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TONE.... What is it?

Discussion in 'Miscellaneous [BG]' started by beelzelboss, Jan 6, 2009.

  1. Jan 6, 2009 #1
    beelzelboss

    beelzelboss

    Dec 5, 2008
    Las Vegas, Nv
    So i'm fairly new to the bass world (only been playing for 2 years) just got my first amp a few weeks ago :D and have only just been on the forums for about 3 or 4 weeks, and i can't help but see all this talk about TONE.

    I've searched about it, and people have explained it on what like the hertz is and all that stuff, but i don't really understand. Is it like the sharpness, or bite that the string gives? Or is it the more "full" feeling you get if you play the note right compared to wrong.

    I realize that i'm a nub, and I'm asking you guys, the veterans of bass guitar that still :bassist: so i can one day, play bass well.

    Thanks for your time!!
    ~craig
     
  2. Jan 6, 2009 #2
    warwick.hoy

    warwick.hoy

    Aug 20, 2006
    Spokane, WA.
    Beta Tester: Source Audio.
    Tone is what your bass sounds like.

    Scratch that. Tone is what the combination of all the factors that go into your bass playing, from bass to strings to technique to amp and speaker, sounds like.
     
  3. Jan 6, 2009 #3
    bongomania

    bongomania Supporting Member Commercial User

    Oct 17, 2005
    PDX, OR
    owner, OVNIFX and OVNILabs
    Yep. Tone is just a way of describing an overall sound quality. Sometimes people use it loosely like "This rig just oozes TONE!" but what they mean is they like the way it sounds. Tone can be good, bad, or neither; and good and bad will vary from one person's tastes to the next.

    "The quest for tone" is just the quest to have the sound from your rig be as good as the sounds in your head, the way you wish you sounded.
     
  4. Jan 6, 2009 #4
    Mike Shevlin

    Mike Shevlin

    Feb 16, 2005
    Las Vegas
    I just tried the Little Mark II last week for the first time & I had a 'holy crap' moment - THAT was the sound I've always heard in my head. In your search for tone, I would plug into this amp.
     
  5. Jan 6, 2009 #5
    Deluge Of Sound

    Deluge Of Sound Inactive

    Nov 8, 2007
    Maine/Vermont
    No, in your search for tone, you'd plug into that amp. And you did. Congratulations to you.

    But you have no idea what this dude is looking for, so you have no way of knowing that the LMII is his holy grail, other than the fact that it was yours.
     
  6. Jan 6, 2009 #6
    lunarpollen

    lunarpollen

    Aug 6, 2007
    Rio Linda, CA
    Tone is to sound as flavor is to taste
     
  7. Jan 6, 2009 #7
    warwick.hoy

    warwick.hoy

    Aug 20, 2006
    Spokane, WA.
    Beta Tester: Source Audio.
    QFT

    Craig; I think that at your stage you'll find about a billion different things pulling you in a billion different directions concerning tone. "Buy this it will give you the tone you want. "Get this bass, pick up this FX pedal, use the strings, you need compression". I think you biggest concern should be making your breakthroughs in technique and knowledge above all else. Practice and get yourself to a level where you can start to concentrate a little more on the "Quest for Tone".
     
  8. Jan 7, 2009 #8
    beelzelboss

    beelzelboss

    Dec 5, 2008
    Las Vegas, Nv
    yea, i think my quest for tone (and most peoples to say the least) stats when they actually start to play their own music, or cover a specific band and that needs to do it well. Ex: tool, I love covering them (i don't have a band that does it) and i'm trying to figure out how they get that sound, and tone.

    So now my question is, why does my bass(ibanez srx400) have a "tone" nob on it. When i play with it (apart from the fact that when it is up all the way it makes a really nasty buzzing noise :eek:) When i do turn it up and down, it acts the same as me turning up and down the bass nob on my amp.... anybody know why they do this?
     
  9. Jan 7, 2009 #9
    beelzelboss

    beelzelboss

    Dec 5, 2008
    Las Vegas, Nv
    Youve just been sigged!
     
  10. Jan 7, 2009 #10
    uethanian

    uethanian

    Mar 11, 2007
    tone is the harmonic content of a pitch.

    simple as that.