What The Knobs on Your Bass Do - Passive and Active - Free Bass Lesson- Nick Weiss Music

[keyoflife44]

how does your passive bass have 4 nobs?

[NickWeissMusic]

@keyoflife44 It's exactly the same as a Les Paul, there's a volume and tone pot for each pickup.

[brasstringed]

Thanks for the tutorial, but I still have a problem. My passive bass stopped sounding in the amplifier. How do I fix this problem?

[NickWeissMusic]

@brasstringed If you're absolutely sure the cable and amp work, the problem is probably one or both of the wires have broken off the input jack inside the bass. This usually happens if you twist the jack around trying to tighten the nut that holds it into the bass. More rarely, jacks themselves can also fail. You'll either need to re-solder or replace the jack- it's minor surgery, but if you have no idea how to do that, I'd bring it to a shop. Good luck!

[skychy]

Whats that reggae song you play?

[NickWeissMusic]

@skychy Stir it Up by Bob Marley

[camelspottergr]

i like the Wooten's Big Coutry bass line on 4:20!

[thehouseofbrawn]

Thanks mate I don't know why they don't label them or tell you what they are in some documentation when you buy the bass

[NickWeissMusic]

@thehouseofbrawn I totally agree! What else do you buy that costs hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars that doesn't come with instructions?

[tagay]

noob question here: do i need to turn off all the knob for my active bass? or just the volume knob? mine has volume, balancer, bass and treble knobs!

[NickWeissMusic]

@tagay I'm not sure what you mean by off, but to turn the sound down all the way you should only have to use the volume knob. If you mean turn the electronics off and not drain the battery, you need to unplug the bass. The battery is activated by a switch in the input jack. You should get months of play out of a battery if you just make sure to unplug when you're not playing.

[tagay]

@NickWeissMusic thanks bro, and uhm, im talking about the turning the electronics off!

[NickWeissMusic]

@tagay no prob, have fun!

[CherryConcrete]

Thank you so much for the video !

Finally someone explained all the necessary basics... Lately every bass player on youtube is a freaking Marcus Miller bass virtuoso, and nobody takes time actually explaining those basics !

Thank you

[RaventailBlacktalon]

@CherryConcrete I agree with this comment! Every video I found just launched right into the playing, which is nice, but it's much better to know what the hell they're talking about.

Thank you, Nick, for this extremely helpful video! <3

[enixmaster]

thanks alot for the clarification here on these parts, i should be able to really pick specific tones for my music now. tasty bass jams :D

[puppetmetal]

I have a couple of questions:

If using the balance knob, will it decrease the sound of a pickup as the other increases and when both are on, are both pickups only half as loud, and is it possible to install active pickups on a bass that originally used passive pickups?

[NickWeissMusic]

@puppetmetal When using a blend knob, generally both pickups are at full volume when you're in the center detent position, and as you move to either side of the detent, one pickup remains cranked at full volume while the other is attenuated. Make sure you buy a Blend pot, not a Pan pot, as a pan pot would work as you described above, and we don''t want that :) As for making a passive bass active, ABSOLUTELY. I'm actually thinking of adding an Aguilar preamp to this bass... Mwah ha ha ha!!!!

[cicatric]

Is it better to have two or one pickups on a bass because my bass has two but i am not sure if it is better or worse?

[NickWeissMusic]

@cicatric It's completely a matter of taste.  One well placed pickup can do wonders as P-Bass and MusicMan fans can attest (although they sound nothing like each other :) ) I tend to prefer multiple pickups since I play a lot of different styles and like to emulate different tones from the same bass. No setup is better or worse, it's purely opinion.

[cicatric]

@NickWeissMusic Thanks a lot :) that was a very helpfull post

[DaGodPigeon]

good...

[bentnob]

cheers, good info. so i'm guessing the 2 tone knobs are for each pickup. also why does my bass have 2 pickups. what difference does it make having 1 turned up and the other down. i want to play death metal, how should i set my bass and amp. i have a lomenzo bass overdrive pedal that i'm also trying to sort out. any advice would be great.

[bentnob]

actually no worries ive figured it all out.

[zziggymaan]

awesome! first to comment! :D hey, how do you take off the knobs to replace them with something funny or cool just to add a little style to the guitar? i am just wondering if you can just pull them off like a normal guitar, or do you have to dismantle something?

[NickWeissMusic]

Thanks! Most bass knobs are no different than guitar knobs- there may be a set screw though. If there is a hole in the side of the knob, it's for a screw that you must loosen to take the knob off the guitar. Slip some thin cardboard under the the knob to protect the paint and gently pry it off with a screwdriver. Then pop your gold skull knobs on (you know you want them :) ) and commence to rocking. If they don't fit right, sadly you may need to change pots; hopefully not though.

[zziggymaan]

yeah, i tried putting on some molded coca-cola bottle caps on, but there wasn't a right sized drill bit that i could find to put it on without breaking the insides of the guitar. (sad day. :( oh well) so i want out and bought some nice metal bullet-looking chrome knobs that hav the allen wrench screw.

[NickWeissMusic]

Yes, set screw knobs are the easiest. Putting odd sized new knobs on a guitar would at worst require replacing the pots (potentiometers) that the knobs sit on- you just need to find pots that fit the knobs, then de-solder and replace the old ones with the new ones. It is tricky at first, but you can't do permanent damage just by replacing pots- at worst you'll need pro help to finish the job, any guitar shop should be able to help.