I set them all kinds of different ways but love some added bass and low mids.. and when I'm boosting EQ I lower the volume knob on the bass so I'm not suddenly way louder than I was and to avoid clipping my amp or interface.
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How to you set your active bass controls?
- Thread starter DeepSouth
- Start date
I favor the neck slightly, or all the way if I’m looking for P tones. I run the volume around 75%. I like having some headroom to goose it a little if needed.
I usually have the bass set flat or slightly boosted, treble flat, mids slightly boosted, more if I’m getting lost in the mix.
I’ve tried cranking and cutting each band and all of the combinations I could come up with and it really sounds great flat. I flavor it slightly, mostly EQing for the strings, and I don’t to stray too far from there to get what I like.
I usually have the bass set flat or slightly boosted, treble flat, mids slightly boosted, more if I’m getting lost in the mix.
I’ve tried cranking and cutting each band and all of the combinations I could come up with and it really sounds great flat. I flavor it slightly, mostly EQing for the strings, and I don’t to stray too far from there to get what I like.
On the MM I leave the Mids and Highs at the detent and boost the Bass knob about half way. On the Fodera I leave it flat and typically adjust just the Mids depending on the song. If I’m running the neck pickup in single coil I’ll turn the Bass and Mids down a smidge below detent.
My main actives have treble and bass along with an overall tone control. I typically start off with the tone control set at 50%... the bass and treble set at zero... and go from there, open to what the situation calls for.
The tone control is super-valuable to me as it's a quick way to adjust what I've done with my pan and EQ controls. Depending on what kind of sound I'm going for, I may end up rolling off the tone so that things don't get too bright. Or I may want a little more clarity without getting too trebly. Yeah, tone control and pickup pan are my two favorite controls.
I use my treble and bass sparingly as they can each be a little strong... a little dab will do ya.
I also have mid-boost switches on a couple of my active basses. I like engaging this when I want to cut through... or when I'm leaning on the bridge pickup and want to really funk it up.
Master volume is always wide open.
The tone control is super-valuable to me as it's a quick way to adjust what I've done with my pan and EQ controls. Depending on what kind of sound I'm going for, I may end up rolling off the tone so that things don't get too bright. Or I may want a little more clarity without getting too trebly. Yeah, tone control and pickup pan are my two favorite controls.
I use my treble and bass sparingly as they can each be a little strong... a little dab will do ya.
I also have mid-boost switches on a couple of my active basses. I like engaging this when I want to cut through... or when I'm leaning on the bridge pickup and want to really funk it up.
Master volume is always wide open.
It really depends on the bass. Most of the time I run everything flat and really just use the volume knob. But on some basses everything wide open does sound good. There’s a lot of different styles of eq though. For example I’ve had more time playing Warwicks than any other brand and the bass knob on all 3 thumb basses I had was kind of ridiculous. So I’d either run them flat or sometimes even cut some of the lows. I honestly don’t see why anyone would boost the lows on a Warwick thumb unless they were maybe playing Reggae. Maybe they did that though because of the unique pickup positioning of that bass though. I don’t know.
I dont know if this is a specific solution for a specific preamp, but I read someone saying that with their Yamaha TRBX if one of the bass or mid was turned up, the other had to be turned down. So I tried that on mine, and found Treble -40, Mid +70, Bass -40 produced a really smooth, balanced tone.
I haven't been able to find out the frequencies, but I think there must be quite a bit of overlap between the Mid and the Bass: once the Mids are turned up, that slight turning down of the Bass is needed to stop the sound from being muddy. Only if I turn the Bass quite a bit further down does the bottom drop out out of the sound.
I haven't been able to find out the frequencies, but I think there must be quite a bit of overlap between the Mid and the Bass: once the Mids are turned up, that slight turning down of the Bass is needed to stop the sound from being muddy. Only if I turn the Bass quite a bit further down does the bottom drop out out of the sound.
I tend to have the bass up 30% above centre detent, treble at centre though maybe tweaked a little up and the mids almost all the way off - then depending on what speakers I'm running through the mids only tend to get adjusted the most to get the drive I need from the system.
Whatever works for you.
