Cranking The Bass Knob

[JimmyM]

Doesn't that suck all the power out of your amp, though?

My amp? Not even close!

 

[JimmyM]

I think it's a question of wants overruling needs, to be fair to the OP. (I think)

Wants never overrule needs on my stages. If I don't think I need it to warm up a particular room, or if I think it's going to end up muddy, I don't do it.

 

[JRA]

We play the BASS. Not the MID.

 

[JimmyM]

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've found the opposite. When I play up high, it actually makes the nigh notes sound fuller and more bassy, rather than cop a tone that sounds more like a guitar that wants to be a bass

 

[RickyWoo]

Wants never overrule needs on my stages. If I don't think I need it to warm up a particular room, or if I think it's going to end up muddy, I don't do it.

I'm talking about wanting more bass in your tone. Not diming it all the time. Just wanting more bass. Of course you adjust as required.

 

[JimmyM]

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 .

No culpability on my part...I said "You have to be judicious about it."

 

[matthewbrown]

I am going to admit something that may get me raked over the coals...I love cranking the bass knob! Didn't always...took me a long time to warm up to the idea. But now I'll turn the bass up all the way if I need to. Gotta be judicious about it sometimes...don't want to overcrank the lows in a dark sounding room with a lot of natural reverb or anything dumb like that. And mids are still important if you want some note definition as well. But over the past years, I've gotten less shy about warming up the room real good, and I think it's working out great, and I don't get why so many people on here tell bass players not to do it. The lows are what people mostly hear out of your bass in a mix. Might as well let them have it.

There. I said it. I do something considered wrong by conventional TB wisdom, and I do so unapologetically. Take that.

I often use the bass knob my EB as an effect, at the ends of songs -- that LAST note. Since I often play in drummerless jazz trios, I can give a sense of finality to a tune by boosting the fundamental. With a drummer, it works well, too.

 

[JimmyM]

Is it fair to think that you are doing it , in part, because you are using tube amps and, that by cranking the lows, you get some nice musical overdrive?

Or, would you crank the lows regardless even if you were using a solid-state amp?

I use both tube and solid state amps on a regular basis, depending on weather, size of the stage (some are extremely small) and how much I feel like working during setups and teardowns. And while I do love overdrive, I get it from a pedal because I also need clean sounds. But yes, a cranked low end with some overdrive sounds heavenly to me.

 

[JRA]

for years TB has been all about the "mids." it's time to get back to bassics. we play low notes: they should sound like low notes!

i need a bottle of tequila and a couple of 21-inch subs...now!

 

[Coolhandjjl]

People are weird.

I also have two 70’s era Marants setups. Loudness button is always engaged, just as it always was in the actual 70’s with my Pioneer and Kenwood gear.

But on the audiophile forums, you get raked over the coals for admitting you actually use the loudness knob as the proper phono cartridge, RIAA phono preamp, speakers, proper speaker placement and corrected room acoustics should make the loudness button unnecessary in their opinion.

In fact, it’s even more militant on the tube and horn speaker hi-if forums. A SET power amp is all you really needs and any tone controls are verboten.

 

[Bob_Ross]

I usually set my Alembic preamp (with its classic "Fender tone stack" controls) to the flattest [sic] setting: Bass and Treble at 9 o'clock, Midrange fully CW. Then I bump the Bass knob up a touch, just because ...and then I'll probably add some very subtle additional bass boost and mid cut from the tone controls on my instrument. Been doing it that way for decades.

Just the other day, screwing around in a rehearsal, I set the Alembic preamp with all three tone controls at the 12 o'clock noon position -- so significant Bass and Treble boost and equally significant Midrange cut -- and then I dimed the active Bass and Treble controls on my bass, both fully CW.

The heavens parted.

Not kidding: Quite possibly the Awesomest. Tone. Ever.

Of course, as soon as the rest of the band joined in my sound lost all definition and punch, just turned into a wooly woofy bowel-rattling subsonic throb with a lot of metallic zing on top. So, back to the more-or-less flat sound for me. With a little bit of Bass boost in honor of JimmyM

 

[Coolhandjjl]

The Wooly Woofy Bowel-rattling Subsonic Throbs.

