I like my sound to punch thru', but it still has to have them killer ultra lows. I'm enjoying using 12's right now as a nice combo of cut, and low bass, and I have a hi pass at 40. By modern standards I'm a little bassy, but I'm not modern (by any definition).
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You, sir, are entitled to crank your knob all you want, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise.
I guess it depends a lot on what type of music you play and what rig you have. On most amps, increasing the lows makes the E string and some of the A string disproportionally louder than the other strings. That's fine if that's where you play most of the time - it does make things wonderfully full. But if you need balance across the strings you won't get that. I've run into this in the studio where the engineer cranks the lows but then the things I'm playing up high are completely lost in the mix. I go for balance then crank the overall volume instead.
I have one of those 410 HLF cabs and it works well enough (and is a lot of fun when I tune down) with the bass up.
If it sounds good, do it!
If it sounds good, do it!
I couldn't do it with my MIM Jazz with Aguilar P'ups thru my TH 500 and DB 210s. I wouldn't be able to differentiate notes very well and it would sound awful.
- Oct 7, 2000
- 18,619
- 38,939
- Disclosures
- Endorsing artist: Musicman basses
Prediction.
Next month.
Amp Forum: Lots of threads on blown speakers.
Basses Forum: Lots of threads on how my bass sounds great with the bass set to zero.
Band Management: Lots on I'm fighting with everyone in my band.
Live Sound: Lots on Sound man/woman's trying to tell me what to do.
,
I could go on and on...
I think we need to shake things up around here anyhow.
Can anyone post vids of the sound of their bass with their amp cranked to 10? I'm still a bit dumbfounded, especially now with all the people chiming in to agree. Not trying to be flip or snarky or argumentative either. I just honestly can't imagine this being a good thing. @Blaze Barlow , I can see the possibility of this working if going through a preamp, but don't really get the point (though I never tried it). Also, I hope you're playing stadiums and have roadies, otherwise I don't envy you.
Next month.
Amp Forum: Lots of threads on blown speakers.
Basses Forum: Lots of threads on how my bass sounds great with the bass set to zero.
Band Management: Lots on I'm fighting with everyone in my band.
Live Sound: Lots on Sound man/woman's trying to tell me what to do.
, I could go on and on...
I think we need to shake things up around here anyhow
.Can anyone post vids of the sound of their bass with their amp cranked to 10? I'm still a bit dumbfounded, especially now with all the people chiming in to agree. Not trying to be flip or snarky or argumentative either. I just honestly can't imagine this being a good thing. @Blaze Barlow , I can see the possibility of this working if going through a preamp, but don't really get the point (though I never tried it). Also, I hope you're playing stadiums and have roadies, otherwise I don't envy you
.
i love the old porta flex tone controls because you can crank the knobs all over the place and they always sound great. wasnt Jamerson a b15 “full basser”?
I've tried it many times over the 40 years of playing, but pretty much crank lower mids these days, as opposed to the Bass control, which I usually have a tad to the right of flat. Of course, I'm using a much smaller rig these days, sometimes just a single driver in a box. Cranking up the Bass control just seems to make everything more muddy.
The tone knobs, like any other, are there for a reason. If there is a need for additional bass in an unusually bright room, then of course exercising the bass knob may be appropriate. If you have decent equipment with properly matched specs, there should be no concern about causing damage.
That said, I can't recall any gig I've played where the bass tone knob needed to be turned all the way up. I've found overly-aggressive EQ settings tend to reduce the clarity and definition of the tone while simultaneously decreasing the FOH engineer's ability to achieve a balanced sound in the house. This is particularly true for the bassist that prefers both a bass-heavy sound and sealed cabinets, which are inherently bass shy, that also insists on the signal to the house being taken post EQ to capture "his/her" sound. In short, the bass is getting cranked to compensate for the reduced low-end content of a sealed bass guitar-only cabinet (which is really nothing more than a glorified personal monitor for the bass guitar), then it is gets fed to the house which will invariably have full-range speaker arrays that do not need to have the bass cranked. I would think the bass player insisting on this practice loses the right to complain about the mix or the abilities of either the FOH or Stage engineer; extreme tonal settings regardless of need are a recipe for disastrous house mix results.
That said, I can't recall any gig I've played where the bass tone knob needed to be turned all the way up. I've found overly-aggressive EQ settings tend to reduce the clarity and definition of the tone while simultaneously decreasing the FOH engineer's ability to achieve a balanced sound in the house. This is particularly true for the bassist that prefers both a bass-heavy sound and sealed cabinets, which are inherently bass shy, that also insists on the signal to the house being taken post EQ to capture "his/her" sound. In short, the bass is getting cranked to compensate for the reduced low-end content of a sealed bass guitar-only cabinet (which is really nothing more than a glorified personal monitor for the bass guitar), then it is gets fed to the house which will invariably have full-range speaker arrays that do not need to have the bass cranked. I would think the bass player insisting on this practice loses the right to complain about the mix or the abilities of either the FOH or Stage engineer; extreme tonal settings regardless of need are a recipe for disastrous house mix results.
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- Mar 19, 2013
- 1,612
- 2,694
- Disclosures
- If only I were that good....
Prediction.
Next month.
Amp Forum: Lots of threads on blown speakers.
Basses Forum: Lots of threads on how my bass sounds great with the bass set to zero.
Band Management: Lots on I'm fighting with everyone in my band.
