Mlucas Posted February 27, 2011 Share Posted February 27, 2011 I thought it would be interesting to see how everyone sets their amps up for playing, just state your loose music 'genre' and your favoured settings (Bass/Mids/Treble) for getting that tone, plus this could provide help to beginners who are trying to find the right sound for them! Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LiamPodmore Posted February 27, 2011 Share Posted February 27, 2011 Genre: Contemporary Punk Amp: Line 6 Lowdown LD150, Warwick ProFet 5.1 EQ: All flat, deep switch on, on both, occasional mid boost depending on the cab im using with the warwick. Liam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Academy Posted February 27, 2011 Share Posted February 27, 2011 Since using a Markbass head I just set everything at 12 o'clock and use the two filters. I boost mids on my bass. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sawtooth Posted February 27, 2011 Share Posted February 27, 2011 (edited) Genre: blues Amp eq: based on 1 (low) to 10 (high) gain - 6 to 10 (depends how clean or overdriven i want to sound) bass - 7 low-mids - 7 high-mids - 2 treble - 2 Bass eq: bass high-ish and treble low-ish front pickup and play the strings near the fretboard. Of course nothing is 'set in stone' and all basses and amps sound different. But for any beginners, these will steer you in the right direction. With a slight tweak these settings will also work for dub/reggae and trad jazz. Edit: will also work for motown and late '60's funk, just play more over the pickup. Edited February 27, 2011 by Sawtooth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris_b Posted February 27, 2011 Share Posted February 27, 2011 All the gear in my signature..... everything flat, every time. Sometimes I just boost a little bass on the Lakland. I did the same with the Ampeg SVT3PRO and LM2 amps when I used them with 2 x Aguilar GS112's, my Epifani 410 and my Mesa Boogie 115 + 210. The only thing I change from one gig to the next and one band to the next is the volume on the bass. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mep Posted February 27, 2011 Share Posted February 27, 2011 (edited) They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Well in my case it' worth 12 bands of graphic eq on my Series 6 AH200 Trace head. [attachment=73435:graphic_002.jpg] Bass wise on my 2band eq Ray it's both on full with maybe a little bass cut if necessary depending on the venue. Edited February 27, 2011 by mep Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michaelg Posted February 27, 2011 Share Posted February 27, 2011 plenty of mids, reduced low end and plenty of treble for gigs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
voxpop Posted February 27, 2011 Share Posted February 27, 2011 Acoustic Indi rock... Amp always flat... Ken smith neck pickup, slight mid and treble boost. Brook acoustic, mxr graphic pedal, heavy treble and upper mid cut, lower mid and bass slight boost. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rOB Posted February 27, 2011 Share Posted February 27, 2011 Genre: Rock (pop rock through to hard rock/metal) EQ on the Orange Bass Terror is not that effective so leave it all flat but boost the bass frequencies slightly and cut the treble slightly on the bass Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OliverBlackman Posted February 27, 2011 Share Posted February 27, 2011 everything flat and maximise the potential of what your fingers and your bass can achieve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xilddx Posted February 27, 2011 Share Posted February 27, 2011 (edited) [quote name='Mlucas' post='1143468' date='Feb 27 2011, 04:23 PM']I thought it would be interesting to see how everyone sets their amps up for playing, just state your loose music 'genre' and your favoured settings (Bass/Mids/Treble) for getting that tone, plus this could provide help to beginners who are trying to find the right sound for them! Thanks [/quote] What if some of us don't use amps? Also, does everyone know the values of their eq controls and all the other variables in the chain? I reckon most of the answers will be along the lines of 'a bit of mid scoop, and knock the treble up a bit for the glassy top end', stuff like that Edited February 27, 2011 by silddx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sawtooth Posted February 27, 2011 Share Posted February 27, 2011 [quote name='Mlucas' post='1143468' date='Feb 27 2011, 04:23 PM']I thought it would be interesting to see how everyone sets their amps up for playing, just state your loose music 'genre' and your favoured settings (Bass/Mids/Treble) for getting that tone, plus this could provide help to beginners who are trying to find the right sound for them! Thanks [/quote] I get the feeling the OP was aiming at setting up an 'EQ guide for beginners' as such and is a great idea! I know I would have loved a basic reference when first starting out and would still be interested now. I think the idea of picking a genre, be it blues, jazz, reggae, motown, classic rock, metal, funk, slap, emo etc, etc ... and then offering tips on how to achieve these tones/sounds is a great one. Also let's not forget that a lot of people are playing on practice amps and may never have gigged. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marvin Posted February 27, 2011 Share Posted February 27, 2011 (edited) Amp: Bass up a little, a truck load of low mids and cut back on the treble. Bass: Bass flat, mids about midway and cut all the treble. Sits well in the mix, can be heard really well without having to use a lot of volume so I'm not straining my amp. As an aside, I tried a mid scoop at practice the other night and completely disappeared, to compensate I had to use a lot more volume to be heard - no good competing with the frequencies used by other bandmates. Edited February 27, 2011 by Marvin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassBus Posted February 27, 2011 Share Posted February 27, 2011 (edited) Lots to guide a beginner here but there are so many variables. The question always comes up "how do you get [so'n'so's] sound"? If this is to be of any use to beginners these variables have to be set out clearly. Player (fingers/pick) Bass (active/passive) Bass (strings) Leads/Radio system Effects Amplifier Venue (size) Venue (height of ceiling) Venue (furnishings) Venue (number of audience) I'd say never stick with one set EQ. I change mine all the time depending how the room sounds. Every room is different. Even the same room can sound different with larger or smaller audiences. Carpets soak up sound so mids might need to be boosted. No carpet might call for cutting mids. Experiment, experiment, experiment. Edited February 27, 2011 by BassBus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xilddx Posted February 27, 2011 Share Posted February 27, 2011 Well said, BassBus. