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Retro and Simple

Tactician

Tactician

Jul 31, 2002
636
9
Devizes, Wiltshire, UK
www.chrisdowning.co.uk
#1
I've been putting together a simple contra-engineered Precision. I've taken out the volume control (you can't really adjust this on the fly as you mess up the mix and stall your playing). I've taken out the tone (never really got on with a tone circuit anyway). I'm focussing on getting one good PU and connecting it to the jack socket. If I could get an amp with just a volume control I'd be there! Or how about no volume control and go for a foot volume control?

Am I alone in wanting to get back to the basics or just getting jaded with too much sophisticated kit. I just want to play - hell I could end up playing an acoustic double bass if this goes on! Would you just love to buy a bass that had one good sound, one PU, no frills. Does this bass already exist out there somewhere?
 
#2
FWIW, my buddy has a Fodera AJ Contrabass with no volume or tone controls, and as nice as that bass was, it was a real pain in the but having to use footpedals to control volume and eq. I admire the simplicity, but I think a volume and a tone knob is not all overboard and worth have at the very least.
 
#7
I've been thinking about a completly knobless bass as well lately. All I'd want on it would be a mute switch and if it's a 2 pick up bass a bridge/both/neck pup switch. All the other controls would be in an outboard pre.
I think especially with basses that have a beautiful top it would be great. Just imagine an Alembic Series 2 without any knobs to break up a that buckeye burl top.
 
#8
A bass without controls would be ideal for me. I run all my passive basses with the volumes and tones wide open. Amazingly, I can still control the volume and tone - with my hands. :)

I don't know of any production basses that have no controls, though the Carvin Timothy Schmidt Sig. bass has only a volume control.

Tony Levin and Gary Willis own custom basses (Musicman and Ibanez respectively) with no knobs.
 
#9
HL_00672337.jpg
 
#10
Christopher said:
A bass without controls would be ideal for me. I run all my passive basses with the volumes and tones wide open. Amazingly, I can still control the volume and tone - with my hands. :)
I to belive there is advantages to this.
I never use more than 10% to 20% of my tone knob.
Ajust eq,treble with amp.
And always run my vol. knob full.
I had a bass made without knobs, and was one of the best sounding basses I've ever owned.
With passive pickups, if you run it stright to input jack.
Pickup will sound different without vol. and tone knobs attached
Bigger fuller more definded.
If your into passive pickups, it a big plus.
Theres a reason A.J. did this.
Click to expand...
 
#16
Juneau said:
Waiting for Stew, the knobless bassist to chime in hehe. (err, that doesnt sound quite right, but Im sure you know what I meant lol)
Click to expand...
LOL

wow, now I'm the "knobless bassist"... my wife may be displeased to hear that!

somewhere I wrote a long diatribe about why I went full passive and control free. essentially I am a fan of simplicity, I like the weight savings and the challenge of being the solo tone generator is pretty hip. as has been pointed out elsewhere in this thread, I snagged the idea frin Gary Willis. I got it when I studied with him back in '88 - '89. it took forever to get a luthier to go for it!

from the lows,

Stew

ps - should I include pics of the basses?
 
#18
When I started this I was thinking of what Mo Foster had said in a meeting I had with him (look at his website at Invalid Link Removed to find out where this guy has played - Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Phil Collins, you name them and he's played with them). He said that if he could find an amp with just a volume control he'd go for it. He just played with flat EQ on a Jazz fretless or another Jazz with frets. Both had active EMG PU's.

I later thought that Acoustic Bass players also have no EQ or volume - they just play harder or softer or change where they are playing on the strings. I guess some of you read that with the Gary Willis book.

It seems to make sense to me - take out the tone changing pots, control the volume on the amp/fingers and stay away form EQ'ing at every gig. The real challeneg in all this is to get that one killer tone in the first place.

Maybe Mo Foster has the answer in his set up - active EMG's, flat EQ on the amp, RotoSound mediums on the bass.
 
#20
Thread Resurrection!!!!!


OK OK. So can somebody tell me what the tone will be like If I take out the knobs on my P-bass. Right now the sound is muddy and distorted if I have the volume all the way up. I have to put it at like 80%. Also the sound is very harsh and brittle if the tone knob is wide open. I usually leave it at about 20%.

Would it sound better direct to the jack or even more muddier and brittle?
 

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