POLL: instrument volume knob settings

[SLO Surfer]

Well, a recent post got me wondering where most bassists here like to set the volume knob(s) on their instrument. For these purposes I'm just focusing on wide open volume versus anything less. Also, let's just focus on live performances because in the studio can be way different.

I have always played with the volume knob on my basses wide open, fully loud, and adjust my pedals and amp to that setting. I use my fingers for dynamics. As a sometimes-sound-guy, I feel this is the most effective way to keep a consistent signal going to FOH, and it offers the best sound quality/signal to noise ratio, IMHO. It also helps most of my effects pedals to have a full signal hitting them.

So chime in. Do you play live with your volume knob all the way up, or somewhere less than that?

 

[FatStringer52]

Wide open. Why deprave you amp of any signal?

 

[dbsfgyd1]

Mine is wide open. Fender basses have a treble boost when wide open which makes for a very clean punchy signal for the sound engineers to work with. When you close it 10% or more, it rolls off the brightness, and you lose a good bit of the edge and attack. As for my rig, I’ll roll off the harshness with my amp or preamp EQ as needed.

With my Warwick, I tend to run it wide open as well and let the guys with the faders earn their pay.

Generally, I have a fairly large dynamic range playing with my fingers, so I really don’t need a volume control for much, other than a complete squelch.

 

[Fredrik E. Nilsen]

Always less than 100%, to have more tonal options when/if needed. (Of course, most of the time it's at a set point, and the fingers are taking care of the dynamics).

 

[Rev J]

Wide open with my tone controls flat, soloed bridge pickup. After that I run a Pigtronix Bass Envelope Phaser, tc Spectracomp, and Ashdown LoMenzo Hyperdrive. Since those are noisy pedals and the soloed bridge pickup is kind of noisy I run a Boss PQ3B Parametric EQ pedal to cut out the noisy frequencies.

C/S,
Rev J

 

[electracoyote]

I may be wrong, but I'm under the impression my pickups and output sound the best when wide open, and choking off the output fundamentally transforms the tone in a way I do not like.

But I have often wondered about this, so will read counterpoints with interest.

 

[walterw]

it matters if the bass is active or passive, and if you have two volumes or one. passive instruments have more of that clarity loss when you roll back, while jazz-style two volume basses have a very different character with both volumes rolled back a little, the shading between pickups acts differently.

still, the soundguy and the rest of the band will thank you if your max bass volume doesn't change during the course of the show, so it's usually best to keep the volume dimed as the base setting, rolling it down for quiet parts or off between songs but slamming it back up to essentially "0dB" for the normal sound.

 

[TomB]

I like to keep "a little gas in the tank" for certain moments (and the sound guys seem to forgive me) so I always back a bit off max, even with passive instruments. I rarely roll back the tone knob (again with passive) so there's room for a little high end sacrifice with the volume control. With active instruments (and G&L MFD's, DiMarzio's or other hot passive pickups) it's a little more complicated and bass-specific, but if anything they're even less likely to be wide open.

 

[Fredrik E. Nilsen]

still, the soundguy and the rest of the band will thank you if your max bass volume doesn't change during the course of the show, so it's usually best to keep the volume dimed as the base setting, rolling it down for quiet parts or off between songs but slamming it back up to essentially "0dB" for the normal sound.

Different situations, different needs. It's usually best to keep your options open, meaning being able to turn up if necessary (if you don't have a PA, if you want more tonal options etc. It doesn't always mean "increasing the max volume").

 

[Watchootognbout]

Wide open.Amp is adjusted.

 

[lz4005]

it matters if the bass is active or passive, and if you have two volumes or one.

Mag vs piezo matters as well.

All my basses with magnetic pickups sound best with the volume at 100%, whether active or passive. All 4 of my basses that are piezo only sound better at about 50%.

 

[pcake]

i dime 'em.

 

[edencab]

on my jazz I have the white lines on the VVT knobs point at the bridge, equals about 80% wide open....someone here recommended it once...I like it ...sometimes I dial down the T

 

[two fingers]

Yeah almost always dimed. I could probably get away with a kill switch.

 

[Old Blastard]

I usually run at 70 or 80% unless I need to be louder then I'll go to 100. Usually have tone/treble at 7 of 10 and bass the same.

On Some basses it's all different. My Hofner Club is on the dime and I adjust the pickup volumes down for the right tone. My FGN jazz the tone is at 5 or lower as it is bright naturally with steel roundwounds.

 

[Rev J]

Yeah almost always dimed. I could probably get away with a kill switch.

Actually my Fender Steve Bailey Jazz Bass has a kill switch on it. It's kind of a pain in the butt sometimes. I've plugged in and had no sound coming out and thought that the batteries are dead and it just turns out that the kill switch was on.

C/S,
Rev J

 

[1bassleft]

I was surprised to get two unsatisfactory CTS pots (off ebay, though). Anyhoo, the 2nd worked but made a scrunch when adjusted. I thought, "well, it's always on full" and left it.

 

[fermata]

On my single-pickup bass, I'm usually wide open, or maybe turned down to 9 for that treble cut. But on my two-pickup bass, I'll turn the pickup I'm favoring to maybe 60% and blend in the other pickup to taste. It's worth noting that the one-pickup bass has a 250K Ohm audio taper pot, and the two-pickup bass has 500K Ohm linear taper pots (and hot pickups), so they behave differently. Both are passive.

 

[DavC]

Passive = wide open

Active = depends on internal preamp , 80-90% open

 

[mikewalker]

On a two pup bass: neck pickup is always full wide open, sometimes with various amounts of bridge pup mixed in, from 5%-100%.
On a one pup bass: the pickup is always full wide open.