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Double Bass Logical Pre-amp and Amp settings? [DB]

Jack Clark

Jack Clark

Aug 17, 2008
1,022
14
Idyllwild, California
#1
I just installed a K&K Pure Bass pickup for 5-String Acoustic Bass in my upright guitarrón and ran it through a K&K Pure XLR pre-amp and into an Acoustic AB50 practice combo. This is the first time I've dealt with amplifying anything, and I have a question:

After trying several positions, it seems to me that all six strings are sounding best--i.e., most natural and most even--when I cut both the bass and the treble a bit and boost the mid a bit on both the pre-amp and the amp. In fact, the clock-face positions of the three knobs are identical: 1030(bass) / 1330(mid) / 1030(treble) on both the pre-amp and the amp. Both volume settings are quite low for just my own practice at home. I'm getting what I consider to be a nice, tight, well-defined bass with no muddiness, boom or honk.

So, my question is: Do these pre-amp and amp settings make sense with each other?

I'm guessing that you're all going to say that I should just go by the sound and if you do, that'll be fine. I just want to make sure that I'm not bucking some established and accepted convention here--somehow making the pre-amp and amp work against each other, say.
 
#2
Like you said - go by the sound. And like Joe Meek said - If it sounds right, it is right.

It might not make sense to what we're used to - cutting bass and boosting mid - but if that's what your particular instrument needs, then that's what it needs. I guess as long as nothing is distorting/overloading, then there's no harm being done.
 
#3
mr.hughes said:
Like you said - go by the sound. And like Joe Meek said - If it sounds right, it is right.

It might not make sense to what we're used to - cutting bass and boosting mid - but if that's what your particular instrument needs, then that's what it needs. I guess as long as nothing is distorting/overloading, then there's no harm being done.
Click to expand...

Yep, that is precisely what had me questioning this. But before I cut the bass a bit, the G string seemed overemphasized--a little boomy. For some reason, adding cutting the bass and adding more mid seemed to help smooth that out. Still doesn't make sense to me, so maybe next week it won't strike me this same way. I've only just begun here. I could spend hours over days testing this out, I guess.

Thanks very much for your comments.
 
#4
Well, I found that the first thing I needed to do was get farther away from the speaker. When I finally did, all that boominess went away, so it must have been feedback.

Trying to dial in the EQ settings on the preamp and the combo, but that's hard to do by myself since I have to sit off to the side and away from the speaker. Next week I'll have a friend to help with that.
 
#7
Hey Jack, not to add too much to your "to do" list but you'll probably be twisting knobs quite a bit looking for the sound you want. Not only do things change when you move in relation to the amp and the amp sounds different in different rooms, you'll find that the amp sound changes in different parts of the same room. Move it around and see for yourself. The best you can do is tweak away and find out what everything does. That way when something doesn't sound right you will have some idea of how to change it to your liking.
 
#8
Also excellent points, Chris. Guess all I can hope for is finding some middle-road starting point from which to approach any given situation. That's okay. That's what you all are doing all the time, I guess. I imagine that even the same gig spot might have settings depending upon whether the room is full of people or nearly empty. (And, of course, whether they're yapping or not.)

This is all very new for me, but it increases the fun. :p
 

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