Is it just me...

[4001]

Proof that your fingers are a huge part of the tone.

 

[Munjibunga]

I was in a band with a lead guitarist who played an old Peavey Deuce tube amp combo for years and years. I didn't care for the tone at all. I finally convinced him to get a Mesa F-50 combo. So he brings it to practice and, in ten minutes, he has it sounding exactly like the Peavey.

Are you sure you're not just settling the EQ on these amps in a way that's comfortable and familiar to you? I sure as heck get different sounds out of my rigs, but they all lean in the direction I prefer.

 

[thudfromafar]

... or do you find that you sound the same no matter what rig you play through?

No not really.

Most basses and equipment sounds different and I can tell easily, and I have strong preferences for certain gear.

 

[DeluxeRed]

Doesn't that come down to just how an amp "colors" your tone, not how it completely changes your sound?

I guess what that comes down to is that I don't have a "my tone". In my cover band, I am playing what was "written" for the song, whether it sounds like an EUB, a 60's Bassman, a 70's monster stack, an 80's ss, or synthed or od'd or or or... What the B-15 and active basses actually gets me is the ability to change that sound as appropriate very easily, usually just with inflection or attack, sometimes adjusting on-board eq.

Even in my original home recordings, I'm using a variety of amp/cab/mic combinations, mixed (or not) with DI, with or without plug-ins, etc, so there's still no "my sound", just what is appropriate for the piece of music. (I'll have to get around to overhauling my MS page and get those tunes re-posted. Some day...)

So...my point is, that if someone has "their sound", and it comes through no matter what they play, what do they do when the song calls for something completely different? Aren't they limited in what they can do?

The song has its own reason for being, and showing off "my sound" is not one of them.

 

[peterpalmieri]

Of course there are differences in sound "quirks" (the P is muddier, the J is smoother, the Ray is very "sharp", the 55-94 is very "boomy", and the Decade sounds like it is about to kill someone), but I still get that same woolly/muffled growl with metallic overtones (like a clogged chainsaw overcome with rust) no matter what I play.

Again, earlier I didn't mean to offend anyone, reading your original post is very clear...

BUT...If you are boosting, lows, mids and highs and you always get the same "wooly/muffled tone" with all these different basses you are forcing them to sound that way. I am unclear if your viewing this as a positive or a negative?

On the converse side running all of these basses through a relatively transparent rig without drastic EQ is going to portray a different tone profile, I don't see that as a remotely debatable topic.

 

[MisterMagician]

Again, earlier I didn't mean to offend anyone, reading your original post is very clear...

BUT...If you are boosting, lows, mids and highs and you always get the same "wooly/muffled tone" with all these different basses you are forcing them to sound that way. I am unclear if your viewing this as a positive or a negative?

On the converse side running all of these basses through a relatively transparent rig without drastic EQ is going to portray a different tone profile, I don't see that as a remotely debatable topic.

I think it is a positive, I like the tone, but I was just musing on how they sound pretty similar to my ears.

I have even started to play with string mutes and more gain to further push that common tone (all of which took place months after I tried said rigs).