Favorite bass tone of all time - go! Note - sorry the frequency spectrum graphics are hard to read, RUclips compressed the visuals a bit too hard. I will hunt a better EQ plugin for future videos, in the meantime turn up your screen brightness and pray to the Dwarfs. ❤️
Don’t stop believing has a pretty good one. Every Rush song has masterful bass tones The tone on Primus’s Pork Soda is awesome The tone on Blood Sugar Sex Magic is amazing But more recently, in the metal sphere, Job For A Cowboy’s Moon Healer is incredible
I think you're the first person who's talked about EQ in terms of problem frequency and subtraction, rather than thinking of boosting first. Great work!
@@francoishtzl157 So the weird thing is, I had AND read the manual on my 1984 Peavey Combo 300. And it gives suggestions for how to set the 8 band EQ for different styles, including which dials to lower. So it was literally right there in the instructions for me.
@@JimmyRimmer Not really what he talk about in the video actually. The EQ exemple in your manual is to get an idea on how to sound better in different style of music. But it is only an exemple, it will not sound the same depending what bass you use, how you play, etc.... What he talk about in the video is learning the frequencies that are problematic and that you should cut/boost depending what you hear
@@heisenberg6785 Ill look in to Peter Hook! I try to watch how the bassist plays live or some vids where the angle is on them. I feel like its technique 90% of the time, most of the time 😮 Stu hamm on "a night in hell/foggy mountain breakdown" had super hot pickups on his yamaha,but also really light gauge strings. Barely had to tap, but it rung out like a piano with some growl. Bryan Bellar mutes with his pinky, but it switches between his fretting hand to his plucking hand. He also uses BEAD strings on a 4-string instead of EADG, tuned down 2 steps for dethklok shit. Really low grumbles, but the heavy strings doesnt get muddy during fast passages. live, you can see he switches his plucking to picking by stiffening his index and middle fingers, but on the reeeaallly fast shit he'll pluck but small alternating movements. Tough to explain, but think of flipping through a stack of records alternating with your index and middle finger but only moving the first distal joints really fast. The technique works, the strings keep the sound tight, so its a combination again.
Wow, I'm completely floored by this video. Really important stuff here and I've worked in sound mixing for theater productions where everyone crashed and burned through it; cringe worthy. I have a lot of appreciation for my Fender Rumble 40 now!
This is hands down one of the best music instructions videos I have seen. Most videos tell you what to do without explaining why or at least in a cryptic way. Laying out what frequency spectrum does what. Such a great help! Thank you!
The best live tone for bass I’ve heard is Godflesh. Perfect eq of tubby and wicked growl that fit right in the pocket of the guitar tone and bass drum (which was a drum machine) just 2 dudes guitar (and vox) and bass slamming it.
It’s also pertinent to note that this happens to professionals as well. The last Tool concert I went to Justin almost blew out our intestines with too much tubby and the sound engineer had to turn him down before he disemboweled 10,000 people 😂😂
I was at a show where A7X and another band opened for Metallica. Sound board guy for A7X must’ve dropped the ball because guitars were getting lost underneath the bass and kick drum during the solos or when both Syn and Zack were playing harmonized melodies together. At first I thought it may have been my proximity to the PA system, but I doubt it since they were the only band that night that suffered from that issue. When Metallica played their harmonized melodies in, for example, Fight Fire with Fire, they cut through the mix without issue.
That's the sound engineer's fault, not Justin Chancellor's. At that level, it's his job to make sure it sound good in the crowd BEFORE the show. 99% of the sound you hear out in the crowd is the club's gear, not the musician's. That's especially true for bass. It's different when you're playing at a small venue with a bad PA or no PA at all. Then it may fall more on the musicians to make sure things sound good. But in these mammoth venues with world class mix engineers and tens of thousands worth of equipment, they're the ones who need to make sure it sounds good.
The venue's acoustics and the music style also matter quite alot... some venues just have dead spots or places where sound collect or reflect badly... I saw a show in a dome where it was Mars Volta and A Perfect Circle years back... Mars Volta sounded like utter crap simply because their frenetic style didn't lend itself to the natural reflections and reverb of the venue, it was literally unintelligible, you couldn't hear anything they were playing. Even if you had the setlist in hand you couldn't pick out songs you knew. APC sounded unbelievable, like any of their albums, crystal clear perfect mix.
Hey Josh great video! I’m an engineer that spends most of my time fiddling with knobs - and you had a great breakdown of showing how each range can affect the tone when boosted/attenuated. I’m trying to become a better bass player and your channel is helping a lot, cheers!
Saw a cover band go back and forth between hip hop, rock, pop in as many songs. Went up to the bass player and asked him how he’s getting these great tones… must have like 8 pedals right? “I have a nice beefy sound dialed up on the amp. I add bass for the hip hop tracks, put it back for the pop stuff and then kick on a drive for the rock stuff. That’s it” It was mind opening
I have been playing bass for over 30 years now, I don't play in a cover band so I'm not trying to copy anyone else's tone, I just like to get a good phat but clear tone. That has been an ongoing struggle for me finding that elusive balance between phatness (not boomy) and clarity. The 250 Hz dwarf appears to have been my nemesis all along. After watching this video I added the parametric eq block to the end of my signal chain in my HX Stomp and experimented with each of the frequencies mentioned in your video, I discovered that my tone got much clearer but retained all that lovely phatness when I just rolled back some of those frequencies around 250 Hz. Don't know why it took me this long to discover this! Thanks man!
Easily one of the best Bass channels out there, perfect blend between „no BS“ educational and still fun to watch. Been a bassist for 11 years now, and I still learn so much from you. And I‘m always motivated to keep practicing after watching one of your videos! Greetings from Germany✌🏼
This is by far the best video on youtube about EQ settings for bass. I’ve been searching for a video like this for a long time, and actually was surprised that there is not a single instructional video on yt that talks about the corresponding sounds of the frequency ranges for bass guitar. This one felt like a medicine. Keep up the good work Josh, really appreciate it.
I've subscribed for years, so I dont know why the algorithm has taken so long to so long to show me this, but this is the best tone video on RUclips! Thanks Josh!
