AGRO Settings

slapstick13 · #1 11-30-2010, 09:41 AM

Just got the AGRO 2 days ago. Only used it once so far at band practice last night. So far Im reallly liking it; cuts through the mix like the devil, but I feel its missing some girth or something. What are some settings you guys are using? Not really sure how the contour and prescence knobs interact and Ive never had a pedal with these controls. Im trying to dialout some of the highs/mids and the sound of my picking coming through the speakers(I hear it a bit too much); while still keeping the saturation pretty high(about 2:00/3:00). Any setting suggestions? I play a p bass into and 810/svt 2 pro.

eyeballkid · #2 11-30-2010, 09:50 AM

I totally agree with ya on the lack of girth.. I sold mine and bought the rackmount unit which has 'bass','mids', and 'treble'. Now i gots plenty o girth!

tink9975 · #3 11-30-2010, 10:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by eyeballkid

I totally agree with ya on the lack of girth.. I sold mine and bought the rackmount unit which has 'bass','mids', and 'treble'. Now i gots plenty o girth!

I've got the rackmount version as well, care to share any of your favorite settings?

blastjv · #4 11-30-2010, 11:40 AM

I run it like this (from memory, so I may be a little off)

Level: about 2:00
Saturation: DIMED!!!
Presence: about 9:00
Contour: about 9:00

I think that 9:00 for both presence and contour is a good starting point. Not too brittle, not too scooped, plenty of bottom, plenty of cut...

-JV

PS - I'll try to remember to come back and edit once I check later tonight if I mis-remembered...

eyeballkid · #5 11-30-2010, 12:02 PM

this is from memory too.. (Im at work)..
but i think i do
Saturation at 11:00-12:00 for mild overdrive... 3:00 for hard edge
Presence about 9:00
Contour to taste depending on bass... but usually under 12:00
Bass about 2:00
Mids 12:30-1:00
Treble 11:30-1200
Master to Unity or a bit up from it.

this is with a stingray.. with a Jazz I think I bump mids up a little and the contour goes up to about noon.

christoph h. · #6 11-30-2010, 05:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by blastjv

I
I think that 9:00 for both presence and contour is a good starting point. Not too brittle, not too scooped, plenty of bottom, plenty of cut...

In my Agro manual it says that for the CONTOUR control, counter-clockwise means maximum scoop, while fully clockwise means "flat".

So I' think that with CONTOUR set at 9:00 o' clock you're getting almost maximum mid scoop (around 20db).

blastjv · #7 11-30-2010, 06:41 PM

Well, honestly, a discussion of only the position of the knobs of one piece of gear is a little silly anyway. The rest of my sound has plenty of mids, and when I kick in the Agro with the settings I noted above I get the best balance of what I want. Those setting with a different rig might be awful...

-JV

eyeballkid · #8 12-01-2010, 05:45 PM

Ok.. totally wrong on my settings.

Saturation pointing at the 'o' .....2ish
Contour pointing at the 'c' ....10ish
Treble pointing at the 'r' in contour ...10ish
Mids pointing at the 'i' ....noon
Bass pointing at the first 's' ..... 1230ish
Presence pointing at the last 's' in bass .... 930ish

tink9975 · #9 12-01-2010, 06:28 PM

Eyeball: thanks for sharing

jv: I find it helpful to have a starting point with a piece of gear. I never stick with someone else's settings, but its often a good jumping off point, thanks for sharing yours.

eyeballkid · #10 12-01-2010, 07:16 PM

youre welcome.. i do the same, and I know how it all changes depending on the bass used and the amp settings.. If it helps, Im running an Ashdown ABM with the 180 and 300 hz notched down a tad and the 1.5k up a notch and the treble up a little twist to give it a sorta Ampegish tone.

blastjv · #11 12-01-2010, 07:23 PM

I wasn't criticsizing you for asking, I was responding to the comment above that I was almost maximum scooping (which I do with Ice Cream, but not bass tone). I just wanted to be clear that a little scooping on one piece of gear in an otherwise mid-heavy rig balances out quite well.

BTW, I was off on my settings, too. They're more like:

Level: about 2:30
Saturation: DIMED!!!
Presence: about 7:30
Contour: about 10:30

Also, just to be clear, I use my Agro only for full-on balls to the wall distortion, although I think it does a fantastic job at everything from just a little warmth, to a little grit, to a lot of grit, to thick overdrive, to heavy overdrive, to crazy overdrive, to almost fuzz...

-JV

christoph h. · #12 12-02-2010, 04:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by blastjv

I wasn't criticsizing you for asking, I was responding to the comment above that I was almost maximum scooping (which I do with Ice Cream, but not bass tone). I just wanted to be clear that a little scooping on one piece of gear in an otherwise mid-heavy rig balances out quite well.

And I wasn't critizing you in any way. Just pointing out that the Agro settings (in isolation) were having a big mid scoop. I didn't mean to suggest that your sound is scooped, as I obviously never heard it.

jpTron · #13 12-02-2010, 10:09 AM

Why do companies make bass gear with mid scoops in mind? It's pretty annoying. Like it's a conspiracy to make bassists get buried in the mix or something. Even my amp has a mid knob, but it's like -20db - +5db, whereas the rest of the knobs are -20db - +20db

blastjv · #14 12-08-2010, 08:45 AM

No offense taken.

I think it's because mid scooped tones usually sound great when played solo, which is how most people demo new gear, and mid scooped tones also sound great for slap, which is very popular. Also, many bassists don't mind being lost in the mix. Many bands just want the bass to support the guitar riffs and fill out the sound, but not stand out on it's own. Also, many bassists are not very good and prefer not to stand out and be 'exposed'...

I do scoop some mids and boost others at various points in my rig. My pickups are DiMarzio Ultra Jazz which I'm told are very mid scooped, but my bass itself has a strong mid sound. My bass goes into my BB (always on) which has a bit of a mid bump the way I have it set. When I kick in the Agro, it is a bit scooped in the upper mids, but has a strong low mid thump. My SVT is set with the ultra lo switch engaged which is really a mid scoop, but I have the mid control set for a mid boost at 220. It's a balancing act, and I'm still tweaking here and there by smaller and smaller degrees as I zero in on the perfect tone (for me).

-JV