"Moody" Ears?? Also, string changes...

[groovaholic]

Is it just me, or is it common to frequently have "what was I thinking?!?!?" feelings about your tone?

Based on the ubiquity of GAS and how busy the Classifieds section of TalkBass is...I'm guessing that the answer is "yes"

Sometimes when I plug in, my bass+amp sounds like a thunderous chorus of angels to me - other times the sound of the same gear just grates on my nerves.
This has led to MANY instances of buying & selling gear and regretting those transactions within a few short months.

I currently own, objectively speaking, gear that ranges from solid to fantastic.
(Dingwall Z3, GK Legacy 800, Genz-Benz Shuttle 9.0, custom LDS 2x12 cab, Euphonic Audio NL-210)

Most recently, I played a show last weekend and just couldn't get my tone dialed.
So on Monday, I tried all combinations of my two heads with my two cabinets...and got more annoyed as I went.

I was about to post a couple items for sale...
Then I remembered that I'd put a different set of strings on my bass a couple weeks ago.
I swapped back my usual strings and suddenly the nasal mids and clanky highs were gone.
Crisis averted!

What do you do to "talk yourself off the ledge" and avoid selling great gear?
Or, do you just roll with the GAS as part of the musical journey?

 

[Pilgrim]

A couple of things occur to me -

First, it sounds like you like dead strings (but may not have realized it). If so, quit changing them and let them mellow gracefully. After a couple of months they sound better, but some patience is required.

Second, mellow out about "tone." I'm not SRV and neither are you. Over the years I've read many posts by guys driving themselves crazy seeking perfection in some "tone" (actually a rather vague useless and term) instead of just settling for sounding good. Set up, tweak the EQ and volume a bit as needed, and when it sounds OK, play the darn music. I am confident the audience won't know if you're only at 98% of the exact, precise sound you want. You will sound good.

I haven't changed gear in 15 years. I set up, adjust the sound slightly as needed for the venue, then set the volume and play. You can do it too.

I haven't changed golf clubs in 20 years, either - because the clubs are a lot better than I am. That's also true of the amps I'm playing through. You may benefit by reflecting on that.

 

[UNICORN BASS]

I feel you O.P. I also experience this same issue but the frequency varies a lot. If i walk into a music store and start checking out basses I can usually tell pretty quickly that it isn't the day to be there and i'm out, no regrets. If I see something that speaks to me I rarely buy that day. I will come back later, risky I know, but I won't have any regrets. And yes, I do have those playing days where it just isn't happening. Again. I put it down and come back later. I used to get much more worked up about it.

 

[jTrolt]

On the contrary - I can't shut the hell up on stage.
I'm so damned happy with the sound. I picked up a 6 string MTD recently, and it sounds even better than the KZX5 5 I'd been playing for the last 2.5 years of gigging. 12" NEO with bass array of 3" hf drivers, 500 watts. Just slays me for clarity, punch, and growl. It's in my IEM's too, so the amp only gets credit for faithful reproduction.
Only time I get touchy is in the summer when I'm burning a new set of strings every 3-5 gigs, due to outdoor heat/humidity/sweat. I like bright fresh strings.

Hate to contribute to GAS, but maybe you've not yet found "the one"

Seems the common thread is strings, and I can say, I've stuck with the MTD's on MTD's- never tried anything else, and they just keep me smiling.
Maybe that's all you need to change, is to not change.
String brands, that is.

 

[KevInDaBassment]

G.A.S., Honeymoon period ending, those dreaded "nothing sounds good" days...

Sometimes it has a lot more to do with the venue or other factors than us. Sometimes it's the strings (like you found out), or our playing, or even how much wax is in the ears. I've been able to stave this off by just closeting gear for a while, then breaking it out again to get a pseudo-fresh perspective on it. Sometimes they come out great, other times not so much. The important thing is to not do something hastily, give it some time to settle and make sure you aren't just having an off day.

