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How to feel the bass?
- Thread starter mojo4show
- Start date
Start by plugging it into an amp...
OK seriously, what you're talking about is EQ (equalization). EQ controls the mix of frequencies each note uses, boosting some or cutting others (a note is not just one frequency of sound, but a "fundamental" plus a bunch of weaker "harmonics" that give it its unique tone). You have some active EQ knobs for a preamp on your MusicMan, and there will also be a set on your amp, and maybe on pedals if you're using any. So you can "stack" your EQ if you want.
To start just set one of them "flat" (knobs all centered) and tinker with the other. Most EQ systems have three bands - low, middle, and high. The lows are the "bass" part of your note and where most of your volume really is. The mids are the frequencies the human ear is most sensitive too and they give clarity and definition. The highs give your notes a certain "sizzle" on top and can also help with definition, but they also pick up stuff like finger noise squeaking on the strings and fret clank.
To get a good sense of what each EQ knob does, turn that one up to 10 and turn the others down to 0. Play some notes with your lows, for instance, at full, and none of the others; then all mids, then all highs. Once you get a sense of that, see what happens when you blend them in different combinations.
All that is a long way of saying that what you want is to crank your lows, if you want thick, boomy bass tone. But what you may also notice is that too MUCH bass and you get boomy mud without much clarity. Mids will give you that clarity, but too much mids and the tone can get "honky." Highs can also give a nice bite to the tone, but again, too much highs and it might get too squeaky and clanky.
The other thing is... back to the amp. I was only partly kidding when I started with that. Amps have their own characters and cheaper ones are limited in what frequencies they produce well as well as their volume. If you're playing through a cheap little bedroom amp with an 8" speaker you're not going to sound like you would through a huge Ampeg fridge stack, no matter what you do with the knobs.
OK seriously, what you're talking about is EQ (equalization). EQ controls the mix of frequencies each note uses, boosting some or cutting others (a note is not just one frequency of sound, but a "fundamental" plus a bunch of weaker "harmonics" that give it its unique tone). You have some active EQ knobs for a preamp on your MusicMan, and there will also be a set on your amp, and maybe on pedals if you're using any. So you can "stack" your EQ if you want.
To start just set one of them "flat" (knobs all centered) and tinker with the other. Most EQ systems have three bands - low, middle, and high. The lows are the "bass" part of your note and where most of your volume really is. The mids are the frequencies the human ear is most sensitive too and they give clarity and definition. The highs give your notes a certain "sizzle" on top and can also help with definition, but they also pick up stuff like finger noise squeaking on the strings and fret clank.
To get a good sense of what each EQ knob does, turn that one up to 10 and turn the others down to 0. Play some notes with your lows, for instance, at full, and none of the others; then all mids, then all highs. Once you get a sense of that, see what happens when you blend them in different combinations.
All that is a long way of saying that what you want is to crank your lows, if you want thick, boomy bass tone. But what you may also notice is that too MUCH bass and you get boomy mud without much clarity. Mids will give you that clarity, but too much mids and the tone can get "honky." Highs can also give a nice bite to the tone, but again, too much highs and it might get too squeaky and clanky.
The other thing is... back to the amp. I was only partly kidding when I started with that. Amps have their own characters and cheaper ones are limited in what frequencies they produce well as well as their volume. If you're playing through a cheap little bedroom amp with an 8" speaker you're not going to sound like you would through a huge Ampeg fridge stack, no matter what you do with the knobs.
Ampeg b50 or 100 bass pot 9 low mids 9 himids 6 and hi 5.
Jazz bass nickel strings , neck pickup,tone almost closed
Knob
Jazz bass nickel strings , neck pickup,tone almost closed
Knob
What you described imho you will only get from a tube amp. That's the sound and feel I have only felt and heard from a all tube amp. That's what made me first want to play bass back in the 70s those SVT and V4b amps or the old Kustom amps. I remember watching a band and the bass player had those plush kustom amps and I could feel the bass in my chest and no they were not coming threw the mains.
Based on what exactly?
I'm curious, but can you find me a link to any Kustom amp (original, 1960s/70s vintage) that had tube output power stages? I've never heard of such an animal. Kustom was well-known for solid state amplifiers. In my memory, a tube output Kustom amp of any kind would be quite a rare find.
I recently got a Behringer (sorry) copy of the SansAmp - it does a scoop type EQ to simulate an SVT amp and speakers. It also rolls off the really deep lows (like anything below 40hz is really cut off) -- yet it makes the bass seem louder and punchier. It doesn't sound like it took away bass it sounds like it added a lot of bass. So I'm guessing that it works by removing the lowest frequencies (that are hard to hear and hard for your amp to reproduce) and exaggerating the harmonics in a way that makes the bass seem deeper. Give it a try and see what you think.
Smooth_bass88
vaxx!
- Oct 31, 2006
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In theory, 110 hz should do the trick. The resonant freq of the thorax is ~11 hz so do the math.
Riis
Riis
