The bass tone

[isteen]

Hi there.

I wonder a bit about the tone. When I sit at home and practice, my EQ (Amp+bass) are set comletely flat. I like it like that.

When I play with the band, it just doesn't feel like the same. The bass sounds "thinner" and drowns in the mix.

How do you change YOUR sound from your bedroom to your practice room?

Does your bass lay down the fat foundation in the band, or do you lock in with the bass drum and give it cool fiils?

Sorry I couldn't explain it better 😉

[deepbass5]

Just wonder what sort of music you are playing, Are you all playing at sensible levels and can hear each instrument

I have been in some awful rehearsal rooms with hard walls and huge amp and cabs, and you come out with your ears ringing. So if this is the case find one that works for your band. a dead room will give you a chance to hear what is going on and you will not sound so bright but will need more power in the bass and low mids but that sounds like what you are seeking. On the other hand is your amp / combo up to the job, size of speaker - watts. are you struggling

[skankdelvar]

Bedroom: Lovely, bass-rich, slightly mid-scooped tone with a hint of top-end 'air' (sniffs cork, quaffs, spits)

Live band: Mids-boosted clank, leave everything under 100hz to the kick drum

Edited May 15, 2018 by skankdelvar

[skidder652003]

9 hours ago, skankdelvar said:

Bedroom: Lovely, bass-rich, slightly mid-scooped tone with a hint of top-end 'air' (sniffs cork, quaffs, spits)

Live band: Mids-boosted clank, leave everything under 100hz to the kick drum

this!

Edited May 16, 2018 by skidder652003

[Osiris]

My guess is that much of this is down to the inherent voicing of the amp(s). If you play through several different amps, all with the EQ set flat, there is still a huge variety in sounds between them. There's no consensus among manufacturers as to what flat actually sounds like. Some are voiced more than others. For example, I have a little 30 watt Marshall bass combo that I use for messing about at home and the flat tone has a massive hole in the mid range to give you that cool sounding scooped sound. But I find I then have to EQ the hell out of it (including the on board and an external pre-amp) to get some critical mids back in to the sound for it to be useful. 

Are you using the same amp in both situations? Also the change in volume is likely having an effect too as few amps sound the same at in house levels as they do when cranked up.  

As @deepbass5 says, the room is also a significant factor.

And as @skankdelvar * wisely points out, cut the low end (even if it seems counter intuitive, but it really works) and push the low mids to fill out the bass sound. Adjust the upper mids and treble to the sound you want and go from there. 

* Mine's a large Blue Nun, old boy. 

[oldslapper]

Warning P bass alert!!

Can't stand sound of P's solo'd, but love them in a band. I have to take little notice of my "tone" at home as I know that low mids are my friend in a band situation. 

But then again I'm pretty unimaginative when it comes to basses & tone. 🙂

[martthebass]

Think it depends where you're listening from?  I generally use a Mustang with the band.  On stage, I hate the sound, woolly, non-distinct, flatulent.  FOH it's a great sound, lovely thuddy and well balanced in the mix.....

[lojo]

When I play with a small band and there is no out front engineer I cut the lows out of the Vocals >200 and the guitar amps , seems to help leave space for the bass . 

Edited May 16, 2018 by lojo

[Lozz196]

I use the same tone at home and in the band, figuring if when I`m writing I need to hear the sound I`ll be making on stage to give as good an idea of how it will sound. So for me, on my Sansamp Para Driver it`s bass boosted a tad, hi-mids (3kHz) and treble (3.2kHz) boosted a lot, gain set to breakup if hit hard (so all the time then).

[mikel]

Can depend on the room you are playing in, and even where you stand in that room. Bedrooms have nice soft furnishings, carpets, curtains etc. Most practice rooms and gig spaces have lots of hard reflective surfaces and tend, one would hope, to be much bigger than your bedroom, so you can have the sound bouncing back at you. Modify your sound to fit the situation.

[EBS_freak]

31 minutes ago, lojo said:

When I play with a small band and there is no out front engineer I cut the lows out of the Vocals >200 and the guitar amps , seems to help leave space for the bass . 

You band doesn't have a particularly warm sound I take it - what sort of music are you playing?

[lojo]

1 minute ago, EBS_freak said:

You band doesn't have a particularly warm sound I take it - what sort of music are you playing?