 

[sunbeast]

Strings and setup tend to be the most fiddly things that contribute to changing tone in the short-term for me. I rely on fairly low action to get the feel and tone I prefer, and that requires being ready to adjust the truss rod to taste somewhat regularly before rehearsals, shows or recording (though I might ease off it to a point for recording to keep takes clean)

 

[mambo4]

I used to have such reactions on occasion but I got over it.
I went from wishing for perfect tone to accepting reliably pretty good
The finer points of tone matter less, and are less under out control, than we may like to think.

 

[micguy]

If you are playing bass through an amp and speakers, the room acoustics are a huge variable, which you will never really get away from.

All my gigs at this point (and for almost a decade) are ampless, however - I am now always hearing myself through headphones or in ears. The reduces the variability of what I hear A LOT. It also means the FOH person worries about how my tone translates to the room - I just play. I play a lot better because I'm in my "happy place" most of the time - I am able to be an actual artist, not someone struggling with how I sound.

However, you still have some variability to deal with. What I hear (the impression of what I sound like in my brain) is different in the evening than it is in the morning. All of us have this issue, but many of us deny it. I have learned to work with this - whenever I am tweaking a bass or a pedal, if it just doesn't sound right, I will decide not to worry about it until morning - in the morning, not having had a rough day, my hearing is fresh, things sound more consistent, and usually much better.

I practice a lot in the evenings, because my brain learns musical patterns better at that time of the day. I tweak gear in the morning, because my brain hears better at that time of day.

 

[groovaholic]

it sounds like you like dead strings

Very much the contrary - I like them bright, but not harsh.

BACKSTORY:
Last year, I bought a set of D'Addario NYXL strings for my Dingwall - and they reminded me that D'Addario strings have never been my favorites.
I took them off after 1 rehearsal and they sat in my re-string toolbox for over a year.

Fast forward to this spring: I bought a fretless bass that came with a set of XT coated strings, and I was surprised to find that I love them.
So I thought I'd give the NYXL another shot on my Dingwall - and now that I'd gotten used to the feel of the coated XTs, the NYXL didn't feel too bad.

But there's a certain quality to the NYXLs mids that I just DON'T get along with...
When I put my preferred SIT strings back on the bass, I was happy again.

 

[Lefty Joe]

Is it just me, or is it common to frequently have "what was I thinking?!?!?" feelings about your tone?

Based on the ubiquity of GAS and how busy the Classifieds section of TalkBass is...I'm guessing that the answer is "yes"

Sometimes when I plug in, my bass+amp sounds like a thunderous chorus of angels to me - other times the sound of the same gear just grates on my nerves.
This has led to MANY instances of buying & selling gear and regretting those transactions within a few short months.


What do you do to "talk yourself off the ledge" and avoid selling great gear?
Or, do you just roll with the GAS as part of the musical journey?

There's a story -- probably apocryphal -- of Jimi Hendrix coming off the stage with his wah pedal, telling his tech guy it doesn't sound right. Tech guy gives him a backup, but Jimi soon brings back; it's not right either. Wah #3 goes out and comes back; still not right. Tech guy gets an idea, and gives Jimi the first wah pedal again -- not having even opened it. And Jimi finishes the show with it. Afterward, Jimi says "That's the one you should've given me the first time"

 

[Lefty Joe]

Regarding bass, I find myself motivated mostly toward "how does it fit in the whole band sound" -- rather than sounding some way I might particularly favor. Sounding good always feels best, and what "good" means is determined by the situation. We'll assume you already know your situation, though -- in which case, when it doesn't sound good to you, I'd ask your band members for their opinion.

Alternatively, there's always the "new" setup. Replacing your bass or amp isn't inherently better, but your ears may welcome a change. Just don't sell the old, because it's often a happy return after a break.

 

[EdO.]

I used to have such reactions on occasion but I got over it.
I went from wishing for perfect tone to accepting reliably pretty good
The finer points of tone matter less, and are less under our control, than we may like to think.

If you are playing bass through an amp and speakers, the room acoustics are a huge variable, which you will never really get away from.

