The Ultimate Tone Shaping Tool!

[mambo4]

Tone is impacted by some many things, no one 'shaper' can be the ultimate.
But I do believe you can adjust your situation to put more control "in your fingers"
Responsiveness: Strategies for putting the tone in your fingers

and yes tone is not literally in your fingers. We know.

 

[ProbablyTooLoud]

knobs

 

[LiptonJigglers]

I wasn’t sure where to put this. It could really go anywhere, depending on the answers we get… so miscellaneous it is!

I was curious to know what YOUR ultimate tone shaping tool is. Is it a bass, special pickups, or a preamp? It is your amp that gives you “your sound”? How about pedals… is there one that is always on? Maybe there’s two… or even three?

I have two pedal boards, one is for at-home fun when I’m playing solo. It’s got everything I have ever wanted on a pedal board to tinker with including a looper and a loop switcher for quick changes… but I’m not sure I would ever take it to a gig (unless it was a solo bass gig.) The other board is more of a utility board and hasn’t met its final form yet.

I’ve also got several amps that I enjoy using. Some of them are fantastic on their own… others take a little extra to make them shine. I’ve got a stable full of different basses that give me an array of different sounds, and I have preferences on which bass goes with what amp and the pedals that will be in the signal chain.

In thinking about the final stage of my utility board, I think it should have all the pedals I use to make each amp/bass configuration work. And that got me wondering… what do you guys use for your “secret sauce”? Do you have an ultimate tone shaping tool that you always use?

I don't use pedals. Just my amp, 215 cab, bass guitar, usually with DiMarzio pj set and fingers get me my tone.
However.... gasp!!! I am seriously contemplating putting together an ampless pedal board for certain situations... so it'll be interesting what people have to say.

 

[mikewalker]

strings

 

[KevInDaBassment]

As far as biggest change, I'd say my strings do that.

If we're talking small tweaks on the fly and such, definitely the amplifier.

 

[Aidenn7]

well. I play a pbass with ti jazz flats. with dual string mutes so I don't need anything.. I could just go direct.. but I have ME 300. FEA labs Growler. FEA labs optifet. whirlwind 10eq. Isp beta preamp. Omni Cab Sim Mini. Daring Audio Hd edge activator. Mxr micro amp. Broughton Audio Hp/Lp.. So whatever works

 

[u84six]

My tone comes from my bass. If I feel I need to shape my tone after hearing the bass, then it's not the bass for me. I try to find the bass that sounds the best to my ear, and then I leave my amp's preamp flat (i.e. no tone adjustments). The only knobs on my preamp that I ever move around are gain, bass, overdrive, and master volume. The only reason I adjust the bass knob is because of the venue (room balance), otherwise, it's usually flat. The only reason I adjust the overdrive is for specific songs. And of course, gain/master is for stage volume. As far as tone shaping goes, I'll do that at the instrument level, whether it's my single tone knob (I primarily use passive pickups), the strings I choose, or the way I play (i.e. where I'm positioning my plucking hand). I never use pedals as I find them pointless for most gigs, and they usually eat away my instrument's tone anyway

 

[Liam Wald]

DarkGlass Harmonic Booster>Keeley Bassist>Broughton HPF/LPF>Mesa D-800.

 

[Jazzdogg]

I wasn’t sure where to put this. It could really go anywhere, depending on the answers we get… so miscellaneous it is!

I was curious to know what YOUR ultimate tone shaping tool is. Is it a bass, special pickups, or a preamp? It is your amp that gives you “your sound”? How about pedals… is there one that is always on? Maybe there’s two… or even three?

I have two pedal boards, one is for at-home fun when I’m playing solo. It’s got everything I have ever wanted on a pedal board to tinker with including a looper and a loop switcher for quick changes… but I’m not sure I would ever take it to a gig (unless it was a solo bass gig.) The other board is more of a utility board and hasn’t met its final form yet.

I’ve also got several amps that I enjoy using. Some of them are fantastic on their own… others take a little extra to make them shine. I’ve got a stable full of different basses that give me an array of different sounds, and I have preferences on which bass goes with what amp and the pedals that will be in the signal chain.

In thinking about the final stage of my utility board, I think it should have all the pedals I use to make each amp/bass configuration work. And that got me wondering… what do you guys use for your “secret sauce”? Do you have an ultimate tone shaping tool that you always use?

A fretless P-basses, a double bass, and two active fivers, one fretted and one fretless, are what I usually play.