I am a graduate of Josh's Bass Buzz course...hands down the best beginner course out there! I have used or are using just about all the popular On-Line instruction out there,,,,but they are all really tailored to Bass Buzz grads
Solid! EQ pedals are underrated secret sauce for any signal chain. A Boss GE-7 can be a bit more manageable than the GEB-7, but the B7 offers more control at the far top&bottom ends. Even if the amp has a nice EQ, if you're using other pedals or a tube preamp, putting an EQ first in line in the chain can help tie down the other audible quirks. Even if only as an impedance buffer.
there’s a great video on the jhs channel showing the mutemath bassist using eq to make guitar overdrive pedals work well on bass, restoring lost lowend
I heard that active bass doesn't need any pedal but after watching the video I started to rethink to buy one for my active bass. Idk why but except for me, almost every sound engineer I worked with said the bass sounds "off" and neither of them nor me can tell why and I just knew this recently
I guess being a (mainly metal) guitarist first helped with the first two, I always went for the "full but not muddy" low end right away. But yes, you guessed it, it was Bitey and Edgy all the way for the first few months of learning bass. Also, 10/10 for saying THE TONE IS IN THE WHOLE CHAIN and that yes, both fingers and (correctly setup) gear are important. I've also been in both "I need new gear" and "I just suck" lands at various points and both can be very toxic and demotivating if you ignore the other part/half.
My solution was pretty simple: I bought a 20$ Behringer BDI21 pre-amp pedal, and toyed with the knobs until I got the tone I wanted. Pre-amp modeler equip is life-saver, and it's rarely talked about in beginner/intermediate discussion. You'll see people talking about overdrive, vintage, distortion, and other sorts of things but not about this.
Seeing a Rumble 40 in this video made my heart happy since I just got one a few weeks ago! As far as bass tone goes, I'm a huge fan of Chris Wolstenholme's distortion.
This is super clear and interesting. I’m a drummer and fledgling audio mixer, but I would still recommend this vid to anyone trying to understand the frequency spectrum more fully. Well done.
Man. I bought a bass when i started getting into home recording and producing some time ago (as a guitarist originally). Your channel tought me so much in such a short time about the instrument and how to play it. Despite the (very enjoyable!) puns, your teaching is super on point. Just watched this video today (4 times...) and it ties so many things together. So much i can take out of this for recording, tone, playing. 11/10 stars! Thank you!
I've been playing bass for 26 years now, 20 years of those also on upright bass, and I've never seen or heard a better, more accurate and helpful way of dialing in and finding my bass tone. I tried this at rehearsal today and it was amazing. Thank you so much and keep it up, mate! Cheers!
If you have an amp with a three knob EQ you can either turn up one knob or turn down the other two. If you want a smooth low end instead of turning up the bass knob and making in boomy, turn down the mid and high knobs. Also where you pluck the stings makes a huge difference to your tone. Brighter if you pluck near the bridge, rounder if you pluck near the neck.
Im a drummer and find this very informative. Hell , even shared it with our bassist and sound tech so they can work out a "better" tone for my band. Really excellent endeed!
This video helped me a lot. I was having fights with sound guys and my lead guitarist over my stage volume tho when I turned it to levels they liked, I couldn't hear myself. By turning down the bass on my amp, I was able to boost other frequencies and fit properly in the live mix without blowing everyone off the stage. Can't believe it's taken me over 35 years to learn this. Thanks 🍺
That is really helpful! Especially about Honky - one of my basses has this honky character, and I always struggled to get rid of it. And the part about the chain is super important. I mostly play metal, and I need this clanky sound to cut through the mix. My go-to metal bass is Warwick; however, I was not satisfied with the sound. I bought a Darkglass pedal and still was not satisfied with the sound. And only when I changed the strings, that was an 'aha' moment - puzzle pieces came together, and I got the sound I was looking for.
Sincerely, thank you. I have been struggling to dial in my tone with my Sound Gear I bought 4 years ago. This video not only taught me what the 7-band EQ on my amp actually means, but, I finally got my tone the way I want it with the Sound Gear.
Just a few of my personal favorites... - Tony Levin all over Peter Gabriel's So album. - Michael Anthony's Van Halen sound, especially Running With the Devil. - Lesser known but... The late great and incomparable Tim Chandler of Danial Amos, The Swirling Eddies, The Choir and The Lost Dogs.
Studying mixing has improved my bass tones immensely. Being able to recognize frequencies and understand exactly what they do means I can quickly get any tone I want. I highly recommend that every musician mess around making music in a DAW. Also, maybe watch some music production tutorials. Recording yourself is also useful on a lot of levels besides just solidifying your grasp on EQ. It'll immediately magnify any technical mistakes you're making, for example. It'll also teach you how to use other important tools like compression.
This is absolutely masterclass marrying simple vernacular verbs with an actual EQ and a graph too, demystifying this whole field to those of us who know what we're doing musically but are clueless in terms of audio engineering. Also, covering everything from James Jamerson to Nolly in one video is just so helpful. The fact you did this all with a J-bass, and I was unsure if I needed to waste my money on a new bass or pedal when I just need a 6-band.
So the key takeaway is that you can do everything with a jazz bass. The two volumes and one tone coupled with you plucking hand placement (and angle) will carry you through all 5 situations. Almost rarely get the chance to play with an amp/eq so I had to adapt
ironically enough, in spite of the many warnings of this video and several other videos on this channel... seeing EQ simplified like this has encouraged me to finally buy an EQ pedal. one day shipping too. what a time to be alive.
You are a real one for this. This and technique are the most important yet overlooked elements of being a musician. Universal skill that'll impress the ignorant
Wow! 30+ years playing with established pro musos and this vid has been SO useful I feel like a noob.. I used to take pride in thinking tone just came naturally now I realise I've just been flattered by sound techs.. legend.
The trick I found personally for my Jazz Bass is to roll off the neck pickup knob a bit. It cuts away some bass and makes the tone into a nailbiting gritty almost distorted sound (if you play it hard enough). But I almost exclusively play metal so that might not fit everybody Also the video is very helpful. The people that are comfortable around EQ were like wizards to me for a long time. P.S. I think there's no such thing as "too much bite". Playing slower songs with a lot of bite just means you're too excited!
Glad to see you back Josh, just picked up my bass about a couple weeks ago and have been having the time of my life learning and playing the instrument thanks to your channel. Please start making videos again, we have similar taste in humor and it helps ease the beginner frustration 👍😂
I agree with the posts below. It took me 120 gigs a year over a 10 year period wrangling the board AND playing the bass to figure out - start the EQ zero, figure out what tone you want, and SUBTRACT (most o the time. One Mexican Fender Jazz with decent onboard eq got me through pop, country, blues, rock, funk. I would set the amp to the room, use the onboard eq for the tune. Thank you for this well done piece of instruction.
This comes as a good counterpoint to some other influenza that got recommended to me yesterday, claiming that a way to good tone is: and here came a list of expensive new gear they claimed people have to buy.
Greetings from Dublin, Ireland 🇮🇪 Another superb video with brilliant insights. On the never ending search for the ultimate tone….start here with this excellent video. Thanks very much for sharing this and all your other great videos
Nice vid! When i was in HS, i tried playing golf with a few other kids with some no-name handed down clubs and one kid started to make fun of them. Then one of the older guys said Tiger Woods would still be the best player in the world using my clubs. Golf didnt really stick at all, but music and that lesson kinda did. Like, your instrument doesnt suck, Billy Sheehan would still shred on it, you just need more practice. Also with a small investment in some tools, you can buy 350-650 range and MAKE it sound 800+.
