Tone

[thebreakman]

Well, I can say that for me, I cannot stand basses that have active pickups or electronics. It is a sound that I can't gel with so, if you amp sounds ok, maybe try a bass that does not require a battery

 

[rtslinger]

I have a basic question that is probably a piece of cake for most of you. I've actually been playing awhile and would consider myself a decent player. But I have no live sound experience. I've always played, unplugged in my house. My bass sounds great acoustically, but when I try and get a good tone through my amp (Fender bmx 200), I fail miserably. My bass is a Bogart from a small company in Germany, and is considered a good guitar line. My amp has a fader bar eq built in, but no matter how I tweak things I cant get to where I feel like it doesn't sound like crap. Anybody have any advice?

Hello Dirtyshift, you say you always play unplugged but, I don't think I have ever seen a Bogart that was semi or hollow body? unless you have something discontinued
As for EQing it is something that many people struggle to explain to someone including me.

Eqing of a amp isn't a simple set it and forget it thing. It has more situations that force you to tweak it than you can imagine. A starting point many suggest is set everything flat which you may assume would not color your tone, but I haven't found an amp that doesn't add some kind of tonal quality at the " flat setting" myself.

Now tone in my opinion comes from you. Your hands, how your fingers strike the string and the positions you choose to play, be it at the bridge, over the pickup, closer to the neck, all changes the tone, as does playing with a pick, not to mention your choice of strings. So you can see there is a lot involved in tone shaping.

Check this out, it will only give you suggestions of what you get when you boost or cut tone frequencies, it is not mine, but I found it helpful in the past. Here is one thing I would suggest to you, do not hunt to sound like someone else, be yourself and find the tone that works for you. It is in your head and when your ears hear it, you'll know it.

Boost and cut a little at a time, do not full on anything, little changes can make all the difference in a tone. Lastly I have 17 bass guitars all different makes and models and everything I hear recorded sounds like me, no matter how much I wanted it to sound like someone else's tone.

I have let bassist come up and play my rig and bass at live shows and I sit down and record it and it sounded nothing like my tone, because it was them playing. That opened my eyes. good luck being you. RTS

 

[micguy]

I tend to have everything flat except a small to moderate boost in the low mid. Keeping it simple tends to work especially with a pbass.

We all have different approaches. With a P bass, the first thing I do is a small cut in the low mids, as the P pickup location tends to (in my opinion) over emphasize that range of frequencies. To my ears, that low mid emphasis tends to make the mix sound "bloated". What works for one person may or may not work for you.

 

[lowendrv]

Start with everything flat . Try notch first . Always use small adjustments to start .

 

[pcake]

strings can shape your tone quite a lot, and many - including old dead ones - probably won't deliver your tone preference.

 

[Ric5]

 

[Ric5]

 

[Ric5]

 

[Ric5]

 

[Ric5]

 

[Ric5]

 

[Ric5]

 

[rtslinger]

Again it depends on many factors here is a Eq I used on a recent club gig it sounded great in that room maybe no where else it goes to show what is needed to dial in a rooms acoustics

The bass a Fender P with Flats, amp 200w Peavey Max with 1 12" speaker BTW I usually take photos of what works in a club and sometimes I get the same magic results and sometimes I don't

 

[707GK]

I agree with most of what has already been said. What sounds good isolated may not sound good in a mix and what sounds good in the mix may not sound good isolated.

One other opinion of mine: D’Addario strings are very mid-scooped and can lead to muddy bass tones when plugged in, in my experience. It’s mostly a matter of preference, but my opinion is that the midrange frequencies on bass are overlooked and very important. I currently use Ernie Ball Cobalt strings which are too bright when brand new, but when broken in they enhance the midrange and help out a lot in the mix. My “bedroom” tone isn’t as good as it could be, but when playing with a band, it works quite well.

 

[Rib 13]

I have a basic question that is probably a piece of cake for most of you. I've actually been playing awhile and would consider myself a decent player. But I have no live sound experience. I've always played, unplugged in my house. My bass sounds great acoustically, but when I try and get a good tone through my amp (Fender bmx 200), I fail miserably. My bass is a Bogart from a small company in Germany, and is considered a good guitar line. My amp has a fader bar eq built in, but no matter how I tweak things I cant get to where I feel like it doesn't sound like crap. Anybody have any advice?

You have to define what ' good tone' means for you to us.....for some, good tone' is that piano string type of harmonic richness, for others it's fundamental dominant with no overtones, and for others it's places in between......for the extreme ends, there are different solutions to those issues

 

[rtslinger]

Here is that eq setting I talked about