How Do YOU Set Your Pickup & Tone Knobs?

[jnammy]

Mega poll here folks, how do you set your pickup and tone knobs on your bass for general playing? I know that it depends on countless number of factors like style of music, but let’s keep it simple and just assume that your amp is set flat (slight bass boost maybe?), the bass and mid knobs on your bass are also flat, you’re playing through a 1x12 or bigger cab, you’re using broken-in roundwounds, you’re not soloing, and you’re playing in an acoustically “average” room. Sorry MM players, the poll only allowed a max of 20 options, but I would consider single pickup MMs to be “Two pickup bass, bridge moderately favored”. Btw, you can choose more than one option.

 

[Reigninblood]

I keep all my knobs (thunderbird and dean V) set all the way up then I adjust my amp n effects pedals to accommodate. But this isnt always good. So much depend on your style , setup, bass, genre.

 

[Lowactnsatsfctn]

Carrots......
I dont play a P or a Jazz....

Single H = Series for rock, Parallel for smoother stuff. 3 band EQ to taste

 

[Duckwater]

On my main bass, a custom PJ. I leave the P pickup on 90% and roll in the bridge pickup to taste, anywhere from being off to having a 10% favor over the P. Tone knob is almost always dimed.

 

[johndough247]

With my main bass (Sadowsky PJ with rounds) I'm usually using the EQ even if very subtle changes; very rarely do I play it flat. My passive basses (see signature) I may bring to a gig/session are there if a certain sound is needed (Tone full on for slap on Fender J-Bass w SS rounds, Tone off for reggae/funk/jazz on Yamaha PJ with Flats).

Kinda weird poll though, there's no 1 general setting, even with your criteria...genre plays a big role here.

 

[Rumblefisher]

I love Jazz basses. However, I find myself favoring a very P-esque tone, since I favor the neck pickup pretty heavily! Also, musicman pickups are great *Sigh* such is the life of a basstitute...can't decide between all the honies!

 

[Kwesi]

...wut?

 

[timmus]

I set them with my fingers

 

[Ben Heard]

I play an Ibby with two Bart soapbars and a 3 band on board pre with master vol and blend. I leave the EQ flat, as my amp handles the EQing, which is minimal as well as I love the natural tone of my rig + bass and the pickup blend at 50/50. I would say any of the 3 options with pickups at 50/50, but alas, no tone knob for me.

Edit: On my passive Peavey Foundation fretless I moderately favor the bridge pup, with the tone knob just above halfway.

 

[Darkstrike]

I don't have any particular settings, I change them all the time.

 

[timmus]

it depends on the song I'm playing.

 

[duke2004]

Everything on 11 will get the best tone on all of my 8 basses. If your bass doesn't go to 11, 10 sounds almost as good.

I agree with this. And if we all played thru the same amp, with the same cabinet, sames strings of the same age, in the same space with the same accompanying musicians, then this comparison would be useful..

 

[onosson]

I selected all of the ones I tend to use:

P bass, tone halfway
P bass, tone wide open
Two pickup bass, neck moderately favored, tone halfway
Two pickup bass, neck moderately favored, tone wide open
Two pickup bass, centered at 50/50, tone halfway
Two pickup bass, centered at 50/50, tone wide open

They all seem to be doing well in the polls

 

[tom once dead]

Both of my gigging basses are active, so the poll doesn't really apply to me and probably half of all TBers.

 

[BassPlayer900]

Well recently I've used full neck pickup on my Jazz bass and I throw in bridge pickup near full. I leave tone on full, use a SansAmp BDDI and play with a pick.

 

[5StringFool]

Everything on 11 will get the best tone on all of my 8 basses. If your bass doesn't go to 11, 10 sounds almost as good.

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

Sweet... looks like I'm covered.

 

[JTE]

Wherever it sounds right for this song. There ain't no "set it and forget" setting. However, my starting points are:

P Bass- both knobs wide open
2 PUP Passive- Favor the neck PUP, tone wide open
2 PUP active- Volume wide open, pan pot centered or favoring neck, EQ flat

John

 

[jnammy]

for those of you guys who frequently change your pickups and tone knobs from song to song, how do you deal with the volume changes that come with that? do you just wait for an opportune time to stop playing and adjust the volume?

 

[jnammy]

jte, i know you know what you're talking about and so i ask, why volume all the way up on the bass? does it act like the gain on an amp?

 

[5StringFool]

for those of you guys who frequently change your pickups and tone knobs from song to song, how do you deal with the volume changes that come with that? do you just wait for an opportune time to stop playing and adjust the volume?

I use compression to even out the volume levels between different settings.