I think my ears are stuck

[KingPrawn]

I'm annoying myself. (again). i keep going back to the same settings regardless of what i play. I buy new basses, amps, pedals etc, but end up making everything sound the same. i was sitting the other day playing my jazz, oh lovely and all that. Then picked up my MM, oh lovely again. thing is i spend all my time making to very different instruments sound the same. This is the same for various other basses.

i really don't think i understand eq to be honest, which brought me to this question for you good people to consider. I'm aware their are massive spectrums in each of the following but what would be the starting point for each of the following eq wise?

1. Jazz
2.rock
3. funk
4. Blues
5. Motown
6 slap
7 others

Im interested in what setting you use as a standard eq. i want to unstick my ears

[chris_b]

How long is a piece of string? The starting point is the sound you get.

If it's a good sound then be happy, you're doing something right.

[flyfisher]

Not sure about what things [u]should[/u] sound like, but the fact that you are able to make all your different basses and amps sound the same would seem to make GAS a rather futile pursuit.

[PTB]

It seems like you can get a sound that pleases you easily regardless of the gear you use. There are many who would envy you!

For the various styles you mentioned above, I would generally alter my sound through hand position & technique then twiddle my pan-pot and then finally resort to the onboard eq on my bass. I tend to use my amp eq to accommodate the room but it generally stays pretty similar. I suspect I'm not alone and the thought of having to reset my gear mid-gig as I went through the styles above just seems an unnecessary headache. I also think that if I have to use a lot of eq'ing, I've got the wrong gear.

[BigRedX]

I think if you are sat at home playing on your own you will have a tendency to go for similar sounds whatever equipment you are using. You have an ideal bass sound in your head that sounds good when you play alone and that's what you'll strive to achieve.

In a band context it's a whole different thing. You need to fit into the sonic jigsaw of the other instruments/players. And it changes if you change bands or even change a member of an existing band. A great bass sound in a band rarely sounds as great when solo'd.

I'd stop worrying about it. I pick my basses on playability and looks within the context of the band. Apart from a couple of extreme cases they can all be made to sound right with the rest of the instruments playing.

[JTUK]

There is inherrent sound and a lot of that is to do with how you play.

Getting into a fight with EQ is a fight you will loose, IMO... and the best way to approach that is to enhance what you do rather than chase.
If you start with basses... then they can lead you to a sound, but you have to complete it...either from a style of technique point of view.
Trying to get a MM to sound like a classic jazz is doomed, for starters, and vice versa.

If you want a hard bitty sound, you need to attack hard fingerstyle at the rear pickup...but that might not work for slap..unless you can change a sound nuance quickly.
Pedal boards might help..as will pre amps..but you have to have the sound pretty much there all in your hands and style.

[steve-bbb]

i only have the two basses - one i use for bright powerful active rip your eardrums apart sort of sounds, the other i keep for nice flat dull passive old school stuff

[Delberthot]

Personally its right down to the setup of my bass.

I set the action so that when I play normally it sounds "normal" but when I dig in it gets really gnarly and growly. As far as changing for different styles its all in the positioning of your fingers.

For fast, punchy stuff then my fingers are nearer the bridge, for rock I'm nearer the middle between the end of the neck and the bridge, Soul would be nearer the neck and swing I would be right up at the neck. Depending on what type of slap sound I'm after I'm either over the top two frets or nearer the bridge pickup for the more Larry Graham style funk. And then there's how hard I attack the strings.........

Basically I'm lazy and can't be ar$ed faffing around with pedals and constantly changing my EQ or basses to suit the song so I adapted my playing over the years so I don't need to. A lot of the time there isn't time to do so anyway in a function/wedding band.

Like tonight as an example, we did a run of about 5 songs with the 4th one being Town Called Malice. Now if the video is to be believed it looks like Bruce is playing an EB2 but I still go for the grindy Rick tone but when we got to it I had the Precision which has flats fitted. The solution was to play between the bridge and neck pickup really bloody hard and it was pretty close.

It takes time. I've been learning for the past 25 years and still find new ways of doing stuff and getting certain sounds.

Edited June 10, 2012 by Delberthot

[Bilbo]

I just dial in a sound i like and that seems to work for everything. I guess if I was playing lots of different basses in lots of different genres and using lots of different techniques, that may not work but I plat fretless bass fingerstyle (no slap, pop, tapping, plectrum etc) so get what I get. I play jazz, funk,.rock/pop and Latin music and, in short, a good sound is a good sound and, in my epxerience, transfers easily.

[chris_b]

[quote name='Bilbo' timestamp='1339320292' post='1686677']
....in short, a good sound is a good sound and, in my epxerience, transfers easily....
[/quote]

+1

I'm a one sound player and I seem to make all my gear sound pretty much the same!

I was asking a very good guitarist about the sound of my new bass and he said, "It sounds good, but you always sound like you". It [i]was[/i] a compliment but I didn't know whether to be flattered or disappointed.

I don't play Metal or Punk but for everything else my one sound and technique fortunately transfers to everything.

Don’t be disappointed with your sound, too many players sound like someone else and never find their own voice.

[JTUK]

Sometimes a room will show up a certain sound bias..and surprise me. So I can adapt how I play to compliment that sound.
If the room or sound is soft, I might go with that..but if it is hard..it will make me play a hard style.

I have three basic styles and sounds and I go between all three with a maximum of one tonal change..be that a pickup switch or
a roll of a control on the bass.
I will put in everything or nothing in any or none of the songs..depending on how I feel.
I am always reacting to what is going on around me.. and the gigs require a bit of playing, so if the other guys come up with a part that I can jump on..
that can take that track to another really good place, I'm there. If it isn't working..and you'll spot this straight away... you sit and get back to the default play.
of that track. It is only a covers bands and you need to try a few things so as not to get bored. You have to know when you are heading for a mess though..

[ezbass]

Sounds like you have your own sound, something that should be encouraged not fought against. I know what I like in my sound and tend to stick with it; mainly single pickup basses, plucked over or just forward of the pickup, mainly flat amp eq, some bass boost on my active basses (the P doesn't need any help here ). The only major eq changes I might make for a particular musical style would be for a lot of slap or metal where I would scoop the mids, but as I don't play a lot of these styles much I don't bother messing with the eq, I just slap or use a pick respectively as required (without wishing to pigeon hole these styles tonally here). This is not to say that I don't play with the eq if the room demands some adjustment, which I do either on the bass or the amp (whatever's quickest/most apt).

[rOB]

If you're making everything sound the same and that sound works for the music you play then what's the problem?

[phil.i.stein]

[quote name='KingPrawn' timestamp='1339227923' post='1685491']
I'm annoying myself. (again). i keep going back to the same settings regardless of what i play. I buy new basses, amps, pedals etc, but end up making everything sound the same. i was sitting the other day playing my jazz, oh lovely and all that. Then picked up my MM, oh lovely again. thing is i spend all my time making to very different instruments sound the same. This is the same for various other basses.

i really don't think i understand eq to be honest, which brought me to this question for you good people to consider. I'm aware their are massive spectrums in each of the following but what would be the starting point for each of the following eq wise?

1. Jazz
2.rock
3. funk
4. Blues
5. Motown
6 slap
7 others

Im interested in what setting you use as a standard eq. i want to unstick my ears
[/quote]

without wishing to echo most of what's been said already, most of what you're looking to do is in the right hand either with fingers or a pick.

although for slap, i'd say a mid-scoop is preferrable (to my ears).

for more aggressive styles, then some OD might be required, and a decent pedal can save you from having to fiddle with an amp.