Visited a local gig last night...

[OOZMAN]

Reminded me of how awesome my tone is.

Seriously, some terrible tones there. One dude did a guitar-like shredding solo on his bass, all you could hear was WOOMWOOMWOOMCLANKCLANKCLANK.

Actually, that's pretty much what all the bands' bass tones were like. Too much lows and highs, no mids. They should visit Talkbass eh?

How awesome is your tone?

peace.

 

[saustindavis]

I love my tone! I go to shows less often than I wish, but the last one went had some very bad tones. One was a punk band, and the guy had a nice Ampeg set-up, but it sounded like it was ALL mids and nothing else. I wanted to go up there and adjust his settings, but I figured that would get me thrown out... The other band was classic rock covers and that guy had ok tone, but it was lost in everything else. He was a great bassist, but I could not hear what he was doing, only see it.

 

[OOZMAN]

I love my tone! I go to shows less often than I wish, but the last one went had some very bad tones. One was a punk band, and the guy had a nice Ampeg set-up, but it sounded like it was ALL mids and nothing else. I wanted to go up there and adjust his settings, but I figured that would get me thrown out... The other band was classic rock covers and that guy had ok tone, but it was lost in everything else. He was a great bassist, but I could not hear what he was doing, only see it.

Yeah, that's the thing, they all had very nice amps and basses. Mostly 410s with all tube heads; still sounded like rubbish. Funny how the world works sometimes.

 

[OOZMAN]

Don't even get me started on the band that had an 8-string guitar/6 string bass tuned to (low) F#. I like Meshuggah but they were terrible.

 

[fokof]

Yeah and some of those atrocious tone guys are arguing the soundmens "why you don't use that mike or that DI"

 

[saustindavis]

Don't even get me started on the band that had an 8-string guitar/6 string bass tuned to (low) F#. I like Meshuggah but they were terrible.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

I HATE that! Then the guitard and bass and drums are all fighting for those low frequencies and it just sounds like MUD! It's funny how so many bands try to sound like "this" band or "that" band, but what they don't realize is that 90% of those bands are playing tube amps and do NOT scoope their mids. Where did they get the idea that you have to play a BC Rich and Line 6 with no mids to be metal? Do what sounds good, don't just blindly copy what someone else did. Be your own musician, create your own sound! I could go on and on. One thing that really drives me nuts is drummers that have a million toms (because it so Br00tal! ) but horrendous sounding cymbals that they hit constantly. I think the art of searching for good tone is getting more and more lost.

 

[steveksux]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

I HATE that! Then the guitard and bass and drums are all fighting for those low frequencies and it just sounds like MUD! It's funny how so many bands try to sound like "this" band or "that" band, but what they don't realize is that 90% of those bands are playing tube amps and do NOT scoope their mids. Where did they get the idea that you have to play a BC Rich and Line 6 with no mids to be metal? Do what sounds good, don't just blindly copy what someone else did. Be your own musician, create your own sound! I could go on and on. One thing that really drives me nuts is drummers that have a million toms (because it so Br00tal! ) but horrendous sounding cymbals that they hit constantly. I think the art of searching for good tone is getting more and more lost.

They're trying to get the sound they hear in the audience from on stage. Problem is they have no idea what it needs to sound like at the amp to get it to sound like that in the audience.

Randy

 

[rtslinger]

Yeah went out to see a band in a local place we play at about two weeks ago sad
Bass was mush Hartke 4*10 Hartke amp head watts? Guy in his 40's should have had some idea how to set up his amp for the room sad. Place was empty compared to what we bring in they had maybe 20 people including me. At first thought about sharing my knowledge with him but, found him to be a know it all, arrogant a hole when I mention we play here too. So I left Mr Clueless to sound like crap and left after the second set started with a look at him shake my head like what the h=ll is that. LOL

 

[BGE]

I think you just judged them too much or it may be them who is not RIGHT

 

[JohnMCA72]

They're trying to get the sound they hear in the audience from on stage. Problem is they have no idea what it needs to sound like at the amp to get it to sound like that in the audience.

Randy

Not to mention, from their spot on stage they have no earthly idea what it sounds like out in the audience.

 

[AwkwardLoudness]

Yeah, that's the thing, they all had very nice amps and basses. Mostly 410s with all tube heads; still sounded like rubbish. Funny how the world works sometimes.

Were all of the bands mic'd to a PA? Or did they let the bass cabs carry the room/FOH?

In either case, the tonal benefits of tube amps are nullified with insufficient speakers and/or bad EQ.