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Lesson in Humility

Skygoneblue

Skygoneblue

Nov 13, 2007
549
102
Orlando, FL
#1
I just had a pretty humiliating moment last night while playing, and I thought I'd share it with you guys to have a good laugh at my expense.

A few months ago I got a Stingray 5 HH in trade from the Classifieds here. I loved it right away! I always dug the Stingray tone, but having that extra pickup made so many new options tonally that I was enamored instantly.

But, like any bass, over time you start to hear the quirks about it - the little things you don't like quite as much, but can't change no matter how hard you try. This was no different. Lately I've not really been enjoying it as much as when I first got it. I play in a church of 12,000 members weekly, and we have a pretty snazzy sound system. But, no matter what I did, I couldn't get my tone to sound good. It was either too tinny, or too dead with no balls whatsoever. The honeymoon was over, or so I thought...

Last night I was trying everything I could think of to fix my tone. I was flipping the toggle left and right, changing the EQ, playing harder, softer, by the bridge, by the neck. Nothing. Then finally, it hit me...

Earlier in the day yesterday I was reading about a Warwick that someone had reconfigured the EQ on, so that it was backwards.

*lightbulb screws in* Wow...

I had been cranking the Treble dial thinking it was the Bass dial.

Needless to say, once I figured that out, I loved the bass's tone all over again, and enjoyed playing the rest of the night.

Just goes to show you, no matter how long you've been playing, you're still susceptible to rookie mistakes... ;)

Hope you enjoyed!
 
#4
snyderz said:
Cool story, but I can't believe it took you several months to figure that out.
Click to expand...

+1 If I heard no change in the bass,with what I thought was the bass knob when I turned it,and actually the opposite of that was happening...i'd be checking other knobs or turning it back. Should have been very easily,especially with a sting ray,cranking the treble makes for a very thin,clacky sound. Well all that matters is now you know.
 
#10
This is why I a.) check out a control diagram to see how the controls should work and b.) check the controls myself to make sure they work as they should. My Streamer's controls aren't in the right places, so I just played around with them to figure it out. Volume is easy to find, the blend knob is backwards which I found out by tapping the pickups with a screw driver, and I boost the bass and treble controls and listen to what they do. I can understand if you barely used the controls to not really figure it out until later, but I get too excited with new basses and play around with them and try to find as many different tones as I can right when I get it to see what it can do!
 
#12
My first gig in church no one told me the bass amp had a "mute" switch ...I played at least 2 songs muted D: , when the group leader noticed he told me to un-mute it and we had an awesome time.

Psalms 138:6 Though the LORD be high, yet has he respect to the lowly: but the proud he knows afar off
 
#15
Just a brain-fart. We all have them.

One time, we were preparing for a jam and I was plugging my bass in and getting ready to warm up.

My band mates and I were chatting and I was a little pre-occupied, while in the process.

But for some odd reason I couldn't get any sound out of my bass. I fiddled with the volume knob...nothing. I turned the volume up on the anp head.....nothing.

I said..." Wait, something's wrong. I think my amp is dead. I can't get nothing out of it"

Our drummer comes casually walking by and presses the Power button:D Amazingly:D ........my amp came to life.

Talk about feeling like a dope lol;):D
 
#16
TMart99 said:
Just a brain-fart. We all have them.

One time, we were preparing for a jam and I was plugging my bass in and getting ready to warm up.

My band mates and I were chatting and I was a little pre-occupied, while in the process.

But for some odd reason I couldn't get any sound out of my bass. I fiddled with the volume knob...nothing. I turned the volume up on the anp head.....nothing.

I said..." Wait, something's wrong. I think my amp is dead. I can't get nothing out of it"

Our drummer comes casually walking by and presses the Power button:D Amazingly:D ........my amp came to life.

Talk about feeling like a dope lol;):D
Click to expand...

But did you forget to turn it on every night for 3 months?:)
 
#17
TMart99 said:
Just a brain-fart. We all have them.

One time, we were preparing for a jam and I was plugging my bass in and getting ready to warm up.

My band mates and I were chatting and I was a little pre-occupied, while in the process.

But for some odd reason I couldn't get any sound out of my bass. I fiddled with the volume knob...nothing. I turned the volume up on the anp head.....nothing.

I said..." Wait, something's wrong. I think my amp is dead. I can't get nothing out of it"

Our drummer comes casually walking by and presses the Power button:D Amazingly:D ........my amp came to life.

Talk about feeling like a dope lol;):D
Click to expand...

Man... that sucks that a drummer fixed it for you :p
 
#20
My RBX JM2 throws me like that all the time. Other active basses I've owned and played have the bass/treble stack with bass on the ring and treble on the top. The JM2 is the other way round. Frequently catches me out.

I've also had the odd silly moment in setting up. I have one of the odd speakon leads that only work in one direction. I've even labelled it up so I know which end goes in where. Yet I still manage to plug it in the wrong way round every now and then.

I've literally colour coded my entire rig from bass to amp as running a dual output bass is just asking for trouble which invariably happens!
 

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