krispn

@fretmeister especially if you have more than one P bass and want to offer yourself a little something different then these are a great shout. With my PBird I find on a gig I'm using maybe three settings over the night. This PBird really benefits from the ability to tweak the voicing just enough to have better tonal options than a classic taper tone control IMO. Obviously it's not a P pick up but the TS does offer me a few more options and it's worked out exactly as I had envisioned it would. It's the simplicity of recall too or knowing where your tone control is set.

The Duo6 does look pretty cool!

Cheers! Yeah I wasn’t consciously thinking about it until I did the recording and then recalled that folks might well start with wide open as the 1st position. Either way it’s pretty easy to figure out and should give an impression of why there’s a few folk singing the praises of these wee units. If I may... Cuzzie has one of these in a traditional P bass and sets his more to the wide open side whereas I find in about position 3 or 4 (as I hope you can hear above) with the T bird pick up it adds more of that lower mids thing which isn’t a P bass but does add in that quality/character so I have best of both worlds.

So following a bit of chat about the TSB10 I thought I'd post a quick run through of the unit which is fitted in my p bass. The bass is a bitsa P bass with a Mike Lull T Bird pick up so it's not gonna sound like your 'classic P bass' however as I've said before a TS can really offer a heap of usable tones in any single pick up bass. I've repeated a bass part and on each pass I've gone from the TS in the 'tone rolled off' position and gone through each 'click' until hitting position 10 which bypassed the TS and is effectively just the pick up's natural voicing. The bass has some eq and comp on it from my DAW which isn't really that important as the voicing of each setting still comes across. This is the kinda setting I like to use whan playing along and learning stuff at home via headphones Apologies for the slight clipping as I wasn’t aware I might have been pushing too much signal so not the greatest recording ever! Tone off - 0 - 0:26 Pos.1 0:28 - 0:54 Pos.2 0:57 - 1:23 Pos.3 1:25 - 1:53 Pos.4 1:54 - 2:21 Pos.5 2:22 - 2:50 Pos.6 2:51 - 3:18 Pos.7 3:20 - 3:47 Pos.8 3:47 - 4:14 Pos.9 4:15 Effectively 'bypassed'

Quality

I should add I'm not entirely confident which rounds are on the JMJ I think it was the set the guy had on them when I bought it (used) and they were rounds. I did use the Fender flats (which I believe came as standard) which I like but I also really enjoy GHS Precision flats as well but Iuse them on another P bass. I will likely succumb and get the Mustang specific LaBella's as it would be remiss not to at some point!

Labella mustang flats are different gauges and might well be a more natural feel and fit. I’ve put roundwounds on mine and it sounds equally as pleasing. The tone knob does a great job in taking off that top end and if you’re wanting to keep some of the high end but not be too clanky it works as expected...which can’t be said for all tone controls!

Bit of a cop out there 😀 I know you’ve been using a lot of filter pedals and comparing them recently for instance so it would be useful to have some audio showcasing your experiences but I’m sure others will step up to the challenge.

I think this thread would really benefit from audio comparisons. It’s much easier to ‘hear’ differences or similarities and as @Al Krow has quite the collection I’d be up for hearing his examples to keep the ball rolling. GB will be posted down this week. 👍🏽

The Sadowsky preamp was originally designed by Alex Aguilar so knowing him it’s likely a bass boost at 40Hz and a treble boost at 4kHz. I’m not sure if there’s much difference between the OBP-1 and the Sadowsky pre which on paper appear to be similar. One cool feature on Sadowsky basses is the passive tone which can still be used in active mode. Great feature to have even if it might sound counter intuitive.

OK

This guy rates his bass better for him at gigs than at home. Who’s really that bothered? 😀

Just his take on it. He never said it was crap just it sounded better to him louder with the band. Maybe his home rig just doesn’t sound as good as his live rig?

Sometimes gear just sounds ‘better’ in context. The classic tale of a bedroom bass sound not cutting it live once it’s in context - the classic, pleasing to the ear smile eq might be great at home but not so suitable with a band, some amp/cab combinations just sound better the louder they’re pushed. Not all gear but often some amps/cabs just needs to be running at a bit of volume to really come into their own. I know running my amp into a 600w cab with the amp barely at bedroom/neighbour friendly volume does not sound as good as that cab running up at stage volumes but my wee 100w practice amp sounds better for home use and just struggled once it’s up to its limit.