Wow it's great to see you posting again. Loved the video, but I have one suggestion: the spectrum analyzer was kind of hard on my screen to see. The EQ curve was basically the same color as the background. Loved the video otherwise, glad you're not telling us to buy more gear.
As somebody who is a nobody, this is the greatest bass video I have ever seen. Tone is the most abstract and confusing thing for the average bass player. You've started the explanation and breakdown of what the hell the knobs on a person's amp mean. That's something. That's truly something.
I had all kinds of EQ problems when I was a teen, running a 3 band EQ active Stingray through a Boss GEB-7 into an Ampeg B2R head with a graphic EQ. Every time my band played a new venue I had to spend time re-dialing my tone. What made me stop having to do this was simplifying my rig. These days I play a passive MIA J bass directly into an Ampeg PF-500 with only Bass, Mid, Treble knobs and a couple quick select buttons for boosting and I NEVER have EQ problems anymore. My tone is great at home, rehearsal, and gigs. Most importantly it stays consistent. Less is more, guys. The best advice I can give over my 23 years of playing is that the less EQ crap you gotta mess with the better.
This is incredibly helpful. Been playing for about a year and have been chasing Cliff Burton's tone so hard. Turns out the key was actually backing off the bass knob! Now that I have his pedals- the Morley wah and the TS9- it's dead-on, especially if I use a line splitter to blend the clean and dirty tones together. Thanks bro!
This video was insanely valuable. I already knew most of this by ear, but not by frequency. Having the specific language to communicate with a sound engineer in terms of hertz to fix undesirable mixes has been a bridge I've been trying to gap for a few years- I'll definitely be rewatching this several times and taking notes. More value in 16 odd minutes than my four years of music school education. Killer dude
Wow! This was a great and very helpful video. Thank you. I hope your students know just how lucky they are/were. You really are a wonderful teacher and gifted at explaining these complicated things in a fun and real way.
I'll be honest here... here we go... I spent so much money on all of these pedals and effects.... it got ridiculous. I have been having a crap time trying to reign in my tone. I unplugged ALL the hipass, lowpass, DI, effects, etc etc... I cut ALL my eq on my ashdown amp, then started bringing up one by one and BOOM. Great tone.I think some other people may say "i watched the video, I still can't get it right!" and they may have TOO MUCH going on in their signal chain. That has been my experierce. From now no, I am letting the bass preamp and my amplifier handle my tone. I'm not going to toy with a bunch of pedals (same goes for plug ins). OK, thats my two cents. Great video.
This is undoubtedly the most helpful bass video I've ever watched. EQ has been a total blindspot to me and I've never found anything/anybody who describes it well. Thank you!
Thank you for this. I hear all of these guys on RUclips talking about tone. But this is the best explanation I've ever heard about bass tone. I'm looking forward to sitting down with my rig and figuring out what tone works best for me.
For years, I've used an LMB-3 pedal, and it works great for tone in being able to manage those dwarves from getting out of control. It's also great for as a booster for solo's
Great content, my dude! Funny thing is this popped up in my feed as I await the arrival of the gift I purchased myself for working lots of overtime this summer (darkglass alpha/omega amp)
Probably late to the party, but I've been playing for 10years and this was one of the most instructive and well spoken EQ video I've ever seen. Thanks for this, Josh!
Great video. Yes - rolling down bass opens the door to a series of tones, including the natural sound of your bass. Huge tip! Love the way you broke down the frequency ranges by their slang terms. You broke down in 16 min what took me 30 years to learn - LOL 😅
Josh, this is an outstanding addition to your considerable library. Great to have a new video. Immediately understandable. I'm SO grateful for a) you using simple stuff like a Fender Rumble example and a passive J Bass and b) making it clear good bass sound is not about buying more stuff but understanding the stuff you have. I applied all this quickly to my home practice amp (a Fender Rumble 25, with only 3 bands) plus both my P and J Basses and WOW, what an improvement!! Worked just as you described. Thanks so much, Josh!!!!
Two quick points; 1) I like the idea of the Zon Sonus BG4 model (Billy Gould signature) as it only has one knob for volume - so now you don't have to get into a debacle of constantly adjusting multiple knobs on your bass AND on your amp - just deal with the EQ on your amp. 2) after playing for more then 33 years I just found the perfect tone(s) IMO; I just got a Spector Euro LX4 with EMG PJ's & the Tone Pump preamp; frickin amazing sound AND playability. It sounds awesome on it's own plugged into my Eden WT-300 & SWR 2x12 cab but to take it to another level I plug my bass into a SansAmp DP-3X (Dug Pinnick model) DI/preamp. Everyone that hears it without the SansAmp loves it but when I engage the mix mode on the DP-3X their faces melt with excitement. So Zon Sonus Billy Gould model and/or Spector Euro LX4 with EMG's plugged into a SansAmp DP-3X plugged into an Eden WT-300 which goes into a SWR 2x12. I bought every piece of gear used to save $$$. Altogether I'd say it was about $2800; $1950 for the Spector, $286 for the Eden WT-300, $257 for the SansAmp & $300 for the SWR 2x12. This may seem like a lot but if I compare it to the thousands and thousands of dollars I spent since 1991 on basses, amps, cabinets, pedals etc. it is really a tiny fraction of the money I spent. Learn from my mistakes and go with the items I just mentioned - you're wallet will thank you, cheeers!
Active bass supremacy. I set up the amp sound with the bass EQ at halfway, and adjust the tone for the song on the bass. If all at halfway doesn't work, mid boost for rock, bass and treb boost for metal, bass boost for soul.
Great video and information! As a bass player and sound engineer, I find many players are totally missing out on the whole audio spectrum theory. I also think it's worth mentioning pickups' heights, and what it means to plug a bass directly into the PA\Recording gear without a preamp or anything that deals with its raw sound - Which is at most times a massive low end boost, and barely any high mid and treble. I usually want to kick bassists showing up with only a cable, expecting me to create their sound from scratch.
Great video. I've been playing bass since late 70s. I've used tons of different basses but have used Ampeg SVTS exclusively since the beginning. Tone to me is at the top. I can play flawlessly on a gig but if my tone sucks I'm pissed for the entire night. I get to gigs early set up & screw with my tone because size of room, how the stage is ..alot of wood metal whatever i find .& It could just be me..but so much effects tone. I always change strings before every show..roto sound round wounds, fresh batteries active pickups wireless etc. Anyway I'm from Buffalo NY & grew up watching Billy Sheehan in clubs. Great guy great bassist & killer tone.
