Ashdown LITTLE BASTARD: Bass/Treble/Mid SHIFT SWITCHES

[Lowbrow]

Hi - The LB is a terrific sounding head with a lot of tonal variation in its passive stone stack. Almost too much, really, for this LOWBROW.

Very sensitive, very interactive, and I can hear that:

1) the treble shift switch down acts like a 'bright' switch
2) the bass shift switch up adds a lot of gain and A LOT of high-mid 'honk'
3) the mid switch shifts tone control between two mid bands, to my ear maybe between 500hz and 300hz.

BUT does anybody have the actual, real-life, not guessing specs on the action of these switches?

The monkey thanks you!

 

[Lowbrow]

Self bumping - any input here would be much appreciated. Thanks again for looking!

 

[CopperheadLXXIX]

Can't remember exactly which one, but a bass mag had a write up and review awhile back on the LB30 that had frequency plots and such, as well as giving the setting closest to flat...

 

[Lowbrow]

Yep, Bass Gear #9 - got it. Honest, I can't read those graphs!
I am an Un-Scientific American.

 

[Lowbrow]

Thanks for bearing with me... here are the frequency charts.

In all cases, red and blue lines are with the switches in down position, the green and olive are with the switches in up position.
Below are treble and mid.

If anybody can interpret that would be great - plus if you can explain how I can interpret these I'll never have to ask again and I'll send you a Hersey Bar.

Thanks!

 

[Lowbrow]

And here is bass!

 

[DiabolusInMusic]

Hi - The LB is a terrific sounding head with a lot of tonal variation in its passive stone stack. Almost too much, really, for this LOWBROW.

Very sensitive, very interactive, and I can hear that:

1) the treble shift switch down acts like a 'bright' switch
2) the bass shift switch up adds a lot of gain and A LOT of high-mid 'honk'
3) the mid switch shifts tone control between two mid bands, to my ear maybe between 500hz and 300hz.

BUT does anybody have the actual, real-life, not guessing specs on the action of these switches?

The monkey thanks you!

I don't know about your LB but mine has a "bright" switch not a treble switch. I have the Chinese one not the UK one though.

Thanks for asking the question though, very cool to know.

 

[Lowbrow]

I don't know about your LB but mine has a "bright" switch not a treble switch. I have the Chinese one not the UK one though.

Thanks for asking the question though, very cool to know.

Yep, just turned around and looked - 'bright' indeed. Just like me!

 

[MoBe]

What you have on the graphic charts are a visual representation of the decibel level of the given frequencie parameters for each control,in other words how much of a boost above 0 db or cut below 0 db a control will give at a particular frequencie.

On the bass chart,post #6,you can see that input 3,represented by the red line,cuts 500 hz by almost 6 db.Once you know which control input 3 is you can see by the chart exactly what frequencies it controls.

I would compare what you see on these charts to a graphic equalizer such as you can find on some preamps or integrated amps.Ampeg has this feature on one of their bass amps,the SVT3 PRO.

 

[Lowbrow]

What you have on the graphic charts are a visual representation of the decibel level of the given frequencie parameters for each control,in other words how much of a boost above 0 db or cut below 0 db a control will give at a particular frequencie.

On the bass chart,post #6,you can see that input 3,represented by the red line,cuts 500 hz by almost 6 db.Once you know which control input 3 is you can see by the chart exactly what frequencies it controls.

I would compare what you see on these charts to a graphic equalizer such as you can find on some preamps or integrated amps.Ampeg has this feature on one of their bass amps,the SVT3 PRO.

Thanks for your help- I think that my difficulty is in the fact that multiple waves are represented on each graph, which I find muddles my comprehension Don't get old it sucks.

 

[CoarseBass]

I've got one of these, and I read that article...let me see if I can help.

The lines show frequency response. So what they're doing is sending a signal they generate at a known frequency and a known amplitude through the amp, and measuring how it comes out the other side. This lets them plot the line through that whole frequency range.

In these charts, everything is relative to the 'optimally flat' curve, the dark purple line that winds through about the middle of all three images.

The four other colors in each plot are the control at full on, full off and switch up, switch down. So four combos (On/Down, Off/Down, On/Up, Off/Down) for each knob/switch - 3 charts with four lines, plus that purple bass line.

This is not tremendously intuitive, don't feel bad.


So for example, your point #2 about the Bass switch is pretty spot on. Look at the third chart, for the bass response. The red line shows the frequency response with the control dimed and the switch down. Compare that to the olive line, with the control dimed and the switch up - way more gain overall, and that whole huge mid section filled. This switch is huge - its smoothing the curve and jacking the gain up across the frequency response. You can also see how the olive and the green converge around 500hz - this means that with the switch up, turning the bass down is working on a frequencies below 500, much more so than with the switch down.


This amp has so much in it, just messing with the knobs is a great way to find new tones. It doesn't have quite the breakup I'm looking for, but I love it anyway.