Bass settings on your tube amp.

[Grandfunkfan]

I just read an article about Jimmy Pages amp settings and I was surprised to find he has his bass set to 8. I read an article years ago about KWS saying he sets his bass as high as he can without blowing the speakers. I thought I try it out and I was surprised it sounded pretty good. Normally if my bass is above 4 it's boomy. When I set it at 8 today something happened where it actually blended better. It was definitely present but it didn't overwhelm the mids and treble that are set between 5 and 7. It worked equally well clean and with overdrive. Usually with overdrive I have to back off the bass a little. Am I late to the party? Anybody else using similar settings. BTW I'm using strats and teles anywhere from edge of break up blues tone to hard rock tele bridge stuff.

 

[gridlock]

I also run my bass higher on my Fender and Marshall amps, seems I go against the norms listed in most reviews.

 

[srblue5]

On my PRRI, I set my bass (and treble) as low as it can go, especially when I'm playing at higher volumes. Otherwise, the speaker really flubs out and the overdrive sound gets rattier than I like.

Back when I played through a Blues Junior, I would set the bass around 5-7. It sounded ok, although I never really liked that amp (nothing against the amp, it just wasn't the right sound for me).

I once played through a Hot Rod Deluxe provided in a backline and I seem to remember running the bass fairly high. This was many years ago and I don't have any recordings of that gig but I remember it sounding good at the time.

I would generally set my bass lower so as not to clash with other instruments' frequencies (i.e. bass, second guitar, piano/keyboards). I could see Page setting his bass higher to fill out the band's sound a bit, especially live.

 

[schmee]

On Fender BF style amps I'm seldom above 4 on the Bass. But I should experiment again, in a band mix I haven't liked it high in the past. Testing at home doesn't really mean much.

 

[J-bass&Tele]

It all depends on which amp, volume level, which guitar, level of gain, the rest of the band and what type of music is being played.

At home, at low volume, clean, with a Tele bridge through my CVR with the reverb on 5? Sure, the bass at 8 sounds like a big pillow.

 

[GotA24Fretter]

Both examples have lots of bass attenuation either in the early gain stages (Marshall lead type amps with Page) or from outboard effect pedals (Tube screamer and KOT for KWS). That's how they're able to keep a tighter sound with higher bass settings. Unless you do something similar you will run into mud, blocking distortion, or get lost in a band mix. If you go back to the 90s KWS would often say he'd run the bass at 2 to avoid mud. Back then he was diming 2 or more Twin Reverbs for his basic overdriven tone and kicking on TS9 for dirt and sustain. He's since mellowed and uses 20-45W amps with dirtier natures and a basically always on KOT.

For an example of running bass up with no bass attenuation listen to Carlos Santana from a few years ago when he went back to using his Boogies as the main amp (see Mesa King Snake). The sound was big and bloated--and you can tell the sound man was using low cut filters to make it usable. It definitely changes the character of the saturation though.

P.S. Speaking of KWS, I still can't figure out how he got that panther growl sound on In 2 Deep. Must be a studio trick as he doesn't replicate it live.

 

[turftone]

The louder the amp goes, the lower the bass goes ;-) That's my rule of thumb, at least

 

[Nicko_Lps]

Depends on the speakers really... Playing with a closed cab 2x12" Celestion Gold have the bass very low. Speakers dont get boomy but i dont like bass.
When using the HRD cab as an open back speaker(without an amp in it) and my stock speaker or Celestion V30, yeah i have to push bass a bit more.

I hate bass, i use small in-ear earphones to listen to music because they have very low bass. I have a pair of fine Bang and Olufsen headphones right next to me but those are full range and not my preference.

 

[Grandfunkfan]

On my PRRI, I set my bass (and treble) as low as it can go, especially when I'm playing at higher volumes. Otherwise, the speaker really flubs out and the overdrive sound gets rattier than I like.

Back when I played through a Blues Junior, I would set the bass around 5-7. It sounded ok, although I never really liked that amp (nothing against the amp, it just wasn't the right sound for me).

I once played through a Hot Rod Deluxe provided in a backline and I seem to remember running the bass fairly high. This was many years ago and I don't have any recordings of that gig but I remember it sounding good at the time.

I would generally set my bass lower so as not to clash with other instruments' frequencies (i.e. bass, second guitar, piano/keyboards). I could see Page setting his bass higher to fill out the band's sound a bit, especially live.

I had a prri for a week. I couldn't get rid of the flub. I used edge of break up pretty much noon on the bass and treble and less and less with the bass as I was trying to tighten it up. Never even bothered trying overdrive, I could tell it would overwhelm the speaker.

 

[Grandfunkfan]

Depends on the speakers really... Playing with a closed cab 2x12" Celestion Gold have the bass very low. Speakers dont get boomy but i dont like bass.
When using the HRD cab as an open back speaker(without an amp in it) and my stock speaker or Celestion V30, yeah i have to push bass a bit more.

