About thatimbre knob, what exactly does it to? I've heard alot of people like it, but it's only useful within that 11o'clock to 1o'clock region.
I know that the vle knob on my mb is useful through it's full range if you wanna get really thumpy, or at least up to 1 or 2 o'clock, so I'm guessing the timbre isn't jsut a 'passive tone rolloff' type deal.
When I'm playing at school with the jazz abnd, we have a fender bassman 250 combo which has a 'room balance' knob. It adds lows and boom while cutting highs when turned counter clockwise, turned clockwise it adds alot of high mids and highs while cutting alot of bottom and low mids. My guess is that this is kind of what the timbre does.
If this is true, I would guess that the timbree circuit is cutting and boosting at much different frequencies. That room balance knob sound either way too harsh or way too boomy, not a musical control at all. Given I'm playing an upright in this situation, not sure how much of an effect that makes.
So, what's the lowdown on the timbre knob?
The VLE knob is simply a treble roll-off control similar to a classic passive tone control on a Fender bass. Very nice, although somewhat redundant if you have a passive tone control on your bass.
The Timbre control on the Thunderfunk, as Brad correctly points out, is an overall revoicing of the preamp, to the bass side counterclockwise, and to the treble side clock wise. It's very different from the enhance control (which the TF and MB both have, although its named differently).
The Timbre control basically moves the entire voicing of the amp up and down. I am one who finds it quite useful with certain cabs, but to be honest, I run my TF pretty much dead flat almost all the time with almost all the cabs I own. However, if you have a very dark or very bright sounding cab, the Timbre can be used to kind of 'center' the amps tone prior to adjusting the EQ.
The Fender circuit you describe sounds quite similar, as is the Walter Woods 'balance' control.
It is a very powerful tone control, but I am one who can't even imagine using it at the 11 o'clock or 1 o'clock level.. too extreme for me. However, just a tiny smidge either clockwise or counterclockwise can have a useful effect in some rooms, with some cabs, and with some basses.
The combination of the TF enhance, switch, and timbre is quite powerful. However, like most amps... it has an inherent tone that you either like or don't. I find that if you end up needing to do lot's of EQing with an amp to get your sound, you are probably better off trying another amp.
With me... I would be very happy if the TF just had a volume control and the enhance control (and I could actually do without the enhance, since at most, it's set at 9 o'clock, and only with my most mid voiced cabs)... that's about all I really use, since the inherent voicing of the head is right where the 'tone in my head' sits, at least with J bass type instruments.
I'm looking forward to checking out the LMII when it arrives tomorrow.
K
. The best thing to do, as you and I have both said, is to try each for yourself.
.... with the Markbass amps actually having it on the head) does wonders for a brightly voiced instrument like the Sadowsky J's or with piezo pickups with that 'over the top' sizzle.
).
