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The pursuit of the perfect tone


BrunoBass
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Is anybody 100% happy with their tone?

I've spent many years and lots of money on different amplifiers, different cabinets, different basses, different strings, countless hours on my technique, and the closest I've ever got is a tone that's just ok, one that I'm fairly happy with, but not one that totally satisfies me. I wonder sometimes if I'm just chasing something elusive but ultimately unattainable - subjective perfection?

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[quote name='PaulGibsonBass' timestamp='1500158337' post='3336029']...a tone that's just ok, one that I'm fairly happy with, but not one that totally satisfies me...
[/quote]

I think I'm rather the opposite; it's the tone I have that dictates what and how I'll play. Whatever it is, I'll play to that. It's quite foreign to me to have an elusive idea of what I haven't got, and then try to attain it. Complacence, maybe, or just lucky..?

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I think it's a pointless pursuit. Tone is relative and how it's perceived is determined by what else it's surrounded by, as well as your mood, and the state of your hearing. And then there is the boredom factor brought on by over-familiarity.

It's a bit like trying to find perfect flavour. Lots of food tastes perfect, but you get bored with all of it in time. And how food tastes depends a lot on what else you're having with it. You might find the perfect cake, but if you've just spent the morning eating ice cream and sweets, it will taste like rubber because your palette is so saturated with sugar.

Perhaps it's just about finding a few flavours that work well in context and not necessarily chasing one singular tone.

Having said that, a Precision through an Ampeg, possibly the biggest cliche in bass, does seem to work well in almost any context for me. Still it gets boring after a while, regardless of how great it is.

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Over time, I've tried to stop fretting about it. Particularly in a live situation. Yesterday I payed at a festival with an active Precision through a Trace Elloitt combo. I didn't like the tone I was hearing on stage at all, but the people out front said it sounded just dandy.

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100% happy with my tone :) Well the portion of it I can control anyway, 99% of what the audience hears is down to the FOH sound guy at my gigs and not a whole lot I can do about that. I give him a DI straight from the bass and hope for the best. Fortunately I've yet to be presented with anything unuseably crap... some gigs are better than others though.

I have found the tone I always hear in my head when I imagine myself playing bass. It wouldn't work for everyone, but why would it? We all want our bases to sound the way we personally think works best for the music that we play. There isn't a single universally agreed "best" tone that trumps all others for all players in every situation.

I don't regret the journey to get here though...It was good fun trying out different bases until I found what I as looking for :)

Edited by CamdenRob
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[quote name='Len_derby' timestamp='1500180775' post='3336050']
Over time, I've tried to stop fretting about it. Particularly in a live situation. Yesterday I payed at a festival with an active Precision through a Trace Elloitt combo. I didn't like the tone I was hearing on stage at all, but the people out front said it sounded just dandy.
[/quote]

This is me. As long as it's a usable tone then I'm happy. The days of me endlessly knob twiddling at a gig are way gone. I have my zoom ms60b set as a preamp and I try to di before I got whatever amp I'm playing through. I literally never touch the settings on it. And then I just set the amp flat. I'm ready to play within 30 seconds of being on stage.

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I'm strictly set and forget. Plug in, make sure all the knobs are close to my usual settings, hand a pre eq cable to the sound guy. Does the amp sound like a bass? Yes. Someone trusted at the back of the room... does it sound like a bass and can you hear it in the mix? Yes.
Sorted.

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Luckily, I'm not super fussy about the tone of my bass. I have my preferences, but whatever the situation, I can usually make it work and focus on interacting with the band and having a good time.

That said; I did make some fortuitous choices that left me with a pair of basses and a rig that sound pretty much perfect to me. :)

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[quote name='markstuk' timestamp='1500196477' post='3336107']
I tend to run my amps eq flat and tweak the eq on the bass for the room/song. My basses sound quite different, so I am to get the best "signature" tone out of each of them..
[/quote]

That's pretty much what I do. Although I only have one bass at the moment. But favouring neck or bridge pickups,whether I use a pick or fingers, the placment of same - near the neck, bridge or in the middle and how hard I pick or pluck makes the differences in tone I need depending on what I playing. It must be said I'm loving the tone I get from my Eich set up so all is good :)

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Part of your problem is that tone changes with the room you're playing in, how full or empty the room is and the tone of the other instruments. Some rooms are high-endy and some are low-endy. You need to adjust your tone taking these variables into account.

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[quote name='Urban Bassman' timestamp='1500197310' post='3336119']
...favouring neck or bridge pickups,whether I use a pick or fingers, the placment of same - near the neck, bridge or in the middle and how hard I pick or pluck makes the differences in tone I need depending on what I playing.
[/quote]

Very much this... there's huge variation to be had without any knob tweaking whatsoever.

Get a good core tone you're happy with and IMO all the subtle differences you could even need are there with a slight change in technique.

... obviously this only works if you use a clean "traditional" bass sound for the full set. Those who use an effects heavy set up to get what they need are going to struggle to get synthy octave fuzz sounds with a change of plucking position 😕

Edited by CamdenRob
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For me I think I have a core tone that I can get in most situations when using my own gear, but depending on my mood at the time and the song it can vary a bit, but it will still sound like me :) I can go from a P bass with flats/rounds to fretless or J bass and it's still all me. The tone may change but it's still my noise.

Edited by Highfox
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I have a couple of tones that I want to achieve hence why I keep moving basses around. Trying to find a single bass that covers most of the tones that I have in my mind. At the moment I have a bass that comes close to that and I'm not too bothered if I can't quite get the exact sound as long as I'm close enough.

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Of my two main basses, I own one for tone and feel, the other for utility. My Yamaha BB1025x gives me the sound in my head plugged straight into the amp, while my Ibanez BTB33 is very useful as a solo tool which I tend to douse heavily with effects.

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Better to find a tone you can work with (you may want more than one but the same basic rule applies). Unless you're a working pro who is known for his/her sound it has a nasty tendency to become both pointlessly elusive and needlessly expensive. I knew a guitarist once who spent most of his spare time and a hefty chunk of his disposable income searching for that Hank Marvin sound over a lengthy period of years. It became an obsession (and not in a good way).

Edited by leftybassman392
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[quote name='blue' timestamp='1500260366' post='3336507']
My tone comes from my fingers my style of playing, not an amp or bass.

On a good night it great on a bad night, not so good.

Blue
[/quote]
Partly but if I stick you with a Stagg with an action as high as Mt Rushmore through the Peavey practice amp we have at work that sounds like wasps trapped in a tin you won't get the same tone. You are right that your fingers are critical to it but you need kit that will allow that to show through.

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