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To knob or not to knob?

#83
Slidlow said:
Standby switch on my amp? Standby also on my tuner pedal? Also have volume pedal? Hand muting? Anyway there is a volume and tone hidden on the top edge.
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the last part is good to hear. Generally in these types of gigs I mentioned I'd be going straight from bass to DI, so I'd need the controls on it the instrument... never thought of a tuner pedal though (I typically use a clip on rather than adding another cable to trip on LoL). That's a very cool design if there are the basic controls hidden on it! I like that :-)
 
#84
CallMeAl said:
If you are looking for permission to buy a P bass, I hereby grant said permission :D

I definitely appreciate the simplicity of my 2 measly knobs. :thumbsup:
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Yes, absolutely! In my younger days (I'm 57 now), I used to think a bass with a lot of controls looked cool. Now, I just think it looks cluttered. I now greatly appreciate the useful simplicity of just a simple volume and a tone knob of a Precision. I would rather let the amps with all their sophisticated tone shaping controls do all the work. I don't need all the knobs, or a battery, for that matter on my basses.
 
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#86
I have 5 basses, including P and J bass. After decades of playing, I decided less is more. I play mostly the P bass now, and my project bass is losing the volume knob (I always leave the vol on "max" whenever I play out). I only use 2 or 3 (maybe) tone adjustments on the "tone" knob, so "it" may go as well, or maybe be replaced by a switch with those 2 tones hardwired. There are a couple of "knobless" basses in this thread that are BEAUTIFUL!! None of my upright DB had switches or knobs. I think staying in tune is a more important quality than having 50 knobs, preamp and an ethernet connection on a bass.
 
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#87
Katoosie said:
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 :)
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What you say is a tone knob is actually a pickup blend knob
 
#88
Hi Katoosie...

I agree with your point of view. Just too much fidgeting. Don't know if you could find one in Sweden (hey, my treasured oldest bass was made there in Älvdalen in 1965!), but one of these might work, and they are just great basses. I was lucky enough to buy one a few years ago and it's so simple and cool: one P pickup, one J pickup, 2 volume controls, high output, no battery... Leo Fender's last great synthesis/design. You can get anything from pure P to pure J and no knobs about it.
 
#89
No reason to apologize for prefering what you prefer. If you want a simple bass, get a simple bass. If you like having more flexibility, get one with knobs that give that flexibility.

As for myself, I have five basses and half are passive and half are active (my L-2500 is active/passive) and I use them all. I like having the option of different tones and having different ways to manipulate my tone so I can fit my playing situation or my whim.
 
#92
Every bass is different. I just take each as it comes and don’t worry about things like how many knobs and switches it has, or which woods it’s made from. If I end up not liking it for whatever reason, I’ll dump it and just get something else.
 
#94
Katoosie said:
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 :)
Click to expand...
Too many knobs is a deal breaker for me these days. Why complicate it that much. The bass that got a lot of us listening has two, that’s all. My new build project will have two. I have a few basses that are active and I found that I just don’t use them actively. I play in passive mode and onboard eq is not used.
Here’s my new work in progress - my first attempt at building my own. Fijian mahogany body. It will have one Nordstrand Big Split in the Precision spot (who’d have guessed?).
65DB6215-A171-4C98-8E50-CB00E78515C8.jpeg
 
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#96
micguy said:
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:

View attachment 4173693

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.
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I love the first example. Beautiful wood and what appears to be a Nordstrand pickup. I’ve been a fan of the Precision body style since I first saw one back when I was a teenager in the ‘60s. My current project is based on a Precision and will also have a Nordstrand - a Big Split in my case. Like you said, you get what you want when you build your own. I’ll have basically a 5 string Precision style with narrower string spacing. I tried the real thing but it didn’t work for me with the strings too far apart. See post #94 for my project bass. My first attempt.
 
#100
dkelley said:
the last part is good to hear. Generally in these types of gigs I mentioned I'd be going straight from bass to DI, so I'd need the controls on it the instrument... never thought of a tuner pedal though (I typically use a clip on rather than adding another cable to trip on LoL). That's a very cool design if there are the basic controls hidden on it! I like that :)
Click to expand...
Here they are.
Aviary Photo_130227168896972089.png

And the next one will be same.
IMG_4687.JPG
 
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