I think the importance of mids (those low ones and the mid ones) has been done to death but the folks need to make their own mistakes and figure stuff out for themselves and I mean that in general terms not specific to the OP. I had an issue with our singer who does ‘the sound’ and when he was ready to listen (i.e. when he couldn’t fix a feedback issue) he had no choice to take take on some advice which worked for the benefit of the band and perhaps to the detriment of his ego. Next thing he’s asking advice on getting the drums sounding punchier! I think he was glad not to have the responsibility of it all plus it sounded better to his ears. Min terms of the plan b approach I was simply thinking running the rig in a rehearsal to make sure it works ok not as a full low end back line as you’d have to sort that out in the venue. Be good to try it on a gig if it wasn’t ‘essential’ to the life sound. Could help reinforce the tops like you say.

So are you wanting to use your cabs as subs? Effectively running the bass and kick drum to a mixer and sending those two feeds to be your subs on the boxpark gig? It's one of those set up's you guys could try in a rehearsal room to see how it worked (I appreciate the volumes levels will differ from small room to open air gig as will the effect of the room on the lows and overall sound. Might just be worth hiring in the right kit for the job and taking out those additional 'risks' - adding in more cables, mixers etc. In saying that reverse engineering a solution might well work but you'd wanna be actually using it in the context at least once to make sure everything works as planned - when there's more stuff to go wrong it usually can and you don't wanna be finding out at your soundcheck that it's a bad idea!

But once you get over the colour and the tuners it’s got a great feel and sound. Should be on the list as a consideration.

Be sure and try the JMJ!

It does feel like there can be a misconception about lows and low end the boosting in is a good thing but it’s such a powerful thing. The singer and default sound man (I refer to him as a volume guy not sound guy for reasons which would be apparent in the room!!) and he will later in a gig start to nudge the bass into the sub in the regular venue we play and I’ve had a word that it ruins the sound. I’ve tried to suggest some more useful eq nudges that might ‘punch’ rather than swamp the bass/low end

One of these will get you form the HX Stomp to the XLR input of your desk (see image below) A 1/4” instrument cable (1/4”>1-4”) from the Stomp ‘out’ to the 1/4” input on your desk will likely not cause you any issues. I’m not sure the benefits of using a 1/4” TRS>1/4”TRS or the potential pit falls but I’ve never tried one.

What can I say I like to hear the band from time to time and enjoy a bit of volume.

I didn’t mention getting lost in the mix or at least I don’t think I did? First rule of hearing yourself on the gig get a sound you like before putting in ear plugs make sure everyone can hear you and is getting what they need then pop in the ear plugs and carry on knowing that the band and stage sound is working. If things sound muddy with ear plugs pop them out every few songs for a listen. Considering the P bass has been the reference electric bass tone for decades it might be some other factors which are making it sound lost in the mix. Respect the low end, keep the mids where they need to be for your band and respect the mix! I’d be interested to know what way you get to your sound live. I know you prefer bass and amp and no effects on the gig other than drive from the amp. Are you getting your core tone set up with ear plugs in or playing a few numbers first to check how every is sounding? What’s other peoples routine for the first few tunes?

I recently put some roundwounds back onto some of my basses and it nice to have that different tonality to the bass having been quite happy with and familiar with the flats. I do like flats and still have one bass with them but it’s been good to gig roundwounds- even if I did have the tone backed off by about 60% It’s worth swapping back and forth, or it is for anyway, me just to keep the tones fresh. I’m using a bit more grit for more songs just to mix it up and defo prefer the roundwounds with a touch of dirt over the flats.

I’d imagine MK is pretty savvy about his gear. Let’s face it he’s likely as big a gear nerd as the rest of us. Just because he had the advantage of people seeking his name on their gear doesn’t mean it’s a bad thing

Deflecting the point your honour! Yeah he probably did I’d say.