Personally, as with any EQ controls anywhere, I don't max everything out. I start with a middle ground setting (as 'flat' as seems reasonable to get, it varies from preamp to preamp), and tweak to suit my needs, just like I would tweak an EQ pedal or indeed the controls on my amp. BUt that's just me. There's no 'wrong' way to do anything: if you get a result that you like and works musically, then whatever you did is right.
I’ve seen a fair number of videos and descriptions of people running active preamps “wide open” in the sense of cranking Bass and Treble knobs for maximum scoop, particularly metal players pushing some gain-stage. I was watching a vid of Mike Inez (from Alice In Chains) saying he has always done the same (in his case pushing an SVT). Definitely not my thing (I actually am more often running some variation of a frowny-face mid-forward EQ), but if it works then go for it! I think a lot of guitarists/bassists love either center detents or maxing things out, for me I just use my ears
It depends. I just got back into using an active bass and am doing gigs mostly with PA support. My on stage amp is my monitor so I try to do tone adjustments with that. I try to leave the bass set "flat" for the FOH. I may cut highs if the tune calls for it or adjust the balance on way or the other. I keep the volume wide open and stay away from boosting if I can.
If I am not getting PA support I will adjust the bass as needed. It's a Modulus Q5 with a Bart NTMB-FL circuit with a pull-shift on the mids for 800 or 250 hz. Pretty effective when needed.
If I am not getting PA support I will adjust the bass as needed. It's a Modulus Q5 with a Bart NTMB-FL circuit with a pull-shift on the mids for 800 or 250 hz. Pretty effective when needed.
I got 6 active basses and they are all set differently. Three I leave wide open and the rest are all different based on what sounds good. I used to run my Stingrays all wide open until I got a special and realized that it sounded like garbage on that one. Still run everything open on my Ray 34 and my tetra bass if I run it open the signal is wayyyyyy to hot.
Fairly close to flat most times.
I do the bulk of my EQ on the amp. The onboard preamp (I have an Audere loaded JB and a Spector with a HAZ) is mostly a surgical adjustment thing for me. So l’ve mainly used it for fine tuning or minor tweaks during a song or set.
However, I have a new project bass in mind where I’m going to be installing a filter based preamp. Either an ACG-01 or a @Passinwind PWB-LPF open source preamp which he generously shared with the TB community. With that type of tonestack it’s possible to radically alter the sonic character of your bass. (Think Alembic or Wal.) So I expect I’ll be a lot more aggressive with my onboard settings once I get that finished.
I do the bulk of my EQ on the amp. The onboard preamp (I have an Audere loaded JB and a Spector with a HAZ) is mostly a surgical adjustment thing for me. So l’ve mainly used it for fine tuning or minor tweaks during a song or set.
However, I have a new project bass in mind where I’m going to be installing a filter based preamp. Either an ACG-01 or a @Passinwind PWB-LPF open source preamp which he generously shared with the TB community. With that type of tonestack it’s possible to radically alter the sonic character of your bass. (Think Alembic or Wal.) So I expect I’ll be a lot more aggressive with my onboard settings once I get that finished.
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Putting aside the inherent features of the bass/pickup combination and considering the preamp only, the first thing to recognize is that the center detent doesn’t necessarily mean flat or “normal” in some way—unless the preamp is explicitly designed that way. That may be the right starting point, or it may be all-off or all-dimed. Read the manual.
Start out at flat. Usually cut the high end a bit. Never boost the bass.
On my Stingray, I usually cut the mid down. Stingrays tend to have strong mids to begin with.
YMMV
On my Stingray, I usually cut the mid down. Stingrays tend to have strong mids to begin with.
YMMV
I keep mine flat, then boost or cut as needed. That's one reason I'm not a super huge fan of 'boost-only' preamps.
I learn, by reading, or something if no info available by using common sense by listening, to waht each control does.
Then I set each control to neutral, once I've learned what neutral IS for that control.
On a Stingray 2 band:
- bass control is boost only. So neutral means all the way down.
- treble control is boost/cut, and neutral is half way. There is no center detent.
