To knob or not to knob?

[Katoosie]

Hey everyone! Hope the pandemic isn't too harsh on all of you

There has been something brewing in my head for a little bit, brought on by my own Jackson CBX V.

I've been looking at her, playing and thinking to myself "All these knobs on the body, I don't need those."

My bass has a a very typical set of knobs such as volume/tone/high/mid/bass and the more I see them, the more I realize how of little use they are to me. The only one I use is the tone to roll it off a bit because it makes the sound a bit more punchy to my ears,
otherwise all I use is the amp knobs.

I do understand that this might be different if you're on a stage but come on, I've never even played her outside of the apartment, let alone any stages.

Suddenly all these classical fender Ps and Js look way more inticing, which I find really funny because when I started playing bass I absolutely hated the look of fenders, I thought they looked "generic".

But, alas... The more my playstyle and outlook on bass playing evolves the more I start to realize what I like/dislike about different instruments and my taste is evolving, accordingly.

A year ago the thought of owning a fender was so bad it felt almost insulting and now I start thinking to myself "... what if I owned one?".

Slippery slope.

What do you make out of it? Do knobs on basses annoy you, do you use them, do you care?

Thanks

 

[CallMeAl]

If you are looking for permission to buy a P bass, I hereby grant said permission

I definitely appreciate the simplicity of my 2 measly knobs.

 

[jj.833]

I got Jazz with active stacked knobs (bass, lo mid, hi mid, hi, blend, volume) and I use them all. Never even came to my head that I should care about how it looks.

Then I got passive P with just one volume knob. I've done a lot of experiments on this bass through years - P+J, P+J+piezo bridge, 6 knobs + switch, 5 knobs, 2 knobs, 1 knob + ser/par switch, finally just one knob and a sticker to cover the hole where the (useless) tone knob has been. This P just plays best with no options.

I think that when you start to care for how your knobs looks, you are about to lose a grand amount of time and money. Will it give you enough back?

With this said, in 60s musicians in my country made knobs from toothpaste caps because there were no shops to buy them. I wonder if ...

 

[swink]

If you are looking for permission to buy a P bass, I hereby grant said permission

I definitely appreciate the simplicity of my 2 measly knobs.

Is the Fender Permission bass already on the market?

 

[CallMeAl]

Is the Fender Permission bass already on the market?

Have you ever wished someone would just tell you it’s OK to lock yourself in the basement for hours on end, playing your bass?

Introducing... The Fender Permission.

 

[swink]

Back on topic:
In my opinion every extra knob on appliances, is one extra knob or function that can brake down.
Just keep it stupid and simple.

 

[Matty Koff]

Hey everyone! Hope the pandemic isn't too harsh on all of you

There has been something brewing in my head for a little bit, brought on by my own Jackson CBX V.

I've been looking at her, playing and thinking to myself "All these knobs on the body, I don't need those."

My bass has a a very typical set of knobs such as volume/tone/high/mid/bass and the more I see them, the more I realize how of little use they are to me. The only one I use is the tone to roll it off a bit because it makes the sound a bit more punchy to my ears,
otherwise all I use is the amp knobs.

I do understand that this might be different if you're on a stage but come on, I've never even played her outside of the apartment, let alone any stages.

Suddenly all these classical fender Ps and Js look way more inticing, which I find really funny because when I started playing bass I absolutely hated the look of fenders, I thought they looked "generic".

But, alas... The more my playstyle and outlook on bass playing evolves the more I start to realize what I like/dislike about different instruments and my taste is evolving, accordingly.

A year ago the thought of owning a fender was so bad it felt almost insulting and now I start thinking to myself "... what if I owned one?".

Slippery slope.

What do you make out of it? Do knobs on basses annoy you, do you use them, do you care?

Thanks

I was not a fan of Fender for the longest time.. then I started playing bass.. then I heard the tone of somebody's P-bass and I had to have one.. and all my reasons for disliking Fender disappeared after getting it.

I honestly enjoy an active preamp on a bass.. but have a lot of fun with my passive Fender P too.

 

[dalkowski]

But, alas... The more my playstyle and outlook on bass playing evolves the more I start to realize what I like/dislike about different instruments and my taste is evolving, accordingly.

No "alas" required -- that's how life works.

I was "Mr. Simple" for decades then bought an EBMM Bongo. Didn't take too long for me to realize it was too much, more than I needed. Now more than 3 knobs (V/V/T) is too many for me.

#FenderPermission

 

[Slidlow]

No knobs!

 

[Bassaga]

I'm with you. I'm not sufficiently opposed to knobs to get rid of my beloved active Dean, but my next purchase will be a P-style bass. Such simplicity and straightforwardness has truly proven an unexpected siren song.

 

[MIMike]

My dream bass for a long time was a Fender Jazz with no knobs. Good thing I’ve been a long time Fender fan, so I didn’t have that to overcome. I pulled all of the electronics out of my Jazz Bass 24 and went all passive (I have no use for active electronics), with just one three way switch for the pickups; neck, both, bridge.
It was fun to play with for a while and I only gigged with it once, but I have since put all the controls back in to it. I don’t really use that bass, so it might end up on the block soon.
Anyway, that was my experiment for a bit. A volume and a passive tone are all I ever need.