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BottomE Posted February 27, 2011 Share Posted February 27, 2011 Amp - flat and usually cut the bass a notch depending on the room. I normally have a finer fiddle when playing as the room dynamic will change with punters in it innit? I have a Lttle Mark amp which has been like a revelation to me and i confess to playing with the filters on a couple of songs to dial in a more vintage tone (unless using my passive bass). I use three bases and they all need a little tweaking. StingRay is too bassy on full - Jazz Bass has active preamp which i am still learning and the Hamer is a passive which is normally full on the bridge PuP and 8/10 on the front PuP. As has been mentioned - there are way too many variables to be able to do a guide IMHO. You could do one for genres i guess but the room you are playing in and of course the blend with the other instruments will determine the ultimate EQ. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raslee Posted February 27, 2011 Share Posted February 27, 2011 Depends on acoustics of the venue for me but generally i start off with: Genre:[b] Reggae & Ska[/b] Amp: Orange Terror bass + Ampeg SVT 4x10HLF & Peavey Cab 2x10cab (Connected via serial cable) EQ - Bass +1 (2-3 for dub) , Middle -1 (+1 for dub) , Treble -1 Vol about 5 and Gain about 1 Bass - mostly Fender Jazz, neck pick up mainly (bridge sometimes for more defined ska stuff) and Tone about half way rolled off. I play close to the neck for a warmer tone too. Irie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wil Posted February 27, 2011 Share Posted February 27, 2011 I play rock/punk. On my Sansamp, a slight bass and mid boost, and a slight treble cut. I don't touch the preamp on my bass. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mlucas Posted February 27, 2011 Author Share Posted February 27, 2011 Obviously the acoustics of where you are play a part, but the general modes you put your EQ to determines a basic sound, but even beginners will have a tweak based upon those settings until they get it to suit their surroundings. I'm just popping this up as a rough guide to starters, because i know when i first started playing bass i had no idea what to do with the nobs on my amp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
icastle Posted February 27, 2011 Share Posted February 27, 2011 Usually everything gets left flat. Inbuilt compression and octaver stuff all switched off because it's just nasty. Wierd boost and cut switches all switched off, graphic switched off. I might play around with the bog standard Bass and Treble controls if the room needs it, other than that I tend to use the bass and playing techniques to get the required sound. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sawtooth Posted February 27, 2011 Share Posted February 27, 2011 [quote name='Mlucas' post='1143682' date='Feb 27 2011, 06:58 PM']Obviously the acoustics of where you are play a part, but the general modes you put your EQ to determines a basic sound, but even beginners will have a tweak based upon those settings until they get it to suit their surroundings. I'm just popping this up as a rough guide to starters, because i know when i first started playing bass i had no idea what to do with the nobs on my amp [/quote] I get where your coming from Mlucas. Of course there are all levels of musicians on this forum, from the multi bass owning high-end amp gigmeisters, who probably post more than most. But there are also a lot of beginners, some young, some older, (you only have to look at the introductions page) who don't post and wonder where to begin. Not forgetting all those who browse the forum as guests. I still remember sitting in my bedroom with a low wattage practice amp and a starter bass trying to emulate the sounds I heard on record/tape/CD (showing my age!) and wondering where to start. Leaving everything flat leads to boredom very quickly in these circumstances, it's fun to experiment and try to find tones like your idols. Of course in the real world of live gigging things are different, but that's another topic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassbloke Posted February 27, 2011 Share Posted February 27, 2011 I eradicate 1kHz by any means available - either from the desk, from the graphic EQ on an amp head, if borrowing, or via a bass EQ pedal - for it is an evil frequency designed to make your bass sound horrible and clangy. Something I learned from an interview with John Entwistle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cat Burrito Posted February 27, 2011 Share Posted February 27, 2011 I too agree with Bassbus. If you have exactly the same settings every time then chances are you are not listening properly. I always used to have things flat. Then I started rolling back the treble and increasing the bass. Now I use an Orange Terror head and as stated earlier, it doesn't have the most dramatic of EQ variations which actually suits me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lozz196 Posted February 27, 2011 Share Posted February 27, 2011 I generally pick the tone for the band, as in whatever I think the band needs, so "my" tone changes depending on which band I`m with. In my last band, I had: Bass on +1 Low Mid on -2 High Mid on -2 Treble on +1 Compression on 3 Tube Tone on 3 Which with my Ampeg SVT cabs (all 10s), gave a nice Ampeg SVT-type tone, which worked a treat in a punk band. Bass - US Fender Precison, tone/volume on full. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrtcat Posted February 27, 2011 Share Posted February 27, 2011 TC Classic 450 + 2x12 cab with USA 75 Jazz played fingerstyle somewhere between the two pickups. Both pickups on full and tone at around halfway. Classic and contempory rock covers. Start at all flat and tweak from there. Minor tweaks are usually all thats needed but the odd venue can throw a spanner in the works and a complete re jig will be needed. Dont use on board compressor or valve drive as I like the sound of the guitar. Volume 3-4 so I can hear clearly alongside the drums and the drummer can hear me. Then let the PA sort the FOH volume. Nice thread - v handy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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