Tone

[Eddie LeBlanc]

Magic

 

[Relayer71]

What is tone ? Is it the tweeking of ots and nots or is the manipulation of voltages or is it mechanical ?
Where does the good tone come from .

Oh, catch that buzz
Tone is the drug I'm thinking of
Oh, can't you see
Tone is the drug for me

 

[Bass V]

flats = tone

 

[Vinny_G]

The groove comes from the heart, and the tone comes from the soul.

 

[Drifter8230]

Tone is anything you want it to be.

 

[Mechanical]

This guy?

H

 

[dbsfgyd1]

What is tone ? Is it the tweeking of ots and nots or is the manipulation of voltages or is it mechanical ?
Where does the good tone come from .

Many great posts on this thread.

Tone is the intersection of gear, the project your are working on, and taste. Whether it is good or not is the opinion of the beholder. An opinion that is often based on the fashion of the day.

 

[jd56hawk]

I'll tell you what it isn't...
All in the fingers!

 

[Sixgunn]

Tone is a guy who likes funky, cold medina and doin' the wild thang.

 

[Killing Floor]

Good tone is a combination of nut width, pick guard and "Jaco only needed..."

Or practice. But that takes longer.

 

[MYLOWFREQ]

It's an illusion.

 

[juancaminos]

Tone is a rare combination of mojo, spank, drive, grunt, and sparkle. The lack of any one of these ingredients leads to lack of tone. Fiddling about on your knobs can both help and hurt your tones.

This is good! I missed the sparkle portion for years then found it. Not only in my bass guitar sound but in FOH mixing. It is a game changer.

 

[AFRO]

Tone.. the Amalgamation of...
Wood, Steel (metal maybe better word choice) Electronics aka.. Equipment.

plus

The integration of Time/Space and the manipulation of sound waves via one's physical ability and/or limitations -Gifts- plus one's creativity, some luck and ofc accessibility to equipment in order to use the aforementioned 'collectives' (equipment and gifts) to amalgamate and emit 'sounds' form said 'equipment' via the 'gifts' on/into the equipment(s) one possesses, or has access to.

Disclaimer. The aforementioned will be interpreted differently from person to person. and IMO there is no right answer, but there are some agreeable points and conclusions that many will have in common.

 

[Pings Bass]

Can you hear the notes the bass player is playing in the mix? That's good tone. That's all I care about.

 

[JeezyMcNuggles]

What is tone ? Is it the tweeking of ots and nots or is the manipulation of voltages or is it mechanical ?
Where does the good tone come from .

It's your sound. It comes from a mix of you, your strings, your pickups, your pots, your eq, your woods, and you.

 

[Phlipper]

Dunno about bass ... but on a guitar it comes from the heart thru the fingers. I'd rather hear Billy Gibbons bend one note than watch Joe Bonamassa run up and down the fingerboard all night.

 

[sikamikanico]

Tone - Wikipedia see "Sound and Music"

Tone is the interaction of the musician and the instrument, filtered through other components in the chain.

In most practical terms, it starts with what strings you choose and how you choose to play them (technique; tone is in the fingers). The bass itself will filter out certain frequencies, and perhaps reinforce others. This depends on things like construction, woods, scale, etc...

Then the pickup or pickups will read the string motion, and convert it to electric signal; in the process, the pickup location or locations (and phase cancellation!), combined with pickup frequency response will further color the sound. Any additional components will further color the sound, like passive or active electronics.

And then you have all the rest of it, like pedals, amps, speakers... room acoustics, listener's ears and position in the room, their hearing, their psychology/state of mind, etc.

 

[Turnaround]

Tone is now available in a bottle. Unfortunately only available in Bflat.

 

[GTx2]

"It depends on what the definition of is.............is"

 

[Florinda4]

Tone is in the ear of the beholder.