Plectrum Bass EQ

[lowlandtrees]

I am the dep bass in this wee band (normally play sax) and played my first ever bass gig on Saturday. I actually love playing bass but
don t have time to practice finger work and damaged my second finger working toward this gig. I therefore played mostly pleck bass.
The first set I EQ ed out the mids and accentuated the bottom and top a little and I liked it but found that I was not cutting through so in the second set brought the mids back it but although it cut through I thought it sounded a little to aggressive. I think that it sounded s--t. I know that EQ will vary from room to room (it was a low ceiling) but was wondering if there are any other pleckers here and what they do. Do you EQ out the picky sound or do you like it? We do a fast Chuck Berry number that I double pick. Don t think I could ever finger pick this one so fast.
Incidently...I love the sound that Rev and Makers bass player gets(forget his name). Went to see him and he was to my surprise plecking a Precision. Maybe he has practiced too much fr that gig....still sounded great.

[lowlandtrees]

Forgot to say that I use an MM SUB through a Euphonic Audio doubler, a Fishman Pro pre amp into a Mesa Boogie Walkabout cab. Looking for a P bass soon.

[HowieBass]

A Stingray type bass is going to sound agressive I suppose, particularly with roundwounds on it - if you're considering getting a Precision then that might sit better in the mix (which is what it's renowned for). One thing to try out if you've not already done so is using palm muting when you play with a pick - opens up yet another sound option. And then there are flatwounds on a P bass...

[BigRedX]

IME the most important thing in getting the right sound is to have the right pick. Like anything on the bass what sounds good on its own rarely sounds right in the whole band mix. I've found that hard picks although they have loads of clicky attack, this gets lost once you add guitars which have a similar clicky attack.

Go and buy a load of different picks in different materials and thicknesses and experiment until you find the one the feels right and gives you the right sound in your band mix. There is no correct answer because what works for one person in one particular band rarely works out of context.

[bertbass]

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1413799489' post='2581910']
IME the most important thing in getting the right sound is to have the right pick. Like anything on the bass what sounds good on its own rarely sounds right in the whole band mix. I've found that hard picks although they have loads of clicky attack, this gets lost once you add guitars which have a similar clicky attack.

Go and buy a load of different picks in different materials and thicknesses and experiment until you find the one the feels right and gives you the right sound in your band mix. There is no correct answer because what works for one person in one particular band rarely works out of context.
[/quote]

+1 to this. I use Jim Dunlop 1mm nylon picks, the black ones, as they sound a lot less 'picky' than others I've tried.

[Weststarx]

Yeah I have a Musicman Stingray and it sounds a hell of lot more aggressive than my P Basses. They sound absolutely awesome if you really want to rock it!

I play with 0.73 Dunlop 'Tortoise Shell' picks and have my EQ set as follows:

Bass: 7/8
Mid: 7/8
Treble: 5

I find that gives me a warm tone but also cuts through as well, though I do play with a P Bass with the tone knob sorta just towards the warmer side.

That sits well in our mix and puts a smile on my face as well.

[stingrayPete1977]

With any stingray I've found that if I set up a nice finger tone all I need to do for songs with a pick is knock the treble off a little bit, I've always played a mixture of pick and fingers in a set and I mostly only use the treble pot like a tone pot really, there's only so smooth a stingray will go unless as Howiebass says use a bit of palm mute, stingray with the treble off, bass on full, palm muted with a clicky pick action, lovely

[lowlandtrees]

Thanks. Will give this a go tonight. Monday practice night!

[Lozz196]

With the Stingrays I had for a while I used a similar approach to StingrayPete yet I dropped the treble completely on the Ray. Gave a good thudding in the mix sound without being too clicky. I also generally had all the eq on the amp set flat - as in at midday, which I know on some amps isn`t necessarily flat.

[stingrayPete1977]

You know over the years Lozz my treble knob is being wound up less and less, since (trying) to play DB I think my ears have been re tuned!

[0175westwood29]

totally agree about pick choice, i actually switched to a thinner pick after watching a video by nolly getgood of periphery fame, as i abuse basses and pick hard with out a comp things can get a bit spikey however using a thinner pick actually evened out the attack! ( as nolly said it might) kinda acting as a comp, flexing more on the harder hits.

but on the eq i find that i can get a bit more of a grind when using a pick and need to back of the treble abit and use the mids which i always have pretty high on my terror, and as all above have said the stingray does like to be a nice aggressive sounding bass, maybe try using the tone to drop alot of the treble might get rid of some of that?

andy

[simon1964]

Another +1 to all that has been said about choice of pick. Also, where you play makes a huge difference. Nearer the bridge is going to sound more trebly/aggressive. Nearer the neck will give you a more traditional tone.

