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the tone knob in a passive bass, for what?

maturanesa

maturanesa

Feb 6, 2010
2,378
819
Buenos Aires, Argentina
#1
I always ask me why is a tone knob there...

When you are in 10, the bass sound normal, when you go to 8..the same..., 6..the same.., when go from 5 to 0....totally dull EQ...

Is there any useless thing in the world like a tone knob in a passive bass?

Wiring the two volumes direct to the jack would change something for good?
 
#2
Mine's not quite that extreme. Seems to give about three different major settings. You gotta crank the treble on the amp to hear the difference (and that's using a cab with a nice sized horn). But you're right, the changes are extremely subtle, then all of a sudden a big shift.
 
#3
eh, i beg to differ. i have a fender P with flats and a jazz with rounds. and i used to own a 5-string schecter stiletto custom. and i found myself really missing having a tone knob on the schecter.

with the jazz, for me, its a matter of string noise and grind.
i have it at 10, i get a wide open gritty sound, good for some slap, rock, and just more definition. i roll it to 1, and i get a mellow no-eq sound, good for just staying in the mix, for say, worship music. at about 2-3 i can get a real mellow sound but still have a tish bit of definition and tone to hear the difference between notes.
i usually play with the tone knob at about 6. this gives me definition, some brightness, but low string noise, and low grind, perfect mix. it sits in the mix when everyone else is loud, and stands out when i need to.

i guess its a matter of ear. and also, it matters with strings, what kind of bass you have, and the quality. my old squier jazz, i couldnt tell a difference between 10 and 1. but i can on my mexi, with some nordstrands.
 
#4
Some people like having the low pass filter available to mellow the highs out. If you don't like it, you don't have to have one.

Depending on the pot value, some signal is still fed to the capacitor even when the pot is turned all the way up, so removing the tone pot will give you a brighter tone. If you like the sound with the pot all the way up, you could replace it with a fixed resistor.
 
#5
PDGood said:
Mine's not quite that extreme. Seems to give about three different major settings. You gotta crank the treble on the amp to hear the difference (and that's using a cab with a nice sized horn). But you're right, the changes are extremely subtle, then all of a sudden a big shift.
Click to expand...

Perhaps you two are using the wrong taper pot?

If you have a linear taper tone pot, it won't do much until toward the end of the rotation.
 
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#6
PDGood said:
Mine's not quite that extreme. Seems to give about three different major settings. You gotta crank the treble on the amp to hear the difference (and that's using a cab with a nice sized horn). But you're right, the changes are extremely subtle, then all of a sudden a big shift.
Click to expand...

i agree with this too. a lot of active bass players dont rely on their amps a whole lot for tone, because a lot of it comes from the bass. whereas some passive bassists need an amp with a decent EQ to shape their sound, personally, i dont. i like to have a simple EQ to get the sound of the woods, and strings of my passive basses.

but anyway, you gotta have an amp with a variable EQ and a horn to really hear the difference in most cases
 
#7
I mostly run my tone control full up on my passive bass, but I wouldn't want to be without it. I'm happy with how it sounds in ideal situations, and do run across the occasional random amp I need to plug into that only sounds passable if I turn down the tone on the bass....
 
#8
If you like fuzz, and you use your fingers (not a pick), the tone knob changes the entire shape of the note. Fuzz is much more articulate (less chaotic) with the tone rolled all the way off.
 
#10
stellartone-tonestyler-bass.jpg


OP, your names not really Mark Hoppus, is it!? :p
 
#12
Usefullness of passive tone control treble roll off is gonna depend on the pots taper, cap used and not haveing muddy pups imo. Yeah lotsa mfg put mainly useless tone control in the guitars and basses. Luckilly my brands normally have more useful tone controls in them. Though the only passive instruments I play any more are guitars. My two basses when they where passive (very briefly) they had useful tone control over about 3/4 their range of motion.

500k pots will have more treble to their sound then 250k ones have. So its easier to make a useful tone circuit with them in that sense I think. Though the pots taper will have a greater effect I think.
 
#14
On all my basses, all passive Fender or Fender copies, I find the tone control to be quite adequate for my needs. I have no use for super sensitive tone controls, it's usually all the way open, halfway open, or all the way down.
Works for me.
 
#18
You can have passive bass rolloff as well (most G&L models) and passive midrange cut (Gibson Varitones and some BC Riches)

One problem with passive tone controls is that the pickup, cord and amp impedance all interact with the pot and cap values. Some mfrs choose lousy values and tapers for the pot so that all the adjustment is in a narrow range. As mentioned above, it's the capacitor value that controls the cutoff frequency while the pot controls the amount of cut.

I find passive tone useful and use it all the time. Might as well, I paid for it ;)
 
#19
maturanesa said:
Is there any useless thing in the world like a tone knob in a passive bass?
Click to expand...

I actually find mine incredibly useful. On my P-bass copy, it sees a lot of use. I think it depends a lot on your amp settings - if you have the mids and the treble cut right down, you probably won't be able to hear much difference. Personally I tend to keep the mids in, and cut the treble only slightly, so going between 0, 5 and 10 makes a huge difference to the sound.

(Does depend on your bass as well, of course.)
 
#20
Yes, very useful. In addition to all the above, if you use rounds especially, or for any string for that matter, it's always good to be able to take the edge off the twang of new strings as they settle in.
 

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