Something I've Learned.... Agreed?

[Brad Johnson]

Trying to find 'your sound' is often a perilous journey but it sure feels good once you find it and you realise that its not as complicated as you first thought and that you can get such amazing tones simply by plugging straight into the right amp.

A big plus 1.

I've had people ask me why my rig sounds as full as it does despite it's size. I usally tell them it's because I don't screw with the already very nice basic sounds of the parts I use.

If I had to tweak I'm very well versed in how the controls work and what they affect... but it's far more fun that I don't have to.

 

[Crabby]

This has been stated before, but I have found that the not every decent amp works with any decent cab. Some combinations work much better then others. Things like speaker efficiency, tone stacks, and power handling all can have a huge impact on how well one particular amp goes with a particular cab.

Sometimes you find magic in a setup that you may have never thought would be anything special given the sum of its parts.

 

[Coeball]

I often play in small venues and what I hear is not usually what the audience do. A EQ setting that may look ridiculous at first sight may sound normal once the whole band is playing.

 

[bobyoung53]

+1 all the way. EQ is best used to keep your tone relatively constant from gig to gig and context to context, not to muscle a cab or head to sound different than its inherent tone when set relatively 'neutral' (i.e. tone controls to their 'flat' position). IMO!

However, the downside to this is that it takes a lot of trial and error to find a complete rig that inherently matches the 'sound in your head' that you are trying to achieve. Since you can really only determine if a rig delivers this (IMO) after a lot of gigging, many are stuck 'twisting knobs' to try to make their rig work when the 'on gig/in context' performance and tone ends up being quite different than what they heard in the store when purchasing.

Yes I get pretty much the same tone from room to room with the tone controls and I don't really have to change them much usually, I don't play flat though, I boost both the bass and the treble, I found a complete rig that inherently matches the "sound in my head" in 1975: an Ampeg SVT. I always get the sound I want from it.

 

[8mmOD]

My Sansamp BDDI and I respectfully disagree!

ME too... and thats why I use it. I get pretty much the exact same sound no matter what amp or cabs I use... or even direct to the PA. Thats exactly what I need on the road when there is a different backline at every show

 

[jz0h4d]

Byron quote

"I run my Eden WT550 flat, with a slight boost on the lows on my bass. Tweeters turned way down cuz I ain't Fieldy, and that's about right for my sound. I've tried dialing this and that, and have always come back to flat to be happy."

That ain't flat.

There is nothing wrong with using EQ to modify the tone of your bass or anp or speaker cabinet.

I'm not familar with any preamps without tone controls that are popular with professional bassists.

I also don't see any basses being built with only a volumn knob.

 

[TAZ]

Personally, I like as little as possible in the signal chain between the pickup to the power amp to the cab. For tubes amps, a simple tone stack and for solidstate, a fuller EQ section is ok but doesn't need to cover every frequency.

To me, the most important element in tone after your fingers is the cabinet and as little as possible in between the two is where it's at. After that you tweak the EQ to match the tone to what you feel and hear (in your head and soul).

An amp with just a power supply control and a preamp with no tone stack? You bet - make it high quality tube and a killer cabinet please.

 

[amos]

To me, this thread is less about tone being subjective, and more about the inherent tone of a cabinet. I play with GS112s, which require creative EQ'ing for my application (rock). I am looking to replace them because although it works fine, the best way I can describe is it, is it sounds unnatural. I think this is the point the OP is trying to make.