Also three pieces often behind a clean Strat player with a metal slide … my passive mid hump is from playing with TI flats which are “mid-forward” all on there own.
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Also three pieces often behind a clean Strat player with a metal slide … my passive mid hump is from playing with TI flats which are “mid-forward” all on there own.
Mids for me are dialled in around the guitars. If I can hear the guitars clearly then my mids are probably fine. If the guitars lack clarity then I'm probably pushing too much midrange.
I like center mids to be cut with lows and highs boosted. I play Jazz basses. I’ve never had the problem of ‘cutting through’ but I attribute that to PA’s with plenty of subs and a controlled band mix. The boosted lows allow for a strong bass foundation for the band and the boosted highs, a little less boosted than the lows, allows for zing on slap as well as sizzle on my distortion sound.
My two passive basses are sort of polar opposites. The Jazz has significant inherent mid-scoop, especially with both pickups full open. The P/J is remarkably mid forward and a little thin in the low end. This one needs either a mid cut filter engaged or a smiling graphic eq profile to sound not-too-harsh in our mix. The Jazz works better with a mildly frowning eq profile or maybe the neck pickup solo'ed.
Now I have an LTD B-1004 with an on-board preamp and I enjoy dialing up one sound or another on the fly on the bass itself with my amp eq roughly flat. Depending on how smooth and "vintage" I want to sound, I'll come down either a little on my mids or a lot - usually with the mid control switched to the 800Hz center, not the 400Hz.
The big help with letting more of the tone/character of my mids come out when gigging (without PA support) has actually come from adding a Broughton HPF to my chain. Much more effective than just cutting lows on my eq in terms of controlling the boom or mud that can come with a not-so-good space. Controlling the boom has been great for getting my tone into a space at moderate volume.
Now I have an LTD B-1004 with an on-board preamp and I enjoy dialing up one sound or another on the fly on the bass itself with my amp eq roughly flat. Depending on how smooth and "vintage" I want to sound, I'll come down either a little on my mids or a lot - usually with the mid control switched to the 800Hz center, not the 400Hz.
The big help with letting more of the tone/character of my mids come out when gigging (without PA support) has actually come from adding a Broughton HPF to my chain. Much more effective than just cutting lows on my eq in terms of controlling the boom or mud that can come with a not-so-good space. Controlling the boom has been great for getting my tone into a space at moderate volume.
Historically, I've enjoyed scooped low mids and boosted high mids (~300 & 1.2K respectively). However, I'm starting to realize that boosted high mids require a lot of accommodation from the mix since the vox and guitar are often very present around 1-2k. It seems to me that boosting high mids is paradoxically felt more than heard just because of the density of information in that spectrum. I like boosted low mids when they are in front of the low end tonally, that gives that active bass type growl.
I do find that if I boost BOTH the low and high mids, I can get a really aggressive sound that cuts like butter even at lower volumes, but there's a time and place.
Oftentimes, when your system is truly flat in the mids (like my VTDI), it only takes a small boost "<3dB" to give you the needed presence.
I do find that if I boost BOTH the low and high mids, I can get a really aggressive sound that cuts like butter even at lower volumes, but there's a time and place.
Oftentimes, when your system is truly flat in the mids (like my VTDI), it only takes a small boost "<3dB" to give you the needed presence.
