Bass boost - Hate it or Love it?

[Buick3800power 10+ year member]

Alot of you say to turn bass boost off on your amps, why is that?

My amp has an 18 db bass boost...

Opinions? Is your bass boost turned on?

Click to read more...

 

[JimJ 5,000+ posts]

No need for it.

It just needlessly adds a peak in the frequency response and makes it easier for the amp to clip on hard transients...

 

[SPL140.2 5,000+ posts]

good for fart machines though //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

 

[helotaxi 5,000+ posts]

Not even good for the one note wonder boxes. The amp can only create so much power. Set the gain to produce that power and adding bass boost on top of that will cause the amp to clip and clip hard.

The only use I've found for bass boost is to add a little low end when the volume is turned down. Of course you have to turn it off before turning up the volume or run the risk of clipping. Easiest workaround for that is a loudness circuit that automatically decreases its effects as the volume is increases.

 

[Mitch86 5,000+ posts]

I still dont understand why they even have a control for bass boost. Not having a bass boost on an amp would probably save subwoofer companys alot of hastle. Newbs like me turn the bass boost up and in turn fry their subwoofer. Essentially for nothing.

Clipping > 3 day old 06 L7 (learned the hard way.)//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/blackeye.gif.66a1670f5aaf7f406e783a63e3387dc5.gif

 

[luvinthebass 5,000+ posts]

if your head unit has a EQ like my Pioneer one does so i can adjust the lows theres no need to use the bass boost on teh amp, if ya use it you'll get a hump in the boost frequency (usually 40, 45 or 50 hz, whichever its boosted at on the amp) and it usualyl sounds muddy and it stresses the amp out and clips it. it's a stupid feature and should be ignored when settin up your amp.

 

[acold7dusta 10+ year member]

i think i need new RCAs or somethin cuz i can hardly hear my sub without bass boost? ive been searchin for possible witnesses, and my conclusion is to use the recomended 4 ga, instead of the 8 i got now, but i dont think that will matter much. do you think my RCAs are f'd up? i got a kenwood excelon head unit with a sub out, i just dont really understand.

ps im runnin a diamond d3 400.1 and a diamond 10" d6 dual 2 ohm wired to 1 ohm in a 1.25 35hz box that diamond recomended.

 

[luvinthebass 5,000+ posts]

maybe you set your gain way to low, you should set your gain right before the head unit clips to get teh most clean power out of it, my Pioneer head unit clips at 29/30 and i set the gain at 28 and never turn it past that, if ya have your gain set at halfway that's prolly why your not gettin the bass you want since the amp won't hit the full rms till it's 3/4 of the way up, and new rca's would help, might get a better signal to the amp and to the sub. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

 

[acold7dusta 10+ year member]

thanks, i turned up my gains and disconnected/reconnected things and its alot louder, cleaner and efficient. you were right i did have the gains too low, but there musta been like a loose connection somewhere, cuz its f'in loud now. dont need the bass boost nemore //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/veryhappy.gif.fec4fed33b4a1279cf10bdd45a039dae.gif

 

[ultimate157 5,000+ posts]

If everything is setup correctly, bass boost included, and you double check everything with an oscilloscope, then can you use bass boost to your advantage?

 

[Flipx99 5,000+ posts]

I set bass boost a long time ago, but I don't move it now. It gets a little more out of low end, imo

 

[iagrdshaka 5,000+ posts]

I have never used the feature on any of the amps I've owned.

 

[Towncar 10+ year member]

In most cases its useless, but it can help depending on the sub. For instance the pg xenons lack the upper bass region, so using the bass boast slightly helps compensate for the bass region the xenons lack, but you must set the gains accordingly with a dmm. Bass boost= second gain knob centered@ 45hertz.

 

[budahbuddy803 10+ year member]

bass boost ftmfl!! turn it all the way down or off completely. F a bass boost. Thats like the eyes of ray charles.... useless!!!

 

[XTRProBoy 10+ year member]

I find either Orion's IntelliQ or Infinity's DBO work quite well, particularly for ported boxes. But then again they aren't conventional "bass boost" circuits--they're combination subsonic filter/bass boost circuits.

Other than that I'd agree in that most bass boost circuits are pretty useless...