All my gigs at this point (and for almost a decade) are ampless, however - I am now always hearing myself through headphones or in ears. The reduces the variability of what I hear A LOT. It also means the FOH person worries about how my tone translates to the room - I just play. I play a lot better because I'm in my "happy place" most of the time - I am able to be an actual artist, not someone struggling with how I sound.

From the beginning of my bass playing journey (which started some 50+ years ago...) I just could never really find a physical amplifier I was completely happy with. Sounded great in some places, in others sounded like absolute . Same bass, settings, blah blah blah. Went through a number of different setups over those years, interestingly the closest I ever got was a Stingray through an Acoustic 370 head with a Road 118 cab. But never consistently got happy with the sounds I was getting. Probably some user error involved but doesn't matter, it just never was consistently what I was looking for.

Anyway, like @micguy I finally went digital (Line 6 Stomp in my case). With 15-plus amps and preamps to sort through and God knows how many speaker combos, I managed to find different combinations that worked for my basses and got me at least close to the sounds I hear in my head. Some settings I use for several different basses, some basses I'll use an entirely different amp/cab patch for. Having all of the versatility and tweak-ability to work with just simplified things greatly for me. The most important point is that the sound I get in my ears is consistent AND repeatable. What I hear puts me in MY happy place, and the sound out front I work out with my sound guy (who also happens to be a bass player, big plus). The only physical amp I own now is a small practice amp which never leaves my practice spot. Sold off the others and never looked back.

 

[BassicJazzy]

Wasn't going to comment on this one but after playing new fretless SR for a week I pulled out my fretted SR and could not seem to get a good tone out of it. Sounded clanky and thin. It was also a lot quieter, less gain, than the fretless. Origin story, I've had the fretted SR1350B for almost a year, black D'addario tapes most of that time, and it is one of my best sounding basses. I play it exclusively passive, only switched on the pre-amp a couple times. I don't need it. The fretless SR370EF is always active, has D'addario chrome flats. I realized that the pre-amp was making so much difference and I wasn't even aware of it. One I adjusted my amp and my ears, the fretted started sounding like I remembered it sounding.

Ibanez pre-amps are not parity gain. They have a significant boost.

A lot of it is perception and what we are used to. Even a week of hearing a different sounding bass makes a huge difference.

 

[lunarpollen]

Music and cuisine are similar in many ways... I find it useful to cleanse and reset the audio palette by listening to a lot of music of a similar overall flavor to the music you will be playing at practice or a gig in the hours before you play. Listen through decent sounding speakers at a good volume, i.e., not at background music levels, but not at fatigue-inducing levels either. I've found that it helps with dialing in a good sound when it comes time to play and helps prevent making rash decisions about needing to buy different strings, buy new pickups, make drastic amp changes, etc.

 

[J Wilson]

I never did talk myself off the ledge. The Gods of Acoustics ALWAYS plotted against me:

I'd be on a steady, several months gig in this or that club. Come in Wednesday night, EVERYTHING sounded great, impossible to improve on.

Walk in Thursday night. Haven't changed a single knob on the bass, the amp, the DI out front, nothing.

And is sounded like junk. The only possible change was 5 hours use on the strings last night, that's it, and they really sounded no different.


I could never, ever get a handle on this, the whys, a fix, nothing, and it drove me completely nuts. Same room, same me, same everything, one night killer, next night killed. But the idea of suddenly selling this or that never crossed my mind, hell, it would have added more angles to the whole thing. Nope.

One more thing I DON'T miss.

 

[BassicJazzy]

I never did talk myself on the ledge. The Gods of Acoustics ALWAYS plotted against me:

I'd be on a steady, several months gig in this or that club. Come in Wednesday night, EVERYTHING sounded great, impossible to improve on.

Walk in Thursday night. Haven't changed a single knob on the bass, the amp, the DI out front, nothing.

And is sounded like junk. The only possible change was 5 hours use on the strings last night, that's it, and they really sounded no different.


I could never, ever get a handle on this, the whys, a fix, nothing, and it drove me completely nuts. Same room, same me, same everything, one night killer, next night killed. But the idea of suddenly selling this or that never crossed my mind, hell, it would have added more angles to the whole thing. Nope.

