Question about harmonics...

[BobbyTouche]

I'm a relatively new bass player. I have played guitar for 12 or 13 years, but recently picked up the bass as well.

I'm in search for an amp, but I'm, like most of you, very critical of my sound. I've found a lot of affordable amps that offer a lot of features and decent power. But what I'm having trouble with is harmonics. I recently played all of the Phil Jones combo amps and the harmonics, natural and artificial just oozed out of those amps. I would get one of those but they're a bit pricey for how quiet they are.

I have no problem getting natural harmonics out of any other amp, but I can't seem to get artificial harmonics to hit the same volume. Does that have much to do with the amp, or what?

Any suggestion?

 

[~ignited~wings~]

Well for one, harmonics are pretty much all in the midrange, so try boosting your amp's mids.

On another note, the phil jones amps produce the most natural, and best sounding harmonics I've ever heard.

 

[BobbyTouche]

I agree. those amps are really amazing. I can't complain too much about the price considering how much he charges for his home audio.

 

[Kael]

Try an EA cxl-112. That cab reproduces harmonics better than anything else in existence IMHO.

 

[bongomania]

I would say a combination of a high-fidelity cab (that will not "round off" or re-shape your signal as much as many bass cabs do) and a bit of compression. That could either come from an obvious compressor function/device, or just from a bit of non-obvious compression inherent to the amp design.