[quote name='xilddx' timestamp='1370172343' post='2097140']
Mmm, I've never understood this approach at all. Music is infinitely more than notes. The timbres of the instruments are vitally important to give the music character. You may need many different timbres for your bass even in a single song, but whatever, your sounds are very important to the overall character of the music and how you express it.
I spend a fair bit of time on my sound, and I greatly enjoy doing it. Probably because using a POD and no amp or cab means the possibilities are almost endless. In fact I spent hours on one patch a last week (especially the eq which I tweaked while playing to bass-less versions of some of Kit's songs), for my general sound from which I work out variations in effects, eq, volume, etc. I was soundchecking at a gig with Kit a couple of nights ago and she straightaway turned around and said 'Wow! Great sound, Nige!', the drummer really liked it too. So your tones do (or should) get noticed by your band, engineers, producers, etc. If they don't, I'd wonder why not.
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Fair enough Nige, but that's not really my experience.
It's not that I would never roll the treble off, or never move my plucking hand nearer the neck or nearer the bridge, or never boost the mids a little or whatever. It's just that I start from 'plug in and play' and rarely wander far from it. That is 'my sound' or would be if I actually believed in the concept of 'my sound'. It doesn't stop people, in the band or out of it, saying 'great sound' or whatever. I wouldn't know because what I hear on stage is not what everyone else hears anyway.
I might be a little more sympathetic to the idea that a particular tone matters to or helps a particular song/arrangement but I still wouldn't see it as a big deal.