Sman1992 Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 Hi I've been playing bass now for about 2 months and only just got an amp and would like to find out more about what the controls do to the sounds and how they effect them. I've tried to find a useful site but can't seem to find one, so does anyone know of any? It would be a big help. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barkin Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 Which amp do you have? What knobs/switches/buttons has it got? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Foxen Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 Your ears are the only thing that can reliably tell you how sound changes when you do things. Everything else effects the sound too, especially where your ears are in relation to the speaker. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stingrayPete1977 Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 I have been playing guitar for 25 years and bass for 20 yet this is my biggest weakness, I'd be interested in an idiots guide to the common controls (me being the idiot ) I just fiddle about until I like what I hear but there must be a more methodical way of doing it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sman1992 Posted July 17, 2012 Author Share Posted July 17, 2012 So far I've just been playing around till I get the right sound I want just really wanted to kow a little more about it. My amp has middle, gain, low, high. Any help would be cool or even a link that would be sweet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul_5 Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 [quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1342558817' post='1737171'] I just fiddle about until I like what I hear but there must be a more methodical way of doing it? [/quote] Nope, whenever I'm building a bit of kit with knobs on I never put number values on the cover - just the knobs; if it sounds right, it is right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
icastle Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 [quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1342558817' post='1737171'] I have been playing guitar for 25 years and bass for 20 yet this is my biggest weakness, I'd be interested in an idiots guide to the common controls (me being the idiot ) I just fiddle about until I like what I hear but there must be a more methodical way of doing it? [/quote] I've been playing for 32 years and have come up with the following scientific methodology: 1) Set all the tone controls flat. 2) Turn off any inbuilt weird sh*t (yes, I'm talking to you mister built in Octave thingy... ) 3) Add a dollop of bass and a bit of treble if it needs it. 4) Don't faff about with the 'Mid' control - it's called 'Mid' for a reason, so just leave it set there... The final thing to remember is that the amount of fiddling to get a 'perfect' sound is inversely proportional to the chances of achieving it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Foxen Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 How do you figure where flat is? This program shows what tone knob settings can translate to in an eq chart thing: http://www.duncanamps.com/tsc/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
icastle Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 [quote name='Mr. Foxen' timestamp='1342567642' post='1737332'] How do you figure where flat is? [/quote] Well you could feed a known signal into the amp and use a frequency analyser to look at the resultant output... ... or you could just stick all the tone controls at 12 o clock and say 'b*ll*cks, that's near enough for rock n roll' ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Posted July 18, 2012 Share Posted July 18, 2012 Bass goes 'boom'. Mids go 'grrrrrr'. Treble goes 'sizzz' and occasionally 'clack'. Seriously. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
51m0n Posted July 18, 2012 Share Posted July 18, 2012 Low and high eqs will be shelving eqs, the middle will be a bandpass eq. As for the frequency centers and Q's of each. Couldnt know without doing some measurements, or at least knowing the make and model of amp. Typically on a smaller practice amp you are looking at sometyhing like 100Hz for the low, 700Hz to 1KHz for the mid, and 3KHz for the highs, all with nice wide Q (or steepness of eq slope). Typically you can boost or cut upto 12dB in any of those ranges. Which is a huge amount. If you use too much low end, you will disappear in a mix, the human ear doesnt hear the pitches very well below the midrange, we take most of our pitch info from the midrange, so for all it sounds great solo'ed to cut those mids, when you get into a band try and cut them less. Gain on an amp like yours is just volume, on more fully featured amps you will often find an input gain and a master or output volume. This allows you to set the volume going into the front of the amp to an optimum level before distortion or clipping occurs. Since different basses have different electronics there is a very wide range of input levels that amps must cope with. There is a correct procedure for setting the input gain, requireing a clip light of some kind which will indicate that you are pushing too much signal into the amp. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lfalex v1.1 Posted July 18, 2012 Share Posted July 18, 2012 [quote name='Mr. Foxen' timestamp='1342567642' post='1737332'] How do you figure where flat is? This program shows what tone knob settings can translate to in an eq chart thing: [url="http://www.duncanamps.com/tsc/"]http://www.duncanamps.com/tsc/[/url] [/quote] Which was not a lot of help at all to a flat-earther like me. MMM pretty graphs... And even if it did make sense, how does one apply [i]that[/i] to real-world situations? Just use the flappy cartilaginous bits on the side of your head.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Foxen Posted July 18, 2012 Share Posted July 18, 2012 'Flat' refers to how a graph would look. Apply controls till the graph comes flat, do same to amp, there's the flat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
