John East did this with the second knob on the P-retro preamp. The top knob is bass and treble boost turned up, mid boost going down, and the bottom ring knob is the mid point frequency. Tons of great tones on one knob stack. I really miss it.
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Contour and 'Enhance' knobs on amps
- Thread starter Jason Harris
- Start date
No. I mean like the Mesa D800 voice knob, which (I think) is a mid scoop, except to have "0" be the center and not fully ccw.
So functionally the CW is unchanged, turning ccw is more like the passive mid (additive) on the walkabout.
Ric5
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- Jan 29, 2008
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- I like 5, 8, 10, and 12 string basses
I had a Sunn 2000 that had a contour knob. It was basically a midrange tone knob.
I'd call it the "Grey Poupon Marketing" knob. What sounds better: 1.) 120-150 KH cut control or 2.) Contour? Presence or treble boost? Why not call the master volume "Enhancement" or "Commence"? If you're servicing the thing, you'd probably like it in technical terms, but as a potential customer being catered to, vague, mysterious romantic names for changes in an electrical circuit chain may force you to fork over a few more Benjamins.
- Feb 12, 2006
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- Development Engineer-Mesa Boogie, Development Engineer-Genzler (pedals), Product Support-Genz Benz
The Voice control is not a mid scoop, there are 4 separate things that happen as the knob is rotated clockwise.
I usually like mine on about 7.
It's kinda like - How much salt do you put on your sweet corn?
I like the sound of that so far, but don't be coy, do tell, do tell! (If you can without divulging proprietary secrets, that is.)
Filters, dude...
On the TH500, the "Drive" knob is like a bandpass filter. It boosts mids, or I guess more accurately attenuates the bass and treble frequencies. Not a "Drive" as in dirt or distortion knob as indicated by the name. Break up comes from the Gain knob on that particular amp.
On Mark Bass amps, the VLE (Vintage Loudspeaker Emulator) lowers the mid and high frequencies to make your cab sound like an old school bass cab. The VPE (Variable Pre-shape Filter) gives a scoop in the low mids for that slappy type sound like found on a lot of other amps (GK for example).
Thunderfunk havs an "Enhance" knob - kind of a mid scoop thing. It's grandaddy - The AMP - has an Enhance button.
On the TH500, the "Drive" knob is like a bandpass filter. It boosts mids, or I guess more accurately attenuates the bass and treble frequencies. Not a "Drive" as in dirt or distortion knob as indicated by the name. Break up comes from the Gain knob on that particular amp.
On Mark Bass amps, the VLE (Vintage Loudspeaker Emulator) lowers the mid and high frequencies to make your cab sound like an old school bass cab. The VPE (Variable Pre-shape Filter) gives a scoop in the low mids for that slappy type sound like found on a lot of other amps (GK for example).
Thunderfunk havs an "Enhance" knob - kind of a mid scoop thing. It's grandaddy - The AMP - has an Enhance button.
Ditto on that query. Do you mind if we pick your brain @agedhorse ?
BTW, I'm also curious about a Neo-Pak 3.5 I found in town. I hope you don't mind if I tag you on that thread.
they contour the sound
they enhance the sound
they cut the mids and and ruin the sound
unless you slap a lot on a jazz bass with 70's pickup spacing i don't think the scoop is generally a good thing to do. just my take on it, but i have no idea why these controls are so popular. i usually use them just barely on a little to pull out just a touch of mids if im doing a bridge pickup/jaco-y thing.
they enhance the sound
they cut the mids and and ruin the sound
unless you slap a lot on a jazz bass with 70's pickup spacing i don't think the scoop is generally a good thing to do. just my take on it, but i have no idea why these controls are so popular. i usually use them just barely on a little to pull out just a touch of mids if im doing a bridge pickup/jaco-y thing.
