Please define “slam”

[MYLOWFREQ]

Means you dropped your rig hard on the floor?

 

[Thumpin6string]

I take it literally. It is when you play through an amp and it slams you upside the head.

 

[agedhorse]

Like trying to define or describe “tube tone”, ask 100 players and you will get 200 different “definitive” answers…

 

[HolmeBass]

The D-800+ is a great amp, and my main rig, but for more slam my old QSC G5 power amp, or my Quilter BB800 deliver more.

I feel my Mesa has a bit more “slam” than my Genz Benz amps.

I think a combination of immediacy and “heft”, low-end headroom, is what it’s about. It is more felt than heard.

FWIW the Mesa has plenty enough “slam”, along with a number of other features that I don’t have in any other combination of integrated amps or pre-amps I could use with the QSC, that the Mesa is my main amp. I like the EQ and love the adjustable LPF and Gain knob, which together with my pedal comp are giving me a really nice subtle breakup when I dig in. And the voicing filters are there for even more extreme EQ applications.

My “slamming-est” rig is the Tech21 Q-strip into the QSC power amp. But the HPF on the Q-strip is tuned a bit high for my taste and the tone is clean as a bone the dog has had for a week. If I ever have another real all dub and reggae gig I’ll be exploring my options for sure.

 

[Kaa]

 

[stigbeve]

Slam focuses on slow or midtempo (as well as breakdown-style) sections built on chromatic, palm muted riffs.

 

[Passinwind]

I’ve seen the term “slam” used fairly regularly and was curious if it is well defined. How do you define it?

It's the sound of popcorn hitting the side of the popper while we wait for a few hundred interpretations of "play feel."

 

[chaosMK]

Back in my day we'd call it "punch"

 

[Thorsoundcore]

No Aggie DB 751 users around to chime in yet? That's a surprise. Look up any thread about the DB and you'll see that word thrown around left and right. Apparently "no amp does it (slam) better".

Edit, somehow missed the 750 posted on page 1.

 

[Scott Lynch]

"Slam" is definitely open to interpretation. For me, it's the sensation I get from powerful bass and low-mid frequencies coming from a large amp where I feel like the sound is physically pushing on me. It's more of a kinesthetic-tactile sensation rather than just an auditory one.

The opposite of this would be something like an iPhone speaker.

 

[lucas303]

Slam focuses on slow or midtempo (as well as breakdown-style) sections built on chromatic, palm muted riffs.

I love you.

 

[ELG60]

I would say that, according to these definitions here, your Mesa should achieve "slam". It has heft and definition plus, as a buddy of mine who played through it at a gig said. "It growls in all the right places."

I normally bring either my D800+ or WD800 to a gig, but although they have superb performance, tonal versatility, useful features, and power, they don't have the "slam" of that Aggie DB750.

 

[Michedelic]

 

[truand85]

I don't know what slam is, but that rig sounds like it'll get you some oomph

 

[bass12]

I’ve never heard the word used in association with an amp.

 

[Lesfunk]

 

[2112]

Got you right here OP...

 

[FRoss6788]

M6 Carbine -> SWR Goliath SR.

 

[Mannyinnewyork]

Not sure but i would guess it is a punchy presence. I used to describe my old setup - Acoustic 360 and PBass as sounding like a bass with a bass-drum hit attached to every note.

 

[bucephylus]

If a rig is capable of delivering the musical version of a potent mule kick, then said rig has slam.

Definitely a bass slang term. Absolutely not quantitative. As a player, you know it when you hear it. This is where the art part over-rides the science; so don’t bother trying to get quantitative about it.