I know there are quite a few members here that own the Ampeg PF20T Tube amp. I'm thinking of buying one. I can't play too loud in my apartment and I have a few amps but would like to practice with that Ampeg tone/sound. Can someone tell me if these sound good at a low volume or do you have to crank up the volume to get the desired sound? Thanks for any info.
The answer to your question is that provided an amplifier, any amplifier is reasonably flat in its frequency response, how bass notes or music sounds playing through it loud or soft has nothing to do with the amplifier itself. It actually has everything to do with how our ears work.
There is a scientific reason why music including bass notes sound fuller and more pleasing to the ear at higher volume levels. The reason is because our ears become
less sensitive to bass frequencies at
low volume. So when you play or listen to music at low volume, you have to
compensate for this loss of sensitivity in the bass region, or the music will sound sterile, with no bottom end. Two very smart guys named Fletcher and Munson studied this effect scientifically and came up with a graph showing how the ear progressively looses its sensitivity to bass frequencies as the volume level (SPL) diminishes. This is known as the Fletcher Munson curve.
The following is a great little article that will explain this effect, and has everything you need to know in it. The article is oriented toward recording but the information will be critical in your situation as well for you to achieve your goals no matter what bass head or amplifier you end up using.
Fletcher Munson Curve: A Must-Know for Audio Recording
If you desire to go into more scientific detail regarding this phenomenon, the following Wikipedia article is pretty comprehensive.
Equal-loudness contour - Wikipedia
Bottom line: At low practice volume levels in an apartment you must seriously boost your bass (and sometimes your treble) on your bass head tone settings or your instrument will sound thin and unsatisfying to the ear. This is going to be the case with any bass head you employ to practice with, including the Ampeg PF20T.
I live in a condo and practice with a loudspeaker at all hours of the night. I don't bother anybody because I play at low volume. My practice rig is an Acme Low B112FR which I power with an Ampeg SVT 7Pro (I know, it's overkill, but it's a long story!). The cab lives on a stool next to my practice stool, so it's practically right next to my ear. This works out real well and I don't have to turn the volume up very high at all to hear everything I need to hear. I play a Fender American Standard Precision 5 string with La Bella 760fl's. On the Ampeg bass head I use both the Ultra Lo and Ultra Hi with the bass around 1:30. That fattens up the tone real good for low volume, and I roll the bass in and out on the instrument itself as desired. My mids and highs are straight up. For practice, a similar EQ scheme would work with a PF20T keeping in mind the PF20T has no Ultra Lo or Ultra Hi. [Note: If I tried that EQ scheme live with a full rig, I would blow all the mic stands off the front of the stage! It only works for practice at low volume!].
For the last week I've been experimenting with headphones and IEM's for practice purposes with surprising results. Headphones / IEM's never worked very well for me for practicing using the headphone output on my SVT 7Pro. It just never sounded very good, for some reason. But I have found that using an Apogee Jam + interface and my iPad with Garage Band I can acquire a bass amp sim, and doing that makes my bass sound amazingly good in my IEM's / headphones. It's premature to say at this point, but it sounds so good I am strongly considering changing up and just using the Apogee / iPad set up through IEM's / headphones for practice purposes. You might consider that as an option, as well. iPhones, iPads Mac's and PC's are supposed to work with the Apogee. [Note: I originally purchased an iRig Pro interface but had to return it when the headphone jack stopped working after three days]. I am not associated in any way with Apogee. Good luck.
