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Knob madness! How do you keep so many settings managed?!?

#24
basstriaxis said:
Umm... Brad? Don't you have 18 some-odd basses? :ninja: I would bet that your collective knob-age on all those out knobs most of us here!
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Actually the wide variety of basses I play led me to an important discovery. Start with a great basic sound and the rest is easy. KISS.

My main amp (AMP BH-420) has a limiter, 4 band semi parametric EQ, crossover, tone balance and a couple of gains. I use the gains and leave everything else either flat or unused.

The other half of the equation is using only instruments that have a great basic sound. No serious tweaking needed to make them tolerable. I set them flat, with one exception (the Zon Legacy Standard fretless 5 which I keep bridge soloed and bass control maxed) and do minor tweaks.

Simple, plug and play:D
That leaves whatever knobs
 
#26
Brad Johnson said:
Actually the wide variety of basses I play led me to an important discovery. Start with a great basic sound and the rest is easy. KISS.

My main amp (AMP BH-420) has a limiter, 4 band semi parametric EQ, crossover, tone balance and a couple of gains. I use the gains and leave everything else either flat or unused.
Click to expand...

That's umm... 9 controls on the amp, I'd guess likely four on each bass... so if you bring two basses to a gig thats 17 knobs. I bet you likely have a tweeter attenuator or two. Throw in the odd forgotten switch or slider and you could easily be close to 20!!!

As I said earlier, I don't adjust all 40 knobs at a gig... maybe 3 or 4 usually. My issue is simply making sure that the knobs that don't need adjusting don't accidentally GET adjusted!

20!?! That's a lot of knobs, Brad! ;)




j/k!
 
#27
secretdonkey said:
As I said earlier, I don't adjust all 40 knobs at a gig... maybe 3 or 4 usually. My issue is simply making sure that the knobs that don't need adjusting don't accidentally GET adjusted!
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I do!

All I have to do is glance over them. I know in my head where everything belongs--I take about 30 seconds to look over everything and make sure that everything is OK before I start playing.

When I played at church I would have to do it every Sunday and Wednesday for fear of kids walking up and cranking the master volume to 10 (which would break the windows in my little church :p ).

I guess I just tinker with my bid'ness so much that it's hard not to pay close attention to where it's set.
 
#28
Donkey, I can't believe your SM-900 out-knobbed my Eden Navigator; I didn't think that was possible! I've got 19 knobs on that (unless you count buttons too, in which case it's 27, not including power), several of which I never touch and don't really even know what they do. Two on my power amp, six on my SABDDI which I don't always use, five on my Carvin (less on other basses)...hey, I've got a max of 40 too, depending on how you count. Crazy.

It's not really that insurmountable though ... knob settings on my bass vary with each song; the only time I use the SansAmp with my rig is as an occasional overdrive pedal and I know the general settings I like for that; the power amp knobs are obviously situational. As for the Navigator, I'm a bit unscientific: I plug in and see if it sounds good. If so, I leave it, if not, I essentially play around until it does! Most of the time, little or no adjustment is necessary. :hyper:
 
#30
m!!!! did O do the avatar or is that your work? sweet!!!

in re my knobs (not my chi chi's) - I actually leave my ampeg flat - i just make sure i have a decent gain stage going (getting not so easy with my wannabe upright coming into play)

on my blender fazz sears craftsman 4 bangeroo, i use the onboard aggie to its full potential (as well as my series/para switch) - bass, treble, mid (either 400 or 800) and am cutting/boosting the chihuahua that like to hang around the neck (the rottweiler near the bridge usually stays on all the way).

on the warwick, bass usually is set and rarely moves; i do mess with the treble to get more or less bark from the german shepherds that are always on all the way.
 

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