I hate bass, i use small in-ear earphones to listen to music because they have very low bass. I have a pair of fine Bang and Olufsen headphones right next to me but those are full range and not my preference.

I usually try to keep the bass at a minimum. I run a 1 12 cab with a v30 open back with the bass set at 3. If I go above that it gets boomy, until I go to 8 or above and then it blends in. I think it affects the treble and mids so they blend better and the bass doesn't stick out. When I tried it I thought it was gonna sound like **** but I was shocked that it was a useable tone, not at radically over the top. It just sounded like a fairly normal all around guitar tone. BTW, I've only tried it with single coils. I'm going to leave it set that way for a few days and tweak here and there and see if it's viable.

 

[Grandfunkfan]

On Fender BF style amps I'm seldom above 4 on the Bass. But I should experiment again, in a band mix I haven't liked it high in the past. Testing at home doesn't really mean much.

I'll find out Tuesday if it's gonna work with the band. The bass could get over taken by the actual bass and everything gonna work. More likely the lack of mids could be a problem. We only have 1 guitar so that helps. Me and the keyboard have a thing worked out we're he plays a different inversion of whatever chords were playing and sometimes an octave above me.

 

[Grandfunkfan]

It all depends on which amp, volume level, which guitar, level of gain, the rest of the band and what type of music is being played.

At home, at low volume, clean, with a Tele bridge through my CVR with the reverb on 5? Sure, the bass at 8 sounds like a big pillow.

CVR?

 

[Grandfunkfan]

Both examples have lots of bass attenuation either in the early gain stages (Marshall lead type amps with Page) or from outboard effect pedals (Tube screamer and KOT for KWS). That's how they're able to keep a tighter sound with higher bass settings. Unless you do something similar you will run into mud, blocking distortion, or get lost in a band mix. If you go back to the 90s KWS would often say he'd run the bass at 2 to avoid mud. Back then he was diming 2 or more Twin Reverbs for his basic overdriven tone and kicking on TS9 for dirt and sustain. He's since mellowed and uses 20-45W amps with dirtier natures and a basically always on KOT.

For an example of running bass up with no bass attenuation listen to Carlos Santana from a few years ago when he went back to using his Boogies as the main amp (see Mesa King Snake). The sound was big and bloated--and you can tell the sound man was using low cut filters to make it usable. It definitely changes the character of the saturation though.

P.S. Speaking of KWS, I still can't figure out how he got that panther growl sound on In 2 Deep. Must be a studio trick as he doesn't replicate it live.

I only did it to see how ridiculous it was going to sound and I was surprised that it sounded fairly normal. I'm going to fiddle with it for a couple days just for a goof and try it with the band. It could be a total bust. Either way it's been a long time since I've made any major changes to my amp settings and you never know.

 

[Nicko_Lps]

I usually try to keep the bass at a minimum. I run a 1 12 cab with a v30 open back with the bass set at 3. If I go above that it gets boomy, until I go to 8 or above and then it blends in. I think it affects the treble and mids so they blend better and the bass doesn't stick out. When I tried it I thought it was gonna sound like **** but I was shocked that it was a useable tone, not at radically over the top. It just sounded like a fairly normal all around guitar tone. BTW, I've only tried it with single coils. I'm going to leave it set that way for a few days and tweak here and there and see if it's viable.

Indeed, bass is messing treble and above all makes the mids muddy. I can slightly fix this from my presence control but... Wont make wonders.

 

[Grandfunkfan]

Indeed, bass is messing treble and above all makes the mids muddy. I can slightly fix this from my presence control but... Wont make wonders.

Luckily with my amp, cutting the mids back really clears things up. The open back cab helps to. Even without the extreme settings it's really good at keeping the bass, mid and treble seperate. I don't know how it works but I can distinctively hear them individually instead of a single blended tone. Nothing fancy either just a single 12 inch V30 in a decent sized cab.

 

[hungahunga]

Twin Reverb bass 0 treble 10 mid 6

 

[Chiogtr4x]

P

Twin Reverb bass 0 treble 10 mid 6

That's close to the Johnny Winter and Jerry Garcia formula.
( two of my faves)

 

[bumnote]

With all the switch settings for phase, tap, split, cloaking device, etc. (I think I read 20) that Page has on some of his guitars, I'm not surprised he'd have a lot of bass, a lot of them have to produce some pretty thin tones.

 

[Blue Bill]

We had an interesting discussion on this topic here recently, you may find interesting:

Where do you set the bass knob on your amp?

Even though I can't play like J Garcia to save my life, I'm an old deadhead; so when I heard that Jerry used to run his amp with the bass setting turned way down, I gave it a try. I have generally always run my amps with the tone controls roughly balanced at 5 or 6, with a tweak where...

www.tdpri.com

 

[J-bass&Tele]

CVR?

Custom Vibrolux Reverb (Moyer modded one, the black panel with cream colored knobs)