Who else just really loves a clean tone?

[lucasfgonzalez]

bass ---» cable ---» head flat eq. that's it

 

[superheavyfunk]

I keep buying effects, playing with them at home for a week and then returning them before they ever get any stage time. The only one I've kept is the EHX Pitchfork and that's only because I love to screw around with the m6 sound on full blend. Heck, I rarely even use my TU-2 anymore!

As much as I love bass effects, I just can't seem to find any that do something "necessary" for me that I can't get from just my fingers > bass > amp.

 

[spaz21387]

I love it all. I run my amp just where it starts to lightly break up. I have a bk3 to push it over the edge for some gnarly tube break up and i run 2 fuzzes set differently. The diabolik is set to be lightly fuzzy and the supercollider for straight up dirt. Tube amps just take pedals so well!

 

[WaldoNova]

I really love my clean tone. Everything else is built with it as a foundation. I love using effects but if my clean tone sucks then my tone will suck with effects.

 

[matt holt]

My experience is that i always think bass effects sound cool when the bass is a stand out voice (solos, or when the bass is playing a riff by itself) but that I never like the way it sits in a mix. Essentially, the denser the sound, the less I like bass effects.

 

[Ballin'bass]

My experience is that i always think bass effects sound cool when the bass is a stand out voice (solos, or when the bass is playing a riff by itself) but that I never like the way it sits in a mix. Essentially, the denser the sound, the less I like bass effects.

I agree. In a lush mix, most effects don't really stand out like you'd want and a lot of the time they just bury your tone. I used to fit a lot of different FX on my board just cause they're fun to play with. But when I really got down to business I realized I only have a use for a tuner, drive/fuzz/dirt, an occasional octaver to wreck people's guts at certain times, and compression.

But I still keep an envelope/wah on my board as well as my EHX BMS, because in some jam situations they are super cool to create funky or synthy sounds and textures which is great for getting the other players to think outside the box and start experimenting.

 

[Old Fart]

I care a great deal about tone. I've found a couple of basses (both P's) that, to my ear, sound REALLY good. One is the AVRI '63, for example. This allows me to keep my amp knobs fairly 'flat,' though I will adjust somewhat for room conditions, etc.

I like tube amps and detest distortion. My band is not particularly loud. I use a 1980 SVT head, through a very sensitive cabinet (Berg HT-322). Volume knob is on or around "2".

The net effect of all this is a very smooth, fat, tone with tons of tonal texture. "Timbre," that is. And by the way, the bass can still growl under these conditions. Jazz basses especially, but Ps also.

I got nothing against highly processed signals, huge pedal boards, power amp breakup, etc. They're just not for me. YMMV

 

[Emanuel Apascaritei]

I go Bass - Chord - D.I. for recording or Live. If the bass is good the tone is in your fingers. I rarely eq for room acoustics.

 

[Antisyzygy]

Chorus, overdrive, tube grit and warmth, fuzz, delay.....

Still always like a clean tone the best, amp eq'd flat, and bass and treble mostly dimed on the bass(active) for me.

Or flats and a bit of a treble cut with bass dimed on a passive bass.

I do prefer a clean sound.

However in the mix we often use a stereo pedal to push some of the bass signal (highs really) to the sides with a little reverb. That just helps it be heard.

 

[TheCouchBassist]

Right now, I'm loving P-Bass with Chromes -> Super Symmetry -> Amp.
It sounds wonderful.

 

[sspear]

I am playing a 50s lacquer bass with Ernie Ball flats and Fralin pickups straight to a Markbass combo. No complaints here.

 

[AndreasR]

I like a clean tone. I also like grit. I also like synthetic sounds.

Mostly it depends on what the song calls for.

 

[Dug2]

the big pedal board guys paid me to write down everyone who is participating here, they dont
approve of this shannagins! feel free to leave your address down, so i can pass that along also.

(i like clean tone too, but dont tell the you know whos!)

 

[BadExample]

I like a clean tone. I also like grit. I also like synthetic sounds.

Mostly it depends on what the song calls for.

Yes, that. I listen to so much variety of music spanning over decades (50+ years) that I like clean or dirty. One thing for sure, I like a lot of bass. I like it flat in terms of weighted dba, then a bit or a lot of bass boosted up some. Or a lot. My favorite bass sound is probably clean, flat and full range, like up to 20KHz.