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Not matter how i EQ , i always get that overwhelming bass from my GB10 ! it gets better when i got 0,5 on both treble and bass ! but still the definition on the low E strings isn't precise it just scatters around my small room , so i wonder if a smaller amp would work better for that situation ? thoughts ?
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01-22-2017 12:13 PM
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I have seen this question asked before. I seem to remember some people had to adjust the pickup height so that the bass poles would be further away from the strings.
Funny how you can have the bass control on "0" and still have the bass overpower the treble.
I also seem to remember someone posting a video that compared different amps and it showed that all amps are definitely not voiced the same. One amp's bass set at "5" could equal another amp's bass set on "0." This was very eye-opening at the time.
Finally, some have found success with a good equalizer pedal.
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I played a GB10 at convalescent home gigs twice a month for 18 years through an old blackface Deluxe Reverb. Depending on the size of the group helping us, to get the tone I wanted I actually set my pickup selector to the middle position and brought up the bridge pickup just a taste into the mix. That gave me a slightly brighter NOT TO BASSED OUT sound. Give it a try.
Other times I just used the neck pickup with the tone control at it's brightest and the treble and bass controls adjusted until I got what I needed based on the sound I was getting that day. Love the GB10/Deluxe Reverb combination.
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Fender amps (blackface and silverface) have a pronounced cut to the mids built in to the voice of the amp which is what is causing your issue. I think this is due to the amps being designed for Fender guitars (solidbody, narrow aperture single coils needing a boost in the bass to not sound thin). A "flat" EQ profile for these amps is bass at 0 to 0.5, treble at 0 to 0.5- just how they are designed. If you've got a mid control, turn it up some.
I also have a GB10. A few thoughts:
Try screwing down the bass side pole screws as far as they will go and raising the others a bit. Unfortunately the pickups can't be tilted on these instruments to lower the bass side.
The volume knob also has a tone control effect. The pickups on these guitars are really hot- I often play with the volume knob at 5-6, much lower than any of my other guitars. This reduces how hard the amp is being pushed and brings up the mid voice of the instrument. I find this drops the bass a bit.
Rolling off the tone knob has the practical effect of accentuating the bass. Too many peole mistakely roll the tone knob all the way down, thinking this is a "jazz" sound. It's not, it's just muffled. With the volume knob rolled down, you'll need to roll the tone knob up to compensate. This is not a dark guitar, it wants to be pretty bright.
Get the amp up off of the floor on a chair or amp stand. This will reduce the bass volume by decoupling the amp from the floor. If you are playing in an apartment or upstairs in a house, the people downstrairs will appreciate this, too.
Adjust your touch and pick lightly on the bass strings compared to the top four. I tend to use the low E string less on my GB10 than my other guitars.
Try a different amp, one with a baxandall tone stack like an Ampeg Jet, Polytone, Roland Cube.
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That 2 knob Fender tonestack is problematic for me.
Too much bass, too much treble, not enough mids, not enough adjustment!
But they do sound really really good . . .
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This is interesting to read of your prob. I was just dialing in my 175 with my deluxe the other night. I found it worked best with using only neck pickup- set to 10 tone - and amp treble turned up to 7 or 8 or higher....
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The only solution I could find was an eq pedal.
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I've often thought of building my own high pass filter pedal for this reason, a high pass with a sweepable frequency helps with archtops and boomy low end. It's an easy circuit, it's on my list (ya' know, that list that never gets done) For now I use a parametric eq.
With a Princeton I turn the bass and treble way down on the amp.
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Try it Max, a low-cut beats a parametric any day if the week, for the purpose of taming bass!
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Archtops through most blackface Fender amps I have tried sound glorious with bass and treble all the way down (as explained by Cunamera). They not muffled then, just more nearly flat frequency. All other tips are also good!
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In addition to what has already been suggested, try input two of you Deluxe Reverb. It has less gain and gives you a little more finesse with the tone and volume controls. And let me add emphasis to the idea of getting the amp off the floor. It really helps! Good luck!
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Talking about HiPass , i got the catalinBread talisman plate reverb with a hiPass filter so i'll try to crank it all the way up when using the GB10 !
Originally Posted by MaxTwang
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First of all, either tilt the amp way back, or at least get it off the floor. That may solve the problem, or if not at least minimize it. Then tweak the tone controls to taste. Amps tend to project much more bass when close to the floor. Even my DV Little Jazz is far too bassy and boomy when flat on the floor unless I roll the bass way down. But just getting it up off the floor, or tilting it at 30 degrees or so works about as well as getting it higher. It's amazing to me how much difference just moving an amp around, sometimes by only a few inches, can make in the tone. With the Little Jazz, being ported, I can move it just a few inches closer or further from a wall and get a dramatic change, as I can from tilting or raising it, without touching the knobs at all. This also applies to open-back cabs, since much of the sound is coming out the back, and being reflected by whatever is behind them.
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Cunamara hit the point:
With Fender amps the most possible flat sound is with bass and treble on zero. And my princeton reverb still has a little bit too much bass with this setting.
I tilt my amp back- helps a bit. I use set in pickups so I can adjust the bass side quite good. With floating pickups I guess one needs an external equalizer.
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I'm on zero EQ , using my reverb pedal's hipass filter , and still too much bass ! I tried cutting off the bass with my active EQ of the RC booster ! but the upper strings become trebly a bit ! but maybe i need to fiddle around more with the RC boost Active EQ ! i'll also try to lift the amp from the floor ! Originally Posted by fabiansey
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It's been said a couple of times, but I'll just note that I get a dramatic difference in bass response by putting my amps on stands/chairs. I think it's probably the first thing one should try before futzing with eq pedals, pickups, etc.
In small-ish rooms, there is likely going to be a dramatic difference in perceived bass depending on where you stand in relation to the amp and where the amp is in relation to walls and corners. I can sometimes rotate 90 degrees while staying in the same position and adjust how much bass I am hearing. Room reflections and bass are tough nuts to crack.
Sent from my iPhone using TapatalkLast edited by wzpgsr; 01-22-2017 at 06:15 PM.
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Out of curiosity ... you say off the floor would 3" dia castors be enough to make a difference or is more lift needed like an amp/frame stand
Will
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IME, for an amp that size you need more height than 3". I generally use a chair. With a small amp like the Little Jazz, tilting it back can be enough, and might be enough for a big amp, but you need to tilt it a lot. I have a Fender Vibrolux Reverb, and it came on casters when I bought it used. Casters are great for moving it around, but I hear no real difference in the sound with or without them.
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I've got my Ampeg Gemini II (15" speaker) maybe 12"-18" off the ground on a slightly tilted-back amp stand. Huge difference in bass response. It looks a little goofy but sounds great.
I put a thick phone book underneath my tweed Princeton clone w/ 10" and 8" speakers in the cab. Also a pretty big difference.
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