Soooo...I'm sound checking for last night's gig...

[Mr. Mom]

...And I'm trying out a couple of new-to-me pedal preamps (Tonehammer and VT DI). I'm "in charge" of sound for this band and am soundchecking the band from out front listening to the FOH sound. (We use IEM's so no amps on stage. Even the drums are electronic. We use a Mackie 1608 board which runs off an iPad. Makes it easy to run sound which is good 'cause I'm no soundman!)

Got the BBITW (Best Bass In The World), my L2k, in series/active/both pickups, plugged into the Tonehammer which leads into the VT DI which leads to the board. Plan is, at that point, to toggle between the TH and VT and see which one sounds best on the recordings I'm making of the gig. TH for the first set, VT for the second set. I've already go the two pedals at the same level and sounding pretty similar to see which one will have that "inherent tone" that I like the best. The only "FX" I'm using on the Mackie is a HPF set at around 100 hz to sit above the kick which is centered around 80 hz.

I start with the TH for soundcheck. DAMN!, but my bass sounds good! Real good. Signal is little hot so I have to reset the Gain on the Mackie, but DAMN!, the TH is killin'! Or so I thought.

After soundcheck I set down my bass and look over at the pedals and both pedals are turned off! In my haste to do sound I forgot to turn on the TH. My bass was just going straight to the board with no colorization or EQing or ANYTHING coming from the pedals. Just a HPF set at 100 hz. Volume and tone wide open on the bass. And it sounds killer!

Moral of the story? My bass IS the Best Bass In The World.

[TDR1138]

While I will refute that you're is the BBITW, I will say that I agree that the Ls play well with going direct. My general setup is bass --> Boss parametric EQ pedal --> DI box --> PA. I bump the lows around 200k, give or take. That works for my LB-100, Sting sig, even my active Jazz. But my L2k sounds great without the EQ. Just perfect dry.

[Mr. Mom]

The L's just have "that tone". Fender-ish, but better?? I mean, they ARE Fender instruments, but they're not Fender. If that makes sense.

I never really bonded with a Fender J or P. I've had a few, but in the end they need too much EQing and messing with to be where I wanted them to be. Basically, the L series, right out of the gate, is how a Fender J/P would sound after I got done messing with it EQ-wise. Again, if that makes sense.

It's killing me that the BBITW (It is, BTW.) is tuned down a half step. (The cover band I get most of my gigs from , for whatever silly reason, tunes down a half step. I think the singer thinks it help her save her voice.) My other bass, a really great Lakland Skyline Scheff modded to hell and back, just sounds..."flat" compared to the BBITW.

YMMV, IMO, etc etc all apply. But if you disagree with me, you're just plain wrong.

[fatherska]

I remembered Mr Mom's tale on Sunday evening when, to my sudden surprise, I had a very similar experience.

I was trying out for a new band and there were moments when I was really pleased with my tone. For example, I noticed how tight and well-defined the low end was at moments when big low end with good definition would be (was) perfect. Likewise, there's a whole-tone slide that comes about a few times in Marvin Gaye's "What's Goin On" and I was pleased with how well the upper-mids held in the mix. Fortunately, these are both typical experiences with an L-1500 with good strings. However...

There was a couple of moments when I thought I'd like a little more presence in the midrange to cut through. (Imagine an L-1500 player saying that!) I walked over to my amp and turned the knob for a little more. It didn't seem to make any difference. A short time later, a little surprised that it seemed necessary, I again turned up the mids. Into the next tune, I didn't hear any difference. No harm. My tone was good anyway.

When the session ended and it was time to pack up, I checked the face of my amp. That moment suddenly hit me: The EQ in/out button had been in the 'out' position the whole time. I'd had great tone all night with the EQ off.

My L-1500 was delivering remarkably nice tone the whole time simply on the strength of my knob & switch settings on the bass itself, plus good playing technique. The preamp of my Ashdown MAG 300 had simply been delivering clean signal to the power amp without any EQ.

I've been playing this bass for 18 years, now. Mr. Mom, you keep yours. I'm keeping this one.

[Mr. Mom]

My L-1500 was delivering remarkably nice tone the whole time simply on the strength of my knob & switch settings on the bass itself, plus good playing technique. The preamp of my Ashdown MAG 300 had simply been delivering clean signal to the power amp without any EQ.

I've been doing the same thing. No EQ at the board (I just plug straight into the board) and using the switches and knobs on the bass to achieve a tone I like. It's been fun!

When doing this I prefer active mode. A) The signal is hotter so I don't have to run the trim/gain at the board almost all the way up. B) Cuts through more betterer.

I'll try and get a board mix one of these days. Maybe one with Series/Active and one with Parallel/Active.

[Mr. Mom]

Welll....Never did get a board mix, did I?

Still loving TBBITW. Damn thing still has the original strings on it! I usually play TBBITW for a week or so then switch over to my Lakie for a week or so. But the L2k is THE bass to take to gigs where I'll be covering a lot of ground, genre-wise. Been digging the neck pickup quite a bit as of late.

As God as my witness this bass has no bad tones. None.

[Mr. Mom]

Did the same dang thing last week that I did in my original post: Thought I had my Tone Hammer on and was real happy with my tone. After sound check I realized my Tone Hammer is off. Duh.