The magic of a tone knob

[Salem6127]

Haven't had a bass with a simple master tone since my first ever bass guitar over 15yrs ago (mim jazz). Since then, I've only had the standard 3-band EQ type basses.

3 months ago purchased two basses at once (package deal from a friend), both with the same config: neck volume, bridge volume, master tone and just WOW. I personally am getting so much more versatility and usable sounds out of these basses that I was never able to before on this instrument.

It's a completely different animal than rolling back the treble on the 2/3/4-band EQ instruments I have. Even on basses like the mainline Ibanez, which in passive mode the treble boost/cut works as a master tone... It just doesn't compare at all.

These two new vol/vol/tone basses I acquired are very different as well: One is a jazz with barts in series, the other is a modern neckthru bass with SD's in parallel. Yet with the both of them, even micro tweaks to the tone knob get such an astounding range of sound that going back to the 5+ knob basses just sounds anemic now.

Anyone else have this experience?

 

[tb-player]

Yeah, this is the reason I always want an overall tone control on my active basses. It’s so simple to make a quick change. Just rolling back treble on a 3-band eq hits a much more narrow frequency than a passive tone control.

 

[Londo Molari]

The tone knob on this bass is magic.
And it's all so simple.
A couple of audio samples of it in action:

 

[JimmyM]

I wouldn’t say it makes active systems sound anemic, but there is something about passive that gradually drew me back to it after years of EMG PJs and JJ’s. Of course I would add that EMG’s were the only active systems I liked besides Alembic, but no way I was paying for one of them!

 

[factory presets]

Ha. Bought my first active in 93.had a tone control I could switch to a swept notch. Eventually I pulled the pre out and went passive.

About 5 years ago I put an East Uni Pre in it. My first multi band bass. Fair enough I get some amazing tones out of it. But some old school styles I just can't beat passive mode.

Also fair doos, I could almost certainly set up the uni-pre to do those tones with style and grace with the internal controls. But it would be at the expense of other sounds I love to get. Or I can just pull on that tone knob and roll off what I don't need.

 

[Slade N]

Congrats on your discovery, its all great when we find what works for us!

If Im understanding you correctly had the opposite. I like the feel/ergonomics of J basses but have always hated the passive VVT set up, sure its versatile, but I dont want lots of options, I want the options I have to be useful.

So I added a Audere 4 band pre, its been magic for me with less tweaking needed in trying to a useful sound, the options I have are useable.

I probably would like a P with a Jazz neck but havent tried one. I also love my stock Stingray for these same reasons as the J/Audere, the options are useful to me.

 

[mambo4]

I used to run my Lull with the preamp all the time: bedroom tone for days!
One gig my batteries started to gave out, so I popped it into passive mode
That's when I noticed how good passive sounded in actual usage
Haven't used my on board pre amp since.

Of course the preamp in my lull can't hold a candle to the pre in my genz-benz amp.
I feel these days that with a good amp, onboard stuff is redundant.
If I ever am asked to go ampless, I'd just use my GB as a pre.

 

[Kerem Koseoglu]

When I'm gigging with a passive bass, I usually set the tone control to 100% and let the sound engineer do their job. I wouldn’t know how the bass and mix sound in the venue; the sound engineer can reduce the top end if needed, but they can't add back what I've taken away with the tone control.

So basically, with today’s EQ capabilities, I find the tone control not very useful. However, I’m open to gaining a new perspective if you think otherwise!

 

[2F/2F]

No, I have not had that experience. I can get the tone I want from a bass with a typical P layout, to a 2V/2T layout like a Gibson, to my three-band active basses. Different basses let you do more or less on the bass itself, but any differences can be easily explained by the design of the circuit, and adjusted for in other ways, i.e. with the amp.

For any given gig, I almost never pick a bass based on tonal reasons, because I can get almost any one of them sounding like the next. I usually pick based on range first, then color/looks.

 

[Tim Skaggs]

One is a jazz with barts in series

You need to get that where it’s switchable between parallel & series for another layer of tones.

