Who uses the tone control on their bass?

[warwickhunt]

Full on Bass and treble on my active Warwicks, which probably gives me a mid scoop

The most used control on my bass is the pan pot!

[phil_the_bassist]

[quote name='waynepunkdude' post='276713' date='Sep 4 2008, 09:04 AM']It is the second most useless knob on my Jazz (the first being me obviously)[/quote]

[Raslee]

Gwan play dem reggae dub riddim wid tone....cha bumbaclot = No tone fe sure.. for me it's just phat belly gully slinking resonance through a giant sound system...there's a lot to be said for just a note thats very loud and very bassy indeed....apparently the earth resonates in Eb-thats just one note - Don't get me wrong i love 'Portrait of Tracy' (thats lots of notes) with tone, but there is a lot to be said for just the bass, big dub tents aka jah Shaka, a Jazz or precision with tone rolled off and a natural smoke machine and 1000's of festinutters-pure and obese bass tone...they're grrrrreeeattt! Irie

What am i talking about-try a SUBDUB night (Iration Steppaz)-footlong with reggae reggae bass food Sauce in Leeds!

Edited September 4, 2008 by Rasta

[geilerbass]

Seeing as one of the reason's that I bought my two Ibanez basses was their Vari-mid semi-parametric eq, it'd seem a bit foolish to just ignore the tone controls

I find that the acoustics of each rehearsal/gig can vary immensely an it's useful to have immediate access to the versatile controls on my bass to make adjustments for a better sound. I'll very rarely have any tone control on full, since, with powerful active outputs, it can end up sounding sh*te. I also like to have a bit of headroom so that if the venue is sucking the bass out of my sound, then I can give it that necessary boost.

Sure, I can adjust the eq on my amp, but it's useful and more versatile to make use of the tone controls on my basses.

[geilerbass]

[quote name='Rasta' post='276721' date='Sep 4 2008, 09:12 AM']Gwan play dem reggae dub riddim wid tone....cha bumbaclot = No tone fe sure.. for me it's just phat belly gully slinking resonance through a giant sound system...there's a lot to be said for just a note thats very loud and very bassy indeed....apparently the earth resonates in Eb-thats just one note - Don't get me wrong i love 'Portrait of Tracy' (thats lots of notes) with tone, but there is a lot to be said for just the bass, big dub tents aka jah Shaka, a Jazz or precision with tone rolled off and a natural smoke machine and 1000's of festinutters-pure and obese bass tone...they're grrrrreeeattt! Irie

What am i talking about-try a SUBDUB night (Iration Steppaz)-footlong with reggae reggae bass food Sauce in Leeds! [/quote]

I briefly played in a Reggae band about 7 years ago and got to learn all about Reggae tone through that. Our singer kept asking me to give him more 'vibes' from my bass. I eventually figured out that that meant turning the bass up on everything - good thing I had 2 15" speakers at the time

[BassMunkee]

[quote]RASTA:
Gwan play dem reggae dub riddim wid tone....cha bumbaclot = No tone fe sure.. for me it's just phat belly gully slinking resonance through a giant sound system...there's a lot to be said for just a note thats very loud and very bassy indeed....apparently the earth resonates in Eb-thats just one note - Don't get me wrong i love 'Portrait of Tracy' (thats lots of notes) with tone, but there is a lot to be said for just the bass, big dub tents aka jah Shaka, a Jazz or precision with tone rolled off and a natural smoke machine and 1000's of festinutters-pure and obese bass tone...they're grrrrreeeattt! Irie

What am i talking about-try a SUBDUB night (Iration Steppaz)-footlong with reggae reggae bass food Sauce in Leeds![/quote]
I officially love this post.

[Dr.Dave]

Moi?

Passive tone full on - except the Re54P. I back that off a bit to avoid single coil hum and trebly clatter.

Actives - lots of bass , fair amount of treb , mid backed off a tad.

Pup swings - bass side of equal

Vol - may as well be a mute switch. Always on full.

[Adrenochrome]

[quote name='Rasta' post='276721' date='Sep 4 2008, 09:12 AM']What am i talking about-try a SUBDUB night (Iration Steppaz)-footlong with reggae reggae bass food Sauce in Leeds! [/quote]

They were impressive at Unity Day last year!

[bremen]

[quote name='waynepunkdude' post='276713' date='Sep 4 2008, 09:04 AM']It is the second most useless knob on my Jazz (the first being me obviously)[/quote]

haha, like it - I'll use that at our next rehearsal :-)

[odub]

[quote name='Rasta' post='276721' date='Sep 4 2008, 09:12 AM']Gwan play dem reggae dub riddim wid tone....cha bumbaclot = No tone fe sure.. for me it's just phat belly gully slinking resonance through a giant sound system...there's a lot to be said for just a note thats very loud and very bassy indeed....apparently the earth resonates in Eb-thats just one note - Don't get me wrong i love 'Portrait of Tracy' (thats lots of notes) with tone, but there is a lot to be said for just the bass, big dub tents aka jah Shaka, a Jazz or precision with tone rolled off and a natural smoke machine and 1000's of festinutters-pure and obese bass tone...they're grrrrreeeattt! Irie

What am i talking about-try a SUBDUB night (Iration Steppaz)-footlong with reggae reggae bass food Sauce in Leeds! [/quote]

Ah subdub, I used to go that when I was at Uni, cabbage and SUBDUB still going?

