Shaping your tone, what works for you?

[Zut8083]

So,

I would love your feedback to this question, as different configurations of Alembic electronics, and arguably many other electronic packages, allow players to broadly vary the tone of their basses via increasingly sophisticated electronics, on board, in a signal path, or in a rack.  But what do you guys specifically like to get sounds you like, what do you do to produce your tones/equalize your signal, and what sort of sounds/sound do you want to hear when playing?  How does your choice of hardware produce that tone?  How can you use the full spectrum of tone shaping options conveniently located in the lower bout of the bass over having another pair of hands on the controls, or do you prefer to have the majority of the controls in a rack, sitting without much change in the settings?

For instance, I like to have primarily one sound with minimal changes, and when it sounds good enough, I have moved on to adjust the volume to bring the bass to the right point in the mix, kept the lead guitarist in check by having a few decibels in reserve, and gone on from there.  But I admit, that is not a particularly sophisticated approach.  Hence me asking the Forum yet another essay question with the best of intentions.  Thank you, and have a good night.

-Zut

[jazzyvee]

This is going to be an interesting thread.
Personally i,’m a tweaker so tend to do most of my tone creation at the bass as a combination of how and where i play on the strings and use of the on board electronics. My bass heads i rarely change the tone settings at all regardless of genre of music unless things sound odd in a room. In terms of amplification i go for what gives me the cleanest reproduction of what’s coming out of my bass. My experience with alembic has helped me understand that i dont need to try to use the same tone for everything and that i can choose a different tone each time i play a particular song at a gig and that is fine. Depending on what time i have between notes i also use the filter controls to change tones during a song in order to emphsise sections of a song as often just changing how and where you hit the strings doesn’t give me what i want.
Currently i dont use any effects at all.
In terms of my setting of the bass controls, i dont often use the q settings on my single filter basses, (europa), unless the filter is more or less fully open as i find the emphasis is too strong for the music i play. With the filter closer to closed for focussing on the lower frequencies i prefer to use the quick tone change instead of the q as that boosts and warms the tone at a better place for reggae and RnB.  On my series basses again i generally dont use q on the lower range of the filters for the bass in the meat of a tune, unless im doing a melody and want that sweet nasally tone. Generally i favour the neck pickup and controls to get the majority of my tone and add character with the bridge controls. Hope that gives some insight.

[Zut8083]

Jazzy,

That's a most excellent description.  Thank you.  I was hoping you and others would talk about your experience/preferences creating tone while being an active musician and playing your music.  Honestly, I was thinking of both the graphite/ebony/penguin McVie bass and yours when the question popped up.  Cheers.

-Zut

[hammer]

Given what I'm playing now (mostly in a newgrass band) I really am not messing with the controls on my basses (Series I) between songs to any great extent other when we do covers outside of the bluegrass genre and our guitarist goes from his typical acoustic to an electric.  Similar to Jazzyvee, I typically favor the neck pickup to get the majority of my sound adding a little bit of color with the bridge PU and controls. What I have found extremely useful in live situations is my SF-2.  It's not that I'm really using it to change tone for different songs but to compensate for playing in rooms were certain frequencies need to be carefully controlled.  It's a Godsend for that.  Failed to bring it along once and had so many comments about how my bass didn't sound as good as it usually does, that I've never again failed to bring it with me.

[jazzyvee]

Ah yes Hammer the famous SF-2. I do have one in my rack and it was the first bit of kit I bought after I got my SC Deluxe bass and a bass rig. I'd have to say it's not yet a key part of my sound yet and I'd prefer it to not to be. It's a powerful piece of kit and harder go get right than series II controls on the bass so for me it's something I use sparingly when the need arises or recklessly when I want to demonstrate what a seriously clean, heavy and articulate hi-fi bass rig sounds like. :-)

[edwardofhuncote]

I have gigs much more similar to Hammer's than Jazzy's. But I tend to favor that neck pickup too.


I'm probably not even qualified to answer beyond saying this; the hard part is figuring out where your sonic space is, with whatever gig you happen to have, and staying there. It's pretty easy to do with any Alembic that uses a lowpass filter circuit. Big and pillow-y, or bright and twang-y might be fun, but probably sounds like a flatulant hippo or conversely, an orangutan with an iron skillet to a sound-dude or bartender. Be where you need to be.


You'll never get me to bad-mouth a Series bass... I've played close to a half-dozen of them from several years from 70's to recent, and they are awesome every one, but with that said - I can get to where I need to be with activators and the simpler circuits just as quickly. Both of my Distillates, in particular the older one, I think would fool a lot of experienced ears trying to distinguish from Series electronics. At the core, both of my 5-strings are wired up Vol./Pan/Filt./Q. One of these days I'll add a Superfilter to the mix, but in addition to not really needing it right now... I'm not sure if I'm smart enough to actually get the use out of it.


Don't overthink it, Zut. Set your eq's to flat, then plug up that Scorpion and play.

[Zut8083]

Thanks Hammer and Ed,

That is interesting how much love is given to the neck, and the difference in filter usage by players and the rationale behind it is food for thought.  I am sorry I wasn't clear; I meant this only as a fanboy thread/information gathering activity to learn something about live sound.  So, yeah, I absolutely agree with you, Ed: playing as simply as possible, especially given the recent acquisition, is prime at this point.

I am admittedly not yet looking to build out up my electronics platform too much.  Only to the point to get my upstairs neighbors to stop jumping on the floor and running around in concrete soled shoes, or to be able to keep time while doing it.  It's only being neighborly.

Everything louder than everything else.  Thanks again, folks.  This is very interesting and informative.

Cheers,
-Zut

[gtrguy]

I ran sound for a group last weekend and it was interesting. They were all good players and singers, with a nice clear sound. However, the bass player kept creeping up his volume, which pushed out the guitar player to where he was not prominent in the mix as much as I wanted (kinda backwards from what often happens). I did not just push everyone else up to match the sound overall, as I did not want the extra volume. Since everyone was still clear sounding, I just lived with it.

Anyway, when playing live, you really have to trust what your sound person tells you to do with the out front sound.

As far as simple playing, it depends on the music style and the skill level of the players. Liston to Jaco with Joni Mitchell on Youtube and you can see how a talented bass player can be the one actually driving the whole show, or listen to Bonzo with Lep Zep.

[Zut8083]

I can believe that.  No one should hog the sonic space.  Thanks for the link to Joni and Jaco.

[rv_bass]

That Joni Mitchell show was great...thanks! 

[Zut8083]

That also had Pat Metheny on guitar, right?