porterpr Posted January 6, 2011 Share Posted January 6, 2011 Hi can anyone give me an idea how to get the best out of this preamp,I,m using it on USA standard jazz 5 string it,s the mid and mid sweep that I'm not sure about, cheers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leroybasslines Posted January 29, 2011 Share Posted January 29, 2011 [quote name='porterpr' post='1080429' date='Jan 6 2011, 08:49 PM']Hi can anyone give me an idea how to get the best out of this preamp,I,m using it on USA standard jazz 5 string it,s the mid and mid sweep that I'm not sure about, cheers.[/quote] I've used one for a while on a Jazz 5 string and I rarely use the mid sweep! I don't know how much you know already, so forgive me if I'm patronising you! The bottom ring is used to select the mid range frequency you want to adjust - I think of it as more to the treble end of the mids all the way up, and more to the bass end all the way back. The top ring then boosts or cuts the chosen frequency. It's not an exact science because there are no markers or ways of knowing exactly what frequency you are manipulating - you have to use your ears. The only time I've really used it is to boost a bit of mid to cut through a messy mix. I'm not really a fan of mid-heavy sounds. I don't think I've ever cut mids on it outside of my living room! Although I do enjoy making wah-wah sounds with it - boosting and cutting mids is essentially how a wah-wah works. I think as an overview of how to use it, I leave my amp's eq pretty much flat and then do all my eq from the preamp. This is great if, like me, you are often playing through amps other than your own; if I have to use another person's rig, I set it flat, get the input levels etc right and eq from the bass. I think that way you're really using the preamp to its best effect - to control and colour your sound from the bass rather than from the amp. Obviously, with amps I know I might add a bit of colour here and there, but generally I leave the amp be. For me, the PU blend and master volume are what really transformed my bass, along with the bass and treble boost/cut. The treble boost pull switch is useful from time to time too. But the way the Retro boosts and enhances the bass's sound is just brilliant. I recently reinstalled the original Fender circuitry to sell the bass (I'm keeping the Retro!), and although it still sounds good, it made me realise how much the Retro does and how much I've come to rely on it and expect its amazing sound! Hope that's useful. Let me know if I can help any other way. Oh, and you can always email John East through the website. I've never found him to be anything other than really helpful, polite and very enthusiastic about his products. He's replied personally to some pretty inane questions from me! Cheers, Liam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JTUK Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 The EQ on these things can be extreme..and you need to use them delicately. I think, IIRC, there is +-12db on the mid sweep.. so set the bottom ring for the freq you want and then the upper control is indented for cut or boost. Range is between 150 and 3khz Play around with it, but after setting it, I don't touch it on gigs...I use the bass and treble for adjsutment..as the sweep will fundemenatlly change the bass sound. Whatever you do...on all these controls. never have them all up or all down... too much variation IMO. Be subtle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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