POST A PICTURE

[Macrocosmcwh]

Hahahaha.... That is next.... I started with a Schecter Diamond studio elite 5 string... Then got the same bass in a six string... Then a LTD B5-E (actually one of my favorites dont tell anyone) Then I picked up the Steinberger and a Lightwave from a fellow TB'er. I have G.A.S. I am being told. I am not really sure what kind of amp to get... And truthfully I have spent a lot of money on the basses... I am going to be selling my 5 string Schecter and possibly the LTD and my BOSS loop pedal in order to raise capital for a new Amp. Once I find a good 6 sting that is affordable "$1000-$1500.00" I will get that and sell my 6 sting and be happy. Hahahahaha or SO I WILL THINK....

Thinking about getting a TC Electronics RH450 and a RS212 cab.... But not set on it. I see you use GK... why did you choose that?

[scottfeldstein]

Frankly, I use GK because they strike the right balance between gourmet and utilitarian. Plus, the company does right by its customers and they are largely responsible for the bass sounds of the 80s when I was learning to play. I also like Genz-Benz and others. I've heard weird things about TCE amps. I kind of dig those totally vertical 212 cabs, though. I just saw one on Sat.

[Macrocosmcwh]

PS I have enjoyed reading your "100 Things"

[Macrocosmcwh]

Originally Posted by scottfeldstein

Frankly, I use GK because they strike the right balance between gourmet and utilitarian. Plus, the company does right by its customers and they are largely responsible for the bass sounds of the 80s when I was learning to play. I also like Genz-Benz and others. I've heard weird things about TCE amps. I kind of dig those totally vertical 212 cabs, though. I just saw one on Sat.

I like the way they sound.... And being ridiculously portable is GREAT! Being as I drive a VW GTI... I dont have much space!

[Passinwind]

Originally Posted by Macrocosmcwh

Post a picture of your favorite EQ settings on your bass amp.

Here ya go, click on the pic to make it larger:



That's the actual measured response of my preamp with Bass = 5, Mids = 5, Treble = 6 (one to ten scale). This is for practice in my living room, anywhere else all bets are off.

[will33]

On your acoustic 450, the notch/frequency thing amounts to a fixed cut/fixed Q width/adjustable frequency control. What that means is when you set the notch to "on", it will slice out a narrow portion of your sound at whatever frequency you set the knob at.

How I would use this is to "tune" the amp to your room. You mentioned earlier your room has a resonance of it's own that seems to muddy up the sound. I would start with all the knobs straight up, "noon" if you imagine them as a clock face, set the notch button to "on", turn the volume up a good bit, enough to get the room ringing or booming, and then turn the frequency knob back and forth until you find the spot that makes the room stop booming or adding mud to the sound.

Then just leave it there. If you move the amp to a different room, or even in a different spot in the same room, that will change where the resonance is, so you'd repeat the process to find it and eliminate it again.



Then just play, and take each and every control one at a time and turn it all the way left and right and back again and listen to how each affects different parts of your sound. Use that information to find a combination of settings you like.


Then go ahead and take your stuff somewhere else and set up and play in different rooms. Repeat the process again. You'll help to train your ear and come to realize you may end up with your knobs in very different positions to end up with a similair sound in some very different rooms.

[will33]

Oh, and one other thing. There ain't no electric bass gonna sound rich everywhere you play it like a 100+ year old cello.....that's why we have those knobs.....so don't be afraid of turning the knobs.

[Blue]

fwiw ... there's a player in town who has literally taped over all his knobs. Same setting every venue every gig. To be fair he has an "active eq." bass which he tweaks - but the amp is locked down.

He is also 3/4 deaf. Conversations are difficult and he has to play louder to hear himself - and he uses charts for every tune to follow along.

Actually, a bit sad, imho.

[Energy]

Originally Posted by Bass_Pounder

There has been a ton of posts like this over the years, and all go nowhere.

Why ?

Because every amp is different. Different EQ center points, different tone stacks, etc.

What EQ setting work on ONE amp, can be total garbage on another.

^ This.

Example: my amp. The EQ knobs function as follows:

Bass: 0...+10 dB @ 40 Hz
Middle: -20...0 dB @ 400 Hz
Treble: - 20... +10 dB @ 6 kHz
Presence: 0...+10 dB @ >3 kHz

Would it help if I told you how I set the EQ to obtain a sort of neutral starting point?

[Old Joe]

There are some good starting points for the EQ on the B450 in the manual.

It is online if you don't have it:

http://www.acousticamplification.com...e/pdf/b450.pdf

Page 9. That should give you some ideas and you can tweak from there.

[cchorney]

What i hear in my living room 5 feet from the cab doesn't sound like it does across the room. It sounds different at volume in our band rehearsal space. And it sounds different at every single venue. So I always start with everything at noon and tweak from there. Which is a real hardship at those gigs where we don't have the luxury of a sound check. Last Saturday we played a gig at a restaurant where another act was playing before us, in the next room. The ground rule was we could set up but we couldn't do sound checks until he finished, because we were essentially right next to each other and our sound checks would have stomped all over his performance. So he finishes and its already our contracted time to start, so our sound check was our first couple songs in our first set. First song I set everything to noon on my amp and used my BDDI in "tube" mode as is my normal performance plan, and it was very muddy. Second song I bypassed the BDDI and it was better but still not right. Third song I turned down the lows to about 9:00 and the low mids to about 10:00 and it was much better. Bottom line - its all very situation dependent. Trust your ears, not your knobs.

This was on my passive Fender Geddy Lee Jazz and my Markbass CMD102P.

[Macrocosmcwh]

Wow.... you see that is why I love this place! You guys are the best...!!! Thank you all for taking the time to add to this thread! Seriously! Cudos to you all!

Will, Scott, CC, Joe, Breaking wind.... (lol) Thank you all! Seriously!

On a completely different theme... (Thanks Scott now I cant stop trying to figure out what is next.) With a budget of around 1000.00 new or used... What is a good AMP/Speaker combo for all around great sound/reliability/value?? The acoustic that I have sounds great... But there is some serious AND I MEAN SERIOUS hmmmmmmmmm to the amp when not playing and the fan is ridiculous!!! Thanks again....

[scottfeldstein]

If you're shopping for amps, a lot depends on the style of music you intend to play, how loud your bandmates are, the size of the venues you will play and whether you'll have PA support for the bass. Answer those questions and I (or anyone else here) can recommend at least three different rigs that'll fit in your price range.

[Macrocosmcwh]

ok.... Not playing out... At least yet.... Mostly Jamming with fellow (ex musicians) ... =) As you and I talked about yesterday... portability is a plus being as I am not playing in the same area all the time. If you were to ask me what kind of sound would I like... It would be more Jazz / Mooootown / Disco / Bootsy / But in the same breath I love the sound of Zander Zon or Richard Bona... Ugh... hard fit I know... Just nothing LOUD FOR LOUD SAKE... No metal/ country/ Hard Rock ... hahahaha.... Yes.... I want the perfect rig ... And am cheap... lol