Taming an Ampeg HSVT 410HLF.

[Deleted member 271037]

I love my HLF, sorry!!!

As much as I hated mine, these cabs do have a tone that works great for certain styles of music. If it works for you, GREAT! You found the right cab for your needs. But for anyone struggling with that ultra-deep, mid-scooped voicing the right answer is 100% definitely to look for a different cab. Trying to shape the tone of a 410HLF into something different is a rather pointless uphill struggle IMO.

 

[eee]

As much as I hated mine, these cabs do have a tone that works great for certain styles of music. If it works for you, GREAT! You found the right cab for your needs. But for anyone struggling with that ultra-deep, mid-scooped voicing the right answer is 100% definitely to look for a different cab. Trying to shape the tone of a 410HLF into something different is a rather pointless uphill struggle IMO.

I use mine with a Stingray and a GK RB700ii. No lack of mids there and the depth of the cab is totally manageable. Moving it around, however….

 

[Deleted member 271037]

I use mine with a Stingray and a GK RB700ii. No lack of mids there and the depth of the cab is totally manageable. Moving it around, however….

That's a great example of why it's so important to find a great match between your amp/cab/bass. Stingrays have never really worked for me (even though I love to hear others play them!). I generally prefer basses with pickups in the P-bass position or closer to the neck. With that kind of tone the HLF didn't give me the mids I needed.

 

[Onomatopoetikon]

I agree, great point there.

 

[Wasnex]

Well it’s not that I cant get a usable sound, it’s just not what I thought it would be.

Anyway, I get the EQ and hi-pass filtering, but was thinking perhaps a different type of power section might work differently. Could it be the CL and 410hlf have different crossover points? Anybody have luck using the crossover frequency control on the 4pro?

I think your best chance of getting the tone you want is probably a different cab. Try as many cabs as you can get your hands on, and don't assume that one good experience will be representative of the tone you typically get. Once you find a cab you like, ideally you would try it in several different locations. Probably unrealistic, but otherwise you may wind up with another cab that cause you constant frustration.

Even worse, in my experience we rarely get close to our ideal vision of tone. Unfortunately acoustics are the biggest contributing factor. Having the right gear combination does help you get closer, but acoustics tend to confound the results.

Usually when you have a really good night and the bass sounds incredible, it's due to an unplanned gestalt. In other words, a bunch of factors that are beyond your control came to together by chance to produce the incredible results.

You might play the same combination of gear in a different location and hate the way it sounds. Also just because you sound great on stage is no guarantee that you will sound great to the audience. It works the other way as well. You might sound great to the audience, but really hate your sound on stage.