essexbasscat Posted July 18, 2012 Share Posted July 18, 2012 [quote name='Jack' timestamp='1342612929' post='1737840'] Bass goes 'boom'. Mids go 'grrrrrr'. Treble goes 'sizzz' and occasionally 'clack'. Seriously. [/quote] Love it ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lfalex v1.1 Posted July 18, 2012 Share Posted July 18, 2012 [quote name='Mr. Foxen' timestamp='1342631672' post='1738344'] 'Flat' refers to how a graph would look. Apply controls till the graph comes flat, do same to amp, there's the flat. [/quote] Maybe I'm too old or obtuse, but I still don't get it. Mind you, I don't have any of the amps it refers to, so it's a moot point.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bloc Riff Nut Posted July 18, 2012 Share Posted July 18, 2012 [quote name='Jack' timestamp='1342612929' post='1737840'] Bass goes 'boom'. Mids go 'grrrrrr'. Treble goes 'sizzz' and occasionally 'clack'. Seriously. [/quote] That's fantastic! I want an amp with Boom,Grrrr and Sizzz. The best explination I've heard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mog Posted July 18, 2012 Share Posted July 18, 2012 [quote name='Mr. Foxen' timestamp='1342567642' post='1737332'] How do you figure where flat is? This program shows what tone knob settings can translate to in an eq chart thing: [url="http://www.duncanamps.com/tsc/"]http://www.duncanamps.com/tsc/[/url] [/quote] Thats fantastic lad. Cheers for posting it. (There really should be a sticky for this kinda thing..... ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VTypeV4 Posted July 18, 2012 Share Posted July 18, 2012 Sman1992.. Take time to learn your controls and how they interact with your bass and speaker combinations. It will put you in good stead for if you fancy a change of sound, get a different bass or find yourself in a tricky acoustic space where your 'usual' settings just don't seem to be working. Plus, if you get a new amp in the future then at least some of the controls will be familiar and you'll understand it better straight away. Don't become ignorant to it, learning how to use the amps features are (almost) as important as playing the bass itself. I deal with lots of people who don't have a clue about their amp and treat it as magical voodoo of which they don't understand. As a result they occasionally have an inappropriate or bad sound. Maybe you could tell us what amp you have and we could help you further? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KingBollock Posted July 18, 2012 Share Posted July 18, 2012 [quote name='Bloc Riff Nut' timestamp='1342634436' post='1738432'] That's fantastic! I want an amp with Boom,Grrrr and Sizzz. The best explination I've heard. [/quote] Ohhh, there's an idea. My wife once decided to be nice and clean my Laney Linebacker for me. She thought Nail Polish Remover would be a good idea... Once she'd removed about a third of the ink from the front she came to tell me what she'd done. I got her to remove the rest and replaced all the lettering using an old fashioned Dymo labeller. I think it looks ace, but I hadn't thought of changing the wording, until now... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Posted July 18, 2012 Share Posted July 18, 2012 [quote name='Bloc Riff Nut' timestamp='1342634436' post='1738432']That's fantastic! I want an amp with Boom,Grrrr and Sizzz. [/quote] Don't we all. [quote name='Bloc Riff Nut' timestamp='1342634436' post='1738432']The best explanation I've heard.[/quote] Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uncle psychosis Posted July 19, 2012 Share Posted July 19, 2012 [quote name='Sman1992' timestamp='1342559020' post='1737177'] So far I've just been playing around till I get the right sound I want just really wanted to kow a little more about it. My amp has middle, gain, low, high. Any help would be cool or even a link that would be sweet. [/quote] Gain, at the most basic level, is essentially just volume. But if you turn it up too much you'll get distortion (which may or may not be desirable). The middle, low, and high controls change the tone of the amp and are typically referred to as "EQ" (from "Equalisation"). A musical sound is made up of many different frequencies---typically from very low (the low B string on a 5-string bass is about 30Hz) to very high (several thousand Hz). You can modify the sound of your guitar by either boosting or cutting the level of different frequencies present. So, the low control allows you to increase/decrease the low frequencies, the high control allows you to increase/decrease the high frequencies, and the middle does the "middle" frequencies. How "low", "middle", and "high" are defined varies from amp to amp (on a graphic EQ typically the ranges are labelled) but they all do much the same thing. The best way to work out how EQ works is to use your ears. Turn all three to the middle of their range. Listen to how the bass sounds. Then turn the bass control right down and listen to what happens. Then turn it right up and listen. Listen to some points in between. Then, put it back to the middle position and repeat for the other two controls. Its interesting to note that EQing is not an exact science. What works in your house or the recording studio might not work on stage or when playing with a band. You just have to use your ears :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sman1992 Posted July 23, 2012 Author Share Posted July 23, 2012 everyone on this post is a pure legend, thank you for all your help. From now my ear shall be the one that decides what nob does what Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.gif.9ad672bb8b84505709f76b39c8c256ec.gif)
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.