[dangerboy]

I never touch it. Full-on, all the time. When I got a custom bass made I had 'ornametnal' tone knobs fitted that aren't connected to anything.

[stingrayfan]

[quote name='johnnylager' post='276674' date='Sep 4 2008, 07:48 AM']The what?[/quote]

[NickS]

With the bright strings/pups on my Jazz copy, I do use the tone (treble cut) control quite a bit. Playing covers, you may want a snarly Rick-y sound sometimes and a mellow snarl-free tone others.

[OldGit]

[quote name='BassMunkee' post='276741' date='Sep 4 2008, 09:41 AM']I officially love this post. [/quote]

+1

Eb? yup... Notice how many of Famliy Man's lines are in Eb? No co-incidence.

About 100 years ago I was the bass player in a reggae band - "more bass, man!" was a running thread ... but I was playing a Ric 4001 throgh a little Fender valve head and diagonal 2x15 cab and well into Chris Squire
Took me a while to "get it"

These days the P bass tone control is on full 90% of the time, full bass for our reggae bits and a bit of back off occasionally if I have to change things as I go along after not gettng the amp EQ right at the sound check ..

The complex EQ on my active bass is still a mystery to me so I leave it flat and bump up the middle a tiddly bit when needed. I find active tone controls add too much volume to the sound when you boost them so I generally use them as cut controls, but it's rare ...

[bremen]

[quote name='OldGit' post='276793' date='Sep 4 2008, 10:53 AM']+1

Eb? yup... Notice how many of Famliy Man's lines are in Eb? No co-incidence.[/quote]

I hadn't...does he tune the E down, do you know? I guess he has the option to play a 5 string nowadays, but it was always a Jazz when I saw him.

Ah, Trenchtown Rock. The morld's most perfectest bass line, ever :-)

[Dr.Dave]

Bremen - you have the Elvis Dambusters clock plate of Tutenkamen as your avatar. Do you really have one or is it just a pic. Brilliant.

[OutToPlayJazz]

Active treble & bass full on at all times. Much like the old "rock" setting on graphic equalizers (the smile!)

If I turn tone/treble down or off, it makes me feel as if my ears have suddenly filled with wax!

[crez5150]

Tone control.....?

[escholl]

yea, i use it all the time...whenever someone else uses/plays my bass, when i get it back i spend about 10 minutes "getting it right again".

of course, i know what the settings are and can sort it in about 2 sec, if i'm even bothered at all, but it stops people using by bass


oh, and yea, i use it for its real purpose as well, which is rolling off the treble haha.

[redzombie]

I've always kept the tone full open on my Thunderbird and previous passive basses, but on my active Spector I fully crank the treble (+18db boost IIRC) and boost the bass a smidge so it's flat (the bass on my model is slightly below flat at "flat" according to the Spector website).

[Master blaster]

on my warwick i keep it in the middle. But for when i slap and pop i turn it down a bit to get a nice warm/smooth popping sound. I never use to do this on my other basses. They always stayed in the middle or turned up all the way

[William James Easton]

in my 14 or so years of playing i have always had tone and volume up full. I like the growl i like the bump i like the fact you can hear my finger tips scratch on the stings i like the imperctions it brings through. Playing alt/punk/rock through fenders and musicman basses it just sounds and feels right to play it this way, both passive and active. I'll let my amp worry about the sound.

[bremen]

[quote name='Dr.Dave' post='276836' date='Sep 4 2008, 11:55 AM']Bremen - you have the Elvis Dambusters clock plate of Tutenkamen as your avatar. Do you really have one or is it just a pic. Brilliant. [/quote]

I wish! I think it was someone else here that reminded me of it, and I found the image somewhere.

I'm thinking of replacing it with the Life of Christ in Cats.

[pete.young]

[quote name='Rasta' post='276721' date='Sep 4 2008, 09:12 AM']there's a lot to be said for just a note thats very loud and very bassy indeed[/quote]

+1000

Normally I'd have put myself in the 'everything full on all the time and sort it with the amp/eq' .

But I've just acquired an active bass with Piezo from greyparrot, which has such an incredible range of sounds that it seems rude not to try and use some of them. Now if only I could figure out the best combinations of what those 3 tone controls and 4 volume controls can do ...

I think it might take a while. The Precision is safe for now.

[pockethammer]

Nope, dont use the tone control on my jazz ever.
I use the volume controls to alter the tone from tune to tune.