Bass knob. ???

[gckless 5,000+ posts]

It's true.
All of mine go right in the junk drawer of my toolbox. I either forego them altogether or use an inline RCA knob.

Could you explain why?

 

[TaylorFade 10+ year member]

Could you explain why?

Very simply put... a bass knob/remote is a gain control. But it's just an attentuator. Meaning that it can't go past where the gain is set at the amp. This is a good thing, but playing with the gain constantly isn't. It can introduce distortion/clipping.

And inline RCA is basically a volume knob. It attentuates the input signal/voltage exactly how your HU would do it. It has nothing to do with your gain.

The other reason is that when bass knobs go bad, it can jack shit up. When an RCA knob goes bad, it's likely to just quit sending signal. And the failure rate on bass knobs and their cords are FAR higher than a PAC.

Bottom line is that you can abuse either, but like I always say... gains are a sensitivity setting, not a volume knob. So I don't want to use mine as one.

 

[bgowdy 5,000+ posts]

Yeah. You know... like preout voltage? It was like .3v or some shit. It wasn't much, but it was enough to notice. And not really anyting to be concerned about since you can just adjust the amp gain.

ok i see

 

[gckless 5,000+ posts]

Very simply put... a bass knob/remote is a gain control. But it's just an attentuator. Meaning that it can't go past where the gain is set at the amp. This is a good thing, but playing with the gain constantly isn't. It can introduce distortion/clipping.
And inline RCA is basically a volume knob. It attentuates the input signal/voltage exactly how your HU would do it. It has nothing to do with your gain.

The other reason is that when bass knobs go bad, it can jack shit up. When an RCA knob goes bad, it's likely to just quit sending signal. And the failure rate on bass knobs and their cords are FAR higher than a PAC.

Bottom line is that you can abuse either, but like I always say... gains are a sensitivity setting, not a volume knob. So I don't want to use mine as one.

I do agree with you, you are correct on most things, except for that. Do you mean when you are actually turning the pot? And while bass knobs may fail, their cords? I tend to think twisted pair wire is pretty durable.

Also, while these are very good points, the original question was about Bgowdy saying it hurt during comps. Why does it hurt during comps?

 

[TaylorFade 10+ year member]

I do agree with you, you are correct on most things, except for that. Do you mean when you are actually turning the pot? And while bass knobs may fail, their cords? I tend to think twisted pair wire is pretty durable.
Also, while these are very good points, the original question was about Bgowdy saying it hurt during comps. Why does it hurt during comps?

In essence... yes. It's the same thing as turning the pot. You might as well have your amp mounted on the dash and use a little screwdriver. But like I said, it's only an attentuator. 100% on the bass knob is just getting to where the gain is set at the amp. So... if your gain pot is set for 2v at the amp, 100% knob will be 2v. Conversely, 0% on the knob may be 4v or whatever the most sensitive setting is on your amp because the less gain you have, the more input voltage your amp is going to be huntin' for.

So, why? Why do you want to attentuate the gains when you went through so much trouble to set them clean in the first place? You should run 100% knob 24/7.

The cords themselves perhaps. The jack, meh. Not so much. And gain knobs are usually proprietary which is ghey. Since I told you i don't use them, I can only go by the large number of fucked up knobs I've seen and all the jacked up noises I've heard coming from subs because of them.

How does it hurt in comps? All I can tell you is I'm louder with a PAC vs. a bass knob. I get more clean voltage with a PAC and higher scores. And that's all the explanation I need. If you like your knob, awesome. Rock it out. But I won't.

Or maybe I have no idea how a bass knob works and I just think PAC knobs are cute.

 

[armykyle1 10+ year member]

LC-1 still FTW

Tfade explained it lol

 

[David62]

I used it. It's set at max when the obtain is set. That way it can only go down . . . . .. . . . .

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[pickup1 5,000+ posts]

I use the ones that come with the amp...some have clipping lights on them that might be helpful.

Otherwise the Pac solution works great.

 

[rebelfromva 10+ year member]

I use it. It's set at max when the gain is set. That way it can only go down

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