Advice on sound please

Eissie

Eissie

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As some of you may know I own a 5 string Thumb BO. I love the sound of it, especially when I play through the soundcard of my computer, using a good pair of headphones.

Amplified I use a pretty old Hartke 410XL cabinet, and a Hartke HA 2500 head.

It doesnt sound bad in the mid and higher register, but when I play lower notes, the low "sensation" is kind of humming. It is quite hard to describe sound with words, but I think this is it.

It is not that the cabinet or head are damaged, I think it is more like that either the head, or the cabinet, or both cannot handle the lower tones in the way that I would like.

Please don't say things like "Hartke is bad" or things like that.... Even Jack Bruce uses it :P
But if I were to change either the head or the cabinet, which one would be the one to swap?

Thanks!
Sietze
 
Hi Sietze,

I am not sure I can help without hearing some soundclips.

The thumb bass has a speific sound though. Less depp lows, but very strong low mids, so the right word should be "Punchy"

All the corections set flat on the bass and amp should give you a good sound. Better learn to live with thumb's original sound, because it is a very good one :-)

Could you check the setup of your bass, battery, pickup height, etc?

Cheers, Flo
 
I agree with Florin,set the amp on flat and try working on your sound from there,possibly lowering the lows if they are too boomy.
 
Florin said:
Hi Sietze,

I am not sure I can help without hearing some soundclips.

The thumb bass has a speific sound though. Less depp lows, but very strong low mids, so the right word should be "Punchy"

All the corections set flat on the bass and amp should give you a good sound. Better learn to live with thumb's original sound, because it is a very good one :-)

Could you check the setup of your bass, battery, pickup height, etc?

Cheers, Flo
Click to expand...

Hi Flo,

Thanks for replying! As I wrote earlier it is very hard to describe "sound" with words :)
The bass is setup quite nice, pickup output is equal, battery is fresh. Strings are a bit dull though.
The amp is set flat and I usually pull the volumeknob up to eliminate the active preamp. I do like the Thumbsound, but there is a noticable difference between the soundcard-sound and the amplified sound. Through the soundcard it seems to sound more rounded.
Next weekend I'll try to record some soundclips, one directly into the soundcard and one with a Shure SM58 in front of my cabinet.
Hope that will help a little better :)
Thanks!
Sietze
 
Hey Sietze! How's life in tha Lowlands? Snow, if I'm right.

Nothing against your Hartke, but each cab sounds different, each head too.. Maybe you can try your bass at some other amps, just to be sure to it isn't the bass. Maybe you've got friends who play bass? Befriended bands? Rehearsal rooms? Maybe a local shop which have some amps? In the worst case you say to a shop you want to try some amps to buy, but you want to try your own bass... But my idea: Try some different cabs and amps. 1x15, 4x10, tube, mosfet and you'll know more.

DI's always pick up more lows. Maybe that's why it sounds a bit fatter on your pc.

Succes d'r mee, fijne kerel! As you say in Dutch.
 
Curtis said:
Hey Sietze! How's life in tha Lowlands? Snow, if I'm right.
Click to expand...
Yes.. we have snow... again... But I've heard you got some too, right? ;)

Curtis said:
Nothing against your Hartke, but each cab sounds different, each head too.. Maybe you can try your bass at some other amps, just to be sure to it isn't the bass. Maybe you've got friends who play bass? Befriended bands? Rehearsal rooms? Maybe a local shop which have some amps? In the worst case you say to a shop you want to try some amps to buy, but you want to try your own bass... But my idea: Try some different cabs and amps. 1x15, 4x10, tube, mosfet and you'll know more.
Click to expand...
Yup, that might be a good idea.

Curtis said:
DI's always pick up more lows. Maybe that's why it sounds a bit fatter on your pc.
Click to expand...
Okay, I didn't know that.

Curtis said:
Succes d'r mee, fijne kerel! As you say in Dutch.
Click to expand...
Hey where did you learn Dutch? Goed gedaan jochie ;)
 
I guess most people now already I'm not Curtis the American, but Chris the Dutchman;) But I liked this nickname, this pic and saying I'm from the States.

Curtis is my cat. He has a grey beard, a low voice and he loves T-birds. He's the reincarnation of John Alec Entwistle. That's clear. And I thought it was nice to post under his name:)
 
You can edit your profile too :-)

About the OP, he asked us nicely not to say anything bad about Hartke...

I will give my 2 cents...

Thumb bass is a great bass, but on the "dry growl" side
Hartke... I will not comment on quality, but it is the same, a dry, amp, similar to Trace Elliott...

Better complement the dry growly thumb with a juicy tube amp, or

HELLBORG
 
Curtis said:
I guess most people now already I'm not Curtis the American, but Chris the Dutchman;) But I liked this nickname, this pic and saying I'm from the States.

Curtis is my cat. He has a grey beard, a low voice and he loves T-birds. He's the reincarnation of John Alec Entwistle. That's clear. And I thought it was nice to post under his name:)
Click to expand...

Aha! Boefje! :d
Good to know there are more Warwickfans in Holland :)
 
Florin said:
You can edit your profile too :-)

About the OP, he asked us nicely not to say anything bad about Hartke...

I will give my 2 cents...

Thumb bass is a great bass, but on the "dry growl" side
Hartke... I will not comment on quality, but it is the same, a dry, amp, similar to Trace Elliott...

Better complement the dry growly thumb with a juicy tube amp, or

HELLBORG
Click to expand...

Yup, I agree with Hellborg... But that's far beyond my wallet :((
But if I understand you correctly, I'd better change the Hartke head than changing the cabinet to get a more 'juicy' sound?
Sietze
 
Just try some amp/cab combinations. Maybe Ashdown? Something wit a tube preamp?
 
My bass and my TE head don't get along, I tend to bypass the Trace preamp on the head, strongly dislike the low-end sound otherwise.

The only time I don't is when I'm using the pre-shape filter on the preamp.
 
Curtis said:
Just try some amp/cab combinations. Maybe Ashdown? Something wit a tube preamp?
Click to expand...

Well, I've been trying some combinations. I tried the Ashdown Mag300 head (old version) and the Ashdown Mag300 EvoII head (new version) on the Hartke 410XL. I didn't like the older version on the Hartke. The EvoII version was warmer and more versatile but when played a little louder both combinations distorted. Later on I tried the Ashdown Mag 300 EvoII C115 combo with one 15" speaker. That one was quite warm, with enough highs and real lows in stead of the humming lows I had with my Hartke set.
I went home with the combo...and I am very happy with it.
 
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