Your Favorite tone setting...
 

Hello all! Just joined the KSB club a few days ago with a stunning Black Tiger 5 string. My question as a newbie-do you have a favorite setting for your tone? I know every player is different, and every bass is unique etc.-but with such a large choice of tonal variations on this bass I wonder if some of you have particular settings you could share.

For example, this sounded pretty jazzy to me so far:

Balance slightly towards the rear PU
toggles both down
1/4 turn +bass
1/8 turn +treble
flat mid

something like that....

I would love to hear some of your insights, and what styles they work well for. Thanks!
Here's a pic from Ken before she was stringed...

Attachment 1570

Hi Jason and Welcome here.

Unless you are playing directly to the line mix board,( then maybe the bass controls are the only to take in consideration), I really think that the overall bass tone for a player is a sum of several things like: bass type, strings, cables, amplifiers, boxes, effects and of course playing technique.

In this case it's rather difficult to have a sound formula or a sound refference only with the position of the bass' controls.

Best regards

I agree, sort of. But when I first picked up my KSB I was shown various settings that produced entirely different sounds with fairly specific identities. Panned all the way to the back PU with the bass turned up and the midrange pumped a bit gave it a "Jaco" sound.

Both toggle switches up gave the bass more of a fender precision sound, especially with the treble turned down a bit.

I run my GK 700 straight up pretty much, but even through other amps the basic tone of the bass comes through.

Maybe it is kind of a plebeian question, but my last bass was a 1977 Music Man Stingray with a volume control and treble/Bass. Not much choice-although it sounds great. My friend Trevor showed me how he likes to set his KSB tone controls-it was pretty interesting. I also wondered if anyone fools around with one toggle up, the other down etc.

So I guess the better way to phrase this newbie question is:
Do you have an unusual setting you use to give your KSB a "Unique" tone?
If nobody answers I will move on... ;)

Tone settings?
 

Any response you would get would be subjective at best: Way to many variables. You really need to experiment and dial-in the tone that works for you. The Smith circuit is not a complicated one and with the right bass and amplification set-up, you should be able to achieve the tone that not only defines a Smith but settles into the mix as it should. :)

I run my amp flat, and control tone entirely from my Smith.

I run bass boosted (about 2 o'clock),
Mids flat to slightly cut,
Treble boosted slightly (about 1 o'clock)
pickup balance slightly favoring bridge, (about 11 o'clock)
and vary between both pickups in parallel, or neck pickup in series.

All in all, you and I arrived at about the same settings.

First actual band rehearsal with the KSB today-the guys loved the way it sounds! I love the extra boost you get by running both PU's in parallel-Classic older sound only more present.
We do a variety of modern jazz through older 40's & 50's material, the versatility is great.
Thanks for responding! :)

Tone
 

I run everything flat, with a touch of bass boost. My sound guy loves me to death.

Mike

Sorry for my question but...my luthier instaled a new 3 pot circuit and i'm not sure of the position of pots.

Is anybody can say to me what the exact position of these pots ? i mean the white line of pot...

Sorry for my very bad english :rolleyes: :D

My favorite tone position - flat:). sometimes when I use only the neck pickup and need more bottom - a slight bass boost.

Nobody to help me ?

Maybe a pic with 3 pots all the way down can help me...

I use generaly volume at max, balance changing with music i play, for rock in center position, for jazz, reggae, blues, more or less neck pickup and for funk or fusion, more or less bridge pickup.

I don't like too much hight ( i'm the bassman men :D) but sometime a little bost bass :)

model?
 

This is a Smith bass I assume? The BT concentric 2-band EQ bass & treble?

Yes ken, a BT6 1992 with BT concentric 3 W circuit.

ok..
 

To you and all the others I might add that tone settings on a bass will vary with the actual bass. If you have two Smith basses of the same model side by side but in different woods I can almost bet that you will set them differently even if only slightly.

When you play in various rooms, clubs, concert halls, different parts of the world or even different seasons in the same room, the sound traveling through the air will not be the same. You will probably adjust both your bass and your amp to get the sound closest to what's in your head or to please your ear.

How many of you agree on this?

Absolutely agreed Ken, specially when we are speaking about a “Limited Edition" - lol

Best regards

I agree, but I'll say that for any room I've never had to adjust any control more than maybe 1/8 turn.. At least on my Smith. it just sounds good in almost any environment =)

I agree to, especialy when the weather is wet...

I agree
 

In my opinion everything changes every time I play... Distance from the amp, distance from another musicians, drum, brass section blowing your head out...:eek:
So, I leave my controls unchanged to send a flat tone to FOH, where a good sound engineer can shape my sound the way he wants, and I adjust the EQ in my amp to fit that specific room where I'm playing.
This makes sense to me since I like my bass flat.

Same here...

If I don't get the sound I want with all EQ's flat (Including amp), I know that this is a result of a bad room, a mediocre amp or both... Then I will only play with the amp's EQ to get close to my sound, sending flat signal to FOH - most of the time I will not get exactly the sound I'm looking for from the amp..

Maybe for every situation and player there is the best bass/amp combination, but if I go through a good rig (ampeg SVT2Pro or SVT CL, paired with 8x10 or 2x15 are my favorites, also had good experience with Eden rigs and old fender BXR 400 heads with good cabs) all I need to do is to plug the bass, all EQ's flat, turn up the volume and this is my sound right there!