Actually that should make a BIG difference because it has the same effect as that Frequency Response Curve I posted for the WT405 "IF" it's working correctly. Unfortunately the WTDI doesn't have a "gain-set" light so you have to just go by what you hear and take your best guess for the gain setting. If the gain is set too low, that might cause the problem. Otherwise, it's defective.Producer Knob
My take after using my little Eden again last night-- the Contour at 10:00 is neutral. Counter clockwise, it gets deeper with less high end. Clockwise from 12:00 it gets brighter with mid-punch. Less bass. I have to compensate the bass with my SR300 bass boost. Best to use Contour about center or 11:00 with Tone at about 1:00 o'clock. Just my experience.
How are you liking the Eden with all those variable frequencies?
Building on what Aged Horse posted, if it does something more than just adjusting the EQ, that is cool, but I'd like to know what.
If it's just adjusting the EQ, which I can already do manually, what is the point?
I guess if you want EXTREME EQ, then you can hit the Contour & then boost Mids to max & have a mud circus.
Building on what Aged Horse posted, if it does something more than just adjusting the EQ, that is cool, but I'd like to know what.
If it's just adjusting the EQ, which I can already do manually, what is the point?
I guess if you want EXTREME EQ, then you can hit the Contour & then boost Mids to max & have a mud circus.
- Feb 12, 2006
- 61,086
- 5
- 221,200
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- Development Engineer-Mesa Boogie, Development Engineer-Genzler (pedals), Product Support-Genz Benz
Here's the simpler description from the owner's manual:
VOICING CONTROL: This active eq control modifies the amplifier's response from a more flat like curve (in the counter-clockwise position) to a more vintage curve (in the clockwise position) by modifying and shifting the frequency response in all regions with a simple turn of the knob. As the control is rotated clockwise, the low end increases and the high end increases while the midrange decreases and shifts upward. Common uses for the more vintage positions are the old school funk and slap tones, and rock tones where a rounder bottom and a little bite are needed. Experimentation is an important part of discovering the potential of this powerful tool.
Without getting into numerical specifics, if you were to study the tone preferences of a player who would find this control particularly useful, you will find that just a simple mid cut isn't going to be very useful. In general, as a player might want a little more mid scoop, the other parameters shifting are what make the reduction in mids useful. Just as important is HOW the mids change (where and amount) relative to what happens with the other parameters.
If a simple mid cut was what makes up a "contour" circuit, I could have saved a heck of a lot of design effort and parts, but not all contour type circuits are as simplistic as some folks here have stated (as fact, which clearly it's not). This is one reason why we chose to call it a "voicing" control, as preconceived assumptions are too often wrong enough for us to distance ourselves from this assumption.
OT, as I'm thinking about voicing circuits I am working on the design for one while listening to the Grateful Dead channel in the shop. I wonder if that might at least change the PERCEPTION of the response of the circuit?
VOICING CONTROL: This active eq control modifies the amplifier's response from a more flat like curve (in the counter-clockwise position) to a more vintage curve (in the clockwise position) by modifying and shifting the frequency response in all regions with a simple turn of the knob. As the control is rotated clockwise, the low end increases and the high end increases while the midrange decreases and shifts upward. Common uses for the more vintage positions are the old school funk and slap tones, and rock tones where a rounder bottom and a little bite are needed. Experimentation is an important part of discovering the potential of this powerful tool.
Without getting into numerical specifics, if you were to study the tone preferences of a player who would find this control particularly useful, you will find that just a simple mid cut isn't going to be very useful. In general, as a player might want a little more mid scoop, the other parameters shifting are what make the reduction in mids useful. Just as important is HOW the mids change (where and amount) relative to what happens with the other parameters.
If a simple mid cut was what makes up a "contour" circuit, I could have saved a heck of a lot of design effort and parts, but not all contour type circuits are as simplistic as some folks here have stated (as fact, which clearly it's not). This is one reason why we chose to call it a "voicing" control, as preconceived assumptions are too often wrong enough for us to distance ourselves from this assumption.
OT, as I'm thinking about voicing circuits I am working on the design for one while listening to the Grateful Dead channel in the shop. I wonder if that might at least change the PERCEPTION of the response of the circuit?
LSD - Loudness (enhancing) Shift Device.OT, as I'm thinking about voicing circuits I am working on the design for one while listening to the Grateful Dead channel in the shop. I wonder if that might at least change the PERCEPTION of the response of the circuit?