- Also, although far less importantly, it's been discovered that the frequency affected by the treble control is a little different in boost than in cut. I have not seen the schematic myself, but have been told by numerous experts in the design of preamps that this is what it's doing. However, true or not, that isn't the big deal.
So to hear what the pickup of a 2 band stingray sounds like, turn off bass completely, and find the half way point of rotation of the treble control by measuring it's rotation and set it there.
If the preamp is altering the overall tone of the pickup in any other significant way, you can't do anything about it, so this is the most neutral you'll get.
On MANY active basses, all of the tone controls are boost/cut, so mid way is flat, again other than any other general tone the preamp imparts.
Some are boost only (hazlab preamp, if I recall, but no promises if I'm remembering my former instruments and projects wrong).
Some are cut only, although that's super rare and the most famous example is G&L, and those aren't actually active, those are passive controls.
Also, most preamps don't impart a tone of their own, other than buffering the output of the passive bass which is a good thing so your guitar cable no longer can degrade the treble response.
But, some do impart tone, and many that do are considered pretty great/desirable.
The thing with the stingray is that it was VERY CLEVER to make the bass control boost only. The reason they made it active, the first major production regular-store active bass, was because the pickup was mid heavy, bright enough, but lacking in deep bass. Partly the pickup location, partly the pickup itself. So they added a boost control, and suggested people run it about half way. Voila, it now has this amazing stingray tone in the lows. Then they added the treble control, which can add some incredible zing with rounds, or can tame the zing somewhat for slapping etc.
Just a brilliant design.
Most preamps are there in a way that you can ignore them if all center detented, and they do virtually nothing to the sound in that setting. From my experience, Bartolini is like that, EMG is like that, and I'm certain many others.
ok, enough of my pre-coffee meandering. blah blah, just thought I'd explain my process when I get a new active bass. I go through this process of learning what each control actually does, otherwise I'm very very unhappy. I've always been like that with electronics things and engineering, to the point where I became an engineer. Ha!
Then I set each control to neutral, once I've learned what neutral IS for that control.
On a Stingray 2 band:
- bass control is boost only. So neutral means all the way down.
- treble control is boost/cut, and neutral is half way. There is no center detent.
- Also, although far less importantly, it's been discovered that the frequency affected by the treble control is a little different in boost than in cut. I have not seen the schematic myself, but have been told by numerous experts in the design of preamps that this is what it's doing. However, true or not, that isn't the big deal.
So to hear what the pickup of a 2 band stingray sounds like, turn off bass completely, and find the half way point of rotation of the treble control by measuring it's rotation and set it there.
If the preamp is altering the overall tone of the pickup in any other significant way, you can't do anything about it, so this is the most neutral you'll get.
On MANY active basses, all of the tone controls are boost/cut, so mid way is flat, again other than any other general tone the preamp imparts.
Some are boost only (hazlab preamp, if I recall, but no promises if I'm remembering my former instruments and projects wrong).
Some are cut only, although that's super rare and the most famous example is G&L, and those aren't actually active, those are passive controls.
Also, most preamps don't impart a tone of their own, other than buffering the output of the passive bass which is a good thing so your guitar cable no longer can degrade the treble response.
But, some do impart tone, and many that do are considered pretty great/desirable.
The thing with the stingray is that it was VERY CLEVER to make the bass control boost only. The reason they made it active, the first major production regular-store active bass, was because the pickup was mid heavy, bright enough, but lacking in deep bass. Partly the pickup location, partly the pickup itself. So they added a boost control, and suggested people run it about half way. Voila, it now has this amazing stingray tone in the lows. Then they added the treble control, which can add some incredible zing with rounds, or can tame the zing somewhat for slapping etc.
Just a brilliant design.
Most preamps are there in a way that you can ignore them if all center detented, and they do virtually nothing to the sound in that setting. From my experience, Bartolini is like that, EMG is like that, and I'm certain many others.
ok, enough of my pre-coffee meandering. blah blah, just thought I'd explain my process when I get a new active bass. I go through this process of learning what each control actually does, otherwise I'm very very unhappy. I've always been like that with electronics things and engineering, to the point where I became an engineer. Ha!
