Nobody cares about your tone....

[rtav]

I played for a few years in a Rush tribute band and I can tell you that tone DOES matter.... generally!!!

If I came out and ripped through YYZ without that Geddy growl and tone (or at least similar tone depending upon the song) people would've thrown chairs.

 

[MegaSwing]

View attachment 578854 Most gigs just this. Bass>amp>cab. Sometimes octave pedal.

Not much you can't crush with that.

 

[Low End Bottom]

I think its the same as the way you dress yourself. It helps with your confidence wearing something you know you look good and comfortable in, also a sense of self expression.

Just like clothing, no one really cares about your tone. But you get some compliments/critisizms just like what you're wearing

 

[TRichardsbass]

I've been at this awhile and used to be a real cork-sniffer. Complex rig, fancy basses, changing strings every gig etc.....which is fine. FINE. But as I got older and started doing more commercial type gigs, the corporate, wedding, function etc gigs where there just isn't time to be twiddling knobs on stage trying to fine tune the attack time on my compressor and the width of the Q at 760 Hz.......
Out of necessity I developed a new outlook which is simply to have a GOOD tone that WORKS with the band and music, and especially the singers. I learned I don't need to go to 30 Hz, or to 8K either. I came to embrace low mids rather than the scoop, so now I don't need a 1000 watt amp (I know that some of you do and that's fine too). Clear and defined, in the flavor of your choice (jazz, P, whatever...) and I do fiddle but I don't get crazy with the last 5% anymore. This way I can concentrate more on the MUSIC and just playing with some of the best musicians around and having a ball doing it, rather than it being about me, me, me. I don't hear much about my 'tone' but I get lots of compliments on my playing, my SOUND. I get lots of work.
I'll grant that when in an originals or a high-level tribute environment there's much more opportunity for a bassist to put his/her own tonal 'stamp' on the music, and that's how it should be. I do that too.

My takeaway is that most folks may not be consciously aware of good bass tone but they will certainly notice when it's BAD (all click and boom, or overbearing mids....). But they especially notice good playing.

I agree. In today's environment, with a lot of FOH sound, anything over 500W on stage is not only a waste but harmful to your hearing. Your stage rig is your monitor, and for most, they have a pre-eq di out so the tone of your bass is the tone the sound man puts in the room. I know a lot of guys say, "hey, with 1000W I have more then enough headroom." Well, with my 180W per channel, for 99% of my gigs, I have more then enough head room. My 500W heads do everything including outdoor gigs just fine. I am one of the few who uses a Vivid amp, and one has no eq and the other has an eq true bypass, which is the mode I use. Your sound, your tone, comes from your hands and whatever the bass can give you. And having a superior chord, which has minimal loss over 15 ft, or a good wireless, well, that is what you need.

If I am recording something that is mostly solo bass, well yeah, I want much more control over my parts then otherwise. But in a band setting, even recorded, it just doesn't matter which mid frequency is dialed in or which one is scooped. The only true original bass tones I have ever heard are McCartney's Hofner, Squire's Ric, Geddy's Ric/Steinberger, Jaco's fretless, and Graham Maby's Ibanez with nylons and a pick. Everything else is bass, good, sweet, bass.

 

[11guitarguy]

except for you!

So now that I have your attention, I have come to the realization that people who come to your shows couldnt care less about your bass tone. I have found that if they can hear you, it sounds good. If they can't, they still think it sounds good! Musicians that see your shows are exempt of course.

So why do we spend our lives buying expensive gear that will give you a 400hz notch instead of a 800hz notch on the amp you just sold at a $500 loss to get the amp with the 800hz notch. The people we are playing to realistically have no changes in the experience in the show.

So is it we are doing this to amuse ourselfs? Is this another form of playing with our peckers? Do we try to get better tone then other bass players, Just so you can say "so, how about those new pickups I installed....I bet your jealous, it gives me a crystal clear terrible boost at 6.5khz"?

Really? Give me feedback and hate comments!

