How to you set your active bass controls?

[MCS4]

It depends on the bass and the gig, but I tend to leave the EQ mostly flat more often than not.

For my trusty old Carvin LB70, I rarely use the EQ other than occasionally to very slightly boost the bass, as this bass is very strong in the highs and upper mids, although at gig volume I don't generally find any extra bass necessary.

For my Zon VB-4, I don't usually use the EQ much if I am playing it by itself, but if I am bringing it to the same gig or rehearsal as the Carvin I might boost the hi-mids or slightly cut the bass so that the two basses are closer in tone and work better with the same amp settings.

 

[Hounddog409]

In 2020 after many many years of only playing passive basses I got to fooling with active basses.

My Ibanez EHB 5 string is getting the most love right now.

When I first got it I wasn't to impressed with the sound.

But then I saw a video where David Ellefson said he cranked all the controls wide open and explained why he does.

So I tried it was quite surprised and liked what I was hearing.

Now I usually leave everything wide open and use the mid freq control to do the bulk of my tone shaping. Its amazing how much tonal variation there is to be had with that knob.

I'd never heard of running the controls wide open so it makes me wonder if that's a common thing and how others use their active basses.

Here i thought thats what most do......

 

[Jefenator]

Ha ha, just tried my 3-band active bass with all 3 knobs cranked up. Anything below E distorted no matter how softly I plucked and whatever made it through all the fuzz sounded like dog poo to my ears.
At least I can say I tried it!
YMMV (Different preamps, different tone goals...)

 

[mikecd1]

I own several active and passive basses. For the most part I'll boost the mid and treble slightly to just one o'clock and the bass about 2-3 o'clock. I also have one "boost only" preamp which I tend to leave treble and mid "off" or no boost and the bass about 8 o'clock or just slightly on. It took me a while to get used to the boost only to not overpower the output so much although there are some usable tones in there for specific situations. There aren't so many aftermarket boost-only preamps out there I'm aware of- I think Aguilar OBP-1 is one and the Sadowsky is the only other I have used.

 

[Solude]

Flat. I use it for the buffer.

 

[Ellery]

Ultimately I'm trying to favor mids to enhance the growl. Typically crank mids & treble, raise the bass from center detente just enough to be present, maybe roll off the treble a little depending on what I hear.