Improve Your Bass Tone With One Simple Fix
So I get asked quite regularly over at the Talkingbass live hangs about tone. The questions are quite varied in nature so people might complain about getting a slap tone, or they might find it hard to hear themselves on stage or the bass might be farting out as they increase volume but most of the time they all boil down to one general question about how to set the tone controls on a bass or an amp. Well, today I’m going to give you one simple answer that can then act as a foundation for everything else going forward and it’s something I wish I’d learned much, much earlier than I did.
Timestamps:
0:00 Intro
0:35 The Basic Fix
0:56 The Biggest Mistake
2:11 Importance Of The Instrument
3:13 Amp Consideration
4:42 Technique
5:08 Setup
5:29 Tone In The Hands
5:53 Technique/Position Examples
8:20 Tone Controls
10:17 Frequency Examples
13:05 Tone Advice
13:56 Slap Sound
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Bass Gear:
► Enfield Lionheart Bass Guitar
► SIMS Super Quad Pickups
► DR bass strings
► Levy Leathers Bass Strap
► GRBass Bass Amps
#Improve #Bass #Tone #Simple #Fix
Originally posted by UCDfStxwji-22A_bvY280UIg at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSEjjK-JSDs
Just for clarification: Flat eq means 12 o'clock on most tone controls. It means no boost and no cut. Mid way on a tone control (12 o clock) is the natural sound received from the bass. Below 12 o clock will cut and above 12 o clock will boost. I've noticed some people thinking I mean totally cut.
My slap tone sucks. ????
I have a BC Rich Eagle NJ series. I was told by a luthier that it is one of the last made in the states. I changed the bridge to a Badass, the action is set low. The Luthier said I have to change the pickups to a quality pickup. It sounds good but I always love the klacky higher sound other than the low end bass sound…I practice with a multi effects board. How should I set things to get a lighter sound? Also what type of strings would work best for a klacky sound?
#538_At6min_StringsBuzzEvenWithLightAttack_ImNoob_Yet_StringsBuzzingWithNoRealAggressiveAttackMeans_YourActionNeedsSeriousAttention⚠️
I've dabbled in bass over the last 25 years, but then started to play bass more seriously about 7 years ago.
I never had any complaints of how I sounded so I always assumed everything was good, until I tried to record myself. My bass was always disappearing into the mix. It sounded great in my studio monitors but as soon as I took the music to my car, home stereo or played off my phone, it was gone. I'm sure if you muted the bass, you'll notice its missing but it was inaudible. I thought maybe it was due to the lack of acoustic treatments in the room, but with a closed mic'd cab, I'm now convinced it was that my EQ was too bottom heavy and not enough mids. Which is weird because I thought I understood this, but maybe its a case of the low end being boomier than I realized.
No lies detected. ???? I've been playing and recording for 40+ years, and I can attest that getting all precious about tone, especially soloed, is a huge waste of time for everybody. In fact, back in the 80s, I pulled all the tone and volume controls out of my basses and just wired the pickups in parallel to the jack; Removing all that parallel resistance shifts the resonant point of the pickups higher and lends brightness and clarity. I use the amp's tone controls for minor tone adjustments, a small frown on a graphic, but still almost flat (plus or minus 2-3 dB), and volume is handled by my handy-dandy old Zoom multi-effects pedal. For recording, I high pass at 160 Hz, which is the 2nd overtone of my low E, which keeps the bass out of the way of the kicks and toms. After the HP, everything under 250 Hz gets compressed AF and blended back into the 250+ mids and highs.
What do you mean with "flat"? Full open or closed?
3:50 full watts. This matters if you expect to play over a drummer. In other words, if you have a 500 watt amp through a single 10" speaker, you're probably only using 100 watts or so. That's good but likely won't work in bar over a drummer. You'd need to be mic'd, and you can mic anything! Look at the impedance of the speaker, how many watts that amp puts out through that speaker based on the impedance (Ohms). An 1200 watt amp may only put out 400 watts out of a single 8 Ohm cabinet with two 12" speakers. That is very loud, but that same amp will only release its full power if you use 4 Ohms, likely need to add another speaker, more to carry, costs more money. On the other hand, if you play good venues, you don't need an amp at the gig. Not kidding. They should have a PA that allows you to play direct, the way MANY pros do (Geddy Lee, included), no amp, a nice floor monitor to hear yourself, and the sound engineer will do all the work. Most of us don't get that luxury of playing nice places with a full PA, dedicated monitors and a sound engineer. So in that case, you have to have a powerful amp with a speaker cabinet that will actually let the wattage out, you can hear yourself, the audience can hear you. CAUTION: to build on previous, if you buy $500 combo amp that says it is 350 watts, has a single 12" speaker, you are NOT getting all 350 watts when you turn it on! Look into it.
No matter were you place your right hand, the string rattles against the frets. I just can't play that way.
Yes! The Rumble 40 is ideal for home practise. Everything set flat, maybe roll the bass off to about 11 o'clock for my bass (Mustang with flats).
