How much do you use the tone control on your bass?

Stuckfast

I was recording some scratch DI bass for a track today and was quite pleased with the sound for once. Twiddled the knobs a bit and realised that the tone control was all the way at minimum. Into a valve preamp it actually sounded great, really thick and warm but without that annoying clankiness. It was surprising to me as I very rarely roll off the tone control on guitars. How much do real bass players use it?

MartinB

I use the tone control on a passive bass a fair bit. Because of the way it interacts with the pickup in the passive circuit, it actually fattens up the mids a little when rolled back, rather than just losing highs. For most tunes I have it around 7-8, maybe 6 for mellower songs, and right up in just a couple of places where I want the top end clank. Or just occasionally I'll use mostly bridge pickup (my bass is wired like a Fender Jazz) and roll it way back for that tight but burpy thing that's nice for a busy 16th note line. 

stickyfiddle

P bass? Tone on 1 is the best sound! 

Keefy

On my Precisions - all the time.

On my Jazz - rarely, as it usually sounds best full up.

Active is a whole different ballgame.

Paul_C

Most of the time I have had the tone fully clockwise on passives and everything in the middle on actives. 

As long as it sounds like a bass I've never really felt the need to adjust anything  

ICBM

A lot. I rarely have them up full - although on my Rickenbacker, the bridge tone is effectively 'up full' as I've modded it to a bass cut rather than treble cut - the 'vintage' (with series cap) sound at full up and the 'modern' sound at full down - but I still usually use it somewhere in the middle.

One of the reasons I don't really like active basses is because the tone controls are usually too unsubtle.

fretmeister

Loads.

On a J there’s also a “secret” seemingly known only to reggae players… J bass, neck pickup and then back the volume off by a bit too…. All of a sudden you’ll get a deeper thicker reggae tone due to the loading caused by the volume pot. Then turn the amp up if needed. Only works on passive Js. 

Duck Dunn always used to set his amp after having backed off the bass tone by a third so he always had somewhere to go.

Dave_Mc

Keefy said:

On my Precisions - all the time.

On my Jazz - rarely, as it usually sounds best full up.

Funnily enough I'm the other way round. (Well a PJ when I'm using the P pickup, I don't have a Precision.)

Usually I'm trying to make the Jazz neck pickup sound more like a Precision or the Jazz bridge pickup sound more like a StingRay. With mixed results, admittedly. 

Stuckfast

stickyfiddle said:

P bass? Tone on 1 is the best sound! 

It was indeed. Glad to hear I am not alone.

fretmeister

Stuckfast said:

stickyfiddle said:

P bass? Tone on 1 is the best sound! 

It was indeed. Glad to hear I am not alone.

I've got 0.1uF cap on my P so it gets really dark at the bottom of the sweep. Not often useable at Tone 0% but I still like having it!

JezWynd

With single pickup bass Tone got used a lot but now I have two pickups, both pickups are always on and I create the tone by rolling off one or other of the Volume controls. 

monquixote

I use it quite a bit on my J bass.

For more retro tones you need it rolled off.

axisus

Use the what?

pintspiller

I usually roll back to "six seven" to reduce the clank. I certainly did live was the others didn't like it at all..

I used to think I clanked more with a plectrum, but, to be honest, I think I dug in deeper with fingers (certainly live).

Depends on song and how much top end is need to be heard over guitars without resorting to volume.

CarbonCopy

It depends what music I'm playing and what amp and speaker cab I'm using. I'll usually set the bass amp to a sound I like with the tone up full on the bass, then roll the high end off with the tone if needed. This is particularly useful if using venue /festival supplied backline and you've not had the chance to see how aggressive sounding the tweeter sounds and can't turn it off. 

UnclePsychosis

On bass I use the tone knobs all the time.

On guitar I occasionally make use of them here and there.