I’ve been a professional musician for more than 30 years. As a pro, I’ve played Keyboards, Guitar, Bass and Drums. While it took years to perfect the sound of each rig live, bass is by far the one that takes the most knowledge and skill to get a great sound with live. I say this because of my own experience and the fact that I hear so many good bass players who have a blah sound live. I attribute this to the fact that bass eq is complex compounded by the fact it is highly affected by the natural ambience of the room. While there are endless aspects to making up the bass sound, the one I’ve come to rely on most is my compressor - that’s the one I couldn’t live without. What’s your gotta have tool for tweaking your live sound? Doesn’t have to be a pedal. Could be settings or anything that works for you.
You hit it right on the head. Compressor. I like to start off with a frowning graphic EQ setting, a fairly hard knee on the comp, and just enough overdrive to give the notes warmth. I don't crank the volume on the bass, rather start with it low and blend the pickups until they sound balanced and smooth. By not cranking the volume on the bass, the attack isn't as strong and consequently doesn't react as harshly to the compression. That is the key to avoiding the mushy sound. Even the Ric has a smooth attack with the volumes low and the amp doing the heavy lifting. I use a solid state head and a tube preamp. That combination yields a wide variety of tones.
I know this is something overly simplistic but a tuner is a must. Nothing sounds crappier try than out the of tune instruments.
Volume control. The more I turn my amp down so it doesn't fight with the PA, the better job the audio tech can do making the bass sound good in the house. It seems a lot of bass players gig with the goal of getting people to tell them to turn down...I try to get people to tell me to turn up. In order to use this approach I like to get my speakers up close to my ears and/or use full range flat response speakers with a wide dispersion pattern.
At the risk of complicating your inquiry, I have questions rather than answers By "blah," are you thinking of something specific (e.g. muddy sound, not distinct, etc)? Or do you mean a variety of problems? Is the issue with the bass player's amp, and/or what you hear through the PA monitor, and/or what the audience hears? Is there a particular type of sound or sounds you're trying to produce as a player?
I use my sans amp as a preamp and bypass the preamps of whatever amplifier I have to use by plugging into the power amp in, or effects return. I’m usually able to get the same sound every time using this strategy(You have to play allot of rigs that aren’t yours at small shows in the Brooklyn and New York area). I try and find a reasonable volume but listen carefully to the cabinets ability to maintain the tone I want at that volume. I’ve found that if the outputs too high a speaker can’t physically maintain the tone you hear when your playing casually by your self. I also mute the E and A strings when I’m playing something that requires articulation. I feel that it cuts through better and also allows the speaker to catch up with the signal. I can’t afford an eq or compressor and even if I could it would take me years to figure them out.
Im still torn between getting one of these or a jdi all of my basses are either active or push pull but my Rick. The Jensen tranformer in the jdi is tempting but I dont want my passive stuff sounding weak.
Blah - We’ll, let’s start with slapping. Nothing worse than than having someone who loses the low end and pokes your ears out with with honky mids. Or players who have an under-responsive setup and play so hard they lose their dynamics. Or someone who just overloads or distorts the speakers. Or someone who doesn’t know how to cut thru with mids and just keeps turning up until the low end is drowning out everything but their annoying strings-against-pickup clack. Or a sound of some who goes direct but doesn’t understand compression or gain stages and sounds thin and lifeless. I think those are some examples of a blah sound by my thinking.
Speaker cab position, including getting shorter cabs up, closer to ear level. Also, when you put a cab up or a pad underneath, it disconnects it from any stage interactions.
Okay I' ll send you the beers! {} Great to get the cab closer to the ears and a must on hollow wooden stages in small bars, when I don 't show up with the tower! greetings Wise(b)ass
