Info on this cab issue needed.

eoinwalsh · #1 08-08-2011, 08:52 AM

I've been trying for ages to get the nice warm, jazz bass growl for fingerstyle playing over the bridge pickup. The sound at 2:21 in this video is close to the sound I'm talking about. That standard jazz bass sound. ‪NAMM '09: RH450 presented by BASSIDA aka Ida Funkhouser‬&rlm; - YouTube

I know I'm using the correct settings on my jazz bass for this sound but I've never been able to get that sound exactly.Then, today there were people in the house and I couldn't play too loud so I decided to plug my headphones into my amp so the cab was bypassed and what I was hearing was the sound of just the instrument and the amp together. To my delight, there was the sound I had wanted.

So the bass and the amp together produce a great sound. But if I plug the amp into the cab, the sound the comes out of the cab is quite different. It's crap really. Why is this? What can be done to make the nice sound of the bass and the amp come out of the cab?

My amp is a GK MB500. My cab is a markbass traveller 102P.

Thanks.

RickenBoogie · #2 08-08-2011, 09:42 AM

More speakers= bigger sound.

PSPookie · #3 08-08-2011, 10:23 AM

Cabs will color your sound. The trick is to find one you like the "color" of that gets along well with your head and then finding the right adjustments to the EQ until you get the sound you want.

Shouldn't take you more than 20 years and about a zillion bucks

billfitzmaurice · #4 08-08-2011, 11:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by eoinwalsh

I decided to plug my headphones into my amp so the cab was bypassed and what I was hearing was the sound of just the instrument and the amp together. To my delight, there was the sound I had wanted. ..'But if I plug the amp into the cab, the sound the comes out of the cab is quite different. It's crap really. Why is this?

Headphones have flat response. 99.9% of electric bass cabs don't. AFAIK Acme is the only commercial cab with flat response. Your other alternative is DIY.

eoinwalsh · #5 08-08-2011, 12:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by billfitzmaurice

Headphones have flat response. 99.9% of electric bass cabs don't. AFAIK Acme is the only commercial cab with flat response. Your other alternative is DIY.

Does this mean headphones don't bring out any particular frequencies more than others?

eoinwalsh · #6 08-08-2011, 12:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PSPookie

Cabs will color your sound. The trick is to find one you like the "color" of that gets along well with your head and then finding the right adjustments to the EQ until you get the sound you want.

Shouldn't take you more than 20 years and about a zillion bucks

Should I keep messing with the eq? Or does the fact that bass>amp>cab doesn't produce the same sound as bass>amp indicate that I have the wrong cab?

BassmanPaul · #7 08-08-2011, 12:55 PM

If you want the flat response of your headphones out of you speakers they need to be just as flat, nothing cut nothing boosted, as your headphones. As Bill opined, very few bass cabinets have a flat response. I have the pleasure of owning Acme and they are wonderful for what I do.

billfitzmaurice · #8 08-08-2011, 12:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by eoinwalsh

Does this mean headphones don't bring out any particular frequencies more than others?

Correct.

Quote:

Should I keep messing with the eq? Or does the fact that bass>amp>cab doesn't produce the same sound as bass>amp indicate that I have the wrong cab?

If your EQ looks like this you might have some success.

BEHRINGER: DEQ2496

Otherwise trying to get truly flat response from the average electric bass cab is a futile endeavor.