What really impacts on your bass tone?

[KingPrawn]

I really enjoyed this. Having fallen into every trap around upgrades and mods over the years. This is very much where I'm at as a more mature player

 

 

[Lozz196]

I’ll watch the whole vid tomorrow but for me the main things that impacts on my tone are roundwound (not dead ones tho) strings and the attack of the pick on them. 

Edited Saturday at 22:12 by Lozz196

[SimonK]

EQ more than anything - I've had all sorts of pedals over the years, but to be brutally honest the tone knobs on my amp make a much bigger useful difference than anything else. A good compressor is probably second, but I find I have to tweak the EQ every single time I play, even using the same rig in the same room EQ just seems to matter!

[SteveXFR]

If you want to play in bands forget about YOUR tone, it doesn't matter. It's no good having great solo tone if you disappear behind guitars and drums.

[SteveXFR]

5 minutes ago, SimonK said:

EQ more than anything - I've had all sorts of pedals over the years, but to be brutally honest the tone knobs on my amp make a much bigger useful difference than anything else. A good compressor is probably second, but I find I have to tweak the EQ every single time I play, even using the same rig in the same room EQ just seems to matter!

 

I found overdrive made a huge difference in creating a sound that could cut through heavy guitars. EQ is definitely a big part of it though.

[Sean]

I don't fully understand the question. I'm sure I'm not alone.  I worked in a FTSE100 corporate for 30 years and "impacts on" is like corporate-speak. I don't get it but I am "on the spectrum" as they like to say.  "Around" seems to have replaced most other prepositions too and has made it very difficult to understand a lot of what's being said.

 

Imagine you were posting 20 years ago, what would the post say?

 

Thanks for your understanding.

[Lozz196]

I think the player themselves is one of the main things, whenever someone plays my basses I - irritatingly I should stress - invariably prefer the sound they get to the sound I get, with same bass/amp/pedals etc. I must have a “bassy” sound as usually other bassists get a treblier sound than I seem to. 

[chris_b]

48 minutes ago, SteveXFR said:

If you want to play in bands forget about YOUR tone, it doesn't matter. It's no good having great solo tone if you disappear behind guitars and drums.

 

Sorry but I disagree 100% with that. Having a good balance in the band has nothing to do with each musicians sound. If you don't have a good balance then you have  to get one. If you have someone in the band who won't compromise on tone or volume fire them. If you can't fire them drown them out. Once you fix the band issues you'd better not sound bad. So your tone does matter. I know from experience that if you sound good you will play better.

 

 

IMO every part of the signal chain has an effect on the sound of your bass.

 

It's accumulative, one thing can't make you sound great, but one thing can make you sound bad. If you've made the right decisions and your signal chain is working well, you've got yourself a unicorn rig. Now you just have to combat the room!! 

[SteveXFR]

32 minutes ago, chris_b said:

 

Sorry but I disagree 100% with that. Having a good balance in the band has nothing to do with each musicians sound. If you don't have a good balance then you have  to get one. If you have someone in the band who won't compromise on tone or volume fire them. If you can't fire them drown them out. Once you fix the band issues you'd better not sound bad. So your tone does matter. I know from experience that if you sound good you will play better.

 

 

IMO every part of the signal chain has an effect on the sound of your bass.

 

It's accumulative, one thing can't make you sound great, but one thing can make you sound bad. If you've made the right decisions and your signal chain is working well, you've got yourself a unicorn rig. Now you just have to combat the room!! 

 

In my experience of playing in heavy bands, that absolutely would not work. You've got two heavily distorted guitars and a hard hitting drummer. There's no compromise going to fix that, as a bassist you have to find a tone that fits with the band and it certainly exists but I can guarantee it will sound bloody awful in isolation. 

[police squad]

I watched the vid and it didn't tell me anything I didn't know

I really enjoyed it though, one or two superb insights

[nilorius]

In every band i have played, i use an amp eq to have the right tone. The tone between the type of music the band plays and the tone i like.

[neepheid]

Hardly gave the pickup change a chance, did he?  From a stock Squier pickup to a Quarter Pounder, ooh, that's different!  Not.  Now if he'd swapped the pickup to a split MFD, or a Lace Aluma P, I think they'd be having a very different conversation...

