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How do you like your tone?

B

Bass EC

Aug 8, 2005
26
1
#1
Well, being my first post here on TB.com, I was curious...


What tone do you all go for? That fat, thick, booty bass feel or that treble cranked solo bass sound? A Stanley sound with Mids cranked? How do you EQ?


Also, another question...for EQing purposes...I have a Bass with 2 Tone knobs which runs into a Zoom Player 3000B which has EQ settings on it, and that runs into my amp. My question is, where is it better to EQ from...the amp or the pedal? Thanks!
 
#3
Hi and welcome to TalkBass! :)

My philosophy about a fretted bass tone can be described in one word: Eclectic. I try to have a bit of everything in my tone: Fat (lows), bright (highs) and cutting (mids). That doesn't mean I get it all the times because sometimes the venue doesn't cooperate. Also, it's a common practice here to run the bass through the PA system, and most of the times the sound guys are not the most knowledgeable or helpful people. Basically, I have one tone for band situations and another for solo stuff. For the first one, the four bands of my Bongo's onboard equalizer are cranked, except the low mids, which are slightly rolled off. For solo situations, all the EQ bands in my bass are approximately to 60% and blend my pickups like 65% bridge-35% neck.

I also have a multi-effects unit (which I hardly use after getting my Bongo) and what I do is: Bypass the effects, set the amp's EQ flat and then turn the bass knobs until the tone suits my taste. Then adjust the EQ from the amp and finally turn on the effects for last adjustments (if feel them necessary), but again, I'm not using my multieffects so much now. Only for playing things like "Cathedral" or "One Of These Days".

Hope this helps.
 
#7
Well, I am just getting to know my way around my Boss EQ20 (10 band eq + 9 presets). Actually, the eq20 + AI Focus SA is my entire rig ( I use the eq20 as my preamp) aside from my shroeder 1210.

The eq20 offers lots of tonal options which I like because that helps me hone my tone. Anyway, so far I found I decrease the 60hz a nudge and increase the 200hz more than a nudge. Everything else is flat. What I am looking for is a very tight low-end with mids that cut yet overall the tone is still bass-y. I am still experimenting but this seems to be working.

One thing I was wondering about is the 30hz. It seems to make little, if any, difference either way boosted or way cut. I am thinking of zeroing it out since it doesnt seem to do anything to my ears and cutting it saves me some power.
 
#13
I like lots o lows and highs and adding a little high mids in order to cut through.I also like the quicksilver tone.That's exactly as the one above but you select the bridge pickup and you press the wah(yes i own one,an 105q crybaby)almost in the middle(listen to colonel's claypool bucket of bernie brains and you'll know exactly what i'm talking about).Distortion is another thing i like but you have to keep in mind that you play bass and that distortion on bass should maake your bass still sound like bass no matter youget it(either from your amp,your pedal,your preamp,by cranking your bass' onboard eq etc).My coolest examples for distortion on bass is Tim Commerford of Audioslave\Rage against the machine Billy Sheehan,Flea,Nick Olivieri of queens of the stone age,Les Claypool,Billy Cox of Jimi Hendrix and Leonard 'Hub' Hubbard of the Roots.Also it is also important to be able to alter your tone by your attack a technique that can be teached aonly by one's self :eyebrow:
 
#14
I used to play with more focus on the lows, cutting a highs a bit. Nowadays, I´ve realized that I need to emphasize mids to cut thru 2 distorted guitars, in a rock band situation.

However, that´s not the sound I like with solo bass. I find it too agressive. So I cut mids and boost, highs and lows a bit.
Same setting for slapping.

I tend to tweak the bass knobs and try to keep the amp settings flat. It´s much easier to control.
 
#16
humm let me see, fat and growly tone

bass : boosted by 75%
mids : boosted by 100%
treble : cut by -40%
presence : boosted by 100%

this is done with my Sansamp RBI with ART Tube DI, its a great effect and as a preamp(sansamp). this config works great with both of my basses, my fretless have a fat bottom and that distinctive fretless tone shines from it. with my geddy, its a growly tone with punchy treble, im really happy with my setup and config.
 
#18
Bridge pickup soloed with the passive highs rolled off on the bass and the lows boosted a little on the amp. Its quick and has a present midrange, but boosting the lows on the amp takes it away from that jaco sound into it's own space. Just the way my gear sounds best. Oh, and I can't forget, it has to be played through a cab with 15's. That makes all the difference in it still being fat with lots of air and still being able to use the bridge pickup. Elrick->Demeter->Stewart->Cab with 15's.
 
#19
My tone is quite punchy, yet retains phenomenal bottom end. What I do is start from +2 on the 20Hz dial on my EQ, and go down in half steps to the sixth band, where I set the seventh band at the same frequency, and begin moving up in whole steps, resulting in a slightly scooped midrange. But then, being that my bass is active, I boost the mids all the way, bass about 3/4 of the way, and treble about halfway. Finally, I solo my bridge pickup, and viola! my favorite tone.

P.S. - I turn the tweeter on my cabinet to about 9:00, and put the cabinet on its side as opposed to upright.
 
#20
on my F basses , i keep the pre-amp turned all the way down.. and tweak accordingly

on my eden pre-amp, well its too hard to explain

but its like a hi-fi punch, not muddy punch, but it has round ness and still that hi-end type thing?

i dunno, come see my band play, or some to my house..

eric
 

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