One more thing I DON'T miss.

Yes. Robert Fripp talked about something similar in an interview, about KC playing 2 "perfect shows" in NYC but the third night the drummer (Brufford) decided "he had to try something" and it killed the energy, and the show went to crap.

I cut out the middleman and start at crap, and sometimes something better comes out of it. Maybe not roses, but....

 

[brianrost]

I might be the only person here at TB who doesn’t bother to tweak my amp settings at all from gig to gig other than volume (doh) unless it sounds way out of whack. Same with the tone settings on my basses. I don’t use outboard effects other than a HPF for my upright basses.

Could I be getting a better tone? Probably, but I’m happy with what I have now and don't muck with it much. I get most of my tone changes from my right hand positioning and the bass I choose to take to the gig.

 

[Pings Bass]

Unless I can't hear the notes I'm playing, I just focus on playing the right notes, in time, with feeling.

If I can't hear the notes, I'll work with it until I can.

Life on stage is so much easier when you keep it simple.

 

[wboyd68]

I might be the only person here at TB who doesn’t bother to tweak my amp settings at all from gig to gig other than volume (doh) unless it sounds way out of whack. Same with the tone settings on my basses. I don’t use outboard effects other than a HPF for my upright basses.

Could I be getting a better tone? Probably, but I’m happy with what I have now and don't muck with it much. I get most of my tone changes from my right hand positioning and the bass I choose to take to the gig.

That's me too.

 

[GTHintz]

Is it just me, or is it common to frequently have "what was I thinking?!?!?" feelings about your tone?

Based on the ubiquity of GAS and how busy the Classifieds section of TalkBass is...I'm guessing that the answer is "yes"

Sometimes when I plug in, my bass+amp sounds like a thunderous chorus of angels to me - other times the sound of the same gear just grates on my nerves.
This has led to MANY instances of buying & selling gear and regretting those transactions within a few short months.

I currently own, objectively speaking, gear that ranges from solid to fantastic.
(Dingwall Z3, GK Legacy 800, Genz-Benz Shuttle 9.0, custom LDS 2x12 cab, Euphonic Audio NL-210)

Most recently, I played a show last weekend and just couldn't get my tone dialed.
So on Monday, I tried all combinations of my two heads with my two cabinets...and got more annoyed as I went.

I was about to post a couple items for sale...
Then I remembered that I'd put a different set of strings on my bass a couple weeks ago.
I swapped back my usual strings and suddenly the nasal mids and clanky highs were gone.
Crisis averted!

What do you do to "talk yourself off the ledge" and avoid selling great gear?
Or, do you just roll with the GAS as part of the musical journey?

My thought process is that almost all amp and cabinet are high quality and will get some amazing tones. Almost all decent basses sound amazing in Thier own way. We have a ton of on board preamp and pedal preamp options to further color sounds. We also have a nice wide selection of strings. My order of importance in what I spend my money on is
1bass
2amp
3 strings
4 pedals
Once I have a bass I know I like then I have an amp I know fits in with that bass and sounds great with what I have. Then I have some preamp pedals that I like for different basses which I can take or leave in most cases because I believe in what my bass and amp can do. Strings are where I experiment a lot but will always revert back to the tried and true when things aren't sounding as good as they should. The results for me are 4 basses I really like and have certain strings for and then a handful of preamp pedals that I throw in if I want to play around. The core of my tone comes from my basses to a GK Plex if I run direct to either in ears, monitors, etc. I'm very comfortable with what it sounds like and I'll know right away if anything I throw in either helps or hurts including strings. My advice to anyone is to trust your amp. Trust your bass. Find strings that suit your bass and amp and also if you play with pedals turn them off and unplug them if you get stuck because the more variables in your sound the more inconsistent it'll be. That's why the pros tend to get a hold of certain equipment and stick with it. They find a string and they buy cases of them for on tour. I'm not professional but I know exactly what I like for EQ as well as strings for each of my basses. If I get lost I'll always go back to square one and it always sounds good. Hopefully this rant helps someone see the forest through the trees.