???? Key Takeaways for quick navigation:
???? 在现场演奏时，最初应将低音吉他的音调控制设置为平坦，根据现场环境微调。
???? 对于家庭练习，建议保持音调控制不变。
???? 提升音量而不是音调可以减少失真，并帮助音乐在乐队中穿透。
???? 如果你的低音吉他在所有音调控制都为平坦时听起来不理想，可能需要考虑换吉他。
???? 在乐队中，低音吉他的角色与单独演奏时不同，需调整音调以融入整体混音。
⚙️ 选择合适的功率和扬声器大小的音箱对维持良好的低音音质至关重要，如Fender Rumble 40适合家庭练习。
???? 演奏技巧和手指的位置对音色的影哤远大于音调控制。
???? 调整音调时，中频最重要，它是低音吉他音色的主要组成部分。
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"Tone controls are just volume controls for that frequency."
Greatest piece of knowledge I've ever recieved.
Hi Mark…you didn't mention pickup balance…is the default to have both pickups (assuming a two pickup bass) set at equal outputs? Cheers…
How to boost/adjust mids with a 2 band EQ (bass and treble knobs) or single tone control? Not possible? Three band EQ necessary? Cheers…
Nice video. I stumbled to playing bass with a flat EQ by accident. Then l found myself in a situation where my practice amp 150 Bassman was too big for the room. At flat EQ I was either plowing everone over or I couldn't hear myself. So I had to turn down my volume, and boost my lower mids. Everyone was happy about the mix after that.
Ohhh I'm subscribing ????
The bass tones that consistently work best with my band mix – live, & recorded especially – are terrible tones that I would never set as a solo tone. But damnit, they work in the mix.
Just bunch of bullshit… Plug your bass and play it good.
Dude. You are THE GOAT. Low ego, low spam, just quality.
1st of all, what a gorgeous bass you have there! I've never seen that particular bass. 2ndly, I am a guitarist, yet I own 6 electric basses; each one has a different feel, and different sound: J bass, P bass, EB3, EB0, Violin bass, Firebird bass, and Burning Fire bass. I am in a a 2-man band, and we each play bass, synths, and-or guitar. At home, I use a 40 watt amp into a 12" speaker ( I have a pair of these); for small concerts and rehearsals, I use a 100 watt amp into 4 tens, or my paired 40 watt amps into their 12's, which actually, gives me enough headroom. YT suggested this video, I was curious;, I enjoy your presentation, and have subscribed. Thanks for sharing! (PS: using 2-way PA speakers for computer playback)
Great vid…. But Just to add to this…..
it took me a long time to realise this , but it’s common for players fall for the nonesense of chasing tone through their equipment … constantly trading up on basses , cabs, amps because that new gear will make your sound better….
Well, it won’t.
The secret I wish someone had told me years ago is that “Tone” is in your hands, it’s in your technique.
As long as you have enough power to be heard, the rest is in your hands.
Give up on trading gear, and concentrate on technique ….. ????????
If you’re too stupid to set the EQ on your bass amp and the volume and tone dials on your bass, you probably shouldn’t be playing at all. What a stupid ass video! My Hofner 500/1 Contemporary bass through Fender Rumble sounds incredible with any band I’ve ever played with. I never needed some jackass with a British accent to pretend like this is rocket science to teach me how. I’ve always had a natural ear for tone. Some people have it and some don’t. It’s as simple as that!
Thanks, mate. This was a very, very useful video, especially the part where you notched the various frequencies. I'll be putting it to practice at a jam session tomorrow.
Well dang. We'll done.
This is very informative, thank you so much
I played for a blues guy in Chicago who told me to turn the mids and highs all the way off and the bass set on 11. Drove me and every sound man in North America insane.
Cool video! Tone control settings vary so much from one instruments to the next and one amp to the next that generalizations can be somewhat deceptive. Appropriate tone involves a synergy among many factors: Speaker cabinet, amp, amp tone controls, bass, bass tone controls, strings, playing technique, using pick or fingers, and even the acoustical environment in which you're playing… Just do lots of ear training and listening so that tone can be judged subjectively and adjusted accordingly, and if you're trying to get a good balance in a live performance situation, get a good front of house sound mixer and work with them. Other than that stuff, just experiment and have fun!
not to mention your bass has to be intonated
Wow. I started playing bass in 1972, quit three years later. Then after fifteen years I started playing again and have continued to this day. In all these years i have heard: "Turn DOWN the mid tones, that freq. range is for guitars and other solo instruments. Bring up your low tone to boost the bass tones and eventually some high tones to add definition". Even people who have played partly professional for many years says so. No wonder I struggle in the band rehearsals.???? BUT from now on: ???? This will change.
I should mention here that the guitar player in the recent band i joined one and a half years ago, have for the last rehearsals suggested to me turn up the amp's mid tone.
Amazing explanation!! What bass are you using here?
There’s a ton of good advice here, but I don’t get the one of avoiding tone control and EQ. Once you know how to use it, equalization is the most useful tool you can have to sculpt your tone and to adapt it to different rooms/venue. This doesn’t take away anything from all the other advice given in this video and I understand that for a beginner, it is more useful to focus on technique. But once you have it down, my advice is go nuts with the eq and find what works for you! But never scoop the mids ????
Thank You for what you do.
Does anyone know what bass this is?
Thanks great video. I learnt a lot
Excellent advice as always Mark!
I thought you were gonna give advice on how to dial in your tone professionally. Not a lecture on what to buy. You need a playable instrument first! You can always shape a tone with a preamp and some basic effects. What you can't do is make an uncomfortable instrument comfortable.