Not including EQ adjustments, do different amp brands have recognizable differences?

[Sean775]

Like if I went to a guitar store, pickup up a standard Fender P Bass and tried out an Ampeg combo amp, a Gallien Krueger combo, a Fender Rumble combo, and an Acoustic combo, and left all the eq settings flat, what differences might I notice from each one?

 

[JKos]

If by flat you mean leaving the tone knobs at noon, the tone stacks are certainly not flat in frequeny response. If you mean setting the tone knobs such that the tone stack is as flat as possible frequency response wise, they still aren't completely flat.

And, keep in mind that even if you plugged the same amp into each combo's speaker cabinet, they will sound different. Different speakers, different cabinets, different tunings.

- John

 

[Killed_by_Death]

They all scoop the mids, but differently.

 

[Linnin]

Like if I went to a guitar store, pickup up a standard Fender P Bass and tried out an Ampeg combo amp, a Gallien Krueger combo, a Fender Rumble combo, and an Acoustic combo, and left all the eq settings flat, what differences might I notice from each one?

That's a good personal exercise in A/B/C/D comparison. Since you mentioned Acoustic, that means a trip to your nearest Guitar Center. You'll be pleasantly surprised by your findings.

 

[GrapeBass]

Yes.

 

[Wasnex]

Like if I went to a guitar store, pickup up a standard Fender P Bass and tried out an Ampeg combo amp, a Gallien Krueger combo, a Fender Rumble combo, and an Acoustic combo, and left all the eq settings flat, what differences might I notice from each one?

As an amplifier reaches it maximum output power, it will begin to compress then transition into distortion. The way this occurs varies significantly from one amp to the next. Some amps remain tight, punchy, and clean all the way to the limit; then transition quickly into nasty distortion. Some amps transition slowly into compression, light overdrive, and then heavy distortion. To further complicate matters, the way an amp transitions may vary somewhat by frequency. Also amps are built of multiple amplifier stages stacked in series, and the way the amp behaves may depend upon which amplifier stage is pushed into overload. I.E. cranking up the input gain to produce drive sounds different than cranking up the master volume to produce drive.