Haha, I call them the 'showroom floor knobs.' It just sounds so good on the floor, you just have to buy it!!!!
Get it on a gig, and...well....Bongo, that's the best description I've heard.
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Amp Feature Rant
- Thread starter MooseLumps
- Start date
Haha, I call them the 'showroom floor knobs.' It just sounds so good on the floor, you just have to buy it!!!!
Get it on a gig, and...well....Bongo, that's the best description I've heard.
So, my biggest pet peeve about bass amps is knobs, switches,ect that have an effect on your tone, but have stupid, non-descriptive names or are poorly explained in the manual.
why not just use a three knob or a 12 band graphic? why all the Voodoo?
Example:MosValve REAL TUBE 3300 SERIES & 3175 BASS AMPS
Excerpt from the manual: CONTOUR Forms a gentle over-all bass-response slope across the most active bass frequencies.
Very useful in compensating for stage size and room acoustics.
one knob labeled Contour with a very poorly described function. AARGH!!
Example: TECH 21's RBI:
Excerpt from manualresence Brings out the upper harmonic content and attack. For a smoother high end and for
clean settings, decrease to taste.
***??? MOJO KNOB? CARROTS I SAY!!!
Finally, my all time most despised knob
Example: SWR Aural Enhancer:
Excerpt from Common feature page, Support Section, SwrSound.com: Aural Enhancer
The Aural Enhancer has been a feature on nearly every SWR amplifier since the company's inception in 1984, and is a trademark part of the "SWR Sound" people have come to know and love. It was developed to help bring out the fundamental low notes of the bass guitar, to enhance high-end transients and to reduce certain frequencies that help mask the fundamentals. The result is a more transparent sound, especially noticeable when slapping and popping, and it can give a passive bass an "active" quality when set at two o'clock" or higher.
The Aural Enhancer works as a variable tone curve that changes depending on how you set it. As you increase the control clockwise from the "MIN" position, you're elevating a whole range of sound (lows, mids and highs) at a variety of frequency points selected specifically because they're different than those selected for the individual tone controls.
This remains true up to about the two o'clock position. This positiona favorite for many usersbrings out the low-end fundamentals and crisp highs. At the same time, it adds a little lower midrange to help cut through the band. If you go further clockwise past the two o'clock position, however, selected mids will start to drop off; specifically, a group of frequencies centered around 200Hz. At this point and beyond, the effect becomes much more pronounced, but the curves involved here are gentle as opposed to the extreme curves you can create by boosting or cutting the active tone controls (EQ).
Most significantly for basses, the Aural Enhancer will help bring out the fundamentals of your lower registers without masking them with overtones, as is possible when using the Bass control only. It also opens up the sibilance characteristics of all instruments without being harsh.
Obviously, numbers and curves and circuits mean nothing compared to what you hear with your own ears. Play a chord, a repeated lick or a harmonic, and adjust the Aural Enhancer to various points to hear the effect for yourself. As always, your ears are the best judge when it comes to settings that affect the tone of your instrument.
This tells me essentially nothing about what the feature really does!!! The only hard data is that past the 2:00 setting, some mids are dropped, specifically the ones around 200hz
Seriously, any one else sick of this stuff? Give me a nice graphic e.q., semi or fully parametric eq, or don't bother and leave me the three knobs an go.
I like the way Carvin did the eq for the b 1500 :
Excerpt from manual for Carvin B1500: Tone Controls: ±12dB @ 30, 100, 300, 1k, 3k, 10k (Hz)
Bam. That's sweet. Why all the obfuscation?
contour boosts the bass and highs i've found normally so as said its a mid cut
presence is normally when you take the output signal and feed it back into the power amp stage which increases distortion + high end
the aural thing sounds like a sweepable band pass
hasbeen
Commercial User
- Sep 23, 2004
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- Feb 12, 2006
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- Development Engineer-Mesa Boogie, Development Engineer-Genzler (pedals), Product Support-Genz Benz
Not sure I follow you here... how does this work? My understanding as to how (most) presence controls is a combination of upper mid and or high frequency increase. The basic filter shapes may vary but the premise is the same.
There's a whole lot more going on with the aurel exciter, the patent contains some good information as to how it works. It's not a sweepable bandpass filter. Now, you may or may not like the effect however.
hasbeen
Commercial User
- Sep 23, 2004
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The SWR one seems to be explained pretty well. And once you play with it a little, you get a feel for what it does. To me, it always made the tone "more modern". I'm with you on the other two though.
The Aural Enhancer despcription qouted tells me pretty much what it does. That's why it's so wordy- it's complicated. They're saying that below 2:00 it's boosting different frequencies. Not a broad band, but it's boosting specific frequencies. At 2:00 it's starting to boost highs and lows while cutting selected mids. What, you want the specific frequencies, the band-width, and the amount of boost listed for each increment of the knob?
The Tech 21 Presence knob says it's bringing out harmonics (that'd be highs up above the fundementals) and "attack". Kinda vauge wtih the atttack thing, but if you're playing through the amp and twist the knob you'll know what they're talking about I'd think. Unless it IS just a mystery knob...
Now the "contour" on the MosValve sounds like GC sales hype without any real explanation of what's going on.
BTW, I don't have any experience with any of these except messing around with a lot of SWR amps over the decades trying to get a sound I liked out of them- and failing.
jte
The Tech 21 Presence knob says it's bringing out harmonics (that'd be highs up above the fundementals) and "attack". Kinda vauge wtih the atttack thing, but if you're playing through the amp and twist the knob you'll know what they're talking about I'd think. Unless it IS just a mystery knob...
Now the "contour" on the MosValve sounds like GC sales hype without any real explanation of what's going on.
BTW, I don't have any experience with any of these except messing around with a lot of SWR amps over the decades trying to get a sound I liked out of them- and failing.
jte
I guess if the mfg's came right out and said, " smiultaneously boosts 80z and 2khz frequencies +8db while attenuating the 500hz-1khz range by -6db" then others could copy their "secret" formula.
I also like straightforwardness of the Carvin B1500, just tell me what frequencies are affected and how.
Mesa has some of the most confusing manuals when it comes to explaining just what their tone stack does IMHO, but that does not deter me from owning one. I just use my ears and set to taste.
I also like straightforwardness of the Carvin B1500, just tell me what frequencies are affected and how.
Mesa has some of the most confusing manuals when it comes to explaining just what their tone stack does IMHO, but that does not deter me from owning one. I just use my ears and set to taste.
+1 Mesa manuals, and sales hype is wordy, and sometimes confusing. But, the actual controls on the amps are not only straightfoward and easy to understand, but also amazing in how they sculpt a tone.
Agreed, That is one of the most useful and at the same time funniest posts I have seen here on TB!
- Feb 12, 2006
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- Development Engineer-Mesa Boogie, Development Engineer-Genzler (pedals), Product Support-Genz Benz
Just had to add one more to keep the list up-to-date: 'VIBE,' (mid scoop) courtesy of Ibanez. It's on their new micro amp.
with the svt3 if you change out the driver tube the tube drive knob makes a big difference in tone. the factory tube is really weak and with relacing it you also get more volume out of it.
a schematic will serve you better
I shouldn't have to read a schematic to know what the features of the amp do. If it's not clear on the front of the amp it should be in the manual in explicit terms. +-x db @ y hz at z db per octave.
LilRay
Commercial User
- Dec 27, 2007
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One of the most insightful, yet blatently honest posts on TB.
Good One Man.
God Bless, Ray
