's the price I have to pay, okay,

what "price"?

dime the bass, set the amp to where it sounds good and is loud enough, do the gig. if you really need to get louder during the course of the night reach back and tweak the amp, but ideally you should be staying at a set volume, not tweaking up and down with the bass itself all night. (OK, for quiet parts ease up on the right hand or yes, turn your bass down a bit, that way you can slam it right back up afterwards and be at the same volume you were before.)

 

[M Sterling]

I prefer to set everything at soundcheck and leave it alone throughout the show. This causes less frustration with FOH and keeps your sound consistent.

 

[Strabel]

I think always set your gain for maximum.(if you have a overload signal just stay beneath that)
This ensures that your noise will be less and your pre-amp (eq.compression,tone etc...) always have enough signal to
work with.
You adjust your volume with your master volume.

 

[rtslinger]

I always set everything on my amp at 12 or flat on the Eq. Gain I bring up with the main volume off until it clips and then back off, so it only shows if I dig in hard and just playing an open A, I tweak till I hear want I am looking for or close enough. Each venue has different acoustics some settings can work from one to another, but there are other factors that play in, so I general follow this practice. I have one place we play all the time and nothing but flat eq works there believe me I tried a touch bass too boomy little mids honking, horrible room for music happening place to play. Great built in crowd all about live music. Not to mention of course I play many different basses so that is also factor in depend which two I bring.

 

[caligula]

As M Sterling said, adjustments during soundcheck, little or no tweaking during the show.
I play my main bass passive 99% of the time, so if I feel the need to tweak, it's usually the amp. IMO, most amps these days are designed in a way that they give you a very good allround tone with all knobs flat (noon) and that's what I mostly do.
I use the Tone Hammer 500 or the Kustom KXB 500 quite often and both amps have a different, but great out-of-the-box tone, thus I don't feel I have to change anything. Depending on the room, I sometimes boost / cut the lows or boost / cut the highs a tad - nothing dramatic.
The only real tonal change is when I have to slap. Then I usually cut the mids around 700 - 900 Hz a bit, that's all.

 

[noeinstein]

This all helps, thanks. It's not really rocket science, but then I'm no Einstein either