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P Bass Tone Knob

#21
With my 51P RI I set the amp EQ all the way across at 12:00 and set the bass tone about half way. That gives me plenty of mid range or lower tone to play with on the bass tone control. Sounds good to my old ears.
 
#22
I like to have my tone knob rolled up ever so slightly so that the necessary amount of definition and articulation can be heard. For reggae, that tone knob almost always is completely off.
 
#23
Jeff K said:
Personally, I can't stand having the tone rolled all the way off. Depending on the P-Bass, I normally have it close to dimed. A couple of my basses are a bit brighter than the others (60th Anniversary P for one), so they get rolled off a bit more, depending on the song. But to my ears, rolling it completely off just sounds like so much mush. Very rarely do I turn it down farther than half-way.
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Sounds like you may be a candidate for a change of the tone cap to a different value. I don't care for the typical muddy sound of any stock passive bass with the tone control rolled all the way back. So I change the cap to a .022mfd and that makes the tone control work in a range that does what I like. It's an inexpensive mod, especially if you are handy with a soldering iron - and it's entirely reversible if you don't like the result.
 
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#24
sigmafloyd said:
To my ears it sounds like some of the classic P bass tones (Jamerson, Dunn, etc) would best be had by rolling the tone all the way. Do others trying to get that sound roll the tone all the way off?

On a related note - I saw a video of Chris Wood from MMW playing his P bass with tapes on it. It sure sounded like his tone was all the way off too.

I guess for some reason I assumed most people kept the tone mostly open, but it would make sense that some peoples style is more of an 'always off' type of thing.
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Duck Dunn talks about how the engineers always made his bass sound treble-y to him when soloed, but when mixed into the final mix it sounded nice and round. Part of this is that the treble gives the note definition, but much of the extraneous high frequency is just eaten up by the hi-hat and guitar so it doesn't sound too strident. The other part is, yeah - they could take it out afterward, they couldn't really put it in, so record "open" mix/eq to the sound you want after - with the rest of the band on so hear what the final product sounds like - not the track.
Also - with all passive instruments you take out more than just treble - you lose volume and bass. I tend to say leave passive instrument controls alone (and most engineers agree with me) and use the amp to get the tone you want (amp eq is MUCH more effective and controllable) - this also eliminates any possibility of "losing your spot" because if you hit it you can just turn it back to where it was without having to hone in - your ears work but you can't be playing with the knob mid-song.
Another good rule for life - most of the time, if you have a good sounding bass and amp the EQ settings should be reasonably "FLAT" too - as more than a notch or two difference between knobs will have a tendency to make things muddy or honky or clanky. If you have a sound guy - even more so - he doesn't need to be "re-eqing" you. Again - if it sounds good soloed, it probably doesn't sound good in the mix.
 
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#29
I replaced the stock tone pot with a no-load tone pot, which can cause the signal to almost bypass the tone pot. Almost the same as wiring pickup direct to output jack, but the tone pot is still available when needed.
 
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#31
Live and studio are going to be two different beasts, along with hifi-ness of your amp,strings, etc.

For me live, I go by what Duck Dunn told Bob Glaub which was "to turn the tone knob on his P-Bass all the way up when playing live, otherwise you get a room full of boom."



I pretty much go by that,especially on the P with flats. I like that little bit of "air" on top of the notes.
 
#33
A lot of over thinking going on here. Percentages? I see no % markings on my P bass tone knob. Turn the knob one way the tone is bright and, the other way the tone is dull, it couldn't be any simpler than that. I plug the bass in, turn the volume up to what ever I like, turn the tone knob until I like what I'm hearing and that's it.
 
#35
ROOTSnFIFTHS said:
having said that, when I roll off the tone on my Precision there is a low-mid punch that is just not there when wide open.
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That is why Entwistle quit playing p-basses ... when you open up the tone you lose low end, to get the low end you lose treble. That is why he ended up playing active basses. That is why Billy Sheehan added a neck pickup to his p-bass.
 
#36
Ric5 said:
That is why Entwistle quit playing p-basses ... when you open up the tone you lose low end, to get the low end you lose treble. That is why he ended up playing active basses. That is why Billy Sheehan added a neck pickup to his p-bass.
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No offense to Entwistle, but I think he was high...as a matter of fact, he likely was ;)
 
#38
So many variables for a bass with only two knobs. Dunn likely played with the tone mostly dimmed, and that gave the right sound for his bass, with his amp, and that style of music.

To me it varies with the room, and the amp I'm using, and it varies from bass to bass. Pick-ups, wood, age of strings, hardware, and on and on. And recording needs different settings than a rehearsal as does a live show.

The new/ recent Am Std and Special have different tone profiles, so with everything else being the same, the tone setting would be different.

I'm generally using the tone up about 1/3 from off, but that is what suits my style and our music. Your style, music and ears will have their own preferences.
 

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