[Jackroadkill]

I think the point is that there's no magic when it comes to your tone.  As he states in the video, he's a teacher and wants to encourage students to buy less and practise more; one of the most important lessons you can learn (as I see it) is that you can only make marginal gains when you replace some of the links in your chain.  Obviously some will have a bigger effect than others, but in this example he shows that you can upgrade your cables, pickups, loom etc etc and it won't have as much effect as changing your cabinet.

[Terry M.]

I haven't watched the video but I would say a heavy vs a light touch and roundwound vs flatwound strings. Also tweeter vs tweeterless cabs. All in my experience and opinion. 

I personally prefer the term "modified" over "upgrade" as the latter is purely subjective and the former isn't. I saw a bass in a classified advert once that wasn't wearing the original pickguard and apparently the new one was an "upgrade". Sorry to digress...

Edited Sunday at 10:10 by Terry M.

[SumOne]

I think EQ makes the biggest difference, and what your Cab can reproduce.

 

I've gone into the finest of details testing pedals A-B and picking apart why one preamp or distortion is better than the next, but nowadays I've pretty much come to the conclusion that once it goes through an Amp/Cab and playing with a band the difference is almost imperceptible - especially if using EQ to match the sounds. Perhaps a keen audience member could hear the difference between a Rat vs Muff vs Tube screamer, but I doubt anyone could notice any more detail  'that sounds like Green Russian , they should be using a Ram's Head', likewise- bright Roundwound strings can be made to sound a lot like dull flatwounds with the right EQ.

[Dan Dare]

12 hours ago, SteveXFR said:

If you want to play in bands forget about YOUR tone,

 

This. The sound that works in context is the right one. If you're a soloist, knock yourself out with YOUR tone. If you play in a band, you need to find what best suits the instrumentation, songs, style, etc. Sometimes, a sound that isn't particularly pleasant to listen to in isolation can be the best one in context. "Us, us, us". rather than "Me, me, me".

[Terry M.]

22 minutes ago, SumOne said:

 bright Roundwound strings can be made to sound a lot like dull flatwounds with the right EQ.

Very true but is the reverse possible?

[SumOne]

2 minutes ago, Terry M. said:

Very true but is the reverse possible?

 

No, which is partly why even though I play a lot of Reggae/Dub I have quite bright roundwound strings - because as I also play some more Ska/Punk stuff with distortion. Can take off the highs, can't really add them if they were never there though.

 

The general view is Reggae = Dull Flatwound, but I've heard at least one famous exclusively Reggae Bass player (I think it was Flabba Holt) say he used brighter roundwound as can take off the highs, but it is good to have the option to include them if ever needed. 

[Bilbo]

The room. Concrete walls and tiled floors? Forget it 

[SteveXFR]

11 minutes ago, Terry M. said:

Very true but is the reverse possible?

 

You can't cut or boost frequencies that aren't there.

[gjones]

42 minutes ago, Bilbo said:

The room. Concrete walls and tiled floors? Forget it 

 

This is number one in my opinion.

 

Bass also has the annoying tendency to sound fantastic when you're standing next to your amp and really rubbish when you actually listen to it in front of the stage where the audience is (if you have a long lead, or are wireless). Of course if you then tweak your EQ to sound good to the audience, it will probably sound rubbish on stage.

Edited Sunday at 12:03 by gjones

[BigRedX]

For me the two most important components to my sound are ME (including my choice of pick) and my Helix multi-effects pedal.

 

The idea is to remove as many variable from the signal chain as possible. That's one of the reasons I no longer use an amp or cab(s) and go straight into the PA with an FRFR (very occasionally) for personal on-stage monitoring. I've found that beyond basic playability the bass itself makes almost no difference to my sound as I'll either change my playing technique or alter the settings on the Helix until I have the sound I want.

Edited Sunday at 12:06 by BigRedX

[ezbass]

7 minutes ago, gjones said:

Of course if you then tweak your EQ to sound good to the audience, it will probably sound rubbish on stage.

The truth, right there. 

[Lozz196]

23 minutes ago, gjones said:

 

Of course if you then tweak your EQ to sound good to the audience, it will probably sound rubbish on stage.

 

15 minutes ago, ezbass said:

The truth, right there. 

Have def experienced that, at one soundcheck had a great on stage sound, went out front on the wireless kit and was boomy mush, adjusted to a horrible nasally sound on stage, beautifully defined full bass sound out front. 

[Paul S]

My choice of shoes, primarily.  Leather soles every time.  I find anything with a foam midsole decouples too much - and don't get me started on Airwair.  With cotton socks, obvs.  🤨