My secret sauce is to use an amp and cab(s) that make my double bass sound like itself, only louder.

I use one pedal: staying in-tune and playing in-tune are high priorities.

I'm a big believer in adjusting my rig to get the best sound I can in each venue. The tools I typically use first are cab placement, and a variable high-pass filter.

These days I'm elated with the sound I get out of an Acoustic Image head and two composite Crazy cabs made by Mike Arnopol.

I carry two padded Cajon bags; one contains a Crazy88, the other contains a Crazy8, Acoustic Image head, and cables. Easy load in/out.

I seldom need both cabs, but's great to have cabs I can hear easily while playing, and a 3x8 "tower"satisfies my needs.

It's taken more than 50 years of gigs to figure out how marvelous Understated simplicity is!

 

[alembicbones]

For me it is the bass, amp and fingers. At home I mess around with pedals but when I rehearse or gig with the bands I play in, it's usually straight from the bass with just a little drive on the amp.

Bones

 

[40Hz]

I don’t know how ‘ultimate’ is defined in the context of the original question. But I firmly believe form follows (or at least should follow) function. So to me, “ultimate”
means something that gets the desired job done with elegance, precision and simplicity. And from where I sit that means a Dry Bell Unit 67.

To save typing I’ll just copy and paste from an old post of mine since my opinion about it hasn’t changed in the interim:

The single most useful device I own is the Dry Bell Unit 67. A little pricey at just under $300. But it incorporates a Rangemaster type boost, a two band EQ, and a deceptively simple but great sounding 1176 inspired compressor, all in a small package that makes it very easy to dial in a great sound. Which makes it an ideal candidate for an “always on” effect box.

I found it versatile enough that I could (and often do) use it as my entire pedalboard.

You can read more about it here.

 

[JRA]

Here we go with the "fingers" again.

...is "fingers" unbelievable, or do you consider it impertinent, or some other reason(s), or just stirring the pot? TIA

 

[No Malarky]

Adult Party Favors.

 

[Slough Feg Bass]

new strings and the ToneHammer pedal can get me pretty much where I want to be on just about any bass.
These days I am considering not even bringing a bass and just bringing new strings and the ToneHammer and figure it out when I get there. My bass didn't come through the baggage claim a while back and I was stuck using someone else's bass, and the ToneHammer got me pretty close, I was not unhappy with the tone.
Although I do like my CIJ Jazz bass, but I don't like traveling with very much these days besides merch.

 

[DJ Bebop]

 

[landrybass]

Here we go with the "fingers" again.

I was gonna say finger…. Nail clippers lol

 

[Laurent]

Barber Linden pedal. It's a simple EQ similar to the EQ of a Ampeg B15. It only has two knobs high and bass but it does the job and tends to outperform more complicated units for me. I like my stuff simple and this works like a charm.

I also use a Sans Amp Para Driver which adds the option of a DI, distortion and more complicated but not always more user friendly tone sculpting. For just a hair of natural overdrive, it's the best pedal I have found after cycling through a mountain of stomp boxes.

 

[Doug P]

Well…. Where I place my fingers on the strings when I “pluck”, the same with a pick, where I strike the strings and thickness of the pick. The standard SVT / 8 x 10 rig, or my rack set up……. I’m sure many here have spent many hours and $$ finding the sound they want as I have. I’m not up to going thru all I’ve done to come to what works with me.
But I’ll say that my Tech 21 RPM for the added…… and a compressor, simple Aguilar 599. These two add-on’s helped a lot. And always new Rotosound 66’s.
I came back to add that in my Jazz basses I gig with, I added Seymour Duncan Hot Stack pick ups in the neck position. I feel they add a little P Bass to the sound when backing off the bridge a bit.

 

[Pings Bass]

My fingers mostly…

My fingers and playing techniques. All the toys just add to and flavor what I am doing.

Well for me...it's in my hands.

My ears and my hands. Everything else serves those two.

probably my imagination...which goes straight to my fingers. as long as everything past my fingertips doesn't get in the way = i'm good to go!

Same as above. The notes I play and how I play them (articulation) say it all musically. If there's an issue being heard in the mix, I'll think about what knobs I need to turn to clean it up in a given situation. Simplifying my signal chain so I can focus on music has been extremely liberating.

 

[_One//Man//Mutiny_]

Diamond bass comp and a Sadowsky bass preamp pedal, always on! Everything in between be edits from those 2 pedals