• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Make YOUR own "bass tone" pie chart!

#102
Wait ... I'm confused. If my bass has a sound and my technique has its own sound, then how am I suppose to coax the true tone out of the instrument unaffected? This is like some Heisenberg Principle sort of stuff.

Do I play without technique? That would be a first for me, though I've seen it done all to often.

I'm sure the pie chart tool won't allow it, but I'm falling back on the Wonka formula:

93% perspiration
6% electricity
4% evaporation
2% butterscotch ripple
 
#103
Considering the fact that pickups and strings are generally considered the top two items that are physically part of the bass, I am struck by how much time we spend obsessing over the other stuff and how little we spend experimenting with strings. I could be wrong but don't seem to see as many TB threads about picking the right string as for all the other stuff.
 
  • Like
Reactions: SteveCS
#104
Matthew_84 said:
On a passive, bolt-on fretted bass (I've never own a neck-through or a set-neck):

19% - Pickup Location
17% - Strings
16% - Pickup Type: Single Coil, Humbuckers, etc.
13% - Electronics (Pots & Caps) Electrical Values: 500k pots, .047uf caps, etc
12% - Electronics (Pots & Caps) Quality: difference between quality components and very cheap components
11% - Pickup Model: Difference of swapping a single coil, for example, with another single coil in the same pickup location
5% - Bridge
4% - Fretboard Wood / Finish
3% - Body Wood / Finish

On a passive, bolt-on fretless bass:

18% - Pickup Location
17% - Strings
16% - Fretboard Wood / Finish
12% - Pickup Type: Single Coil, Humbuckers, etc.
11% - Electronics (Pots & Caps) Electrical Values: 500k pots, .047uf caps, etc
10% - Electronics (Pots & Caps) Quality: difference between quality components and very cheap components
9% - Pickup Model: Difference of swapping a single coil, for example, with another single coil in the same pickup location
4% - Bridge
3% - Body Wood / Finish

This is all based on my experience with the few mods I've done and basses I've owned. YMMV of course.

I didn't include technique, because I related this to the same person picking up a few basses in a store and using the same technique on all of them. We all, or should, all know the different tones we can get when we play this way, or that way.
Click to expand...

You might be overestimating the impact of high vs low quality pots and caps unless the low quality is really bad. Still, these parts are cheap enough that there is no good reason to cut corners. How the wiring is done (series/parallel/single, etc) can make a big difference however.
 
#105
Ric5 said:
talent-boost.jpg
talent-sim.jpg
Click to expand...

If such a pedal was available (the Boss) I would buy one for sure, even if the knobs and buttons don't do anything. Awesome!
 
  • Like
Reactions: organworthyplayer337
#106
Ric5 said:
WHERE DOES MY TONE COME FROM ....

pedal.jpg


1 - First I run into an equalizer

2 - Then I split the signal into 4 parallel signals with a rolls mixer.

3 - I run one of the parallel lines into the Line6 bass pod where I model an acoustic 360 with a rat or big muff distortion pedal. I use this to get a retro growlly distorted sound. Or I also model an Ampeg fliptop with the Rat Distortion pedal. And I also Model an old Marshall amp. With the bass pod I can get a wide range of clean or dirty sounds and various effects and model different amps and speaker cabinets.

4 - The second parallel signal goes into a MXR bass di+. I use this pedal to get a clean modern sound. It also has a distortion button that can give a moderate to extreme amount of modern distortion.

5 - The third parallel signal goes into a Marshall Guv'nor. This gives me an old 60s marshall stack sound. This can go from a small amount of distortion to an over the top marshall sound. This effect can give you a the classic Jack Bruce Cream tone.

6 - The fourth parallel signal goes into a Tech21 VT Bass pedal. With this effect I get a slightly dirty Ampeg SVT bass amp sound with a tube like growl.

7 - Then I remix the 4 signals back together and run it into a bass amp, or pa, or studio mixer. Because the signals are parallel I can mix clean and overdriven sounds together and still get effect and a sound that punches through the mix.

effects-sch.jpg
Click to expand...

Are you saying tone is in the pedals? Check this video out. It is absolutely hilarious. Seen it several times and am still laughing my a$$ off right now.

 
  • Like
Reactions: hrodbert696
#107
LanOsb133 said:
Sorry to burst your bubble but you clearly haven't read what I wrote. The PLAYER has a sound to his own. A sound that is NOT included in the BASSES sound. You seem to think Player and bass are synonymous, they are NOT. The BASS has its own sound, that sounds different in every persons hands, but the BASS ITSELF has its own unique sound qualities that other identical make/model/year basses would not have. So no, I'm clearly not saying and HAVE NEVER said that every person playing the same bass will sound the same, I'm saying (If you bothered to read) that the BASS itself has its own sound and voice, and the players way of playing the bass shouldn't be a factor as to the actual basses sound.
Click to expand...

Yes, but some instruments respond and enhance the player whereas others do not. Likewise, some players' techniques enhance or exploit the natural voice of the bass and others' do not. What works to narrow the gap for one could equally widen it for others.
 
#108
Doner Designs said:
You might be overestimating the impact of high vs low quality pots and caps unless the low quality is really bad. Still, these parts are cheap enough that there is no good reason to cut corners. How the wiring is done (series/parallel/single, etc) can make a big difference however.
Click to expand...

I could have been... I was thinking of a time where I installed Lindy Fralin pickups in a Squier Jazz and didn't hear a huge difference. I then decided to upgrade the stock pots and caps to CTS ones with the same values and the jack to a Switchcraft and the difference was really noticeable - the output was louder, the tone was brighter, and the sound was just a lot clearer.

I thought it was because of the pots/cap/jack quality, but maybe there was something in the original wiring that was causing some extra resistance which caused this? Or maybe the stock pots were on the negative side of the allowable allowance, and the CTS ones were on the positive side... I'm not sure.
 
#112
Madcity Fats said:
Wait ... I'm confused. If my bass has a sound and my technique has its own sound, then how am I suppose to coax the true tone out of the instrument unaffected? This is like some Heisenberg Principle sort of stuff.

Do I play without technique? That would be a first for me, though I've seen it done all to often.

I'm sure the pie chart tool won't allow it, but I'm falling back on the Wonka formula:

93% perspiration
6% electricity
4% evaporation
2% butterscotch ripple
Click to expand...
The op includes technique, also you can add your own criteria.
 
#120
50% Player - if actively playing for more than a few years
40% Strings/Pups/Capacitor Value(s) (or the preamp)
10% Everything Else

Best I can do. You want a pie, make your own.

Note: The strings and electronics are so interrelated and interactive in the production of a bass's sound that I don't think they can be accurately separated out from one another for all basses across the board. Maybe for an individual bass you could break it out with a finer degree of granularity. But not for electric basses in general.

P.S. You left out the amp and speaker cab. That's as much a part of it as the rest. A Fender PBass through an old 2x12 Bassman is a different beast than that same bass through a 4x10 GK or a 1x15 or a 8x10 Ampeg would be.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: SteveCS

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back