- Thread starter Lorinbass
- Start date
I know on the classic series their is no center click on the EQ knobs. Basically, the flat spot is right in the middle.
On models with no center click I don't even worry about it honestly. I just adjust it until I get the sound I want ;-)
On models with no center click I don't even worry about it honestly. I just adjust it until I get the sound I want ;-)
im new in Music Man world so I don't know from where to start without center click pot. Someone tell me flat is bass 5/10 treble 2/10 and someone something else... 
"Flat" is a fiction.
Consider all the possible variables
and the idea is clearly meaningless.
Also, put your ear to the wood and
pluck various notes. Not the sound
you want, amped louder but naked
and unaltered, for your gigs, is it ?
OK, then like all the rest of us, you
play waaaaay awaaay from flat. So
very far away that center click is of
no use to find "flat" EQ. There is no
setting anywhere at all, not on any
of the knobs that sounds like when
you put your ear against the wood.
Rightly so, cuz NO ONE plays that
sound in a band.
Bassically you want an ax-and-amp
with a gig-worthy tone right around
center on all knobs [ax and amp] so
you get maximum flexibility to vary
as needed from there. Center is not
flat. It's center. And you either like
it as a good starting point or you've
got the wrong ax, amp, or both.
Consider all the possible variables
and the idea is clearly meaningless.
Also, put your ear to the wood and
pluck various notes. Not the sound
you want, amped louder but naked
and unaltered, for your gigs, is it ?
OK, then like all the rest of us, you
play waaaaay awaaay from flat. So
very far away that center click is of
no use to find "flat" EQ. There is no
setting anywhere at all, not on any
of the knobs that sounds like when
you put your ear against the wood.
Rightly so, cuz NO ONE plays that
sound in a band.
Bassically you want an ax-and-amp
with a gig-worthy tone right around
center on all knobs [ax and amp] so
you get maximum flexibility to vary
as needed from there. Center is not
flat. It's center. And you either like
it as a good starting point or you've
got the wrong ax, amp, or both.
Last edited:
Yeah, good point of view. Thanks for help.
nhbassguitar
Well-known member
- Joined
- Dec 31, 2015
- Messages
- 111
I'm with Golem. Use the tone controls to get the sound you're after (hopefully taking the person at the board into consideration, to make his job easy). In your case, use the tone controls to get the sound your ears tell you is flat, if that's really what you want.
However, if we're talking about a single-pickup instrument, "flat" is probably not going to get you anything pleasing. The pickup's too close to the bridge to give you anything but Jaco Time if there's no EQ in play. So again, you have to use your ears.
I think chasing after flat has merit if your goal is to do your EQ externally because you want specific EQ behavior offered by an external device that the built-in preamp doesn't offer.
I don't trust what people say re. where "flat" is on various MM preamps unless I can verify it with a schematic, or a first-hand circuit analysis, or the graphs from someone having done an RTA. (That is, unless it's from The Company's engineering department itself.) All I can do is check with my ears whether those opinions land somewhere in the ballpark, based on 37 years of audio design, sound reinforcement, and playing bass.
As an irrelevant point of interest, it sounds like the preamp in my 3EQ is closely approaches (or actually is) flat with all tone controls fully counterclockwise. How can I say this? Because I've owned other 2-pickup instruments that gave me a similar tone balance when I've wired their pickups in parallel and sent them directly to the output jack. Am I saying your 2 EQ will be flat with the same control settings? No. All I'm saying is that your preamp's "flat" (if there even is one) may exist at one extreme or the other on one or both controls, so don't overlook that possibility.
However, if we're talking about a single-pickup instrument, "flat" is probably not going to get you anything pleasing. The pickup's too close to the bridge to give you anything but Jaco Time if there's no EQ in play. So again, you have to use your ears.
I think chasing after flat has merit if your goal is to do your EQ externally because you want specific EQ behavior offered by an external device that the built-in preamp doesn't offer.
I don't trust what people say re. where "flat" is on various MM preamps unless I can verify it with a schematic, or a first-hand circuit analysis, or the graphs from someone having done an RTA. (That is, unless it's from The Company's engineering department itself.) All I can do is check with my ears whether those opinions land somewhere in the ballpark, based on 37 years of audio design, sound reinforcement, and playing bass.
As an irrelevant point of interest, it sounds like the preamp in my 3EQ is closely approaches (or actually is) flat with all tone controls fully counterclockwise. How can I say this? Because I've owned other 2-pickup instruments that gave me a similar tone balance when I've wired their pickups in parallel and sent them directly to the output jack. Am I saying your 2 EQ will be flat with the same control settings? No. All I'm saying is that your preamp's "flat" (if there even is one) may exist at one extreme or the other on one or both controls, so don't overlook that possibility.
bovinehost
Administrator
I always say, "Turn the knobs until it sounds good, then stop turning the knobs."