Live Sound: Lots on Sound man/woman's trying to tell me what to do.
I could go on and on...
I think we need to shake things up around here anyhow
Can anyone post vids of the sound of their bass with their amp cranked to 10? I'm still a bit dumbfounded, especially now with all the people chiming in to agree. Not trying to be flip or snarky or argumentative either. I just honestly can't imagine this being a good thing. @Blaze Barlow , I can see the possibility of this working if going through a preamp, but don't really get the point (though I never tried it). Also, I hope you're playing stadiums and have roadies, otherwise I don't envy you
“In other news...Music company Ampeg has reported an overflow of calls into their tech support and repair call center....Spokespersons for Ampeg have described this phenomenon as, “The JimmyM Effect”.
JimmyM was not immediately available for comment, but later was quoted saying, “I do want I want!!” He then threw a Devo hat at the reporter and fled the scene...Authorities consider him a “person of interest”
i’ve always favored a bit more bass when setting up my amp for a particular room.
It comes from a couple of things, first is my dad. He loves to hear the bass and says he can’t keep time without it. I know that’s BS because i’ve been hearing recordings of him playing and singing all my life and playing with him for almost as long and he has an excellent sense of time, but from the very first time we played together he’s wanted a lot of bass, so like any dutiful son would, I give him what he wants and over the years i’ve come to pretty much favor a more basscentric tone.
The second reason is because of an article i read in one of my brother’s Guitar Player magazines back before bass players got vocal enough to ask for a bird cage liner of their own. Anywho, this article was something along the lines of ten common mistakes bass players make, or something like that. The only thing i recall was the most common cause of complaints about the bass being too loud was not too much overall volume but too much mid in the EQ. I was playing with a BL who would occasionally tell me i was too loud but when i turned down i’d struggle to hear myself. After reading that piece i turned down the mids on my little three band EQ and my boss never again told me i was too loud. Since rolling off the mids made the lows more prominent, i started going for the same basscentric sound every time i dialed in a room and with very few exceptions I don’t get told i’m too loud.
Don’t get me wrong, i’m not a dogmatic mid scooper i just always add a little more to the dark side than most. No point in having all that thunder on tap and sounding like a wet fart in an empty bathtub.
It comes from a couple of things, first is my dad. He loves to hear the bass and says he can’t keep time without it. I know that’s BS because i’ve been hearing recordings of him playing and singing all my life and playing with him for almost as long and he has an excellent sense of time, but from the very first time we played together he’s wanted a lot of bass, so like any dutiful son would, I give him what he wants and over the years i’ve come to pretty much favor a more basscentric tone.
The second reason is because of an article i read in one of my brother’s Guitar Player magazines back before bass players got vocal enough to ask for a bird cage liner of their own. Anywho, this article was something along the lines of ten common mistakes bass players make, or something like that. The only thing i recall was the most common cause of complaints about the bass being too loud was not too much overall volume but too much mid in the EQ. I was playing with a BL who would occasionally tell me i was too loud but when i turned down i’d struggle to hear myself. After reading that piece i turned down the mids on my little three band EQ and my boss never again told me i was too loud. Since rolling off the mids made the lows more prominent, i started going for the same basscentric sound every time i dialed in a room and with very few exceptions I don’t get told i’m too loud.
Don’t get me wrong, i’m not a dogmatic mid scooper i just always add a little more to the dark side than most. No point in having all that thunder on tap and sounding like a wet fart in an empty bathtub.
You'll notice Jimmy's weapon of choice. In my experimenting, if Q is up around 1.1 in a sealed cabinet, there is no excursion limit, only thermal.
I'm with Jimmy turning the bass knob to max. Have you noticed over the years, In the 60's, using the Treble knob was unheard of on a bass amp. I never understood the relevance of putting a treble control on a bass amp. Hello? It's a "Bass" amp, not a Treble amp. Now its tweeters in the bass cab.. for what?, EQ, Mid range controls and "Brite" switches for what? If you attempt to turn the bass knob past 12 O'clock they have a limiter switch to stifle that. They say its for protecting the speakers when we all know its a conspiracy to stifle the bass..
Do others see it this way?
Do others see it this way?
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It can sound cool for a bit, but I have
I have experienced an almost motion sick feeling from having the bass and volume cranked on an amp. I never threw up, but certain frequencies do seem to have an effect on some people, so you may want to consider how much your audience will like your band if they can't stop vomiting at your shows.
There was a time that I would crank the bass knob but that was compensating for basses, strings, or effects that were too bright, and inexperience in how to properly EQ. My amps now all have 4 EQ controls, treble, hi mid, lo mid, bass and I find that the lo mids are what produces the warm fat tones I want to hear, not the bass control.
I tend to remain low-mid to mid-focused on stage, which helps my guitar brethren keep their volumes to slightly less than ear-splitting I leave it for the FOH guy to exercise his subs as he sees fit. Mind you - that's in large venues with FOH support. In a small room - shaking the tables with your amp every once in a while can be a good thing
I leave it for the FOH guy to exercise his subs as he sees fit. Mind you - that's in large venues with FOH support. In a small room - shaking the tables with your amp every once in a while can be a good thing 
Agreed about the non linearity of hearing but have not wanted that much low end with an SVT and a decent cabinet.
OK, one time I wanted to make mud, but that's the only time.
My ancient Marantz in my shop is always at low volume WITH the loudness engaged!