 

[Brandon Shea]

I've been playing my Mustang for the past few days since I put new strings on it, and I'm really enjoying the VVT controls on that as well. It's very much like a jazz bass, so some of the typical Fender tricks work really well. Most recently, I've really enjoyed turning off the bridge pickup, dropping the volume slightly on the neck pickup, and rolling the tone completely off. Sounds absolutely massive.

With that said, I completely agree with the original post here. It's tough to beat a good passive tone control!

 

[matthewbrown]

If you like simplicity of use, good for you. For myself, I don't find that more onboard controls have hindered my ability to get the tones I need on the fly. If I'm playing a show that needs the bass to sound like a pizz urb and then a modern EB, I can set up a patch on my multi-FX for it, as I" ve done, and leave the tone controls at one setting, usually all neck pickup with the treble and bass on neutral and the midrange cut as needed. Most of the time I can just use the onboard controls on my MTD Heir: bass, treble, mids and pickup mixer. And even these stay the same most of the time; I'll turn up the bass knob a bit occasionally.

 

[Chrisk-K]

There is no magic in a passive tone knob (I do love passive basses). On an active bass, I simply use the treble knob as a master tone knob.

 

[Jefenator]

It’s the only knob I like.

 

[factory presets]

There is no magic in a passive tone knob (I do love passive basses). On an active bass, I simply use the treble knob as a master tone knob.

It never't cuts low enough for me. Maybe a Dark Glass whatever with high mids. Lot of fun to be had with swept mids and all. But passive mode leaves the active tone set up and takes but a moment to dial in and level up.

 

[hennessybass]

I play a passive Jazz - VVT - and you can do a lot with the tone knob. Small adjustments can really change the way the Bass sits in the mix on a live show.
Neck full on - bridge and tone both rolled back about 1/4 is a really nice tone - at least with my set-up.

 

[BassmanNate]

I never found passive tone controls that useful. I pretty much run my passive bass wide open on the tone and do all my shaping on a preamp. Dialing back the tone just sounds muddy to me.

Ironically, I usually run my active bass flat unless I need to make an on the fly change. However, I find the active controls more useful to get the job done.

 

[icefly]

I like simplicity; the fewer knobs, the better.

I play bass for fun just at home; I once did a very basic cover, in which they asked how I got to that certain tone, I replied "nothing, I just closed the tone, no pedals, no effects".
It was just a Squier PJ Affinity bass.

 

[Salem6127]

You need to get that where it’s switchable between parallel & series for another layer of tones.

That's another thing I noticed is just how underrated this feature is. A buddy told me Fender had the toggle on their J basses for a while until they found it was detracting from P bass sales since the J became too versatile with that parallel/series toggle on hand, so they've nerfed it ever since.

I've been playing my Mustang for the past few days since I put new strings on it, and I'm really enjoying the VVT controls on that as well. It's very much like a jazz bass, so some of the typical Fender tricks work really well. Most recently, I've really enjoyed turning off the bridge pickup, dropping the volume slightly on the neck pickup, and rolling the tone completely off. Sounds absolutely massive.

With that said, I completely agree with the original post here. It's tough to beat a good passive tone control!

One of my favorite tones on VVT basses!

 

[Brandon Shea]

I never found passive tone controls that useful. I pretty much run my passive bass wide open on the tone and do all my shaping on a preamp. Dialing back the tone just sounds muddy to me.

Ironically, I usually run my active bass flat unless I need to make an on the fly change. However, I find the active controls more useful to get the job done.

I think the usefulness of a passive tone control can vary a lot from bass to bass (or is it more accurate to say from pot to pot?). My P Bass loses pretty much all note definition if I roll the tone off too much, whereas my Mustang retains a lot more midrange. I think that can be attributed to the "Greasebucket" tone circuit that Fender advertises on some instruments, so if you've never tried one of those, it might be interesting to spend a few minutes messing with it next time you're at a music store.