What do you think affects your tone the most?

My brain and my hands/fingers.

 

The bass of choice is of course crucial, and is of highest importance, IMO. You can hear that it's the same player when I play my Yammy or my MIM Fender, but the tone is very different.

(I really would like to try altering my tone with JMX's brainwaves some day... )

 

Unfortunately a backup fits on a floppy disk

 

The Bass, the cabinet and the strings are the "biggies" for me. In that order, BTW.

 

If someone says "My Fingers" again, im going to KILL THEM! anyway. id say eq. so your amp. and your pickup setup.

 

Why is that? You know, two players given the same bass and amp (and amp settings) still won't sound exactly the same, because of the differences in their touch & technique = their hands.

 

I'd have to say amp/bass/hands. All three come into big play for me. I very my hand position and playing style alot for different sound, and I'm still screwing with my amp to find "My Tone". And a decent bass can help too.

(Damn it I wish I could spell)

 

I know that fingers have something to do with tone. but most your "Tone" comes from your bass, and amp setup. What i mean is that your figers dont influsence your tone as much as bass amp and eq will. But one thing is for sure, if you suck at playing, no eq is going to help.

 

My hands.

I sound like me no matter what bass I am playing or what rig I am playing through. Yeah, the tone is a little different when I play my Fender instead of my Zon, but when someone else plays my Zon, it doesn't sound like me.

 

There you go, PollyBass.

 

the bass/ amp is for me first. just seeing what a bass player plays helps a lot in trying to understand tha sound. if i see a bass player playing in front of me and i know an i have played the same model of bass i understand a lot from him. right hand technique is important too for me. i'm not a great bass player but the first thing i change when i want a different sound is the right hand approach, finger or pick or nails. my bass is really different sounding when i change the right hand technique. for amps i know by myself that they influence a lot the sound, but i dislike modern hi fi sounding amp like SWR or EDEN or WARWICK. they are great amps but i prefer something more neutral and simplicistic. an amp has to amplify the sound of a bass without adding anything. my dream amp is HIWATT custom 200.

 

(Da "nit-picking mutha" enters the stage )

Excuse me, but AFAIK, that is exactly what (good) "hi-fi" amps are supposed to do - to reproduce the sound of the bass without having too much colouration going on. You'd have to pay big $ to find something more neutral and "simplistic" than my EBS... and it's definitely considered "hi-fi" by most people.

Also, although not having played any Eden or Warwick amps, I would say that the basic sound of at least the SWR RedHead is pretty "neutral" in my ears.

 

Oysterman

i'm afraid tha my poor english could make me tell the exact opposite of what i intend to say.
i have never played an EBS, unluckly. i have played SWR, EDEn and WARWick. these amps sound wonderful but they didn't suit my idea of clean. as i said my idea of clean is the hiwatt. i'm not nostalgic, but i prefer that sound. i hear the sound from SWR something like "effected". i'm not a tech, that's my feeling. i feel the same with active instruments, they sound great but i feel uncorfotable with them

 

Uh-oh... I better start running, because as far as I'm concern, a bassist's playing technique is THE most important thing that can affect the tone. Seriously.

Example, the tone changes the most dramatically when you pick, play fingerstyle, slap, tap or pop.

 

Barroso:

Yeah yeah, blame your English, it's an easy enough way out!

You like what you like, and you hear what you hear, it can't be helped. But does Hiwatt really make bass amps?

(BTW, if you want to go to the extremes with clean tone, you can always play through a studio quality power amp and an ultra-clean mic pre. But colour can actually be a good thing sometimes...)

I'm dragging this OT now, am I not? Sorry.

 

I agree with you to some extent. My attack is always going to influence variations in tone. However, an instrument will not produce what it cannot produce. My slapping, tapping, and fingersyle tones sound a hell of a lot better on my Sterling than they do on a P bass.

 

Some people have figured out what they can accomplish with their hands, some haven't...

Sure, it's easy to say EQ but then how could tonal changes be explained for those who don't use it or effects?

The bass? Sure, if you focus on basses that are at extremes, like an EB-O and an Alembic... but for similar basses, you make the biggest difference.

Sorry. Maybe someday

 

Yeah. I think the way you play is the biggest influence on tone. It's all in the hands baby.

 

I think it's definitely the axe.

I have a ****ty yamaha $200 bass.

I played a mm stingray in the store, and I sounded like I was a much more adept and skilled bassist.

I think the gear's alot more important than technique in that aspect.