Do you adjust tone from the amp or bass?

[Eidolon0274]

I've been reading a lot of interviews recently from industry guys, and many of them say they heavily boost or cut from their on board preamp and set their amp flat.

I've always gotten a good all around tone by adjusting the EQ on the amp first, and then tweaking the bass preamp for different sounds during a gig, and it's worked for me. Of course this applies for active basses.

 

[Geri O]

I hate, hate, hate messing with controls on the bass. I love active preamps in basses, but I always leave the volume at 100% and the tone controls in the flat position, except for soft sections and songs where I back the treble down for a less-egressive tone.

Ya know, I don't advocate it for everyone. I'm the biggest live-and-let-live guy around. I'm merely answering a question on here. I know guys that get a fantastic sound by plugging into a power amp with a very powerful onboard preamp and adjusting the tone controls on their bass. That's great. It's just not for me

 

[Gravedigger Dav]

If you are going to use an active bass, you are almost correct on how to do it. Do start with flat on the amp, but tweak as necessary for the room.
Then use the bass to get the sound you want.

 

[Eidolon0274]

It is definetly not a "which one is better" thread, just a preference. I was surprised to hear how much some pros boost certain frequencies, or how particular they are about their 5 band preamp when I've always tried to get as much of my tone set from the amp first. My primary concern has always been set and forget and quick adjustment without having to turn around and fiddle with the amp, which I suppose works even better for someone who has a lot of knows on their preamp.

The sound that comes out of the speaker or mains is the sound, no matter how the player gets there.

 

[the explode man]

Yeah, if you can make one work over the other, go for it. It's like asking how long is a piece of string, what the best bass for metal is.

 

[tfer]

I turn the bass all the way up, and set the tone controls to the center detent.

From there I adjust my amp to get the sound I want.

That gives me tweaking ability on the bass for various songs; bump the mids for rock, a little scoop for country, etc.

 

[kartiste]

As a practical matter, I like to have the vol knob on my bass somewhere in the middle, so that I can quickly make adjustments as needed for balance during a song without walking away from the mic or turning my back on the audience to walk over to the amp. The other thing is to watch whether you're getting your tone "correct" by boosting on your ax and then cutting the same thing on the preamp, or vice versa. It might be causing undesirable overloads in the input stage.Or maybe that's what you desire - just watch what you're doing.

 

[s0c9]

My backline is to allow the guitar player to hear me.. I go PRE (vs POST) on the DIRECT OUT from the amp to FOH and use IEM's to monitor.
I've done one backline gig in 2.5 yrs without PA support.
I set the amp flat, and use the tone controls on my active 5-str to adjust.. as I can't really hear the cab anyway..

 

[dtripoli]

With my amp, I just set it and forget it. Do almost all tone and volume adjustment on the bass.
We play a lot of gigs with small stages and if I was to be turning around and adjusting my amp
during a song I'd surely bop the guitarist a time or two with my headstock or hit the drummers crash cymbal.
In fact the last gig we were so tightly packed in I had to stand directly behind the vocalist and almost on top of her.
Between her backside inadvertently muting my bass strings and me breathing on her neck, she said if this keeps up, we're going to have to get a room.
So, no amp adjustments come with the territory.

 

[dreamadream99]

I set the tone on the amp; I adjust it on the bass.

 

[Stevorebob]

I set the tone on the amp; I adjust it on the bass.

Yeah, this.

 

[Frankjohnson]

yes

 

[Deezer Butler]

I set the tone on the amp; I adjust it on the bass.

This...

 

[Al Kraft]

I set the tone on the amp; I adjust it on the bass.

+4 (if I counted correctly)

 

[4Mal]

My amp is basically a monitor. i use the tone controls on my bass and most importantly - my picking hand position - as adjustment. I DI from my pedal board post effects.

 

[rtslinger]

I voted both I Eq the amp to the room and adjust the bass guitar to work with some songs at times

 

[rufus.K]

Set the bass guitar''s controls neutral... say volume at 3/4 and active eq center detent.

Set the amps eq to taste depending on the room.

Use the bass guitar''s controls to adjust while youre playing. If you find something is extreme on the bass guitar, change it on the amp between songs and reset bass guitar's controls.

Repeat.

 

[ZenG]

I just do whatever it takes to get what I'm looking for. No set order.

 

[squarewave]

.... and me breathing on her neck, she said if this keeps up, we're going to have to get a room..

I want to know how this ended. Did you keep it up (so to speak)?

 

[dtripoli]

I want to know how this ended. Did you keep it up (so to speak)?

It ended quite tamely, although if there hadn't been that 1-1/2" slab of Swamp ash between us
I'm sure my girlfriend sitting in the front row would have leaped out of her seat with a vengeance.