Passive Tone Control - Open, Closed or Both?

[Guest MoJo]

2 hours ago, discreet said:

Full on - and take care of any EQ from amp or DAW. With a passive bass you really want all the output the pickup has to offer.

Strangely, I find that rolling the tone off, appears to accentuate the mids and helps it to fill out the mix in a three piece

[discreet]

2 hours ago, MoJo said:

Strangely, I find that rolling the tone off, appears to accentuate the mids and helps it to fill out the mix in a three piece

So it will - but I find I get more control over mids from the amp, particularly one with low and high mid controls - or better yet, a parametric or semi-parametric mid control. But it's whatever floats your boat, obviously.

[Guest MoJo]

34 minutes ago, discreet said:

So it will - but I find I get more control over mids from the amp, particularly one with low and high mid controls - or better yet, a parametric or semi-parametric mid control. But it's whatever floats your boat, obviously.

My Rumble 500v3 combo has got 'low' and 'High' mids as well as the 'Vintage' button which pushes the low mids. I tend to boost the low and high mids a tad (about 1 - 2 o'clock) and back off the 'bass' to about 10 o'clock. I find the Rumble 500 quite 'bass-heavy' if everything is set flat.

Edited June 27, 2018 by MoJo

[Oopsdabassist]

All over the shop, but like Lozz I have set the tone and Vol knobs so I can see the grub screw hole and give me a visual on how they're set

[matski]

On a P bass I tend to have the tone knob at about half open/half closed.

[discreet]

1 hour ago, MoJo said:

My Rumble 500v3 combo has got 'low' and 'High' mids as well as the 'Vintage' button which pushes the low mids. I tend to boost the low and high mids a tad (about 1 - 2 o'clock) and back off the 'bass' to about 10 o'clock. I find the Rumble 500 quite 'bass-heavy' if everything is set flat.

There you go, I have the same combo and find 'all flat' is quite often my default setting. If I need to get more... 'front and centre' I'll add a touch of low mid or high mid or both... but that also depends on whether I'm using series or parallel switching on the bass.

[Bolo]

What's this 'passive' nonsense?

[la bam]

Good topic!

When I first started bass and want much good, I used to roll all the tone off and it disguised sloppy, clanky playing.

Eventually I played with it fully open, which accentuates any sloppy playing, and made a concious effort to iron out those playing errors. It took a while but improved my playing and technique no end.

I now mainly use the tone pot fully open and then roll it off a bit which seems to give a nice sound with a bit of punch.

Edited June 28, 2018 by la bam

[Dan Dare]

On my Jazz, I find if you turn it all the way up and back it off a smidge, you get that J bass sound.

[discreet]

2 minutes ago, Dan Dare said:

On my Jazz, I find if you turn it all the way up and back it off a smidge, you get that J bass sound.

Yes, coupled with turning both pickups up full and backing off the bridge pickup a smidge...

[tb4sbp]

I used to be a set it on full and forget it. Now depending on the song or situation I will move the tone to my liking 

Thanks, good question

[Hellzero]

Direct pickup coupling, à la Anthony Jackson, is even better than volume only : my newly ordered Leduc U-Basse 6 strings fretless will only have a balance (blend) control.

And just 666 posts on the counter right now.

😁

Edited June 28, 2018 by Hellzero
The number of the beast

[Dan Dare]

1 hour ago, discreet said:

Yes, coupled with turning both pickups up full and backing off the bridge pickup a smidge...

Exactly, although I back off my bridge pu more than a smidge as I've replaced the log pots with linear ones, which makes fine adjustment easier.

[LeftyP]

The tone control on my Chowny SWB-1 does not appear to have any affect on the tone at all!  I leave it fully 'on' to match the volume knob.