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Transparent bass rig


Guest MoJo
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I love my Peavey BAM210 (apart from the weight). It's powerful and versatile. By bypassing the modelling and setting the EQ control knobs to 12'o'clock should, in theory, give me a flat response. In reality the tone is very prominent in the mids which means I have to cut the mids first to get a more even response when setting up at a gig. The factory presets, in general are set up in the same way with the mids cut and the bass boosted. It must be due to having just two 10" drivers in a relatively small cabinet. Is there a plug'n'play rig? One that gives a pretty flat response straight out of the box?

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Yes to Barefaced (but not all of them, some of them are not designed to be "transparent"!).

Amp-wise, the Hartke LH series (500 and 1000) are very clean and clear, and definitely not too mid-biased. Cheap as chips and loud as hell too! B)

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The Shuttle is very transparent.
The best 'plug n play' transparent integrated amp I've ever had was the Glockenklang Soul. When researching this, it seems most users (myself included) bypassed the EQ altogether, such was the quality of the uncoloured core tone. The only reason I moved it on was an irrational need for acres of headroom. The Glockenklang Heart Rock 2 would be my ideal one-box solution.

Re. Cabs, another +1 for Barefaced, Super Twin in my case

Edited by Roland Rock
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[quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1430144901' post='2758354']
Are you sure you want a flat rig..??
With all due respect, you haven't got great inline spec
with your kit...
What flat signal chains have you used..and are you sure it is for you
and the way you play..?
[/quote]

Not quite sure what you mean by inline spec, sorry. It just seems to make more sense to me to have a bass rig that accurately reproduces the natural tone of whatever bass is plugged into it then, one can add or subtract to suit

Edited by MoJo
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I had a Genz Shuttle and Barefaced rig until recently and found it to be TOO clear for my rock covers band. It was just too nice for my lot really. Very precise but missing some much needed slam.

Sold the Shuttle recently and picked up a Gallien 700RBii head and it suits me much better. And funnily enough even though its rated at 480watts it seems much pokier than the 900watt Shuttle.

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[quote name='Mudpup' timestamp='1430173721' post='2758721']Sold the Shuttle recently and picked up a Gallien 700RBii head and it suits me much better. And funnily enough even though its rated at 480watts it seems much pokier than the 900watt Shuttle.
[/quote]

Not surprised at that! The 700 and 1001 have absolutely slamming power amp stages - you have 480W from low to high, into loads with challenging phase angles, for many many milliseconds (maybe even continuous). The 900W Shuttle is a good head but it won't do 900W for the length of a big bass note. Loud enough for many though, hence the popularity.

We've got some power amp modules here at Barefaced HQ for amplifier experimentation (early stages of R&D). They use absolutely cutting edge class D and SMPS technology but per watt they're far bigger than the innards of any micro amp I've seen because they can sustain that wattage for serious lengths of time.

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TBH I with a few highly specialised exceptions, bass rigs aren't designed to be transparent. What most musicians consider to be transparent is actually something that sounds pleasing to them with the tone controls in their mid-way position. I'm sure that if you actually looked at the waveforms going in and out they wouldn't be identical at all (which is what you are hoping for with a transparent system).

If you are really after something that changes the sound of the bass as little as possible I would look at an Avalon DI going into a high quality PA power amp feeding a full-range PA cab. However I have a feeling you might not like the results much.

For me finding a rig with the right kind of coloration of sound is far more desirable than being totally transparent.

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[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1430212923' post='2758900']
If you are really after something that changes the sound of the bass as little as possible I would look at an Avalon DI going into a high quality PA power amp feeding a full-range PA cab.
[/quote]

That's pretty much my rig (although the cab is not strictly full range, as it rolls off at around 4kh)
It'll be at the Midlands Bash if anyone wants to find out what their bass really sounds like ☺

Edited by Roland Rock
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[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1430212923' post='2758900']For me finding a rig with the right kind of coloration of sound is far more desirable than being totally transparent.
[/quote]

A conclusion that I am slowly coming to as well... :)

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I know I'm going to get shouted at with exclamations of 'buffered inputs' and the like of which I'll happily admit to knowing nothing about but, when I plug my bass into my Tascam GB-10 bass trainer, the sound of my bass coming back through the headphones is great, to my ears. I'm assuming rightly or wrongly that this is the sound of my bass

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[quote name='M@23' timestamp='1430252597' post='2759612']


Me too! I was expecting one of those Dan Armstrong basses.
[/quote]

Like this? http://basschat.co.uk/topic/256447-new-bass-ampspeaker-concept/page__fromsearch__1

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Every amp & cab I've used / owned has a different sound & the same can be said for the space that you play in.
As has been stated in the post.
' For me finding a rig with the right kind of coloration of sound is far more desirable than being totally transparent '
That's kinda it.
Research forums and get a rough vibe from folks that are on the same page as you ' tone wise '.

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