bass knob

[shaneb 10+ year member]

i have a memphis pr300.2 amp, it has what looks like an RJ45 output for "remote." i am assuming it means the memphis bass knob you can buy...my question is, are bass knobs typically proprietary or are they interchangeable between brands...

there seems to be a lot of knobs sold on here that are not memphis but are a lot cheaper than the memphis one retails for, so what are my options?

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[donpisto 5,000+ posts]

Contact memphis and find out. Just say you have a spare one laying around and wondering if you can use it. I wouldn't use bass boost though as it just boosts one frequency. If you don't have it set up to max before setting the gains, then when you turn it up you put your equipment in danger.

There are also gain knobs you can use. Looks the same like a bass boost, but control the gain. Set this on max when setting gains so that it adjust the gains rather than 1 frequency. You can get one that uses RCA's from PAC.

 

[shaneb 10+ year member]

okay now i'm a little confused...i get the calling them thing, that's cool, i believe their knob they sell is for gains...

the amp itself has a "bass boost" switch on it which thenenables the "db" knob on the amp, which i was told from someone to just turn it up all the way, that wayyou bypass another "false" amplification process in the amp that will just give you more distortion.

this is what i did,

db knob - max

lp filter knob - wherever i like it. usually not too high, i like to use my normal speakers for midbass

gain knob - somewhere around 1/4 cause i dont need it any louder, plus i want to avoid distortion...

now does that sound right? and the external bass boost knob you are talking about is the one that adds the crappy boost?

if i were to turn the bass boost switch off i get little to no output in from the subs, so i doubt thats what you are talin' about...

 

[shaneb 10+ year member]

well i'm goin' to bed, anybody please some input! check back manana...

 

[teen 10+ year member]

Contact memphis and find out. Just say you have a spare one laying around and wondering if you can use it. I wouldn't use bass boost though as it just boosts one frequency. If you don't have it set up to max before setting the gains, then when you turn it up you put your equipment in danger.
There are also gain knobs you can use. Looks the same like a bass boost, but control the gain. Set this on max when setting gains so that it adjust the gains rather than 1 frequency. You can get one that uses RCA's from PAC.

i beleive your supposed to unplug the remote gain when setting your gain. i guess that might be the same thing as turning it up all the way, but ive always just unplugged mine.

 

[99grandprixGT 5,000+ posts]

i beleive your supposed to unplug the remote gain when setting your gain. i guess that might be the same thing as turning it up all the way, but ive always just unplugged mine.

ya i just did it with my hifonics amp. set the gain with the knob all the way up. so hopefully i wont hurt anything. does anybody think otherwise?

 

[teen 10+ year member]

i think the hifonics is a bass boost. not a remote gain.

 

[99grandprixGT 5,000+ posts]

i think the hifonics is a bass boost. not a remote gain.

**** you think so? i better find out. before i play it tomorrow.

 

[teen 10+ year member]

i installed a friends hifonics brutus 1608 over the summer and if i remember correctly, it was a bass boost knob. i could be wrong, so dont quote me on that.

 

[99grandprixGT 5,000+ posts]

i installed a friends hifonics brutus 1608 over the summer and if i remember correctly, it was a bass boost knob. i could be wrong, so dont quote me on that.

no problem i made a thread about it. I need to know LoL. dont want to clip my shitt!

 

[GlocksRock 10+ year member]

The knob on my old Hifonics bx1000d said boost 0 was the knob all the way off, and +18 was the knob all the way up, so on that amp it was a boost, not a gain. Not sure about the newer amps though.

 

[PaulD 10+ year member]

those gain knobs are just potentiometers, they cut the input sensitivity in every position but the fully clockwise one. The problems with interchanging brands is that first they may be wired differently and second they need to be near the right value for it to work as intended.

 

[shaneb 10+ year member]

yeah i was jus starting to realize that, the knob from another manufacturer would have to have the same value in it's "dial" as the one on my amp. It's a shady bet at best....

anyway thanks guys....

and yes it would seem to make sense that you would have to havge the gain or bass boost knob all the way up on the amp for the remote one to work, unless one of two things happen...

- you plug in the remote, it bypasses the internal knob and acts as it

- you would jus have control within whatever setting your internal gain knob is on, so you likely could only turn it down from where it is.

 

[donpisto 5,000+ posts]

The reason why you have your gains low is because of the bass boost being up all the way. I wouldn't use it because as mention you are boosting only one frequency, generally around 45 Hz I believe. When you do that think of it as a line, which has two endpoints. Now drag that line up from the middle. Now that line looks like a bell curve. That single point in the middle is a specific frequency, 45 Hz lets say. You can see other frequencies also get affected around it and that's what the bass boost does.

The gain control on the other hand raises or lowers that line as a whole. There is no need for bass boost and I'd never turn it up all the way. I have used bass boost before back when I didn't know much about car audio, but now I keep it off and use the head unit or processor to attentuate the sub level.

 

[shaneb 10+ year member]

okay, next question, since i have someones ear that is willing to help...

should i keep the bass boost switch turned on, because whenit is turned off, the bass drops significantly so do i keep the switch on and the knob down and use gain control?

and the "non fader" on my HU turned up? that gives it a clean signal to the subs even with it cranked up?

basically i want the most bang for my buck without sacrificing SQ...but i'm sure you already caught that...

btw thanks for your help!