 

[el murdoque]

My bass has a a very typical set of knobs such as volume/tone/high/mid/bass and the more I see them, the more I realize how of little use they are to me. The only one I use is the tone to roll it off a bit because it makes the sound a bit more punchy to my ears,
otherwise all I use is the amp knobs.

I do understand that this might be different if you're on a stage but come on, I've never even played her outside of the apartment, let alone any stages.

Unless I'm not mistaken and you did not modify the bass, the knobs are

Volume, Balance, Low, Mid, High.

When you say that you use the Tone knob, do you mean that you set the bass to passive mode and the high knob becomes a tone knob then?

 

[Element Zero]

Meh I dunno. Depends on your goals. 2 of my basses I pretty much set and forget. The other 2 I fiddle with the knobs depending on the song and tone desired.

 

[JeezyMcNuggles]

Hey everyone! Hope the pandemic isn't too harsh on all of you

There has been something brewing in my head for a little bit, brought on by my own Jackson CBX V.

I've been looking at her, playing and thinking to myself "All these knobs on the body, I don't need those."

My bass has a a very typical set of knobs such as volume/tone/high/mid/bass and the more I see them, the more I realize how of little use they are to me. The only one I use is the tone to roll it off a bit because it makes the sound a bit more punchy to my ears,
otherwise all I use is the amp knobs.

I do understand that this might be different if you're on a stage but come on, I've never even played her outside of the apartment, let alone any stages.

Suddenly all these classical fender Ps and Js look way more inticing, which I find really funny because when I started playing bass I absolutely hated the look of fenders, I thought they looked "generic".

But, alas... The more my playstyle and outlook on bass playing evolves the more I start to realize what I like/dislike about different instruments and my taste is evolving, accordingly.

A year ago the thought of owning a fender was so bad it felt almost insulting and now I start thinking to myself "... what if I owned one?".

Slippery slope.

What do you make out of it? Do knobs on basses annoy you, do you use them, do you care?

Thanks

Yes, knobs annoy me. Switches are the way to go. Want something different, flip the switch. No in between to never be happy with. Either great or, nope. Switch back, there it is. Nope, switch, there it is.

 

[Deleted member 365158]

Volume volume volume volume (and an on/off switch)

 

[satjhmo]

I always like a nice knob, but the only one I'd grasp is A tone control, not negotiate with a half-dozen of them. My active bass has three EQ bands and I only ever vary the high one. It also has a phase/boost switch which doesn't appear to be connected to anything.

 

[Engle]

When I restored this Eagle, it took a bit of work to rewire it. I really only use the neck pickup, volume and tone. But it’s not like the other controls get in my way

 

[digmeout]

Volume and tone are enough for me, although I do have a Jazz Bass with 2 volumes. The simpler the better.

 

[droo46]

If you are looking for permission to buy a P bass, I hereby grant said permission

I definitely appreciate the simplicity of my 2 measly knobs.

I could probably get away with just a tone knob. For me, the volume is either all the way up, or all the way off, and I could do that with my tuner. Maybe a tone knob and a killswitch. That could be neat.

 

[micguy]

One of the nice things about making your own basses is...you get to do things the way you want to.

One example: a single pickup bass, but with some additional flexibility. The pickup is wired in parallel, then loaded down with capacitance - by changing the loading, you get the sonic equivalent of different pickups, and each "mode" gets a different flavor of tone control - this thing will give you a palette of sounds you can't get from standard tone controls. Add a switch to switch between the 2 modes (you can set up two sounds you like and switch instantly between them), and:

Example 2: I like the snarl you can get from two pickups on a jazz bass, but I DO NOT like the hum that can happen or the way VVT controls act. So, with both pickups on all the time (literally hard wired together, so it's one humbucking pickup), I have the the bridge pickup further away from the strings (this is actually a better way to blend pickups than with controls - assuming you always want the same blend). I also realized that I only use a fairly narrow range of tone settings most of the time, so the tone control on this thing only does the range I use (it's about the most subtle tone control out there, other than a broken one). Net result is a very simple user interface - a volume control, and a tone control that doesn't have any tones that I won't use:

Anyway, the point is, most folks live with whatever the factory gives you in the way of controls. But, if you know what you like and use, you can do things your own way - either modify what you have, or build what you want. To me, that's the point of a custom bass - it's your instrument, made for you, designed around the the way you play and want to interact with it - you don't have to adapt to it, it's been adapted to your needs. This is also why signature basses are often the worst instruments for most people - it's an instrument designed around an artist's needs, not yours.

I do custom wiring for folks. Although I draw on what I've learned doing my own basses, I've never made one for a client that was a complete clone of any of my basses - I chat quite a bit with the person, find out what they need, and (hopefully) make just what they want.