Bass tone???? Deep but defined not too trebly

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gerimaya

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How do you get a deep defined but not too trebly bass tone reminiscent of classic motown, r@b, and funk? How much of an effect does the bass guitars(in my case passive) eq knob have in the overall tone. I never seem to get anything but a muddy tone when I turn it to the highest bass setting. Basically I have just turned my knob all of the way to the hightest treble setting and have a pronounced growling trebly tone but would also like that deep pronounced tone.... .....I'm little stubbed... ....help!
 
scooped mids, heavily scooped mids and a nice transparent compressor that isn't gonna colour the tone too much.

I actualy have an old early 70's AVON(floyd rose sister company) ¾ scale with just one big sillver humbucker on it that gives amazing tone. it had some complicated lookin pot wiring inside that all went bad so I just soldered the two pickup wired straight to the jack output..sounds sweeter than any other bass I've plated in the last 25 years.

I always had the notion to take that pickup off and fitt it o a better bass but it gets the job done on the POS it came attatched to
 
Are you trying to get a certain tone for playing or recording? When you mentioned the EQ nob, did you mean the tone control on the guitar? If it's for recording are you micing the cab or using a DI line? A little more info will help us to help you.
 
reply to reply

Yes, I'm using the bass and the amp for live gig that I play every week. When mentioning the EQ knob I was talking about the knob on the bass. It seems everytime I turn it to the fullest bass setting everything gets really muddy. Someone suggested that I "scoop" the mids; did he me turn them down? I haven't been able to get a clear tone when I have the bass eq knob on the fullest bass setting that's why I've been settling for keeping it turned all the way to the highest treble setting.
 
Instead of rolling the tone knob to its extremes, find somewhere in the middle that sounds closest to the sound you're looking for. Yes, scooping the mids means turning them down. This will NOT help you in a band setting, though. The bass will tend to get lost in the mix. What are the bass and amp you're using?
 
LemonTree said:
scooped mids, heavily scooped mids and a nice transparent compressor
Click to expand...

Nail on the head. I run sound several nights a week and have been doing so for a few years. Every single time there is a really great sounding bass tone from a band's bassist (which is very, very rare) I ask him how they go about acheiving it and it is through exactly the method that LemonTree said. Every single time, I shit you not. Scooped and smashed is the way to go for bass guitar.

What kind of amp are you using? Does it not have an equalizer? If it does have the graphic eq that almost every bass amp has, then try cutting from about 300 to somewhere between 800-2k (play around with it a bit). When you cut thoses frequencies down, cut the least near the lowest and highest that you are cutting, and the most right in the middle. Your eq will look like somebody "scooped" the mids out of it - make sense now? Depending on your particular bass, and how you play it - the clarity will likely be found somewhere around 2500-4k. I don't recommend boosting those frequencies, but rather, just make sure you don't cut them out, and finally, roll off the low lows (like 20-40hz and under) and the high highs (like 5-7K and above) and you might just find a good place to start working on your tone.

Also, the actual guitar matters a ton. What kind of bass are you playing on? I have tried to record with all kinds of bass guitars that just don't sound good - ever, as opposed to any Fender bass (they pretty much all sound good and slide right into any mix), as well as the obvious Warwick, and one of the best bass tones I've ever heard was from a Schecter stiletto 6 string (but I have heard many of these sound bad, too - maybe that was a freak of the Schecter family, heh).
 
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well...

