Am I the only idiot that keeps the bass and treble pots maxed?

[five7]

I run flat on my bongo H H and adjust the pickup blend. I can't imagine having to boost the highs to 11. Maybe because my amp setup is a markbass LMT 800 into a classic 810. On my old stingrays I would boost the lows and cut highs and mids if I was playing rockabilly.

 

[rhythmCity944]

On my 2EQs I used to dime everything a long time ago. It sounded good when I was playing by myself but as soon as I was in a band setting it sounded brittle to me. From my experience I only turn my volume up between 50 to 60% and set the treble and bass at about 60% and tweek where I need it through a set but never more than a 5 to 10% up or down tweek. On my 3EQ volume is about 50 to 60% and the EQ has a little boost in treble and bass and mids are flat and generally I'll just adjust the tones as needed. Usually the mids get tweeked the most. I like having the 50% volume setting so I can get some more or less volume out of my bass on a fly without having to go back to the amp and taking my hand too far from the bass guitar. That's just me though. I still can get that trebly sting this way that I like with a fat bottom. It's awesome!!!

In the end whatever sounds good to you works the best.

 

[oli@bass]

More is not necessarily better. More is more. And a massive surplus of more often leaves me feeling as if there's a corresponding excess of less.

That's quote material....

 

[Jim C]

What I was getting at (in a very indirect & misguided fashion) is not about total bass / treble EQ to the speakers, but rather the qualities of the preamp with the knobs on 10 vs using amp EQ.

Typically, once I've honed in for room acoustics, I only roll off treble for certain songs and /or use with a pick. There is something about the "Q" and frequency center of these 2band EQ's (when all the way up) that I have not been able to duplicate with either a: SWR SM400; Trace Elliot, SVT-3 Pro, SVT-CL, or LMII in regards to absolute finest EQ for me. I do find that certain cabs do like a bit of low mids as the scopped thing is not what is working for my current band situation.

Of course, a good outboard parametric would allow a lot of flexibility but that is way too much trouble for club gigs once you turn 50.

Thanks for a great forum and I'll do some searching as I am curious about the pre amp specs for all these fine basses.

 

[petel]

Yes you are!

haha, just messing around.

Make it sound good to you, not an idiot for experimenting with the sound.

 

[Alvabass]

I used to put everything at maximum on basses with 9V electronics, but the Bongo made me change my mind. Not sure how much of a difference makes the Bongo's 18V electronics on this (compared to the StingRay's 9V), but anyway I want to share my personal experience:

http://www.ernieball.com/forums/mus...onsidering-eq-settings-warning-long-post.html

 

[JayDawg]

Most of the time I have my pots maxed out. Every now and then I will turn one or a few down if I need to but most of the time I simply max them out and then adjust my E.Q. on my head.

 

[7broccos]

Don't worry Jim if you are like me you can't hear anymore

 

[Colin]

It's funny guitar players run everything on full and they miss out on all the subtleties. Bass players however seem to start at 12 o'clock and adjust from there. If kids didn't crank everything on the bass in their local store EBMM wouldn't have to De-engineer the eq. Imagine the possibilities?

 

[mmbassplayer]

I try to be very light with the onboard eq. I rarely go more than 3ish past the center detent. Mind you my band is usually Youtube and the acoustics in my music room rarely change. JOSH

 

[Chuck B]

My 2EQ's: Bass is max and treble varies from 3/4 to max

The same here!

 

[cyoungnashville]

and while we are debunking stingray myths.............

......i believe i see an opportunity to chop down another one. in my opinion "maxed out, or dimed eq / preamp = "low g string output phenomenon" . i appreciate the hell out of leo and sterling (and forrest, and tom) for treating me like an adult and giving me enough rope (a.k.a. preamp) to absolutely hang myself sonically if i damn well feel like it, but trusting that im nearly mature enough to use that power responsibly. i am convinced that on a handful of "jimi at monterey" inspired occasions i was in fact able to completely free myself from the laws of time, space, physics, reality. i just try not to set up shop there.

 

[73jbass]

I dont think I have ever touched my tone controls on any MM bass I have ever owned.Always centered,and set my tone at the amp. The Music man,Thunderfunk,SVT 810 combination is truely awesome!

 

[nashman]

For me (HH Ray 3 EQ) - slight bass boost, treble and mids flat. On my amp - slight low/mids boost - everything else flat.

Too much treble/mid boost for me = string noise.
Too much bass is, well, too much bass = mud.

It's the mids that cut through.

 

[The Schwartz]

hmmm

It doesn't seem like a great idea to max out anything on the Bass or the amp. There are so many variables (Amps, speakers, playing environment, who you're playing with, fitting in with their sound and instrumentation, is it live or is it a studio session, is it direct or amped, ect...) that make it impossible to have a "best setting". A big problem I see with maxing out onboard EQ has to do with gain staging. Don't push the preamp, let the preamp push the speakers. If you send a huge signal to the preamp it's gonna overwork your speakers and you wont get as much headroom before blowing them up. Instead of boosting what you do want, try cutting what you don't want. It all depends on the situation though. If you are playing alone in your bedroom really quietly then you probably want to boost so much because lower frequencies are harder to hear at low levels. If it sounds good, it is good though so do what's best for the music.

 

[oli@bass]

Instead of boosting what you do want, try cutting what you don't want.

Interestingly enough, on a 3 band StingRay, fully cutting the mids with treble/bass at center sounds very similar to fully boosting treble and bass with the mids at center, but is naturally less loud.

Check out my http://www.ernieball.com/forums/music-man-basses/42214-stingray-sound-examples.html.

 

[keko]

I use my Sterling's 3 bander for acoustical correction for different spaces we play and during the play for different music genres correction too.

My band play almost every weekend at the different place, so during the sound check we are making our own sound (don't using a sound man, mix console is on the stage with us), than we play a few songs, and some of temporary free musicians from a band walk around, listen and suggest what to correct!
During this period, also when gig starts too, I slightly correct my bass preamp until myself and whole band agree that it's OK!