Great post, gives us a lot to ponder. I think it varies between bassists. If you spend enough time with your amp's controls and get a clear understanding of how each affects the sound, you can pretty much dial in a tone that is pleasing to your ear. For me that's all that counts. If I am happy with my sound then it should be ok for the audience.

But your post wants to make me open another can of worms. Your comment about buying expensive gear with whistles and bells makes me wonder:

I was looking at some expensive ($5000) basses which are way out of my reach and thinking, "what makes them so expensive? In my humble opinion there has got to be a point of diminishing returns regarding the parts used in making a bass sound great. After that it seems to be the aesthetic aspect of the bass that makes the price soar skywards. I'm not saying that a $5000 Fodera isn't worth the money (if you can afford it) but does it sound $3000 dollars better than a $2000 bass?

I think that if I were playing a $5000 bass and Mr. Wooten was playing a Squire P bass, he'd still sound better by far. To quote more than one famous player, " the tone is in your fingers".

In order to prove this point I will gladly accept a free Fodera from the manufacturer and pit it against my Warwick Rockbass to see which sounds best in my average player's hands.

Not that I really give a rat's rear end about which sounds better .. but it sure would be nice to get a free Fodera!

 

[David Jayne]

I am one of the few who uses a Vivid amp, .

Looked it up, neat stuff.

 

[briezie]

I think tone matters bigtime.

 

[bluesblaster]

I like my basses , I think they sound good, no one ever said they sounded bad so that must mean they sound OK to others, good enough for me.

 

[monkeyfinger]

If I am recording something that is mostly solo bass, well yeah, I want much more control over my parts then otherwise. But in a band setting, even recorded, it just doesn't matter which mid frequency is dialed in or which one is scooped. The only true original bass tones I have ever heard are McCartney's Hofner, Squire's Ric, Geddy's Ric/Steinberger, Jaco's fretless, and Graham Maby's Ibanez with nylons and a pick. Everything else is bass, good, sweet, bass.

Mic Karn, Tony Levin, James Jamerson, Jerry Jermont ... Yeah, I think there 'tone' meant something to the music they were playing.

 

[groovatron]

It all depends on the genre you sport as to whether or not the audience is likely to pick up on tone. Coming from a JazzFusion and Proglike background, I can say with certainty that there where many non-musician audience members that cared about my tone. This is regards to original music. Certain fans would even want to learn about effects chains and how I achieved certain sounds. These guys were their because they loved all aspects of the music, not just to dance around and chase tail.

 

[MegaSwing]

I never liked the word 'tone'. It never means the same thing twice.

 

[TRichardsbass]

As far as the "how does it sound" expensive versus cheap, best thing to do is watch a few episodes of the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon from early on where he is playing his Fodera, and then watch some very recent ones where he is playing a Fender P. You and I can tell the subtle difference, maybe. (By the way, clearly the Roots/Mark Kelly got some sort of Fender endorsement, because he went to the P bass a little over a month ago and hasn't gone back to the Fodera since.)

As for is a $5K bass play $3000 better then a $2K, well, probably not in sound, but definitely in look and feel. Having played a Carl Thompson on two tours back in the day, and having owned a couple of Alembics, I would agree that in feel, there was a difference for sure. Carl's necks are just superior. Weird to say, but you can feel it. My J. Backlund JBD-800B is a $3700 bass. It is sweet in its own way, and I think had better sound then the Thompson, but the neck, although fantastic, could not compete with the Thompson over all. However, again, to many this is subjective.

When it comes to tone, Jason at Fodera and I can argue the effect of overall wood construction on tone. For two basses with the same layout and electronics, yes, wood choice does make a difference. For two basses with different layout and active electronics, I'd say not as much.

 

[Nephilymbass]

I agree. In today's environment, with a lot of FOH sound, anything over 500W on stage is not only a waste but harmful to your hearing. Your stage rig is your monitor, and for most, they have a pre-eq di out so the tone of your bass is the tone the sound man puts in the room. I know a lot of guys say, "hey, with 1000W I have more then enough headroom." Well, with my 180W per channel, for 99% of my gigs, I have more then enough head room. My 500W heads do everything including outdoor gigs just fine. I am one of the few who uses a Vivid amp, and one has no eq and the other has an eq true bypass, which is the mode I use. Your sound, your tone, comes from your hands and whatever the bass can give you. And having a superior chord, which has minimal loss over 15 ft, or a good wireless, well, that is what you need.

