I got a very nice Smith Bolt-on w/ Bubinga/Tiger Maple 5 string a year ago. It looks and plays like a dream. However; after the Honeymoon and playing it live, I did not like the overly aggressive and way forward midrange sound. It also was a bit too compressed. I tried different strings, setting eq. as well s/p switches, dip sw, many outboard preamps (with or w/out onBoard pre bypassed) and amps, etc, with no luck. When I tamed the mids it sounded veiled (or lack of better terms) neutered. I was thinking about selling it, when last Saturday, I spent over 2 hours not playing or practicing, but going thru whole gamment of adjustments (my neighbors must have Loved me, playing the same lines). I went thru each setting very slowly as there are 4 dip settings for Bass, 4 for mids, and 4 for highs and finally found a great setting (IMHO). Bass dip sw set for Low freq.(1=off,2=on) Mid set for narrow band (3=off,4=on) high dip set on highest freq.(5=off, 6=off) Tone controls-pu blend 75% towards neck pup, treble and bass slightly boosted each, and mid cut almost halfway. Set for parallel mode. To me it now sounds resonate and natural. Thanks for reading.
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Ken Smith Tone Option
- Thread starter Mad Tango
- Start date
If you don't like aggressive midrange, you don't like the way a Ken Smith sounds. If you can get a tone you like fine, but you probably will end up getting another bass. The good thing is that Ken Smiths are so coveted, you can easily trade it for another excellent quality bass that you will like better. Just try before you buy or trade.
Thanks for the info. Now I love the sound and I am very happy with my "New" Smith.
Post a sound clip if you can.
