51m0n Posted February 22, 2011 Share Posted February 22, 2011 'Deep' is a funny old thing. You see if you want to hear some really deep music you are best off going to a big Cathedral with a really large organ. Honestly nothing else sounds like a 64' or 128' pipe. Bass guitar struggles to pout out much in the way of fundamental, and instead relies on the implied fundamental and mainly 2nd harmonic overtone. The average bass rig is similarly aimed at reproducing these kinds of frequencies. If you want to get very deep you need to add something to the natural sound of your bass with either careful eq, sub-harmonic synthesis (an octaver) or a low pass filter of some kind. A compressor may help you to maximise the average volume of your rig, and with enough control of attack and release etc you can use it to smooth out the transient (assuming it can catch it fast enough, a limiter may be more useful here), and by changing the volume of the sustain phase compared to the attack phase of the signal. It wont make the sound truly deeper though. So a lot of what you think is deep (wrt bass guitar) is actually not as deep as you might think, its often a lot more about the area between 80Hz and 300Hz and how those frequencies are managed with eq (either by the instrument, the amp or the cabs nature) rather than 40Hz to 80Hz. If you do boost very low down (around 40Hz) with an eq you need to keep an eye on your cab to be sure you arent over extending the cones. A judicious cut around twice the frequency you boosted may help control this, and any build up of mud as a result. One thing you cant escape from though is that if you really want deep you need power. Lots and lots and lots of it. And a big cabinet. Its not unusual to see people talking about the cabs that really can fill a room with loud deep bass running in excess of 1000watts. Certainly 500watts would be a minimum. That old Peavey head just will not produce masses of deep bass. Even pushing a 215. I've had a very similar rig to that (early 90's a Carlsbro head pushing an HH 215) and it would struggle against a heavy drummer and guitarist, and I preferred a far from deep tone, being all about tight bass and punch to try and combat the onslaught. I hope this helps... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris_b Posted February 22, 2011 Share Posted February 22, 2011 (edited) [quote name='VxR Rusty' post='1136425' date='Feb 21 2011, 10:30 PM']The band im in now is going down that Industrial/dance adventure, and im wondering how id go about getting a really good deep deep punchy sound. The gear i use is: Ernieball Sub bass (with ernieball strings) Peavy/markbass 150watt head (its quite old lol) laney 2x15 cab Ive got a deep sound atm, but i dont think its deep enough,[/quote] I didn't hear much deep bass on that video. Maybe it's my speakers but all I got was mids. You need 12's or 10's for really punchy mids and you can get more of everything (mids, bass and punch) out of a modern 410 than you'll ever get out of a Laney 215. Edited February 22, 2011 by chris_b Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VxR Rusty Posted February 22, 2011 Author Share Posted February 22, 2011 Any advice helps man Seems tjis could ne quite an expensive venture The rig itself is very loud and does give a very deep sound when eq'd to do so but it looses quote a bit of volume, especialy on A D and G string Its wierd :/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xgsjx Posted February 22, 2011 Share Posted February 22, 2011 That sounds more like an issue either with the amp, cab or maybe even the height of the pick ups on your bass. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VxR Rusty Posted February 22, 2011 Author Share Posted February 22, 2011 Will raising the pickup help? Ive only got 1 pickup on the old EB. Ive found it to be a very trebly bass Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xgsjx Posted February 22, 2011 Share Posted February 22, 2011 try either raising it at the G string or lowering it at the E. Take a note of how far you turn the screw so you can revert if it doesn't work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
51m0n Posted February 22, 2011 Share Posted February 22, 2011 [quote name='VxR Rusty' post='1136961' date='Feb 22 2011, 12:19 PM']Will raising the pickup help? Ive only got 1 pickup on the old EB. Ive found it to be a very trebly bass[/quote] Raising the treble side a bit may help, be careful though, if you raise it too much the magnetic field of the pickup may choke the notes a bit... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VxR Rusty Posted February 22, 2011 Author Share Posted February 22, 2011 I shall have to have a play Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dan670844 Posted February 22, 2011 Share Posted February 22, 2011 [quote name='chrismuzz' post='1136441' date='Feb 21 2011, 10:36 PM']I've not heard any good reviews of the Ashdown Dual Band, and there are some nasty noise issues. A similar compressor that seems to get raved about is the Trace Elliot SMX, but there are loads more out there. I would point you towards the cheap Behringer I've got for sale as it's fantastic for the price, but I figured the slight loss of low end would be counter productive if you want a deep sound I'd visit this website [url="http://www.ovnilab.com/"]http://www.ovnilab.com/[/url] as there are in depth reviews of pretty much every compressor out there. It's what pointed me towards my Aguilar TLC which I swear by! You might also want to try an octave pedal if you want REALLY deep [/quote] + 1 Trace dual band is your fella for dub low sounds, and most other sounds! easy to get that sound with it as it has a eq sweep as well suggested settings no high band compress turn the eq quarter turn to the left and the low band on 3/4 to full very solid low sounds modern equiv is the fea labs dual smx, Getting a low solid sound is also about horsepower and not quoted actual!! to push the lowend out, and by low end i mean 60-100hz this sound comes from there not any lower. Maybe you should also be looking at a newer head, something like and Ashdown ABM or an old Trace elliot both have great low end extension as they have the power to do it. If you like high maintence amp!! go for a valve amp like an svt they are also on the money. Try cutting the top end of your eq a little and boosting the lows 100hz a little that should do it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VxR Rusty Posted February 22, 2011 Author Share Posted February 22, 2011 Cheeers What pricerange those heads around? I pivked up my peavu for 80 notes about 1 year ago, gotta love pawn shops But thsats my key thing, budget Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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.