[subrob]

Parametric. The treble filter on my eq3b is thin notching a nasty clack noise a bit at about 4 or 5k, at a guess. The treble is otherwise pretty pushed on both amp and bass, for clarity. that said, the fridge isn't the last word in finesse so the treble push might be somewhat compensating that.

[Doddy]

I set up my EQ for pick playing in the same way I EQ for everything else-everything flat. The only time I EQ anything
is if I have to notch out a certain frequency because if the room. I change things up by moving my right hand position.
With a pick, I like to play with a more palm muted sound rather than wide open-it's a great sound. I like to use heavy
picks too-the Ibanez Steve Vai ones are my favourite.

[TheSiberian]

However, playing with a flat eq needs first the bass guitar to be well balanced and set up.
In case of heavy metal music scooping some middle helps a lot.
The Ibanez "pink" Steve Vai plectrum is also my favorite.
Best

Edited October 21, 2014 by TheSiberian

[Conan]

MM basses in general tend to sound a bit "scooped", so if you scooped the mid on your amp too, I'm not surprised you weren't cutting through very well.

I think there is a very fine line between "cutting through" and sounding aggressive. In some bands this can work fine of course - so it is the classic "horses for courses" analogy.

What did your (temporary) band mates think of your tone? Did they (or the soundman - assuming you have one) comment on the different tones you used in the first and second sets? Which did they prefer?

As others have said, what sounds good in isolation often doesn't work in a band setting (and vice versa).

To my ears, this is a good example of a "Stingray-type bass played with a plectrum" sound. YMMV of course! [url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIlFu5mIfnc"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIlFu5mIfnc[/url]

[BigRedX]

IMO there is little point in giving the OP EQ advice without being able to hear what the whole band sound like.

What makes a bass sound good as as much how it fits in to the overall band sound as the actual sound of the bass itself.

Edited October 21, 2014 by BigRedX

[Prime_BASS]

I use a hell of a lot of drive and play a Musicman bass and boost the kids, but then again going aggressive is what I want.

If I was playing clean I'd use my fingers smoother attack etc. but with a pic I'd turn the treble down on the bass(same as turning the tone pot down on a passive)

[Doddy]

[quote name='TheSiberian' timestamp='1413875846' post='2582906']
However, playing with a flat eq needs first the bass guitar to be well balanced and set up.
[/quote]
Its a good job that all my instruments are, then.

[BigRedX]

[quote name='TheSiberian' timestamp='1413875846' post='2582906']
However, playing with a flat eq needs first the bass guitar to be well balanced and set up.
[/quote]

Flat EQ is an irrelevance. AFAIK there are no instrument amplifiers or speakers that do nothing to the signal other than make it louder.

[TheSiberian]

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1413912338' post='2583542']


Flat EQ is an irrelevance. AFAIK there are no instrument amplifiers or speakers that do nothing to the signal other than make it louder.
[/quote]
However (ha,ha,ha)... Sorry english is not my mother tongue, in case of a flat EQ situation, you will hear the exact sound your bass will give thru the amplified system.
If your bass is well balanced and well set up ( of course, after looking to his very good site, I am pretty sure that Doddy's basses are set more than perfect) there is no specific need to correct its sound with an EQ boost or scoop.
But there are outhere some musical genres or playing situations that purely ask for some EQ tweaking regardless of the bass guitar quality or setup like: metal, reggae or the historic Jaco or Mick Karn sound.
Best

Edited October 21, 2014 by TheSiberian

[lowlandtrees]

I don t think the rest of the band could tell the difference to be honest and it wasn t discerning audience (should have done the slosh and a bit more line dancing stuff). One of my recording mates is constantly hammering that EQ should be mainly used to cut frequencies. Not sure how applicable that is to bass. Many bass players dislike the clicky thing but to my ears the click is lost in the percussion of the rest of the band but you certainly seem to a certain dynamic in the tone compared to fingers .........but I am a bit deaf from years of amps, earphones and chainsaws. On th other hand the pick adds to the percussion to an extent...especially when (like me) you can t slap. I do prefer the sound of the pick further up the neck but for faster toons like to hug the bridge too. I changed to flats a while back as they seemed to suit the set up of the bass and nicer to play but to be honest the round wounds I had sounded much phatter and will go back on and get set up when it is time to change. I must have spent more on sussing out strings than on the bass itself.
Interesting comments on the MM being a scooped sound. It does need some mid boost to cut.