Hey YALL: hyper:

My name is Josh and i'm a bass player in a rock band,
im currently playing on a Fender jazz bass with an Ampeg B2RE head and an SVT 410 HE cab.


For some Reason i cant get my bass to sound clear or powerfull enough.
I find myself sacrificing power for clarity and vice versa.

Does anyone have any tips or advice on how to set up the head and 9 Band Eq so i can get more clarity and power out of my rig.

Here's an example of the sound i want:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bX9C96zwYfQ

Hi Josh,
Ampeg gear has a character to it that's not necessarily known for clarity. Power - yes, Ampeg tone - yes, clarity - not so much...

However, to maximize the clarity of what you have, I'd recommend setting your EQ flat and doing some subtractive EQ tweaking to see if you can clean up your tone a bit.

Also, try backing off your preamp gain. Too much preamp gain will result in distortion. I usually start with the preamp gain and master volume set at zero. I crank the preamp gain as much as I can without getting muddy tone, audible clipping or other artifacts and then crank the master volume.

That will get you the cleanest tone possible with the maximum headroom.

As a general rule of thumb, running the preamp as hot as possible without distortion, generally gets better tone and allows the nuances of your playing style to come through better.

Hope that helps, and peace!

Buy an Eden rig with a Lakland bass from Brandt and you'll be as happy as a lottery winner.

The B2 series heads are a bit dark sounding.

You might want to look into more power. I find that the more power you have the less likely you are to need EQing at all. OTOH, less power works sometimes. My feelings are there is always a volume knob.

The problem with the cab you have is that it's a sealed design. This actually was meant to be used with another larger cabinet to cover the lows. Some people may find the sealed 10's favorable (I do) but i'm not looking for power, just a cab thats easy to mic without getting boomy.

I would suggest if you stay with Ampeg and a 410 to look into the SVT-410HLF cab. It has a tremendous more amount of lows, and would need less low EQ giving you more clarity.

Also, clarity in bass tone happens around 1khz, or your midrange. The mud starts at 100hz and goes to 300hz. For your cab, you would want to take 250hz down some, boost the lows marginally and try to boost 1khz. Unfortunately your not going to get that with the limited EQ on that head.

Look into a B4R/SVT-4 Pro and an SVT-410HLF/SVT-610 for more power and clarity if you like the Ampeg tone.

Edit: I should add that the tone your listening to is a direct line from a jazz bass with the tone about 1/4 way off. You would need a jazz bass to get that tone, with the bridge pickup raised up high, and the neck pickup down a little more than usual to round the tone out, both knobs up. Roll your horn off a little on the 410, boost the low knob to taste (may not be needed in whatever room your playing in), don't press the buttons on that head (Low, Bright), crank the master up and use the pre-gain until the tone happens.

+1 on the Eden Rig!! I have a 1000W power amp and use my wt-300 as a pre. Awesome clear thunder!

Always turn the post up to 7 or so and start with the pre around 1 and use the "pre" as your volume control. I suggest running EVERYTHING flat.... the bass, the eq, any "scoops" or "contours". Change your batteries after 15 hours of playing time.

CHANGE YOUR STRINGS AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE!!!

I change mine once a week on my main bass (a 98 Stingray)

Also, a bi-amp setup would clean up your sound too

hi, im scott

Also, I would note that in the video, the player is using either an octave pedal or an octave effect built into the amp at least part of the time, so that when he is playing higher on the neck, the notes still sound fat.
I never had an Ampeg head, but the 3 Ampeg combos I had weren't "clear" sounding. They cut through well, and they sounded good, but I wouldn't call it clear.

[QUOTE=superqwertyboy;4411734]Always turn the post up to 7 or so and start with the pre around 1 and use the "pre" as your volume control.



from what i understand that is totally backwards, the whole point of the pre gain is to get the max volume before distortion before it goes through the circuitry.
i.e if you have your master at 7 and pre at 1. your amp is up quite loud and will amplify all the circuitry noise and your bass will be quiet.
if you have it the other way around( well, set the pre by getting it to distort then pull it back till its clean) and use the post as a master you will get next to no circuit noise

all i can say is get rid of the ampeg head. ampeg is all talk i dont know why people like them so much. they are awful! fender bass amplification has proved very worthy to me for both power and clarity.

eden rig + lakland bass = dream

Listen to the sound of your band and try to find a zone of EQ where no one else seems to be claiming territory. Because you're in a rock band, listen to the sounds of the guitars and try to do a mental spectral analysis of what zone they seem to be occupying, and then move into a zone where they are not sitting.

Or better yet, make your guitarists do this. Set up the rig in a way that makes you happy, and then force them to listen to the sound of the bass and drums playing together, so they can start crafting a sound that doesn't muddy you up. Rock guitarists these days have a tendency to like really deep tones, and if you consider that the guitar is also capable of some really bright and trebly tones, that eats up the entire soundscape. That's why the 5-string is getting so popular in heavy rock (the B string is the only area a guitarist with a Mesa-Boogie rig won't try to blow you out).

Tell those punks to stop trying to be bass players, or else they don't really need one. Metallica's "...And Justice For All," anyone?

solution, as per above:

The B2 series heads are a bit dark sounding.

You might want to look into more power. I find that the more power you have the less likely you are to need EQing at all. OTOH, less power works sometimes. My feelings are there is always a volume knob.

The problem with the cab you have is that it's a sealed design. This actually was meant to be used with another larger cabinet to cover the lows. Some people may find the sealed 10's favorable (I do) but i'm not looking for power, just a cab thats easy to mic without getting boomy.

I would suggest if you stay with Ampeg and a 410 to look into the SVT-410HLF cab. It has a tremendous more amount of lows, and would need less low EQ giving you more clarity.

Also, clarity in bass tone happens around 1khz, or your midrange. The mud starts at 100hz and goes to 300hz. For your cab, you would want to take 250hz down some, boost the lows marginally and try to boost 1khz. Unfortunately your not going to get that with the limited EQ on that head.

Look into a B4R/SVT-4 Pro and an SVT-410HLF/SVT-610 for more power and clarity if you like the Ampeg tone.

Edit: I should add that the tone your listening to is a direct line from a jazz bass with the tone about 1/4 way off. You would need a jazz bass to get that tone, with the bridge pickup raised up high, and the neck pickup down a little more than usual to round the tone out, both knobs up. Roll your horn off a little on the 410, boost the low knob to taste (may not be needed in whatever room your playing in), don't press the buttons on that head (Low, Bright), crank the master up and use the pre-gain until the tone happens.