Tone question

charlyg · Post by **charlyg** » Sun Jun 12, 2005 11:17 am

For all I know, this may be a stupid unanswerable question but, hey.....

I had some issues with tone and someone here suggested lowering the pickup a bit. That worked great, no more "fart" when I hit it a bit hard! I currently have both pickups on, volumes cranked,and the tone controls are both facing the rear (pointing towards the jack. Looking at them you would say they were at 9:00.

It is the best tone I have ever had, and I experimented with moving the controls around but they always ended up back there. My amp settings are close to flat with a little rolloff at the mids. I hate mids! Oh and just for clarity, it is an Eden Traveller with a 210T.

Any opinions? Now that's a dumb question!!!!!!

charlyg · Post by **charlyg** » Sun Jun 12, 2005 11:23 am

Duh, it would probably help to mention it's an 87 4003..... Am thinking of trying a toaster just for grins.

rickenbrother · Post by **rickenbrother** » Sun Jun 12, 2005 12:08 pm

When you play in a band situation you have to tweak your eq to best fit the venue. What sounds good to your ears when are just playing your bass alone might not be the eq to make your bass cut through the mix of your band. It depends on what kind of music your band plays, how loud they are and the room you are playing in.
I'm not too crazy for the upper mids myself (the 500k to 1k range), but there are some situations where I've found that it sounds better not to roll them off.
Other factors are the design of the bass the amp and any processor you have in between.

charlyg · Post by **charlyg** » Sun Jun 12, 2005 1:49 pm

Well, I never did get around to the specific question. Does that tone control setting seem weird? If I'm playing the bass and you're looking at me they would be at your 9:00. It just seems odd they would both end up in the same position.

rictified · Post by **rictified** » Sun Jun 12, 2005 1:55 pm

I almost always put both my tones in the same position, but I change them frequently, I start about halfway open usually or about 1- 2 o'clock.

rictified · Post by **rictified** » Sun Jun 12, 2005 1:56 pm

Oh and I put the bridge on open all the way or full and the neck on backed off a little bit for bite. Me and Jeff agree on this, haha!

charlyg · Post by **charlyg** » Sun Jun 12, 2005 2:12 pm

A story is in order on how I got the Eden. I did a website for the old LA Bass Centre and I was supposed to be paid with an Eden Traveller. Well ,the fellow who ran it, skipped back to England and left me in the lurch. Long, one of the salesmen at the Bass Centre opened a store called the La Bass Exchange(which is also now gone) and I did his website and got my Eden from him! There is some good news. They have opened a store called The Bass Exchange that has some high end basses. Both high and low end Lakland for instance. I saw a couple of Pedullas last time I stopped by. It is inside of an amp repair shop called the Amp shop. Here is the URL
Bass Exchange

rictified · Post by **rictified** » Sun Jun 12, 2005 3:12 pm

Big gap in their selection though, no Rics.

jwr2 · Post by **jwr2** » Sun Jun 12, 2005 3:29 pm

On my 4003 basses I turn all the dials to 10 ... then I back the neck volume off to 7 or 8 ... on my amp I run the bass, middle, treble, all at 4-6 range ... on the graphic eq I boost the 150hz and 2khz settings ... I also have a bass pod in the mix with distortion and compression and the tone controls on that are bass=8, mid=2, treble=8, ... through that whole thing I get a good growl on the bass ...

I really think a good key to getting a good sound out of a 4001/4003 is to open it up and dial the neck pickup back a little ...

dean712 · Post by **dean712** » Mon Jun 13, 2005 9:15 pm

My bass guitar control settings are very similar to Jeff and Bob. All four knobs up to FULL, then back the neck pickup volume back a bit.

That is for when I'm using the pickup switch on BOTH pickups. I will often flip it down for just the treble pickup, for more bite - my bass is set up such that this isn't a radical volume differential, just tone.

Also, I'm somewhat similar to Jeff and Bob in that I run my amp's EQ pretty close to flat. There is a lot of space in my band, though - we are a 3-piece, and the guitarist uses a Telecaster, so I have the lower register virtually to myself. If there were multiple guitarists, it would probably be different.

rictified · Post by **rictified** » Tue Jun 14, 2005 5:34 am

One difference I do maybe from others is I usually have the bridge pickup louder than the neck pickup for more bite. By louder I mean I have the pickup closer to the strings volume wise than the neck. I use flatwounds and like the mid and top I get from the treble pickup mixed in louder than the neck, I also do this with RW strrings though. When I back off the neck pickup I get a pronounced change in tone quickly on most of my basses because of this.

charlyg · Post by **charlyg** » Tue Jun 14, 2005 6:22 am

It looks like I'm winning this amp so if that is the case, I will have to either sell it or the Eden.. Whatcha think?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7329250625&ssPageName=ADME:B:DS:US:6

charlyg · Post by **charlyg** » Tue Jun 14, 2005 6:23 am

I should say I kinda got tricked into this buy. I made a bid, got outbid and forgot about it. The other fellow retracted his bid so here I am!

edski · Post by **edski** » Tue Jun 14, 2005 6:52 am

3 bills isn't a bad price for the 220 W model. Good luck...

charlyg · Post by **charlyg** » Tue Jun 14, 2005 7:09 am

Maybe I should sell the Eden WT-300 and keep the 210T and the Ampeg. That way, I'll have my 4x10. I shouldn't have a problem running that with 220 watts? My traveller is 300 and it's barely idling in this church setting. I think both volumes are at 10 o'clock or less.