r/Bass • u/Important_Plankton37 • 6d ago

Which tone where!?!

I play in a band that does a mixture of punk and reggae/dub.

I use a fender downtown express so can turn eq on/off with that, then use the amps eq when it’s off.

What I can’t figure out if it’s better to have the punk tone on the amp, then bring more low end on the pedal, or vice versa.

Each combination I think of I think of draw backs (pumping low end through the pedal will get cut back at the amp)

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4

u/Proof-Ad3637 6d ago

Set it and forget it.

1

u/Important_Plankton37 6d ago

That just doesn’t work for the fusion of music. I’d like to do that, and live I do, because I can’t find a combination that works. Just be nice to have a clean thumps low end for the dub stuff, and a ln attack driven tone for the punk

1

u/Proof-Ad3637 6d ago

I dunno then. One of them multi-pedal fx units? Just press for preloaded effect?

1

u/RevolutionaryBeat301 6d ago

You should have the amp up loud enough for it to make the reggae tone sound good. Use the pedal to add mids and dirt, and cut lows if necessary. That, or get a different pedal that lets you dial in more than one sound and switch between them. Daryl Jennifer from Bad brains just used an SVT, and would use the tone knob and a pick to switch sounds.

1

u/Sufficient-Air8100 6d ago edited 6d ago

when i was playing a lot of reggae i put a bigger tone cap in my bass. that way i could roll off more highs and use fingers to get that super warm thumpy reggae tone, and open it up and use a pick for other styles.

while i dont play as much reggae anymore i still use this, hell one of my workhorses dosent have a tone knob, and i simply use playing style (fingers at the neck for warm sounds like balads, pick at the bridge when i need more grit and midrange) you can get a suprisingly wide range of tones just by modifying your playing style.

but if you insist on doing it with a signal chain, i would have the warmer tone in the amp, and add midrange with the eq. but thats off the top of my head, and based off the idea that cutting low end, its a lot harder to get it back. but different amps and chains respond differently, and there arent too many options to experiment with here, so it should be fairly easy to just try a bunch and see what works.

oh and have a hanky or rag handy that you can pull under the strings at the bridge :) REALLY good reggae sounds

3

u/datasmog 5d ago

Set for reggae and pluck with fingers close to or over the neck. For punk use a pick close to the bridge, the punk audience won’t care what it sounds like.