Bass Cut Tone Knob

thegummy

ICBM said:

thegummy said:

The thing about not being able to use the no-load to achieve full bass is the whole thing of it then still cutting some frequencies even when all the way down (like normal tone pots cut some highs when they're on 10 if they're not no-loads).

No, when it’s all the way down it’s completely bypassed even with a normal pot - because for a bass-cut, bypass is a short circuit not an open circuit.

Electronics is so confusing when I have no ground knowledge of it and only dip in to snippets that I actually need to use lol

That's good though, think I might go for it since I so often have to high pass before amp anyway.

ToneControl

thegummy said:

ToneControl said:

Whilst passive bass pots are a good idea, I have no idea why there's not more guitarists using the active EQ systems that have been perfected over decades for our bass playing friends, whose EQ requirements are more demanding. The flexibiity I get from my active EQ guitars is (by design) beyond what is possible with passive EQ 

I've never been attracted to active EQ on bass or guitar for this reason - and I think this is true - it's really the same as plugging the guitar in to an EQ pedal or an EQ unit/strip etc. except the electronics are in the guitar body rather than in a pedal. Whereas with normal tone controls it's actually part of the circuit and interacts with it in a way a pedal or unit couldn't.

Please do correct me if I'm wrong about that, I'd rather know the truth.

Also, that's the theoretical reason. The practical reason (for bass) is that when I play live I generally never want to EQ the sound and just stick to the flat sound of the bass itself. Maybe the occasional "tone all the way down" sound. And when recording I record flat cause I want to leave the EQing til the mixing stage when all the other elements of the track are there.

Would still like to know if I'm right about the active EQ being the same as EQing after the fact but passive EQ interacts with the pickups.

Essentially it is just the same as an EQ pedal but in the guitar. Difference is it's before the cable, so will preserve the signal more, and also it typically replaces the passive controls.

There are some amazing sounds only possible with active EQ on an electric guitar, e.g. extra treble when using the neck pickup, or most spectacularly creating  a scooped-EQ sound.
In every day life one settles on something near flat, sometimes losing a little bass or rolling off a little treble, or boosting both a little

WindmillGuitars

The Bass contour knob on the Reverend Double Agent I have at the moment is a nice addition - pretty handy for beefing up drive / backing off to allow you to pop out in the mix