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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! >
What is "Bottom end"?
What is "Bottom end"?
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Oisin
999 posts
Jan 14, 2013
8:34 AM
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When reading a review of an amp today on ebay, the description stated "this amp has loads of bottom end"
I have seen this mentioned on the forum loads of time and I always though it refered to how much bass was coming through the speaker....is this what it actually means?
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Oisin
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Greg Heumann
1945 posts
Jan 14, 2013
8:44 AM
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Yep - that's what it means. Or more accurately, how bassy the amp is - which is a function of the circuit, the speaker(s) and the cabinet.
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/Greg
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HarpNinja
3082 posts
Jan 14, 2013
8:52 AM
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Bottom end can be really warm and boomy and also clear and powerful. Some people will describe an amp as having a lot of bottom end, but not clarify its overall character.
One thing I don't like is the warm/boom/flabby bottom end. Other people will love that, and it does sound good too, but when I play, I prefer a clear bottom end. Think of Carlos del Junco, for example. I can't play like him, though, lol.
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Custom Harmonicas
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5F6H
1493 posts
Jan 14, 2013
11:05 AM
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Further to what Greg & Mike say...
To me bottom end is when you play the low notes & bends on a A, G. Low F and they come out round & realistic (when dialling in, I compare to my acoustic sound, switching back & forth between un-amped & amped). You can whack the bass pot full up on any amp (well, any amp with a bass pot anyway) but this doesn't always give you useable low end, it's a judgement call as to whether the low end you are getting is enhancing the note coming out of the speaker, or swamping it with woofy, wallowey-ness.
Amps that have a lot of gain have the potential to produce low end, but this may not always be evident because high gain brings brightness & mids with it too (we hear the highs better than the lows), so some amps that are great for guitar can just sound brittle, waspy & "yinky" for harp.
In less extreme cases the amp might simply sound brassy, crisp, on the bright side, not loads of low end, but still sound great.
They way many amp tone pots work, as you dial in bass you lessen treble...you don't want so much bass that you take the edge of articulation and your playing becomes unintelligible.
Where these points occur in the real world will vary massively from player to player & amp to amp.
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