This is the best description to finding the right EQ for the right song situation I've come across yet. Actual frequency elbow room with drums and guitar frequencies is something I've been trying to understand lately - and that our correct bass tone may sound like shit on it's own, but will be perfect in the mix when the band kicks in and you're all given'er. Thanks again.
The problem with 250hz is that everything lives there: keys, guitar mute chugs, toms and kick, and male vox......a lot of times, its the other instruments/vox that are attributing to the mud and becomes an "audio illusion" that the bass is the culprit......I have been preaching that bass is often tailored to the instruments around it for a long time, sometimes making a crappy isolated tone that sounds great when the other instruments are present (Im glad you mentioned this)
Beside being educative, it also show really well that as long as you know where you have to grab the sound, the less relevance the instrument has. Jazz can Prog, Dingwall can blues,Precision can slap etc.
Excellent advice and spectrum analysis. I've come to the same conclusions after years of experimenting. The most dominant and ever-present adjustment I do is to smack down the "muddy dwarf". That 250Hz thing just ruins every kind of music I play, be it disco, funk, rock. My go-to EQ now is one of the new Ibanez PTEQ 5-band fully parametric pedals. First band is at 30Hz removing rumble. Next knob is at 80-100Hz which I usually just leave alone as this is the "meat" area for the bass. Next knob is at 250Hz, wayyy down, to clean things up. The last 2 knobs are set very high - 3 and 7Khz which receive some lift as this magically gives definition without adding any bite, grittiness or annoying fret noises. Overall it produces a magical sound.
Great video! I would add one detail: Despite doing whatever to your EQ, you ll frequently get bad tone without proper muting. Both harmonics and partial harmonics of both muted strings and played strings and even the position of muting within the string (dividing the muted string in two sub-strings) can ruin the tone).
This is a great tutorial!!! I would emphasize where he points out that your tone should be complimentary to the band you're in and the style of music you're playing. Also, he makes the point that you don't need new gear, however, if you do want to get something, I would recommend a compression pedal and a 10 band EQ pedal. Obviously, the EQ will help you shape your tone in the way he mentions in the video. The compression will help tame some of the tone inconsistencies. And for a little extra, I would recommend a good distortion pedal. You don't need to overdo it, but it will help you cut through the mix if you need it.
Thank you! Being at the stage in my bass playing where I realize that the amazing tone that I get in my practice space does NOT equate to amazing tone at my gigs, I truly appreciate this EQ tutorial. I almost ran out and bought that darkglass amp, but I also watched your anti-GAS video, but also, I kinda dig my Mesa Boogie Subway D-800. This video has inspired me to actually look up which frequency each of those knobs is actually controlling.
The Darkglass B7k Ultra (and Obsidian 7000 on Helix) has the same EQ frequencies as this darkglass amp. If you set things to flat, turn down the drive and distortion off, you can get a tonally neutral sound, and then boost/cut just like in this video.
here's what i learned after being a guitarist for couple of years and a bassist for less than a year, i stopped chasing and copying other's tones. i just take inspiration to whatever they have and just go with what my ear and band mates consider "good enough". audience doesnt really give a damn about your bass and guitar tone when you play live anyway unless you're a cover band
I’ve been running the trace Elliot GP 12 SMX series since it came out in the 90s - between the 12 band graphic EQ with the 30 Hz knob for tightening up the B string by cutting down a couple notches ... and then add in the dual compressor and holy crap the best bass sounds ever - doesn’t matter what bass; active, passive doesn’t matter what pick up!
Great info and well presented! I would just add a few thoughts to this. A lot of bass players (myself included) like to set the EQ and forget it. This is always a good place to start but you should adjust your EQ/tone according to the circumstances. As you mentioned strings are important but what always throws me off is that they change the tone ever so slightly over months until it gets to the point where it does not sound good but day to day the tone change is imperceptible. Another factor is the room shape/size. Some of those lower frequencies can reflect and refract in unexpected ways which might lead you to adjust muddy and tubby. What may sound good to you playing by yourself may not sound good with the band. Case in point Geddy's tone soloed does not sound good to my ears but sounds great in a band context. And lastly, I've have just begun to realize how much weather affects your speakers tone. I live in New England and with hot humid summers and dry cold winters I have noticed a HUGE difference in my bass tone coming my speakers. So again a little EQ adjustment is may be necessary. So I guess the moral of the story is pay attention, make small EQ adjustments, but do not over think it.
Favorite bass tone of all time - go!
Note - sorry the frequency spectrum graphics are hard to read, RUclips compressed the visuals a bit too hard. I will hunt a better EQ plugin for future videos, in the meantime turn up your screen brightness and pray to the Dwarfs. ❤️
Air bass no debate!!
Steve Harris!
Don’t stop believing has a pretty good one.
Every Rush song has masterful bass tones
The tone on Primus’s Pork Soda is awesome
The tone on Blood Sugar Sex Magic is amazing
But more recently, in the metal sphere, Job For A Cowboy’s Moon Healer is incredible
Krist Novoselic!
Lemmy 😊
I think you're the first person who's talked about EQ in terms of problem frequency and subtraction, rather than thinking of boosting first. Great work!
Far from the first, but FAR too few people talk about it.
Lot of peoples talk about that, but most of the time I heard that coming from guitarist or sound ingeneer and not bassist lol
@@francoishtzl157 So the weird thing is, I had AND read the manual on my 1984 Peavey Combo 300. And it gives suggestions for how to set the 8 band EQ for different styles, including which dials to lower. So it was literally right there in the instructions for me.
@@JimmyRimmer Not really what he talk about in the video actually.
The EQ exemple in your manual is to get an idea on how to sound better in different style of music. But it is only an exemple, it will not sound the same depending what bass you use, how you play, etc....
What he talk about in the video is learning the frequencies that are problematic and that you should cut/boost depending what you hear
But thenn you come to the problem of having turned *every* EQ knob down to (close to) zero; doesn't that leave ZERO tone???
It took me ages trying to get the Dead Kennedys bass tone before I realized that he just had the bass knob turned to zero.
Klaus also rests his pinky on the string beneath the one hes picking to dampen sympathetic vibration.
Try it, sharpens the shit out of Holiday
The perfect bass tone is in DISCO-FUNK
@@ArtOfRuin981Wow, didn't know about that one. Do you know about other bassists habits? Like Peter Hook, how to get his tone?
@@heisenberg6785
Ill look in to Peter Hook!
I try to watch how the bassist plays live or some vids where the angle is on them.
I feel like its technique 90% of the time, most of the time 😮
Stu hamm on "a night in hell/foggy mountain breakdown" had super hot pickups on his yamaha,but also really light gauge strings. Barely had to tap, but it rung out like a piano with some growl.
