How Do YOU Set Your Pickup & Tone Knobs?

[jmattbassplaya]

There are other one pickup basses besides the P bass...

 

[Duckwater]

Sorry but I didn't see my settings in the poll; all three pickups engaged. Neck humbucker on half volume and half tone. Both jazz pickups on full volume, with setting 1 of passive mid-notch filter engaged on half

That's awesome, got any soundclips?

 

[mattattack187]

I play a Schecter Diamond P Custom 5 with the P Pickup maxed 85% on the humbucker and 90% on the tone knob.

 

[IAmTheWalrus]

I keep my neck pickup all the way up and my tone at around 7 or 8 at all times and then use my eq to adjust until I get the sound I want. I add the bridge pickup all the way up depending on the song. That's just me though

I play an Ibanez Jet King bass

 

[The Birdman]

My settings: P-Bass, volume at around 8 of 10, tone at around 2 of 10. J-Bass: volume at around 7 of 10, 50/50 between the pickups, tone at around 2 of 10.

I prefer being towards the low end of tone and the high end of volume, but I like having some adjustment at the instrument so I can tweak on the fly if I need to.

Roger

 

[mellowgerman]

That's awesome, got any soundclips?

Not at the moment. Actually just installed some Dimarzio Model J jazz pickups on it (picture was taken a few weeks ago) so I've been intending to record a clip. So I'll have one soon

 

[RCCollins]

Whether I'm playing a bass with a P/J configuration or one with a single coil neck pickup/humbucker bridge pickup, I tend to favor the neck pickup and roll off just a little tone. I'd probably roll off the tone halfway if I didn't use flatwound strings exclusively.

 

[Blankandson]

One amp I've used where I get much more tone control is the PJ Suitcase with ext. spk. Just moving the two lowest EQ settings a little makes a huge difference in tone when I use a 5-stg. J-bass. With other amp/combos I usually tweak the bass, but with PJB I don't have to change anything on the bass.

 

[4001]

=StereoPlayer;122503232 on/off/on switches. On full/off/half vol(resistor) wired stereo.
Love it.

That is very cool as well.

 

[darkstorm]

None of the above. First pups are individually adjusted for best tone each solo,k then little tweak to one or the other for best cruising voice of both pups on full. Then little tweaks to pup balance for main tonal shifts. Bass control on the bass varies from flat (most common) to slightly cut or boosted. Same for the treble control. But I put the tone control settings down to having pups with greater then average tonal extension lows and highs. With most active basses I boost the onbard bass control a little bit as the norm. Treble as now is either flat or slightly boosted or cut.

 

[JTE]

Im betting you never spent any time playing classic R&B. The Motown Sound is tone knob all the way off! Most of the way down anyways.
On my P/J 5 i use mostly P with just enough tone and J to cut through the mix.

Not to me. There's some definite presence in that sound that can't be obtained with the treble bleed rolled off. And Duck Dunn's sound demands the tone control open.

John

 

[Dymond-]

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?

Compressor, I suppose. Ive never really noticed volume changes, so it must be that.

 

[Marley's Ghost]

I voted carrots, after being mesmerized by the plethora of choices.

with 18v active and sweepable mids, I dont think any of these really fits.

 

[dudelove]

i dint have any p-bass but a jazz and tribute l2500
on my jazz i do both and never less, but it is more like 90/40
and on tribute, i do neck and both, and the controls are in chance all the time

 

[Roscoe East]

I voted for the way I set most of my basses most of the time

...though I almost always have an oft-used alternative configuration for every instrument, a way to quickly get a different yet equally usable sound from whatever bass I'm playing. So at some point or another I've probably used every option listed in the poll and then some.

 

[gigslut]

I set them with my fingers

You beat me to it ...

 

[IngerAlb]

All my (Ibby) basses have soapbars and 3 band EQ; I always blend the pups 50/50, volume at max, bass almost a notch or two below max, mids halfway and treble all the way up.

 

[bass4worship]

I like 70% neck, 10-30% bridge and tone 20% off low side and that on all my basses.

 

[BayStateBass]

Schecter passive twin humbucker bass here (Raiden) with Rotosound Nexus.

My standard settings are 100% on neck pup, about 20% on bridge pup, tone knob about 60% when using the humbuckers. Pop the coil tap for singles and run both vol's all the way up and bury the tone all the way down.

That's where you'll find it set on any given day (one of those two setups) for the most part.

Of course that changes depending on what I'm playing, who I'm playing with, and whatever my general mood of the day is.