I think you inadvertently came up with the last possible band name word combination...

And their opening act, The Metallic Zings!

 

[MJ_Sotti]

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 .

A: I like the way it sounds...
B: I hate guitar players.

And that my friends, is that.

 

[JSandbloom]

You’re gonna burn for saying that!

 

[swarfrat]

For a few years I had a 32" bass marching bass drum, single headed. I tuned it WELL above lowest possible pitch and my tunebot said it had an honest 30hz fundamental. It was satisfying, but ... once my kid was playing it while I was in the far corner of the room. It made me legit queasy. Woah.

Fun, but someone else is enjoying it now.

 

[Blaze Barlow]

with the bass turned up..the sound coming out of the cabinet does sound different with 15 inch cones than with 10 inch cones..and a 5er is gonna sound different than a 4 banger..so everybody is going to perceive sound differently..when talking about turning amp bass up..many players are not considering the overall amp volume..and most of all the instrument volume and tone..consider this for a moment..turn the amp bass all the way up..and then..turn the instrument tone knob away from bass and a lot on the treble side..so now..you have bass turned up at the amp..but turned down at the instrument..the combination of increased instrument treble and increased amp bass is a rather unique sound..it cuts through with power..and from there..your volume is not going to be too loud unless you turn the volume up too much..make sure your gain is not too high..but you have to have enough gain for drive..you still have 2 stages of volume left to blend in..amp volume..and instrument volume..regardless of how you set the bass......or treble...if amp volume and instrument volume are not on..you hear nothing..so..as you can see..its all about the volume knobs..both at the amp and the instrument..sometimes people are afraid to try something new................bass up at the amp..but down at the instrument..can be a nice big..fat full sound....then..just determine how loud you want that sound to be and let the volume take you there...and on the dual pickup basses..you still have another option with the pickup select function..its one more level of tone blend between the lows and the highs...but mostly..do what you have to do to make it sound right to you..

 

[MonetBass]

People are weird.

I also have two 70’s era Marants setups. Loudness button is always engaged, just as it always was in the actual 70’s with my Pioneer and Kenwood gear.

But on the audiophile forums, you get raked over the coals for admitting you actually use the loudness knob as the proper phono cartridge, RIAA phono preamp, speakers, proper speaker placement and corrected room acoustics should make the loudness button unnecessary in their opinion.

In fact, it’s even more militant on the tube and horn speaker hi-if forums. A SET power amp is all you really needs and any tone controls are verboten.

Hahaha - I have the loudness on my Pioneer receiver permanently on as well. It just sounds better, especially with Norman Lab 3-way speakers and aiming them so the signal crosses where we sit on the couch.

 

[MegaSwing]

I am going to admit something that may get me raked over the coals...I love cranking the bass knob! Didn't always...took me a long time to warm up to the idea. But now I'll turn the bass up all the way if I need to. Gotta be judicious about it sometimes...don't want to overcrank the lows in a dark sounding room with a lot of natural reverb or anything dumb like that. And mids are still important if you want some note definition as well. But over the past years, I've gotten less shy about warming up the room real good, and I think it's working out great, and I don't get why so many people on here tell bass players not to do it. The lows are what people mostly hear out of your bass in a mix. Might as well let them have it.

There. I said it. I do something considered wrong by conventional TB wisdom, and I do so unapologetically. Take that.

It's all about the room, not the amp. Some rooms take this well. Others don't. I do it too, to the extent that it is appropriate to the space. Most rooms I play in don't deal well with the bass knob set on Extra-Fat.

 

[Spidey2112]

for years TB has been all about the "mids." it's time to get back to bassics. we play low notes: they should sound like low notes!

i need a bottle of tequila and a couple of 21-inch subs...now!

I've got top shelf Don Julio, and I'll put in a call to Subway...

 

[wes stephenson]

I gotta have that big bass booty!