Best way of showing the tonal palette of a bass

[neepheid]

I've recorded sound clips for basses in the past, and have taken the time to highlight the extremes of the range of the tonal variety. That's fine for a 1 pickup, vol, tone arrangement (tone all up, tone all down) but it gets more and more complicated as things evolve. 2 pickups and 2 band EQ was mildly annoying but doable (neck,bridge,both on flat EQ, extremes - neck pup, max bass, min treble and bridge pup, min bass max treble).

I wonder what's the best thing to do for a complex arrangement (2 pickups, 5 way switch, 3 band EQ). I recorded all 5 switch positions with flat EQ, but how best to demo the EQ system? It was getting late so I just put my favourite switch position and found one nice EQ position and did that, but it barely scrapes the surface. Is highlighting the extremes still a good idea? In this case I guess it would be (neck pup, bass max, mid flat, treble min) and (bridge pickup, bass min, mid flat, treble max)?

By this logic I am never selling my G&L; with that single coil mod thrown into the mix it'll take me a year to do the soundclips on that

passive, neck pup, series
passive, neck pup, parallel
passive, neck pup, single (inner)
passive, both pups, series
passive, both pups, parallel
passive, both pups, inner coils (parallel)
passive, bridge pup, series
passive, bridge pup, parallel
passive, bridge pup, single (inner)
active, neck pup, series
active, neck pup, parallel
active, neck pup, single (inner)
active, both pups, series
active, both pups, parallel
active, both pups, inner coils (parallel)
active, bridge pup, series
active, bridge pup, parallel
active, bridge pup, single (inner)
active with trebleboost, neck pup, series
active with trebleboost, neck pup, parallel
active with trebleboost, neck pup, single (inner)
active with trebleboost, both pups, series
active with trebleboost, both pups, parallel
active with trebleboost, both pups, inner coils (parallel)
active with trebleboost, bridge pup, series
active with trebleboost, bridge pup, parallel
active with trebleboost, bridge pup, single (inner)

27 switch combinations with 2 band passive EQ on top of that. You want soundclips? Pah!

[Lfalex v1.1]

Sell it on the basis of its tonal flexibility, not its "core tone"?!

I know what you mean, though!
That said, it's just as bad for a Jazz Bass owner, with (virtually) infinite combinations of individual pick-up volumes and tone settings. And that's just the passives!

Consider, too, all those Sterling / 'Ray5 / $$ / MMSabre / OLP / anything else with coil switching owners with a multitude of settings to explore! I can get 4 from my (modified) Status Streamline from the Series/Parallel switching alone. Before pick-up blend and 2-band EQ come into play..