A few questions (for Steve) related to tone shaping/EQing

[Aborted Fetus]

Hey Steve,

How would you advise a bass player in a heavy band to EQ/shape his sound so as to cut through and still have plenty of "punch?" I've read many things about boosting the low mids and then some about boosting a little around the 800-850 Hz range.

Being in some pretty loud and heavy bands, what did you do to make sure you cut through. I know that settings vary from bass to bass, amp to amp, (room to room, etc) and that there's a big difference in fretless and fretted, but I would appreciate it very much if you could give me some general advice/guidance.

Thank you very much,

Aborted Fetus

PS: I'm sure you've heard this many times, but I figure one more time can't hurt. You're a damn good player and I admire your knowledge and skill which is not just limited to metal. Thanks for helping make the bass more than just "that instrument."

 

[HippieOfDoom]

It sounds like you already know what you're doing. You said it...eq can differ bass to bass, amp to amp, room to room. To cut through?? Well you'll have to rely on your ear for that, and adjust your eq accordingly.

This is what I think...eq is to get the tonality of the instrument you like in the frequency range desired accounting for boosts and cuts as needed per preference. And then that big knob to the left of the eq section, usually called volume...crank that one up, that'll get you to cut through a lot better.

I prefer a mid range sound, but then again I wouldn't feel comfortable without massive treble overdose, and of course you need the low end to crush the plaster off the walls. But my favorite knob is always the volume knob. That's my secret, that's how to get punch, balls, cut and presence all at once.

 

[Aborted Fetus]

Heheheh.....sounds good to me! When I actually bought myself a bass rig (as opposed to the little guitar practice amp I was initially playing through ), my guitarist friend freaked out and was afraid he needed a bigger amp because he couldn't hold up against me. But the main problem with him is that he is possibly the worst "tone shaper" in that he dials in as much distortion as he can (otherwise it doesn't feel "powerful" enough), and all that does is create mud, especially when he's playing lines that are somewhat complex melodies and not power chords.

But anyway, I was wondering what equipment you use. As far as I know, ESP makes a signature model of yours, but I don't really know about your amp choice. Also, I've been looking into getting a distortion pedal to get a grittier sound for certain parts of songs, and was wondering if you have any experience with them (I don't know if you used them or not).

I hope I'm not asking too much. I know that these kinds of questions can be annoying to answer, so it's no biggie. But thanks for your help so far.

Aborted Fetus