Your Bass Tonal Palette II – Passive Tone

Last Updated on February 10th, 2020

In the first installment, we talked about using your volume knobs (or your blend) to create tonal variety in the event that you walk into a gig and are told that your amp (read: main source of tonal sound) will not be used and that a DI and set of headphones are now your best friend. But as we all know, it’s rare that a bass will have JUST a volume knob. Today we’re going to talk about the passive tone knob, or for you lucky guys with more, passive tone knobs.
If the volume/blend knobs are considered the most important part in your tone sculpting (much like red and yellow are primary colors in the artist’s spectrum), the tone knob is going to act as a fine tuner, able to lighten or darken the quality of your sound, much like how adding white or black is going to change the hue of a color. While a pink and brick red still fall under the red color spectrum, the shade and hue are what sets it apart and makes it unique. With your tone knob, you have the ability to lighten or darken your overall sound, giving it a complexity and ensuring that the sound you’re creating is your own.
For this exercise, we’re going to keep the pickups at a flat, even area (either both volume knobs up all the way, or the blend knob in the center indent). Roll the tone completely counter-clockwise to start, and play your “control” groove (the one we talked about in the first article that you use to compare everything). Move the tone knob, play the groove, rinse and repeat. Notice exactly how your particular bass deals with the bass and treble as you go through the range of the tone knob. Depending on the caps being used, there may be major tonal changes. Then again, there may be changes that are very slight, making you repeat yourself a couple of times to figure out exactly what’s happening on your bass and how it sounds. And it may not be how you were thinking, or be consistent from bass to bass. My five string (a ‘96 Warwick Corvette STD) had a very touchy tone knob that changed tone drastically, whereas my former frankenbass 1962 Jazz (so it had the stacked vol/tone knobs) was very precise and subtle, allowing me to fine tune the sound.
Once you’re comfortable with the tone knob and the capabilities that it has, here’s where it can start to get complicated (or, as I think of it, a lot more fun). If you found a great tone from the previous article using your volume/blend knobs, now is the time to dial that back in. Once that’s set, start again with the tone knob to fine tune what sound you’re looking for, keeping in mind exactly how everything is working together at this point for the end tonal product. Whether you’re looking for deep bass that is articulate, or a smooth, mellow sound, at this point it should be pretty easy to dial it in directly from your bass with no help from any amplifier or effect.
While this all may seem well and good, let’s remember one major benefit this has; instant adjustments. Any issues that you hear in the mix (through your amp, or through the headphones) can very easily be remedied with your onboard controls, instead of relying on the soundperson, who usually has a lot of other things they’re worrying about over just “how the bass sounds.” Pulling some bass out of your signal via the tone knob is a lot quicker, and also gives you more control over the final sound.
And that’s if you’re the kind of “set it and forget it” kind of guy, staying on that signature tone of yours. However, for some people that might want to switch it up, rolling that tone knob back and pulling the bridge volume down to create a thick, dub style sound in the matter of a couple seconds is a benefit, allowing you to better shape your sound to fit the song. And for a working/freelance musician, this type of attention to detail is not only appreciated, but remembered.
I hope these first two articles have helped you look at the onboard controls of your bass as more than just some knobs to leave set; they are a vital piece of your sound and have a lot more control over your tone than we may know. Up to this point we’ve only dealt with the passive tone knob; the next time we’re jumping into the exhaustive options that active preamps have and the gigantic amount of tonal options they provide.

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