www.FretlessBass.com

I have a stock Fender Jazz fretless made in Mexico and use Rotosound flats. I use a MXR M80 bass DI which has a 3 band EQ and ‘color’ button which is essentially a mid scoop and boost to highs and lows adding a punch to the sound but can make it a bit muddy. I usually run both pickup on full or maybe back off the neck pickup about 10 %. The MXR I usually run pretty much flat too and don’t engage the mid scoop.

At a gig recently I tried using the mid scoop and soloing the bridge pickup and was really surprised by the tone. The more defined tone of the bridge pickup was evident but the low end loss was more than made up by the lows added by the MXR’s ‘color’ button.

How do you guys get on with EQ and preamps?

On a Fender Jazz I would go with a John East J-RETRO pre-amp, if you have the money.

East RETRO pre-amps have a slight warm low end boost, plus very nice EQ control including a semi-parametric MID tone control.

http://www.east-uk.com/

I have several fretless basses, and the one that sounds the best by a great margin has an East pre-amp in it. In my case a U-RETRO rather than a J-RETRO (J for Fender Jazz). Both are identical electronically.

I have as yet to find a better pre-amp for fretless.

East pre-amps made in UK.

If you can't afford a East pre-amp I would use whatever EQ you have on hand. Cut some of the treble in the clicky harsh frequency region. Boost the bass at about 80Hz to 100Hz, but don't use too much, just enough to warm it up.

Cutting the mids, as is common for slap style playing or when using an amp "profile" or "colour" switch may not be a good idea for fretless. The reason for this is that the fretless signature "Mwah" sound seems to reside in the 700Hz area. This would be low mids to most people. Cutting MIDs might be great for slap, but I don't like it for fretless.

So if you feel a need to EQ in the mid region it is usually a MID boost rather a MID cut. Not all MID tone controls are useful for fretless bass, many are voiced (centre frequency) at too high a frequency, and not in or near the "Mwah" area.

Use your ears to get the sound you imagine is YOUR voice.

Some control of the mids is important unless you are fortunate enough to own an already fabulous sounding fretless bass. I like a parametric, or semi-parametric EQ that permits zeroing in on the Lo-MID Mwah.

On my East U-RETRO equipped bass, I find I don't have to use much EQ on the amp or other devices, it sounds great as is.

You have not mentioned what you are using for a stage rig. What amp/speaker set-up do you use? These effect how you manage tone too.

Thanks for the really interesting reply FretLessSince68.

I use my MIM fretless Jazz through an MXR M80 and into a Trace Elliot Commando 15 combo. I know that’s not the best amp for fretless but it’s a workhorse, and I use a fretted P bass too.

90% of my gigs I go direct into the PA so most of my tone shaping is done on the MXR M80. I like the 3 band EQ it has and don’t normally use the ‘color’ feature which is essential a mid scoop, bit like the Trace Elliot pre-shape, but trying it the other day when soloing the bridge pickup sounded good in my monitor mix, nice and punchy using mainly the bridge pickup.

The MXR is voiced at bass 60 hz, with the mids at 850 hz and the treble at 4 khz and I don’t know exactly where the bass is boosted and the mids are cut by the ‘color’ button, I guess the bass is boosted somewhere around the 60 hz to 100 hz area, and the mids are cut somewhere around the 600 hz to 800 hz.

The Trace Elliot is voiced at bass 100 hz, mids at 400 hz and treble at 2 khz. There;s also at bass boost which boosts at 60 h zand cuts at 600 hz. and a mid shift which changes the mids from 400 hz to 1 khz.

I use an Alembic F-2B preamp with my 70's Jazz bass.
I have seen them on ebay for around $500.

The tonal range is amazing and to dial it in "flat" the settings are;

B=2, M=10, T=2

If you are looking for that scooped sound the F-2B will hit the mark.

slawie