Bryan Bellar mutes with his pinky, but it switches between his fretting hand to his plucking hand. He also uses BEAD strings on a 4-string instead of EADG, tuned down 2 steps for dethklok shit. Really low grumbles, but the heavy strings doesnt get muddy during fast passages. live, you can see he switches his plucking to picking by stiffening his index and middle fingers, but on the reeeaallly fast shit he'll pluck but small alternating movements. Tough to explain, but think of flipping through a stack of records alternating with your index and middle finger but only moving the first distal joints really fast.
The technique works, the strings keep the sound tight, so its a combination again.
@@heisenberg6785
For hook, play it like a guitar. Raking is key. Full strums dude.
The fact you use a fender rumble, one of the most common and decent sounding budget bass combos, makes this vid that much better
Yesss
So true
I was debating between this and a Jackson Spectra, I love my Jackson but I can’t help but wonder how that rumble woulda been lol
agree. I'm a bassist on a budget and I own exactly Rumble 40.I don't own Fender bass (only Squier Affinity).
Wow, I'm completely floored by this video. Really important stuff here and I've worked in sound mixing for theater productions where everyone crashed and burned through it; cringe worthy. I have a lot of appreciation for my Fender Rumble 40 now!
This is hands down one of the best music instructions videos I have seen. Most videos tell you what to do without explaining why or at least in a cryptic way. Laying out what frequency spectrum does what. Such a great help! Thank you!
I felt the exact way 💯✨️‼️
Yeah, there' totally not enough tutorials out there teaching musicians how to actually nail the frequencies to not sound like ass
The best live tone for bass I’ve heard is Godflesh. Perfect eq of tubby and wicked growl that fit right in the pocket of the guitar tone and bass drum (which was a drum machine) just 2 dudes guitar (and vox) and bass slamming it.
It’s also pertinent to note that this happens to professionals as well. The last Tool concert I went to Justin almost blew out our intestines with too much tubby and the sound engineer had to turn him down before he disemboweled 10,000 people 😂😂
I was at a show where A7X and another band opened for Metallica. Sound board guy for A7X must’ve dropped the ball because guitars were getting lost underneath the bass and kick drum during the solos or when both Syn and Zack were playing harmonized melodies together. At first I thought it may have been my proximity to the PA system, but I doubt it since they were the only band that night that suffered from that issue. When Metallica played their harmonized melodies in, for example, Fight Fire with Fire, they cut through the mix without issue.
@@damienalvarez2957 Maybe it’s the sound guy personally fucking with A7X because he doesn’t like them.
That's the sound engineer's fault, not Justin Chancellor's. At that level, it's his job to make sure it sound good in the crowd BEFORE the show. 99% of the sound you hear out in the crowd is the club's gear, not the musician's. That's especially true for bass.
It's different when you're playing at a small venue with a bad PA or no PA at all. Then it may fall more on the musicians to make sure things sound good. But in these mammoth venues with world class mix engineers and tens of thousands worth of equipment, they're the ones who need to make sure it sounds good.
The venue's acoustics and the music style also matter quite alot... some venues just have dead spots or places where sound collect or reflect badly... I saw a show in a dome where it was Mars Volta and A Perfect Circle years back... Mars Volta sounded like utter crap simply because their frenetic style didn't lend itself to the natural reflections and reverb of the venue, it was literally unintelligible, you couldn't hear anything they were playing. Even if you had the setlist in hand you couldn't pick out songs you knew. APC sounded unbelievable, like any of their albums, crystal clear perfect mix.
Hey Josh great video! I’m an engineer that spends most of my time fiddling with knobs - and you had a great breakdown of showing how each range can affect the tone when boosted/attenuated. I’m trying to become a better bass player and your channel is helping a lot, cheers!
Saw a cover band go back and forth between hip hop, rock, pop in as many songs. Went up to the bass player and asked him how he’s getting these great tones… must have like 8 pedals right?
“I have a nice beefy sound dialed up on the amp. I add bass for the hip hop tracks, put it back for the pop stuff and then kick on a drive for the rock stuff. That’s it”
It was mind opening
Gonna reference this later
I have been playing bass for over 30 years now, I don't play in a cover band so I'm not trying to copy anyone else's tone, I just like to get a good phat but clear tone. That has been an ongoing struggle for me finding that elusive balance between phatness (not boomy) and clarity. The 250 Hz dwarf appears to have been my nemesis all along. After watching this video I added the parametric eq block to the end of my signal chain in my HX Stomp and experimented with each of the frequencies mentioned in your video, I discovered that my tone got much clearer but retained all that lovely phatness when I just rolled back some of those frequencies around 250 Hz. Don't know why it took me this long to discover this! Thanks man!
Easily one of the best Bass channels out there, perfect blend between „no BS“ educational and still fun to watch. Been a bassist for 11 years now, and I still learn so much from you. And I‘m always motivated to keep practicing after watching one of your videos! Greetings from Germany✌🏼
I love that he's showing all of this on basic equipment, as well as high end stuff. This man is out to kill G. A. S., and I love it.
This is by far the best video on youtube about EQ settings for bass.
I’ve been searching for a video like this for a long time, and actually was surprised that there is not a single instructional video on yt that talks about the corresponding sounds of the frequency ranges for bass guitar. This one felt like a medicine.
Keep up the good work Josh, really appreciate it.
This, BY FAR, has been the best video explain tone problems and how to fix/master them!
finally a bass tone that won't make my bass teacher puke.
This video SHOULD be sponsored. You're a gem. Thanks for all your hard work out there.
I've subscribed for years, so I dont know why the algorithm has taken so long to so long to show me this, but this is the best tone video on RUclips!
Thanks Josh!
8:38 no seriously buy the course. It's amazing and it has significantly improved my life. Thank you, Josh!
Buy my course!
Subscribe to bass buzz!
I am a graduate of Josh's Bass Buzz course...hands down the best beginner course out there! I have used or are using just about all the popular On-Line instruction out there,,,,but they are all really tailored to Bass Buzz grads
EQ pedals are a great way to gain greater control of your tone on the cheap, if your current amp lacks in EQ department.
Solid! EQ pedals are underrated secret sauce for any signal chain. A Boss GE-7 can be a bit more manageable than the GEB-7, but the B7 offers more control at the far top&bottom ends. Even if the amp has a nice EQ, if you're using other pedals or a tube preamp, putting an EQ first in line in the chain can help tie down the other audible quirks. Even if only as an impedance buffer.
there’s a great video on the jhs channel showing the mutemath bassist using eq to make guitar overdrive pedals work well on bass, restoring lost lowend
MXR 10 band was the best pedal I bought.