I play bass in a band... I have given up on bass amps and use a straight PA amp to power my 2, 1x15 cabs. I use a compressor limiter pedal, overdrive pedal; and a 8 bands eq unit that sits on the amp and rolls off the lows so I don't blow my speakers out. The sound and tone is therefore that of my bass and speakers. So many bass guitar amps (as with guitar amps) colour the sound that is produced. If you have a good bass with good tone, dont mess with it, amplify it as it is. Thats my idea anyway... and it works for me.

cheers
 
It's REALLY hard to say without knowing your bass and amp as well as any signal processors you use.
Bass - set the tone knob to the best sound the bass will offer.
EQ setting (pedal or on amp) - bottom end flat, scoop the mid section (put a smile cut into the mid frequencies only) and for me a nice peak at 3khz for definition/cut through.
AMP - that's going to depend on whether you're mic'd up or not so I won't go there.
All of which is pointless really without knowing what you have to work with.
Oh yeah, what strings are you using?
 
ampeg/fender bassmaster head with SVT speaker cabinet.

and scooped mids:) cutting the mids actually seems to emphasize the low end. don't ask me why...
 
ampeg/fender bassman head with SVT speaker cabinet.

and scooped mids:) cutting the mids actually seems to emphasize the low end. don't ask me why...
 
rayc said:
It's REALLY hard to say without knowing your bass and amp as well as any signal processors you use.
Bass - set the tone knob to the best sound the bass will offer.
EQ setting (pedal or on amp) - bottom end flat, scoop the mid section (put a smile cut into the mid frequencies only) and for me a nice peak at 3khz for definition/cut through.
AMP - that's going to depend on whether you're mic'd up or not so I won't go there.
All of which is pointless really without knowing what you have to work with.
Oh yeah, what strings are you using?
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exzachary... every bass I have used has it's own peculiarities, and the with amps. I use a 750 watt GK with a tube compressor, 31 band eq and 8x10's on the weekends, and use a slight cut more like a 1/2 smile and roll off really hard below 80 hz. With a thurs night jazz band I use a Fender 135 with a 15 in 1/2 W box. I push the mids and highs and about 20 % bass.
Recording....? some of the best sounds I've gotten were from pluggin directly into the channel strip, turn the bass wide open, and compress it hard.
 
I just run everything 'flat'

... however, nobody's paying me to play and I just don't give a damn, anymore.:mad:
 
Your Gear Matters!

Yes, what gear you are playing is the defining factor.

An 8x10, 6x10, or a 4x10 cab gets a great punchy sound with a basic "smile" EQ. This means Bass up, mids down, highs up. On a graphic eq with sliders, it looks like a smile.

To get less attack from your strumming, pull back some highs. (crooked smile)

The same rules pretty much apply for a 4x10 + a 15, but completely change for a 2x15 cab. Keep the bass freqs up, pull back the high freqs, and push up the mids. A 2x15 cab is the ultimate punk rock cab and probably not conducive to your tonal needs.

If you are using a 1x15 combo amp, then that is your problem. On its own, it is basically half of the 2x15 sound you are NOT looking for. Add an extension cabinet of at least 2x10 or 4x10. 10's are smaller but have more low end capabilities. 15's on their own have more of a growl. That is why they are so great for Punk playing with a pick.

Hope this helped.

As far as your bass tone knob goes, try it somewhere in the middle. Extremes seem to not be satisfying your quest for tone.
 
For a nice deep, yet defined sound a la Motown, try flats (lbanks said above), largely flat EQ (SoComSurfing said above), and pluck the strings forward near the neck. Using a P-style or J-style with only the neck pickup helps this too.

LaBella flats have great definition and are likely what Jamerson and Bobbit used.

If you want to keep rounds on, I roll my passive tone way off and the rounds still get some definition, but they lack the solid body of flats. They don't generally respond as well being plucked farther forward, but you'll still get in the ball park.
 
You didn't mention what kind of bass you play.

I don't think you can EQ what you want. You need to find a bass that produces that sound and go from there.

Trying to EQ a specific sound at every venue is going to end in time wasted and in frustration.

I've played a variety of basses on gigs and they all have their own voice. No amount of tweaking will change that.

I settled on the Precision with flat wound strings -- if you want that Motown sound, then play the bass that was used on the recordings.

Currently I have 3 Precisions (a '51 Reissue, a Classic '50s, and a Standard with a fretless neck) and a Jazz fretless, because I have learned that, if I want to change sounds, it's a lot more effective to change basses than to turn knobs, and the result is a lot more predictable.
 
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