This might come across as rude IME people are afraid to adjust their settings, particularly their EQ, because they aren't confident in their ears' ability to dial the sound back in. I don't intend this to be a hot take or rude at all, and I've definitely been there too. You get a perfect sound and then it sucks when you lose it. Best remedy for this is to write down or take pictures of your settings and then get weird with them.
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Why are people afraid to use their gear?
- Thread starter Fynn
- Start date
We rehearse in a large space. At rehearsal my sound is pretty much set. Might tweak it a little if I change basses (my backup) but not much. 99.9 % of the time I use the same bass. I may also make minor changes at a gig. I let the (FOH, sound person) tell me if I need to change something. I trust our SP explicitly. He's been with us for years. But an unknown FOH, I usually ask.
That I understand. I know that you can't just adjust stuff at home and then expect it to work everywhere. Though I feel like that there's quite a few people out there, that will go to a venue and not change anything, because they feel like that's not the right thing to do. Even if it would benefit the situation. Afterall, there's plenty of people who play gigs without a sound guy, or even without a PA all together.
But beyond that, you can use pedals and even amp settings to change the timbre of your sound to a degree that a sound guy couldn't. I feel like playing an electric instrument, that's bound to be amplified, there's a lot of things you can do. And I'm a big proponent of using different pickup configurations to change your sound. A P pickup in it's normal position has a quality that a single coil in bridge position will never have. Further, a pedal could produce a sound, that you wouldn't get otherwise. Which is why I don't feel comfortable just leaving it all up to the sound guy, when I have a specific idea of what my sound should be.
All the problem frequencies in the room, can then be taken care of afterwards.
I also don't understand why you would want to record completely flat. You can always take two signals, which I would recommend anyways. And if you're planning to just record it once with one signal, then I feel like you should be set to what you want it to sound like in the mix anyways.
It may be because those folks tried setting knobs to 11 and found it wasn't good. I don't see what the mystery is here.
All that stands between my passive basses and my amp is a compressor. Every time I think I should need more in my signal chain, I end up deciding it really is just a needless complication.
While I hate to quote Gene Simmons, he did say it best when he said "any gear will do". I've had lots of Peavey gear and then switched to Mesa Boogie and low and behold, I always sounded the same with whatever gear I had. My only real criteria for a bass is that it has good vibrance when played acoustically. I never practice at home through an amp. A good bass has to have that "life" unplugged. Other than that, gear is gear to me. My current head is a Hartke LH500 (as simple as it gets) and 2 Peavey 210 cabs. I've always sought a clear low end tone and this gets it with minimal tweaking. I have a Sushi Box Slampegg when I want some color, but so far I only seem to need it when I play my precision with a pick. My Stingray is straight bass to amp.
You're confusing me with another lobster. (No worries; it happens all the time.) So, I don't know if you're interested in my opinion about this, but if you are....
I jumped on the bandwagon a few years ago when HPFs were all the rage. I didn't think I needed one, but was willing to spend 75 bucks to satisfy my curiosity. The first time I brought it to a rehearsal I was amazed: I hadn't realized that there was mud in my bottom end until it was suddenly gone. Even one of my guitarists commented on how much "punchier" my sound was. So now I use it with two different rigs at two different places and can't live without it.
Or you buy a second one of that gear you're using and leave the other one dialed in exactly where you left it.
I've seen this plenty of times with pretty successful musicians too. The trick where they would tape their tone knobs to a specific position for example. Others use tape and such to indicate where settings should go.
I use little pieces of tape with ab arrow on them. But instead of having the arrow point a specific way, the arrow has to point up. Way easier to see if one arrow isn't pointing upwards!
I don't think I've got a piece of gear where I put anything at 100, but I'm not afraid to add quite a bit. Usually low mids, because that gives a thump that's very pleasant sounding to me at home.i can twiddle knobs with the best of 'em, but it's nice when i don't have to do too much of that.
sounds like you might prefer using those "extremes" you referenced. cool beans --- good luck!
If I remember correctly, I have about 12dB boost around 40hz too. Only for at home use though, because that way I can turn up the amp quite a bit before the highs and the high mids start becoming annoying for me
Buy as much as you possibly can, and have offspring, so they can take care of everything you bought after you're no longer on this planet.
This works as long as nobody touches your gear and your knobs don't get knocked during transit... seems like a really expensive way to avoid taking a picture
i've done most of my crazier experimentation at home. on the gig, i'm mostly trying to make the bass part (tones and all) listenable while i try to 'play nice' with the other musicians.
My gear philosophy revolves around live performances. If its not gig worthy, I dont bother. Has nothing to do with value. Has everything to do with gigging!!!!
I've found that it's easier to project with a straight ahead sound. I don't veer too far from a flat EQ setting, although I'll adjust a bit here and there. I can easily play a gig without any pedals. I generally use small effects board with an always-on compressor set to minimal compression to even things out a bit, a Vintage Mictrotubes overdrive also set low and mostly clean for a bit of focus and heft, a high pass filter to make my amp sound louder and punchier, and a flanger to annoy my bandmates. I'd be surprised if an audience could tell the difference if I left all my pedals at home.
It's not a religion for me. My bandmates put the kibosh on my more psychedelic tendencies or I'd still use a fuzz, an envelope filter and a tap tempo analog delay with an oscillation switch. But there is something to be said for keeping it simple. It makes performing less complicated.
It's not a religion for me. My bandmates put the kibosh on my more psychedelic tendencies or I'd still use a fuzz, an envelope filter and a tap tempo analog delay with an oscillation switch. But there is something to be said for keeping it simple. It makes performing less complicated.
It's been said that maybe it's more about choice than being afraid.
I like passive bass, my wireless and pedal tuner. That's it. I fell into the trap of trying some pedals after getting on TB and just found I spent all my available time fiddling with them and not having any "a-ha" moments where I found something I really liked. So back to basics.
Everyone's perspective on gear is based on what works for them, in my opinion.
I like passive bass, my wireless and pedal tuner. That's it. I fell into the trap of trying some pedals after getting on TB and just found I spent all my available time fiddling with them and not having any "a-ha" moments where I found something I really liked. So back to basics.
Everyone's perspective on gear is based on what works for them, in my opinion.
A bass, a cable, a head and a cab is all ya really need (unless just DIing into the PA)
I'm convinced the rest is for vanity and fun...
I know it is for me.
Im with you why use a bunch of fx so you dont hear the bass use a keyboard for that.
It really is down to some people preferring turnkey, while others want something tweakable, and others still find supreme enjoyment out of bending a piece of gear to their will with an epic struggle.
I used to turn my EQ knobs like I was tuning an old-timey radio early on, now I leave mine close to flat and tweak with a much lighter hand....typically to far better results (utilizing more cut than boost too). These days I want to spend more time playing and less time fiddling with my gear, so having something near impossible to screw up is nice. I like having options that I don't HAVE to use, so I guess that's middle ground? I'd be the person with active EQ on my bass but just leaving it flat all the time.
I used to turn my EQ knobs like I was tuning an old-timey radio early on, now I leave mine close to flat and tweak with a much lighter hand....typically to far better results (utilizing more cut than boost too). These days I want to spend more time playing and less time fiddling with my gear, so having something near impossible to screw up is nice. I like having options that I don't HAVE to use, so I guess that's middle ground? I'd be the person with active EQ on my bass but just leaving it flat all the time.
