Turning down the bass on the amp

[jwp333]

Just an observation. I've been practicing with a Kustom Coupe 36 amp using a EBMM Steve Morse guitar lately. I thought the neck pickup sounded muffled through this amp, less so on my other amp. So just messing around, I turned the bass down on the amp to zero from about a 6 setting. Total thinness resulted. Turned up to around around a 3.5 to 4 and the neck pickup sounded very clear and pleasing. I didn't expect the bass setting to control my perception of the high end. Just another lesson on the road of life with the guitar. Haven't tried my tele or other single coil guitars yet with this setting. The Morse single coil definitely sound thinner but usable.

 

[mexicanyella]

When I went from using a single-coil guitar with kind of a dark sound to a single-humbucker Squier Strat, I had to make some pretty radical changes to how I eq-ed my amp. I used to like using the dirty channel with the gain set real low, and I tended to run all the EQ knobs at fairly low numbers and make up the losses at the post gain knob. (SS Peavey amps, currently a Special 150).

Now with a hotter, fatter-sounding pickup in a really lively, bright guitar, I find I use the clean channel, and set the bass to 1-2. mids wide open, treble at maybe 6, and the active presence knob a coupe of number to the minus side (about 10:00). Bright enough, jangly when I need it, snarls a little when I lay into it, and runs on the high strings have some punch and weight.

 

[Wrong-Note Rod]

the last rock band I was in, I played three different guitars... and electric, an acoustic, and a lap steel. All three had different "tonal personalities" or whatever you wanna call it. It was always a battle to get them to sound good thru the same amp, at a gig, without having to stop the show while I fiddled around with knobs.

Basically I wrote patches on a Zoom multiFX that was in a true-bypass loop, for the acoustic and the lap steel, and let the electric go natural without the zoom. It was an ongoing thing as I was constantly introducing newer sounds and sonic experiments, theramin, all kinds of things.

I also learned the hard way to stick to one electric guitar, for every show, the same one. Otherwise I'd have to set the amp up differently (a little bit) to make the electric guitar sound good and the all the patches for the other two instruments would have to be adjusted.

These days I just play clean country guitar and a lap steel and its a lot easier to get both to sound good on the same amp. The Tele is actually a bit louder than the lap steel, altho its probably not a question of volume but more mids and EQ - so I use the DOD 250 pre-amp for the lap steel only. Works well.

Pardon the rambling....

 

[mexicanyella]

Just getting a clean and dirty channel--same guitar and amp--to both sound good with a shared EQ section is enough of a challenge!

Your solution of using a multi-FX unit to get an acoustic and a lap steel to be compatible sounds like a pretty cool--and practical--use of a multi-fx unit.

 

[Agitator]

Several years ago, I read a recommendation on one of these music boards to set up a Fender-style amp (I play a MusicMan) with the treble very high and the mids and bass very low. Sounds counter-intuitive, especially with a Fender guitar, but when you then roll the treble back on the guitar, you can find a really sweet spot for tone.

I've been doing it ever since. Works with my ES-335, too. Don't know if it will help you, but just thought I'd throw that out there.

 

[Wrong-Note Rod]

Your solution of using a multi-FX unit to get an acoustic and a lap steel to be compatible sounds like a pretty cool--and practical--use of a multi-fx unit.

practical, maybe; maddening, hell yes

a lot more difficult to do in practice than in theory

 

[teletimetx]

These days I just play clean country guitar and a lap steel and its a lot easier to get both to sound good on the same amp. The Tele is actually a bit louder than the lap steel, altho its probably not a question of volume but more mids and EQ - so I use the DOD 250 pre-amp for the lap steel only. Works well.

Pardon the rambling....

no need for a pardon, I get the drill. feel like a one-legged man in butt-kicking contest sometimes.

Got a weekly gig; have had for the past five years. like to take some different equipment every now and than (to justify the excess inventory...) and then while I'm fronting, singing lead and playing guitar, but then feeling like what's left of my tone dignity die as the eq just ain't right, ...I didn't have enough time to sound check it...so yeah, simpler is better.

it's not like I got a complicated pedal board - sometimes I think I should have two pedal boards, because some pedals just dance differently with a different amps; same with pickups, etc.

 

[Wrong-Note Rod]

it's not like I got a complicated pedal board - sometimes I think I should have two pedal boards, because some pedals just dance differently with a different amps; same with pickups, etc.

I was in three bands once and had a different pedalboard for each band, because they played different kinds of music, had different requirements and I used a different guitar and amp.

I'm sure many guys would have sounded great in any one of the three bands bringing their exact same guitar and amp to each band.

 

[LKB3rd]

Volume up bass down is a decent rule of thumb. As you start to push the tubes, the bass can get mushy and loose if there is a lot of it. Playing it at lower settings, bring back some more bass.

 

[ebb soul]

Wait till you try a VOX AC.
Not exactly an inuitive bass knob, at all.
I get better bass and better everything with the treble and bass knobs pointing at each other.