Which bass has YOUR ideal knob/switch setup and why?

[kcole4001]

I'm very comfortable with this:

Which is essentially a variation on the tried and true Gibson 2 pickups, 4 knobs, and a toggle, but adds the push/pull tone cap switch.
There's a lot of variety in those controls, and I've never had a yearning for active basses, so that keeps me occupied.

I adjust at least the bridge pickup tone for many songs, whether it makes a sonic difference to anyone else I can't be sure, but I know the difference.

 

[HaMMerHeD]

My F-4E is almost what I want: Master Volume, Pickup Blend, Bass, Mid, Treble. I'm not in love with the volume/blend setup. I prefer a volume knob for each pickup.

I'm planning to upgrade it with a pair of EMG 35TW pickups and an Aguilar OBP-3TK/PP. For my control layout, I will use two 25K-ohm push-pull pots for volume. Each pickup will have a volume and the push/pull switch will change from dual to single coil mode on each pickup. Then the OBP-3 pre-amp will have a separate bass, mid, and treble knob. The mid-knob is also a push/pull switch, and changes the frequency response of the midrange adjustment knob.

So, it's 8 controls, packed into 5 control devices. Maybe that sounds complicated to some people, but it seems like an efficient way of having as many usable tones as possible out of the bass in question.

 

[bassbrad]

I really like the set up on the old Carvin LB50 basses
3 way pickup selector, volume and tone for each pickup, coil taps for the pickups and a phase switch and stereo outputs. Lots of subtle shading possible with those controls.

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[Nev375]

So I'm expecting you to be one of those "one tone" dudes who have found "their" sound and use it for everything. But that isn't right either is it? You freely admit you use the knobs on your amp to adjust your tone to your liking. Well, that sure ruins the "no knobs" argument! That just makes it a positional thing. Knobs here or knobs over there. Why have a volume control on your bass, I mean there is one over on the amp?

Well, tone comes from all the things you mention plus the environment. The presence of other instruments affect how any bass will sound as does the size and acoustical properties of the room and also where a given listener is positioned.

Setting the tone on an amp to me is just a matter of finding a place for the instrument to sit in it's environment. I think that's what most of us do with those knobs. I never argued that a person needed no knobs at all. As for volume I use it sometimes as an expression for volume swells and other times as a mute. That's why I keep it on my bass.

I never implied there was anything wrong with having lots of knobs. But if you are using it, then obviously you "need" it, right? I need my volume knob to play some of the stuff I play. That's why It's there. I "could" use a volume pedal if my feet weren't busy with other things while I play.

But I say that musical knowledge should include some idea of what all these things can do for you. If you've tried it, you can reject it all as your opinion and that's alright. But to reject it out of hand BEFORE you try any of it is to me "knobophobia". It's like saying "my mind is made up...please don't confuse me with any facts." And that's what some of the "one knob" people seem to be saying to me...

Well, yes I have tried and wired lots of complex circuits in my basses. Active/passive, phase in or out, coil tapping. You name it. I've tried it. And while all these things do provide different tones, I've rarely found any of them to provide enough of a unique difference to matter once the bass is immersed into a full band environment. Even solo, I usually just switch it to the best overall sound and let my fingers do the rest. That's my opinion.

I guess that disqualifies me from your definition of "knobophobe". Perhaps you should have defined the term when you originally used it because it seemed to refer to anyone with little to no knobs.

And between the guy who says, "My P-bass only has a volume control because if it had anything more on it I'd start playing with it and pretty soon it'd ruin my music!" THAT to me is "knobophobia".

In all my years, I've never ever met a person who said anything like this or seemed to be of this opinion. At least, not seriously.

Anyway, peace bro.
Sorry this seemed to stir some offenndedness in you. None was intended.

 

[Jools4001]

I'm very comfortable with this:

Which is essentially a variation on the tried and true Gibson 2 pickups, 4 knobs, and a toggle, but adds the push/pull tone cap switch.
There's a lot of variety in those controls, and I've never had a yearning for active basses, so that keeps me occupied.

I adjust at least the bridge pickup tone for many songs, whether it makes a sonic difference to anyone else I can't be sure, but I know the difference.

Now you're talking. I don't have the push/pull on my 4001, it just has a capadectomy because I much prefer my bridge pup in the full fat version rather than the skinny latte. But, even then, with the tone knocked back on the neck pup and fully open on the bridge I can go from being McCartney to Foxton at the flick of a selector switch.

On my other basses I have 2 with VVT controls, 1 with just VT, another with Vol, Bal, Stacked Bass & Treble and one with a volume and tone slider. I've actually got an ACG EQ02 that is going into my (currently VVT fretless) so that will be 7 controls Vol, Bal, Passive Tone, Bass Filter stack, Treble stack.

So I'm cool with a variety of layouts but the Rick simplicity and versatility is hard to beat

 

[johnk_10]

My F-4E is almost what I want: Master Volume, Pickup Blend, Bass, Mid, Treble. I'm not in love with the volume/blend setup. I prefer a volume knob for each pickup.

I'm planning to upgrade it with a pair of EMG 35TW pickups.....................

if you do convert it to EMGs, their balance control is awesome. i prefer their passive balance control one over their active one since the active one adds more preamplifier stages (noise) in the signal chain, but they both work great. IMO, with active pickups, balance controls work much better. with passive j bass pickups, i use a 4 way rotary (neck, both, bridge and both in series).

 

[HaMMerHeD]

if you do convert it to EMGs, their balance control is awesome. i prefer their passive balance control one over their active one since the active one adds more preamplifier stages (noise) in the signal chain, but they both work great. IMO, with active pickups, balance controls work much better. with passive j bass pickups, i use a 4 way rotary (neck, both, bridge and both in series).

Thanks! Good to know. I suppose I can try it both ways, see which jives better for me. I'm not certain why, but I just feel like I am losing some degree of flexibility with the balance pot. Perhaps it is because I can't choose to run one pickup at 50% and the other at 100%, but have to settle for whatever compromise the balance pot gives me.

 

[BioDriver]

Vol w/ push/pull passive, bal, treb, mid, mid freq selector, bass. AFAIK Bartolini does this best.