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Who uses the tone control on their bass?


Guest MoJo
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Since I started playing over 25 years ago, I've never backed off the tone control on my basses, always full on, in fact I may as well do what I saw the bassist of a local band do a few years back, remove the controls and fill in the holes. Whenever I've tried rolling the tone back to say, play a blues number, it always sounds muddy, lacking definition. It's not the same rounded tone you'd get as playing a bass with flats on. I was just wondering if any basschatters ever roll their tone off, why and when.

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I used to back the tone right off on a few numbers I recorded on a Jazz I had years back. When I had the Cort and the Stingray Everything was full on, they were the first active basses I owned so went ott a bit. Now I have a Warwick and play Blues so have the Eq set flat and only use the neck PU. I find you get a nice warm sound without being too muddy, I like the tone that Jack Bruce gets out of that fretless Thumb bass.

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I always use the tone control on my bass in order to vary how bright the bass is from song to song.

In my band we have to play songs by bands as diverse as The Killers to The Temptations, so the bass sounds required can be very different across a two hour set!

Luckily, the tone control on my Roscoe Beck 5 string is excellent and offers a lot of variety for a passive bass, so I can get some great results without too much effort.

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[quote name='silverfoxnik' post='276621' date='Sep 3 2008, 11:47 PM']I always use the tone control on my bass in order to vary how bright the bass is from song to song.[/quote]

me too...some songs need a more cutting tone than others. i only ever back it off by about a third of a turn though.

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I don't use tone controls on the bass or the amp. I just set it flat. Even on basses with loads of active controls it doesn't seem to make all that much difference. It's a bass for heaven's sake :) The only exception to that would be if the room has some odd resonances which I would try to dial out. If it goes through a PA then it's somebody else's problem.

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[quote name='bass_ferret' post='276649' date='Sep 4 2008, 12:38 AM']As many of us have active basses the question is irrelevant. Yes I do use the tone controls on my active basses. Sometime I use them alot, sometime I dont use them at all. Depends on the gig, songs, venue, what mood I am in, time of the month etc.....[/quote]
+ the 1

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I have a basic setting that I use as a starting point but I often tweak it to compensate for odd sounding rooms. The Wal Custom has a lift facility on the tone controls that improves the presence and enhances the frequencies that each control covers. I find I use that quite frequently during gigs. Its also sometimes easier to use the bass pots to control tone rather than the amp when you are playing in small, dark venues etc and you need to make adjustments in real time.

So, the straight answer to our question is, yes.

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