To knob or not to knob?

[Killing Floor]

Depends on the bass. I can’t think of a bass or guitar I have ever owned including Ps where I haven’t changed the tone setting routinely. I think of it as a benefit, not a liability. I’m not talking about a ton of knobs and switches. But I do like having EQ and balance. Sometimes it makes sense to have that control at your hand instead of having to adjust an amp or pedal in a set.

 

[filwitheneff]

It's been a rollercoaster for me. Started back in the 80's with a passive bass, but always wanted the active as soon as I discovered them. More knobs had to be better, right? Then back to passive...then back to active...and so on. I had moments when playing passive that I would think to myself, "I'm missing out on the advantages of the active pre-amp". Then I would get something active, then soon remember why I stopped playing them.

Now, I'm back to just playing my good ol' passive P-Bass, and I'm happy as a clam. I actually think my GAS is gone for anything active.

 

[TrevorR]

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.

Or as a minority report to this comment... why not set yourself the challenge to set all the bass EQ knobs flat (i.e. at centre detent) and then dial in a pleasing core tone on the amp. Then, once you've set that, leave the amp alone and explore how you can tone shape from the bass EQ itself?

There are a few different reasons to do this... you will learn how to extract different tones from the bass itself (especially if you combine the onboard EQ changes with varying how and where you strike the strings, which in itself is a HUGE tone shaping tool); you will have tried out a different approach to tone building which, even if you don't use it long term, will be there in your tool box should you ever need it; and you'll spend more time thinking about the way your tone/tones sound and how you create them, another useful tool.

You may not play on stage now but one day you may. I must admit that when I was gigging I valued the ability to tweak my tone mid gig on the bass itself to, say, correct an issue or to use a different core sound for different songs or styles of song without having to walk back over to the amp, turn my back to the audience and fiddle with the amp controls. For me that creative use of onboard bass EQ in gig and at my fingertips was always its major benefit.

Oh, and I LOVE a blend control (never got on with VV layouts!).

 

[Gravedigger Dav]

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 find them useless. A Fender P has always been my favorite bass. I don't own any Active basses.

 

[Ghastly]

There's definitely a need for controls, but I had a similar thought as you. So I had this body built. One stack knob... plain and simple.

 

[Bass Blender]

I’ve never been much of a fan of active basses. Had a Tribute G&L L-2500 & L-2000 that had active & passive modes, but mostly played them in passive mode. I did have an Ibanez SR405 for a short time that I liked. So many active basses don’t have a switch that can go between active & passive. Why not add that?

It's been a rollercoaster for me. Started back in the 80's with a passive bass, but always wanted the active as soon as I discovered them. More knobs had to be better, right? Then back to passive...then back to active...and so on. I had moments when playing passive that I would think to myself, "I'm missing out on the advantages of the active pre-amp". Then I would get something active, then soon remember why I stopped playing them.

Now, I'm back to just playing my good ol' passive P-Bass, and I'm happy as a clam. I actually think my GAS is gone for anything active.

 

[Door County Bass]

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 too had the same thoughts about knobs, so when Brady Muckelroy built my second bass (p-bass) I requested that it would be passive with no knobs. I can fiddle with an amp and then leave everything alone. Works for me, however, YMMV.

 

[wncBass]

If you decide to get rid of the knobs, you can always give them to Phil Lesh...he wants all the knobs.

 

[UpperBout]

Different Viewpoints...

Ritter


Fodera


Alembic

 

[58kites]

I like single pickup passive basses with a volume and tone control:
Passive Split P Basses
Passive 50's Single Pole Precision basses
Passive Peavey Super Ferrite basses
My one active bass is a EBMM StingRay with and active two-band pre and that bass sounds right with one pickup and Vol/Bass/Treble controls.

 

[CosmicRay]

So this is a no then?
View attachment 4173784

Wow! Lab experiments on Telecasters.....

 

[Silky Johnson]

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

What you described is exactly the evolution I went through, I hated the idea of anything other than multi knob 3 band eq active basses....then over time I came to appreciate passive basses, tone knobs are pretty much all you really need, and even passive filters such as varitones are fantastic. And I hate batteries.

 

[bolophonic]

I pretty much never mess with the knobs on my basses.

 

[butterfingers1]

On Fender/Squier basses with their single coil pickups: tone knob only.

Everything else: never touched any knobs in 40 years, everything on full.

 

[skortch]

Knob and proud here.

Almost all of my basses over the years have had two pickups. Onstage I have 3 main sounds I go for: neck pickup tone up, neck tone down, and both pickups flat or a bit scooped. I'll vary those a bit depending on the sound. Ideally I like having a 3-band onboard active eq but can also get by with Volume-blend-tone or VVT.

The single pickup exception is a Music Man Stingray but that has the 3-band eq. (It also has the pickup selector switch but I keep that in parallel mode.)

My most flexible bass is an Ibanez ATK805e. Thanks to the power of knobs it can go between convincing Precision, Jazz, and Stingray modes and during a long gig I'll use all three.

 

[garrett77]

To the OP, is the "tone" knob actually blend since you have 3-band EQ? When rolling off tone, it sounds like you might be pushing the balance to one pickup or the other. Maybe you don't need tone at all! Just V-B.

 

[Ellery]

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

Sounds like you want a passive Pbass, so just get one. They work great for, well... everything.

 

[405BassGuy]

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

This is the only active bass that I still own and if not for the Jazz-like neck and thin body, I'd probably sell it too. However, I love the way it plays so I overlook the "extra" knobs. All of my other basses are V/T or V/V/T and I really love the simplicity of the controls at this point in life.

 

[DJ Bebop]

I've got a bass that I've posted a bunch on TB, The DJ Bebop P Bass of Doom aka The Reef Aires Bass,
that is vol vol vol and two phase switches only.

 

[ahbradot]

Volume full
Treble flat or cut
Bass flat or cut