I heard that active bass doesn't need any pedal but after watching the video I started to rethink to buy one for my active bass. Idk why but except for me, almost every sound engineer I worked with said the bass sounds "off" and neither of them nor me can tell why and I just knew this recently
This is one of the most important videos you could have made to help any bass player. Big thanks to you Josh !
Greetings from France :)
That Fleetwood Mac joke killed me. Good job. More videos to revive me please.
As a regular guitarist trying to get into bass territory, I can say that this information is gold. Thank you
I guess being a (mainly metal) guitarist first helped with the first two, I always went for the "full but not muddy" low end right away. But yes, you guessed it, it was Bitey and Edgy all the way for the first few months of learning bass.
Also, 10/10 for saying THE TONE IS IN THE WHOLE CHAIN and that yes, both fingers and (correctly setup) gear are important. I've also been in both "I need new gear" and "I just suck" lands at various points and both can be very toxic and demotivating if you ignore the other part/half.
Finally! I love how Josh admitted that his plucking advice isn't everything when it comes to tone.
Thanks Josh.
My solution was pretty simple: I bought a 20$ Behringer BDI21 pre-amp pedal, and toyed with the knobs until I got the tone I wanted. Pre-amp modeler equip is life-saver, and it's rarely talked about in beginner/intermediate discussion. You'll see people talking about overdrive, vintage, distortion, and other sorts of things but not about this.
Probably the only good video ive ever seen on tone. I dont even play bass but i watched the whole thing
Seeing a Rumble 40 in this video made my heart happy since I just got one a few weeks ago!
As far as bass tone goes, I'm a huge fan of Chris Wolstenholme's distortion.
I have it too abd its the best budget bass amp out.
This is super clear and interesting. I’m a drummer and fledgling audio mixer, but I would still recommend this vid to anyone trying to understand the frequency spectrum more fully. Well done.
Man. I bought a bass when i started getting into home recording and producing some time ago (as a guitarist originally). Your channel tought me so much in such a short time about the instrument and how to play it. Despite the (very enjoyable!) puns, your teaching is super on point.
Just watched this video today (4 times...) and it ties so many things together. So much i can take out of this for recording, tone, playing. 11/10 stars! Thank you!
I've been playing bass for 26 years now, 20 years of those also on upright bass, and I've never seen or heard a better, more accurate and helpful way of dialing in and finding my bass tone. I tried this at rehearsal today and it was amazing. Thank you so much and keep it up, mate!
Cheers!
"...unless i tell you to!" You're the living legend in bass community, Josh!
Literally the best explanation of bass-centric EQ that I've seen in the decades I've been playing. Absolutely fantastic. Thanks!
This Fender player bases are awesome, especially in good hands trough the right gear and settings.
If you have an amp with a three knob EQ you can either turn up one knob or turn down the other two. If you want a smooth low end instead of turning up the bass knob and making in boomy, turn down the mid and high knobs. Also where you pluck the stings makes a huge difference to your tone. Brighter if you pluck near the bridge, rounder if you pluck near the neck.
Edgy bitting metal bass tones are my favorites. Geddy is one my favorite classic bass tones so full but so clear on the top end
Im a drummer and find this very informative. Hell , even shared it with our bassist and sound tech so they can work out a "better" tone for my band.
Really excellent endeed!
Super helpful! I really appreciate your “how to fix it” as well as the “unless it’s the tone you’re after for [example] style of playing”
This video helped me a lot. I was having fights with sound guys and my lead guitarist over my stage volume tho when I turned it to levels they liked, I couldn't hear myself. By turning down the bass on my amp, I was able to boost other frequencies and fit properly in the live mix without blowing everyone off the stage. Can't believe it's taken me over 35 years to learn this. Thanks 🍺
That is really helpful! Especially about Honky - one of my basses has this honky character, and I always struggled to get rid of it. And the part about the chain is super important. I mostly play metal, and I need this clanky sound to cut through the mix. My go-to metal bass is Warwick; however, I was not satisfied with the sound. I bought a Darkglass pedal and still was not satisfied with the sound. And only when I changed the strings, that was an 'aha' moment - puzzle pieces came together, and I got the sound I was looking for.
Sincerely, thank you. I have been struggling to dial in my tone with my Sound Gear I bought 4 years ago. This video not only taught me what the 7-band EQ on my amp actually means, but, I finally got my tone the way I want it with the Sound Gear.
THIS is the video I've been looking for
Just a few of my personal favorites...
- Tony Levin all over Peter Gabriel's So album.
- Michael Anthony's Van Halen sound, especially Running With the Devil.
- Lesser known but... The late great and incomparable Tim Chandler of Danial Amos, The Swirling Eddies, The Choir and The Lost Dogs.
Studying mixing has improved my bass tones immensely. Being able to recognize frequencies and understand exactly what they do means I can quickly get any tone I want.
I highly recommend that every musician mess around making music in a DAW. Also, maybe watch some music production tutorials. Recording yourself is also useful on a lot of levels besides just solidifying your grasp on EQ. It'll immediately magnify any technical mistakes you're making, for example. It'll also teach you how to use other important tools like compression.
This is absolutely masterclass marrying simple vernacular verbs with an actual EQ and a graph too, demystifying this whole field to those of us who know what we're doing musically but are clueless in terms of audio engineering.
Also, covering everything from James Jamerson to Nolly in one video is just so helpful. The fact you did this all with a J-bass, and I was unsure if I needed to waste my money on a new bass or pedal when I just need a 6-band.
So the key takeaway is that you can do everything with a jazz bass. The two volumes and one tone coupled with you plucking hand placement (and angle) will carry you through all 5 situations. Almost rarely get the chance to play with an amp/eq so I had to adapt
ironically enough, in spite of the many warnings of this video and several other videos on this channel... seeing EQ simplified like this has encouraged me to finally buy an EQ pedal.
one day shipping too. what a time to be alive.
You are a real one for this. This and technique are the most important yet overlooked elements of being a musician. Universal skill that'll impress the ignorant
Wow! 30+ years playing with established pro musos and this vid has been SO useful I feel like a noob.. I used to take pride in thinking tone just came naturally now I realise I've just been flattered by sound techs.. legend.
This is the most helpful bass EQ video I've seen. Right to the point with practical exaples we can all relate to. Well done!
The trick I found personally for my Jazz Bass is to roll off the neck pickup knob a bit. It cuts away some bass and makes the tone into a nailbiting gritty almost distorted sound (if you play it hard enough). But I almost exclusively play metal so that might not fit everybody
Also the video is very helpful. The people that are comfortable around EQ were like wizards to me for a long time.
P.S. I think there's no such thing as "too much bite". Playing slower songs with a lot of bite just means you're too excited!
