Who else just really loves a clean tone?

[EMoneySC2]

I love my effects...but the clean sound of my bass through my Avalon U5 is heavenly. Having a Greenboy cab helps too ^.^

 

[Lava]

Sadowsky through Eden amps run flat. Gorgeously clean...

 

[higain617]

I like clean tone but I'm not down with the flat EQ. Midrange adds depth and complexity to your tone.

 

[tfer]

I started with a couple Hartke LH500 amps, which are notoriously big, fat and clean. No gain control - just volume. Every pedal I use is simply there to fatten up an already clean signal.

I haven't used distortion since I gave away my Boss HM-2 in 1989.

Compression, an occasional LIGHT touch of chorus, and a little tube emulation and shape control from my Hartke Bass Attack is everything I need.

Big, round and warm is my goal.

 

[anavar]

warwick thumb direct into my windex then set the Eq on my Glen20 flat

not a cleaner tone exists.

 

[Emanuel Apascaritei]

90% I go for a really clean tone. My bass tone is very hi-fi (not mid scooped, it is very balanced and clean) and most of the time my amp is flat. Just bass - chord - amp.

10% I use a delay and plan on adding a chorus.

 

[davegt666]

I play clean with a compressor most of the time. Even when I played metal. No overdrive or fuzz. I just can't get it to sound right for me. I am interested in the new Red Witch Zeus Fuzz however for synth like effects. The gate feature comes in handy for that.

Although, I love me some modulation effects and delay--with chorus being my favorite one.

 

[Stevehill]

I love a clean tone, it seems to cut through better. I play in a mostly covers band so most of what I play demands clean tone anyway. I do two songs that need effects...The Stranglers ( a bit of overdrive by combining channels on my 5 Pro ) and Reef ( octave...also built into the amp ) and that's it. I also play in an originals band where I play clean the whole time, it just sounds better to me.

 

[christanto nugroho]

sometimes.. flat EQ doesn't mean the best tone

 

[Lowness]

Nope.

You have to have dirty otherwise you are a pussy.

 

[dincz]

What is "flat" in the first place ? Does it exist ? Overthinking much ?

I don't think you're overthinking at all. Right from the first link in the chain - the pickups - there is no "flat". Surely the goal is a good tone and whichever way the knobs finish up pointing is completely irrelevant.

 

[AshInAmsterdam]

I always go to a clean sound. It stands out solidly against distorted guitars, and fits into any genre.

I have grown fond of my compressor, especially as I usually play very hard. Sometimes overdrive, but so far on 1 song of 15 our band is working on. And that's a cover.

 

[Garun]

I've been clean for 3 years now
I love flat eq and no effects, all the tone is coming from my fingers, pickups and I do use a bit of my tone control. Can't be happier with my tone

 

[jasper383]

The denser the mix, the cleaner the bass should be, at least n my experience.

There are times at band practice when it's just one Tele, me and drums. That's when the pedals come out.

 

[rtslinger]

Well I wasn't using it myself, But this year as I posted something in the gigs section in Humor I am going to be playing live this year using only Flat EQ on my amp and get back into using my hands and controls on my bass to shape my tone. was using modeling pedal set for SVT in combination with compressor plus some amp tweaking bass at 3 oclock, mids 12, treble 1 punch button in it wasn't a bad tone but sometimes it didn't cut through as well unless I was using a pick

 

[bholder]

I love playing clean for chording work. Anyone who tells you chords can't sound good on bass hasn't heard them played through a really good clean setup. Any distortion in the chain, though, it all turns to mud. I love playing my 12ers through my Phil Jones Briefcase practice amp, does clean very very well as long as you don't push the volume and bass too much.

 

[rtslinger]

There seems a good number of TBer's using the flat setting judging by this thread. I think guys like myself who haven't yet committed to this setting live yet ( Feb 13th first 2016 show), would like to hear your tone in a live setting can some of you guys post some videos RTS

 

[Lo-E]

I seldom run an amp completely flat (although I will if the cab and the room are right for each other), but I almost always run a clean tone.

 

[Rib 13]

For me, its "clean as possible" and "flat as possible" -- EQ-wise, there are conservative dips and pushes from bass to bass with the exception of 8K, which I push +3db/+6db on all of them...I now do this from my pedalboard and leave the amp flat with only shelving on each end slightly bumped

For FX, I now use two Zooms and got to test-drive them in tandem at last night's gig : One Zoom, a B1on, is for the parametric shaping and I now have patches stored for each bass, and the other is for fx. On the B3 fx processor, I run compression on everything and use just that on most music (8:1 mostly as a "limiter") but I also use the "Jaco fretless" setting with bridge PU soloed and slight chorus for "faux fretless" on certain songs like "Smooth Operator" by Sade....a few songs, like "Boogie Oogie Oogie" by A Taste of Honey, I use Comp and Chorus.....I have a lot of processing power in the two Zooms available considering that I use them very very conservatively and sparingly as described above...The Zooms are quiet with cleaner settings

A parallel question to this would be: How many players utilize a horn/driver in their rig? For me, its a "must-have" but has to be dialed-in-to-taste

 

[TMARK]

This guy right here.