Are we in Treble now?

[eno50]

Hello everyone,
I'am out looking at new amps over the last week while my family and I were on vacation,you know the drill
the wife want's to go to the mall,so I drop her off and I go look for a music store(sure beat the mall).. anyways
are amps nowdays being voiced more towards the treble side. I know tweeters started showing up years ago to get the high-fi sound,and for slappers and upper range players with 6,8 10 string basses. But now it seems that every amp I demo seem to be voiced and I hate to say it but voiced more like a guitar amp.
I even played one amp that I had turned down the treble all the way and still had to use the tone knob on the bass to get my tone, I guess I'am just used to my older amp tone or just used to using the same amp for years and years. Maybe I should not have waited so long to want to upgrade.( and I try to stay out of music stores,I'am like a kid in a candy store)
I'am just wondering if anyone else noticed this while shopping for new gear?
Eno

 

[JimmyM]

Yep, I sure have. I'm not a tweeter fan either. I don't mind a little brightness but I greatly prefer not hearing any treble past 4 or 5k. But some cabs sound good with the tweeter turned off. Just reach behind the cab and turn that dial all the way down. But if it has no dial, those you have to get into from the inside and disconnect. Not all cabs sound good with the tweeter off, but most do.

 

[KJung]

Hello everyone,
I'am out looking at new amps over the last week while my family and I were on vacation,you know the drill
the wife want's to go to the mall,so I drop her off and I go look for a music store(sure beat the mall).. anyways
are amps nowdays being voiced more towards the treble side. I know tweeters started showing up years ago to get the high-fi sound,and for slappers and upper range players with 6,8 10 string basses. But now it seems that every amp I demo seem to be voiced and I hate to say it but voiced more like a guitar amp.
I even played one amp that I had turned down the treble all the way and still had to use the tone knob on the bass to get my tone, I guess I'am just used to my older amp tone or just used to using the same amp for years and years. Maybe I should not have waited so long to want to upgrade.( and I try to stay out of music stores,I'am like a kid in a candy store)
I'am just wondering if anyone else noticed this while shopping for new gear?
Eno

Nope. Amps are, of course, much improved over 'back in the day', and are more full range. If anything, the amps and cabs (other than the low end crap you probably ran into at the music store.... brick and mortar music stores are pretty much dead for the most part these days) put out MORE low end at a much smaller size and lighter weight.

Having a nice extended top end has absolutely NO impact on the low end of a rig whatsoever, and a quality tweeter/crossover will hardly be noticed, other than you can actually hear the impact of a new set of strings. That being said, there are some crappy executions, and yes, you are most likely to find them at a Guitar Center or old school mom and pop. Check out the Aguilar stuff, the higher end GK stuff, the Bergantino stuff, the TecAmp stuff.... truly stunning.

But yes, if you are playing small, low end combo's in a Guitar Center or whatever, not so good.

 

[Jazz Ad]

I tend to disagree that new amps are all treble. I think the range dramatically extended both ways.
Nowadays, amps are pretty much full range, except when they aim at a vintage tone.
So yeah a lot more treble when you need it but also huge, clean lows that you couldn't even dream of getting 20 years ago.
All that from amps you can carry with one hand. Life is good.

 

[jason weatherby]

New gear isn't always an upgrade... "Progress ain't always"

 

[KJung]

I tend to disagree that new amps are all treble. I think the range dramatically extended both ways.
Nowadays, amps are pretty much full range, except when they aim at a vintage tone.
So yeah a lot more treble when you need it but also huge, clean lows that you couldn't even dream of getting 20 years ago.
All that from amps you can carry with one hand. Life is good.

+1 And many amps, like Markbass and TecAmp, have variable filters that allow you to very naturally roll off any top end you don't particular like in your tone. Things are SO much better now than back-in-the-day IME (since I was there 'back in the day').

That being said, of course, there will be particulate rigs that some will like and others won't, like it has always been!

 

[astack]

I even played one amp that I had turned down the treble all the way and still had to use the tone knob on the bass to get my tone

If it was an Orange Terror Bass or similar amp with a Fender tone stack, turning the knob fully CCW is closer to neutral than noon. And those have been around a long time, but more popular with guitar heads, like you say.

 

[avvie]

As noted in another thread, the micro TC Electronic BH250 is quite old school woolly-sounding. I have to work to get treble back into my tone.