What creates a bass amp's "voicing"?

[Stu_Bass]

Here's a question for everyone .
What is the most transparent head and cab one can buy?

I just put my Breedlove through my Tantra in triode mode with all the other circuitry bypassed feeding a Fearless F110. Transparent as hell.

 

[Doner Designs]

That's why I love GK amps for DB. the high mid is voiced right where most piezo pickups have a nasal peak and the high mid lets me dial it out. For BG, boosting that band just a little goes a long way. To me that is a musical design decision.

The Fender tone stack, the Ampeg Ultra Lo circuit, the Sadowsky and Music Man boost only EQs all have survived because they sculpt the sound in ways that are musically useful.

Makes sense. Love the Ampeg ultra low circuit and I emulate it with tone controls on my other amps (cut low mids). On the GK, I often max out the upper mids which helps compensate for my use of flatwound strings. It only gives me a few db of boost vs flat, but it is enough as you say.

 

[brianrost]

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

this amp uses an out put transformer not an audio transformer, but still effect the sound of the amp.

No, it does not. The reference to toroidal transformers is about the power supply.

An output transformer is an audio transformer...it's in the audio path!

 

[FingerDub]

I'm not sure what part of an amp ethanol would best represent. In terms of fueling the amp it would be the power supply. After all, the design of an amp serves to modulate the power supply. That extra percentage gives life to the product, as does the design which makes one amp so different from the others.

EDIT: I added this bit to the post above to help tie the analogy together.

Yeah, I thought it was obvious so I didn't put it in.

As cute as this may be I get the feeling you came in with the feeling that the amplifiers voice is not important and choose to look for statements that support that statement rather then having an open mind. And maybe just understand try to understand how and why amps are voiced, it would serve you well to understand this even if it continues to not rate on your importance scale.

Well, I've read the thread, some things have gone over my head, but I have definitely learned that there is a lot more to it than just power and different controllable frequency points and ranges. People here are fanatics of bass, so I know that it's not total poppycock. I prefer a clean sound, so I'll look for recommendations based on that and see what happens. I'm primarily a rock player so I'll probably check out Ampeg, since that seems voiced for rock. I hope to be able to A/B some amps as opposed to buying sight unseen.

 

[TheRealKong]

No such thing on private property, such as a website. Freedom of speech only protects you from being tossed in prison for your speech. It doesn't prevent a private entity like Talkbass from choosing what kinds of content they will and will not host.

Thank you for clarifying.

Be sure that I was just kidding.

 

[TheRealKong]

I can take the same exact rig with all its components of one of my bass heros and play it and I'll sound different than him.

You can take my rig and my bass and play, and it will sound different. There is some truth in the saying "sound does come from your fingers first."