If I am recording something that is mostly solo bass, well yeah, I want much more control over my parts then otherwise. But in a band setting, even recorded, it just doesn't matter which mid frequency is dialed in or which one is scooped. The only true original bass tones I have ever heard are McCartney's Hofner, Squire's Ric, Geddy's Ric/Steinberger, Jaco's fretless, and Graham Maby's Ibanez with nylons and a pick. Everything else is bass, good, sweet, bass.

I agree and disagree because watts doesn't have much to do with power. I use a rack pre and a crown xls1500. The crown is no louder than the amp I used before it (power section of an swr750x). And the crowns is rated at double the watts. I do like having power to spare just in case I want to use a second cab.

I think one of the issues with bass players playing stupid loud rigs (I did for several years) is just trying to balance with the guitar volume. For hard rock and metal styles guitarists crank their amps to get a particular sound. Luckily the thing that fixed it for us was our guitarist getting a smaller all tube amp setup. And now I've gotta say if your guitarists is playing a 100w-150w tube amp they are way behind the times. Our guitarists main amp is a 60w 5150 and its more than loud enough for anything. My singer owned an orange dual terror for a while (think it was 30w) and it was a great sounding amp alsO. What's funny what started my guys getting into smaller Amps was a recording session where the guitarists literally went through ever amp the studio had for and ended up using a little 50w all tube combo. But anyhow my guitarist changing rigs allowed me to go from an ampeg 810e to a 410he, I'm able to hear myself and I can actually hear when after long practices

 

[Jon Moody]

While to a certain extent that the general listening public - and your musical peers - don't care THAT MUCH about your particular tone, they care that it sounds good. I would also add that part of sounding "good" to them entails a tone that is appropriate to the gig (not as a big concern for guys that play in one group per se, but a big concern for a freelancer).

I use different instruments for different gigs. Sure, I could play my Streamer LX 6 string for all the gigs and probably no one would really pay any notice. However, on a gig where you're playing mostly southern rock and classic rock tunes, the timbre of that split P pickup with flats is just meant for that music. It sits in a way that my Streamer just won't.

 

[bassfunkman]

Well, the audience doesn't hire bass players. Bandleaders do! I recall to get hired by many bandleaders for my sound besides my playing. I'm a bandleader myself...with the right bass sound my singers sing better...that causes the audience to have more fun. A happy audience causes the band to make more mulah. Even if the audience doesn't have a clue that the bass sound had anything to do with all their happiness

Just don't forget to practice over all that posting, upgrading and shopping. Only practice develops your tone. It's all in the fingers. Equipment can only change the sound of your tone.

 

[bluesblaster]

string choice probably has as much to do with it as anything, clearly a big difference between flats and stainless steel RW,s

 

[blakelock]

i'm pretty conscious about my tone like most bass players, but you know what's funny? listen to many iconic basslines from the past. many have craptacular tone but the lines still rip. if the bassline and playing are good and can be heard, the tone probably doesn't matter.

 

[SteveCS]

I think we may be underestimating our audience. Sure, they can't express the nuances of tone they way we do. We are very practiced at that. They are not. But that does not mean they can't hear it.

Underestimating them? Yes
Can't express the nuance? How do we know this, for sure?

As musicians we are nothing without our audiences and we should at least start each show with the premise that they deserve a level of respect consummate with that we would like them to show us. If they turn out to be a bunch of drunken idiots, well ok, but until then...

 

[bassfunkman]

listen to many iconic basslines from the past. many have craptacular tone

That craptacular tone was the latest and hottest s**t back then

 

[Blackbird]

I've gotten in the habit of recording every rehearsal I do. How one's tone sits in the mix is more important than the tone one gets from hearing the bass on its own.