That was a general reply to whenever I find myself playing in a small band setting with no engineer , so all sorts really . I'm not saying it's the right way as I'm clueless but certainly helps over just leaving it random . Some direction on this would help for when I find myself in these situations , As I realise how lucky it is to have someone who knows what they are doing at most gigs I do . 

[Cuzzie]

I imagine/remember what the band sounds like and then play my sound/tone according to that regardless of how it sounds solo’d, so it keeps me honest on what I want to achieve.

i like my tone, hope others like it too

[karlbbb]

I'm always curious about the advice to cut the lows out. A low E is about 40Hz, and a low B is about 30Hz - if you're cutting the lows, then you're surely cutting out the actual core of the notes you're trying to play? It does seem very counter-intuitive!

[Muzz]

11 hours ago, skankdelvar said:

Bedroom: Lovely, bass-rich, slightly mid-scooped tone with a hint of top-end 'air' (sniffs cork, quaffs, spits)

Live band: Mids-boosted clank, leave everything under 100hz to the kick drum

This, in spades: one of the best bass cabs (actually I've had a couple) I've used in a live band was a Schroeder 1515L, which is a very small (for a 2x15"...in fact very small full stop) mid/low mid voiced cab - it sounded fairly unpleasant soloed, but live, it worked very well. With my Barefaced, I cut lots of very low frequencies and boost the mids/low mids, which works.

[Cuzzie]

I love discussions like this, as it’s so specific to what bands play and do.

My guitarist is very good (too good for me, he tolerates me as we are mates) but he has a massive tone, playing style more along Ty Tabor, George Lynch.

I need to scoop a bit to let him take as much space as possible.

No other instruments, just a 3 piece.

When I have played with others, absolutely more comes in.

[PaulWarning]

I don't bother about a tone at home, I just plug my bass into my laptop and use headphones because home practice bears no relation to what I need in a band situation, what @skankdelvar says, cut below 100hz, just muddy's the tone, and don't cut the mids, it might sound a bit 'honky' on it's own but live that's what cuts through.

I always find it's better to cut rather than boost if you can

[thebigyin]

Every Bassist/Guitarist I know has this problem, great sound at home....crap live gig sound....personally I used to {haven't gigged for years now} I would never change strings put a thin foam mute at bridge as this helped reduce all those horrible bass overtones you often get......lower top end, higher mids very slightly and keep the highs to a minimum on your amp settings and the big one a lot of the tone comes out your fingers or that's my personal opinion.

[EBS_freak]

40 minutes ago, karlbbb said:

I'm always curious about the advice to cut the lows out. A low E is about 40Hz, and a low B is about 30Hz - if you're cutting the lows, then you're surely cutting out the actual core of the notes you're trying to play? It does seem very counter-intuitive!

Most speakers cant produce the lows at significant volume at the fundamental (e.g. consider the fundamental for a low B) . You generally hear all the harmonics and overtones - and the fundamental of your bass is suggested by your brain (pyschoacoustics in action!)... hence whilst cutting the bass through you PA in the sub frequencies can actually clean up the sound of your bass and make it sound bigger and more controlled when the fundamental isn't actually there!

[Jus Lukin]

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Edited February 26, 2022 by Jus Lukin

[discreet]

As said, a bass will sound different 'in concert' than it will at home/solo. At home, you tend to EQ out string noise, fret noise and 'clank'. In concert you need all this stuff to be heard. But you won't hear the string noise, fret noise, etc.

In short, when playing in a band at a gig: Mids, mids, mids. Low and/or high, but mids, and plenty of them. Don't have a load of extreme bottom end sloshing around either, it sucks up bandwidth and makes the whole band sound like turds. Turds!!

[Cuzzie]

@discreet sorry what does it sound like? I couldn’t quite get what you were stressing....!

[discreet]

And also as said above, the perceived 'power' of bass guitar is at around 80Hz - 120Hz. So you don't need a cab that will reproduce low-end down to 40Hz - that's what you don't want...

[discreet]

1 minute ago, Cuzzie said:

@discreet sorry what does it sound like? I couldn’t quite get what you were stressing....!

TURDS!!

[Cuzzie]

Ok mate

 

no need to shout, I heard you this time. Maybe you EQ’d those out of the bottom end......