Glad to see you back Josh, just picked up my bass about a couple weeks ago and have been having the time of my life learning and playing the instrument thanks to your channel. Please start making videos again, we have similar taste in humor and it helps ease the beginner frustration 👍😂
I agree with the posts below. It took me 120 gigs a year over a 10 year period wrangling the board AND playing the bass to figure out - start the EQ zero, figure out what tone you want, and SUBTRACT (most o the time. One Mexican Fender Jazz with decent onboard eq got me through pop, country, blues, rock, funk. I would set the amp to the room, use the onboard eq for the tune. Thank you for this well done piece of instruction.
This comes as a good counterpoint to some other influenza that got recommended to me yesterday, claiming that a way to good tone is: and here came a list of expensive new gear they claimed people have to buy.
This is maybe the best and most important tone-related video in existence. Thank you!
Greetings from Dublin, Ireland 🇮🇪
Another superb video with brilliant insights. On the never ending search for the ultimate tone….start here with this excellent video. Thanks very much for sharing this and all your other great videos
Nice vid! When i was in HS, i tried playing golf with a few other kids with some no-name handed down clubs and one kid started to make fun of them. Then one of the older guys said Tiger Woods would still be the best player in the world using my clubs. Golf didnt really stick at all, but music and that lesson kinda did. Like, your instrument doesnt suck, Billy Sheehan would still shred on it, you just need more practice.
Also with a small investment in some tools, you can buy 350-650 range and MAKE it sound 800+.
Wow it's great to see you posting again. Loved the video, but I have one suggestion: the spectrum analyzer was kind of hard on my screen to see. The EQ curve was basically the same color as the background. Loved the video otherwise, glad you're not telling us to buy more gear.
As somebody who is a nobody, this is the greatest bass video I have ever seen. Tone is the most abstract and confusing thing for the average bass player. You've started the explanation and breakdown of what the hell the knobs on a person's amp mean. That's something. That's truly something.
I had all kinds of EQ problems when I was a teen, running a 3 band EQ active Stingray through a Boss GEB-7 into an Ampeg B2R head with a graphic EQ. Every time my band played a new venue I had to spend time re-dialing my tone. What made me stop having to do this was simplifying my rig. These days I play a passive MIA J bass directly into an Ampeg PF-500 with only Bass, Mid, Treble knobs and a couple quick select buttons for boosting and I NEVER have EQ problems anymore. My tone is great at home, rehearsal, and gigs. Most importantly it stays consistent. Less is more, guys. The best advice I can give over my 23 years of playing is that the less EQ crap you gotta mess with the better.
This is incredibly helpful. Been playing for about a year and have been chasing Cliff Burton's tone so hard. Turns out the key was actually backing off the bass knob! Now that I have his pedals- the Morley wah and the TS9- it's dead-on, especially if I use a line splitter to blend the clean and dirty tones together. Thanks bro!
Another great video.
As a follow-up, I'd like to see amp and EQ setups for various styles, i.e., metal, jazz, rock, etc.
Great to see a new video!
Yes, that woud be really cool!
This video was insanely valuable. I already knew most of this by ear, but not by frequency. Having the specific language to communicate with a sound engineer in terms of hertz to fix undesirable mixes has been a bridge I've been trying to gap for a few years- I'll definitely be rewatching this several times and taking notes. More value in 16 odd minutes than my four years of music school education. Killer dude
Wow! This was a great and very helpful video. Thank you. I hope your students know just how lucky they are/were. You really are a wonderful teacher and gifted at explaining these complicated things in a fun and real way.
I'll be honest here... here we go... I spent so much money on all of these pedals and effects.... it got ridiculous. I have been having a crap time trying to reign in my tone. I unplugged ALL the hipass, lowpass, DI, effects, etc etc... I cut ALL my eq on my ashdown amp, then started bringing up one by one and BOOM. Great tone.I think some other people may say "i watched the video, I still can't get it right!" and they may have TOO MUCH going on in their signal chain. That has been my experierce. From now no, I am letting the bass preamp and my amplifier handle my tone. I'm not going to toy with a bunch of pedals (same goes for plug ins). OK, thats my two cents. Great video.
You need a t shirt with the Josh elves!
Dude, hell yeah! Lol. Seconded
This is undoubtedly the most helpful bass video I've ever watched. EQ has been a total blindspot to me and I've never found anything/anybody who describes it well. Thank you!
This is a very educational and easily understood video for EQ.
Amazing
Thank you for this. I hear all of these guys on RUclips talking about tone. But this is the best explanation I've ever heard about bass tone. I'm looking forward to sitting down with my rig and figuring out what tone works best for me.
Another great video Josh! Thanks for making these and breaking things down in easy to understand terms. Also, we need more footage of you playing
For years, I've used an LMB-3 pedal, and it works great for tone in being able to manage those dwarves from getting out of control. It's also great for as a booster for solo's
Great content, my dude!
Funny thing is this popped up in my feed as I await the arrival of the gift I purchased myself for working lots of overtime this summer (darkglass alpha/omega amp)
Probably late to the party, but I've been playing for 10years and this was one of the most instructive and well spoken EQ video I've ever seen. Thanks for this, Josh!
Man, what an amazing video. You're a genius!
Great video. Yes - rolling down bass opens the door to a series of tones, including the natural sound of your bass. Huge tip! Love the way you broke down the frequency ranges by their slang terms. You broke down in 16 min what took me 30 years to learn - LOL 😅
Awesome video, I've been looking for i video EXACTLY like this, you always come to the rescue!
Josh, this is an outstanding addition to your considerable library. Great to have a new video. Immediately understandable. I'm SO grateful for a) you using simple stuff like a Fender Rumble example and a passive J Bass and b) making it clear good bass sound is not about buying more stuff but understanding the stuff you have. I applied all this quickly to my home practice amp (a Fender Rumble 25, with only 3 bands) plus both my P and J Basses and WOW, what an improvement!! Worked just as you described. Thanks so much, Josh!!!!
0:14
you were in Tempest? that's awesome
Awesome band
Two quick points; 1) I like the idea of the Zon Sonus BG4 model (Billy Gould signature) as it only has one knob for volume - so now you don't have to get into a debacle of constantly adjusting multiple knobs on your bass AND on your amp - just deal with the EQ on your amp. 2) after playing for more then 33 years I just found the perfect tone(s) IMO; I just got a Spector Euro LX4 with EMG PJ's & the Tone Pump preamp; frickin amazing sound AND playability. It sounds awesome on it's own plugged into my Eden WT-300 & SWR 2x12 cab but to take it to another level I plug my bass into a SansAmp DP-3X (Dug Pinnick model) DI/preamp. Everyone that hears it without the SansAmp loves it but when I engage the mix mode on the DP-3X their faces melt with excitement.
