LITTLEWING Posted September 22, 2018 Share Posted September 22, 2018 Okay, I've got a feeling I'm going to answer my own question as I write this, but I've always played with the guitar's volume right up full. I've been buying and selling amps and combo's for yonks (what the hell are yonks anyway?) in pursuit of that 'live gig' d.i. clear vibe as all my ears hear from my backline rig, big or small, when in full flight is a burpy farty sound and not the nice clear fat notes I'm after. (Although it mysteriously sounds quite good again without the rest of band in the sound waves). I'm quite aware of the potential of the volume control as I also play lead and rhythm guitar and am perfectly aware of the dramatic difference between clean-ish chords turned down a quarter and whacking it up full to crunch to take a solo. So, what SHOULD I be doing with a bass guitar's volume control? Does anybody play anything less than full up? I've never actually tried it out as rehearsal time is precious and live is too dodgy to fart about. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGreek Posted September 22, 2018 Share Posted September 22, 2018 21 minutes ago, LITTLEWING said: as I also play lead and rhythm guitar I was going to tell you but because of the statement above I'm going to keep it a secret...😉😉 Seriously though, the answer to your problem comes in green and black. TRACE ELLIOT VALVE AMPS. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrevorR Posted September 22, 2018 Share Posted September 22, 2018 The question that occurs to me is how do you set up your bass amp controls. You reference the bass vol and guitars... for me a bass amp gain knob does a completely different job to a guitar amp. With the bass vol on full it matches the bass signal to the amplifier so that it does not distort even when played as hard as possible... any distortion therefore will be from an over stretched power stage or speaker struggling to deliver the volume that’s being asked of it. What gear are are you using and in what circumstances? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris_b Posted September 22, 2018 Share Posted September 22, 2018 I usually have the bass volume control on max. IMO a clean sound comes from not pushing your amp and/or cab so that the signal distorts. My regular amp is an AG700 and I usually don't have the volume beyond 10 o'clock on normal gigs and about 12 o'clock for the loudest gigs. I'm running that amp into 2 500 watt 210 cabs. Maintaining "headroom" in your amps and cabs will usually get you the cleanest sound. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrevorR Posted September 23, 2018 Share Posted September 23, 2018 5 hours ago, chris_b said: I usually have the bass volume control on max. IMO a clean sound comes from not pushing your amp and/or cab so that the signal distorts. My regular amp is an AG700 and I usually don't have the volume beyond 10 o'clock on normal gigs and about 12 o'clock for the loudest gigs. I'm running that amp into 2 500 watt 210 cabs. Maintaining "headroom" in your amps and cabs will usually get you the cleanest sound. Yes. Spot on. I also have the volume control on my bass on full and it’s not short of signal level! I set up my amp using the old method of setting all EQ flat and then increasing the input gain gradually while playing as hard as I can until I start to hear a tiny bit of distortion (or the input clipping light starts to flash on the loudest deepest notes). Then I back it off a smidge so that there is no distortion/clipping light at all how ever hard I play. Then the amp volume gives me whatever clean level of loudness I need. On my 500W MarkBass Little Mark II the input gain ends up being set at about 10 o’clock. And volume never needs to go above about noon through a compact ‘Traveler’ series 2x10 and 1x15 even on loud gigs with an enthusiastic drummer. My EQ is pretty much always flattish (set at noon of close) so that’s not adding much additional gain into the signal either. I always find this approach provides the maximum clean headroom and a great clean, punchy sound Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpondonBassed Posted September 23, 2018 Share Posted September 23, 2018 (edited) 11 hours ago, LITTLEWING said: when in full flight is a burpy farty sound and not the nice clear fat notes I'm after. (Although it mysteriously sounds quite good again without the rest of band in the sound waves). That there suggests that you are hearing interference between several overlapping and loud sound sources. If your solo output is clean at the same settings then, as they sometimes say, it's is all in your head. Where you stand relative to those sources may help somewhat. What has already been said about headroom is valid but as it is the volume control of your bass that is up full, I am not sure that there actually is a problem if you have left headroom at the pre and power stages of your backline amplification. Do the other band members find the same thing happening to their backline output? Edited September 23, 2018 by SpondonBassed 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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