Using a remote bass knob for quiter songs?

[MellowHype 10+ year member]

I listen to a variety of music, some which are no where near as bassy as hip hop/rap, however this is just down the the recording (decent quality just not studio recordings)

I have a kicker ex1000.1 (1000rms @1ohm), and it comes with a remote bass knob. Im just wondering if its safe to set the gains up normally, and then plug the bass knob in and set it to zero. it has 0-15db settings.

Then when songs are noticeably quieter, could i use it to just crank up the bass a bit. Would this just cause clipping? The Knob has a power and protect light although i dont know how useful that is.

When setting gains im guessing the amp is only doing 1000 rms when the bass is already loud like a 60hz tone?

Thanks for any help

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[ScottWatkins 10+ year member]

I have a Pioneer GM-D8601 and that is exactly what I did. Like you, I listen to a lot of different types of music. I use the knob as a "throttle". The highest I turn the volume up is about 25, only about 1/3 of max. Some songs I'll turn the bass knob up, others I'll turn it down. No problems so far.

 

[MellowHype 10+ year member]

I have a Pioneer GM-D8601 and that is exactly what I did. Like you, I listen to a lot of different types of music. I use the knob as a "throttle". The highest I turn the volume up is about 25, only about 1/3 of max. Some songs I'll turn the bass knob up, others I'll turn it down. No problems so far.

Appreciate the input

would like to here more opinions as i dont wanna risk killing 2 brand new type R's

 

[MellowHype 10+ year member]

bump

 

[RemmySa12]

set ur bass to what u want on the amp then u can control it form the knob because the knob will only go to what u have amp set to .

bump

 

[MellowHype 10+ year member]

set ur bass to what u want on the amp then u can control it form the knob because the knob will only go to what u have amp set to .

im sure if i set my gains with the knob on low, then turn the knob open it will cause clipping on a track that was maxed when setting gains?

 

[RemmySa12]

What im saying is set to to where it wont clip on high songs then u can control the bas by the knob on others because the amp knob will only go how high its turned on the amp

im sure if i set my gains with the knob on low, then turn the knob open it will cause clipping on a track that was maxed when setting gains?

 

[Beatin' 10+ year member]

this is exactly why I bass boost every single song right up to minor clipping using Audacity. I can't stand when there's not enough bass and I can't use the level knob because it doesn't have a clip light.

I'm now trying to figure out how to compress overly loud kick drums to match the bass lines and boost everything equally up to -3db.

 

[RemmySa12]

yea the better amps have a clipping light though. i mean u can tell by ear if its clipping though.

this is exactly why I bass boost every single song right up to minor clipping using Audacity. I can't stand when there's not enough bass and I can't use the level knob because it doesn't have a clip light.
I'm now trying to figure out how to compress overly loud kick drums to match the bass lines and boost everything equally up to -3db.

 

[MellowHype 10+ year member]

this is exactly why I bass boost every single song right up to minor clipping using Audacity. I can't stand when there's not enough bass and I can't use the level knob because it doesn't have a clip light.
I'm now trying to figure out how to compress overly loud kick drums to match the bass lines and boost everything equally up to -3db.

Does audacity have a feature showing when its clipping or something? would like to use that for all my music if it does!

 

[Beatin' 10+ year member]

Does audacity have a feature showing when its clipping or something? would like to use that for all my music if it does!

Yes it does. From what I've experienced, minor clipping is of no consequence on things like kick drums. But watch out for boosting heavy RMS bass line songs and dont go past -3db or you'll clip the vocals and other higher frequency instruments.

Also be forewarned that some songs have a wide amplitude differential from kick drums and rms bass lines. If a song, for example, has a 0db kick drum and -9db bass lines, there's not much you can do about it. If you boost, the kick drums will be severely clipped and will sound bad. There is compression, but the Audacity version, in my opinion, is jacked up. Its decay is too long and you can't target particular frequencies. It goes by threshold amplitude for all frequencies so that includes midrange and treble, not just bass. It degrades the sound quality in the process.

 

[mlstrass 5,000+ posts]

OP is it a gain knob or bass boost?

I run my gains "hot" and use the remote gain knob so I can adjust it for the music I'm playing. I listen to a lot of 80's hip hop stuff and the recordings are very quiet, so it does help in that situation...

 

[whitemax 10+ year member]

I've always set my gains to allow older recordings to still sound good with the turn of the remote gain knob. I pay attention to where it should be for bass heavy material & listen for any issues. I've yet to have this fail me, & I've used a lot of subs over the years.