So Zon Sonus Billy Gould model and/or Spector Euro LX4 with EMG's plugged into a SansAmp DP-3X plugged into an Eden WT-300 which goes into a SWR 2x12. I bought every piece of gear used to save $$$. Altogether I'd say it was about $2800; $1950 for the Spector, $286 for the Eden WT-300, $257 for the SansAmp & $300 for the SWR 2x12.
This may seem like a lot but if I compare it to the thousands and thousands of dollars I spent since 1991 on basses, amps, cabinets, pedals etc. it is really a tiny fraction of the money I spent. Learn from my mistakes and go with the items I just mentioned - you're wallet will thank you, cheeers!
Wow. This was insanely helpful! Thank you!
Active bass supremacy. I set up the amp sound with the bass EQ at halfway, and adjust the tone for the song on the bass. If all at halfway doesn't work, mid boost for rock, bass and treb boost for metal, bass boost for soul.
My fav bass channel!
Right!!
That's right
Great video and information! As a bass player and sound engineer, I find many players are totally missing out on the whole audio spectrum theory. I also think it's worth mentioning pickups' heights, and what it means to plug a bass directly into the PA\Recording gear without a preamp or anything that deals with its raw sound - Which is at most times a massive low end boost, and barely any high mid and treble. I usually want to kick bassists showing up with only a cable, expecting me to create their sound from scratch.
Thank you Josh! I learned a lot from this video!.
Great video. I've been playing bass since late 70s. I've used tons of different basses but have used Ampeg SVTS exclusively since the beginning. Tone to me is at the top. I can play flawlessly on a gig but if my tone sucks I'm pissed for the entire night. I get to gigs early set up & screw with my tone because size of room, how the stage is ..alot of wood metal whatever i find .& It could just be me..but so much effects tone. I always change strings before every show..roto sound round wounds, fresh batteries active pickups wireless etc. Anyway I'm from Buffalo NY & grew up watching Billy Sheehan in clubs. Great guy great bassist & killer tone.
I am here to tell you that the discerption of your Darkglass was the best I have ever heard 😂😂😂😂
This is the best description to finding the right EQ for the right song situation I've come across yet. Actual frequency elbow room with drums and guitar frequencies is something I've been trying to understand lately - and that our correct bass tone may sound like shit on it's own, but will be perfect in the mix when the band kicks in and you're all given'er. Thanks again.
The problem with 250hz is that everything lives there: keys, guitar mute chugs, toms and kick, and male vox......a lot of times, its the other instruments/vox that are attributing to the mud and becomes an "audio illusion" that the bass is the culprit......I have been preaching that bass is often tailored to the instruments around it for a long time, sometimes making a crappy isolated tone that sounds great when the other instruments are present (Im glad you mentioned this)
Beside being educative, it also show really well that as long as you know where you have to grab the sound, the less relevance the instrument has. Jazz can Prog, Dingwall can blues,Precision can slap etc.
Excellent advice and spectrum analysis. I've come to the same conclusions after years of experimenting. The most dominant and ever-present adjustment I do is to smack down the "muddy dwarf". That 250Hz thing just ruins every kind of music I play, be it disco, funk, rock. My go-to EQ now is one of the new Ibanez PTEQ 5-band fully parametric pedals. First band is at 30Hz removing rumble. Next knob is at 80-100Hz which I usually just leave alone as this is the "meat" area for the bass. Next knob is at 250Hz, wayyy down, to clean things up. The last 2 knobs are set very high - 3 and 7Khz which receive some lift as this magically gives definition without adding any bite, grittiness or annoying fret noises. Overall it produces a magical sound.
Great video! I would add one detail: Despite doing whatever to your EQ, you ll frequently get bad tone without proper muting. Both harmonics and partial harmonics of both muted strings and played strings and even the position of muting within the string (dividing the muted string in two sub-strings) can ruin the tone).
This is a great tutorial!!! I would emphasize where he points out that your tone should be complimentary to the band you're in and the style of music you're playing. Also, he makes the point that you don't need new gear, however, if you do want to get something, I would recommend a compression pedal and a 10 band EQ pedal. Obviously, the EQ will help you shape your tone in the way he mentions in the video. The compression will help tame some of the tone inconsistencies. And for a little extra, I would recommend a good distortion pedal. You don't need to overdo it, but it will help you cut through the mix if you need it.
Guitarist here. Subbed. Useful, funny and to the point. well done, sir!
Thank you! Being at the stage in my bass playing where I realize that the amazing tone that I get in my practice space does NOT equate to amazing tone at my gigs, I truly appreciate this EQ tutorial. I almost ran out and bought that darkglass amp, but I also watched your anti-GAS video, but also, I kinda dig my Mesa Boogie Subway D-800. This video has inspired me to actually look up which frequency each of those knobs is actually controlling.
The Darkglass B7k Ultra (and Obsidian 7000 on Helix) has the same EQ frequencies as this darkglass amp. If you set things to flat, turn down the drive and distortion off, you can get a tonally neutral sound, and then boost/cut just like in this video.
here's what i learned after being a guitarist for couple of years and a bassist for less than a year, i stopped chasing and copying other's tones. i just take inspiration to whatever they have and just go with what my ear and band mates consider "good enough". audience doesnt really give a damn about your bass and guitar tone when you play live anyway unless you're a cover band
Thank you so much for this video and all the work you put in! It really helps.
I’ve been running the trace Elliot GP 12 SMX series since it came out in the 90s - between the 12 band graphic EQ with the 30 Hz knob for tightening up the B string by cutting down a couple notches ... and then add in the dual compressor and holy crap the best bass sounds ever - doesn’t matter what bass; active, passive doesn’t matter what pick up!
Great info and well presented! I would just add a few thoughts to this. A lot of bass players (myself included) like to set the EQ and forget it. This is always a good place to start but you should adjust your EQ/tone according to the circumstances. As you mentioned strings are important but what always throws me off is that they change the tone ever so slightly over months until it gets to the point where it does not sound good but day to day the tone change is imperceptible. Another factor is the room shape/size. Some of those lower frequencies can reflect and refract in unexpected ways which might lead you to adjust muddy and tubby. What may sound good to you playing by yourself may not sound good with the band. Case in point Geddy's tone soloed does not sound good to my ears but sounds great in a band context. And lastly, I've have just begun to realize how much weather affects your speakers tone. I live in New England and with hot humid summers and dry cold winters I have noticed a HUGE difference in my bass tone coming my speakers. So again a little EQ adjustment is may be necessary. So I guess the moral of the story is pay attention, make small EQ adjustments, but do not over think it.
Most underrated and important topic to discuss. I recently just started tweaking with EQ and it really makes so much difference!
You guys need to pump out more vids! Your stuff blows everything else out of the water as far as entertainment and education...