Author Topic: Questions on Essence controls. (Read 173 times)

sinador · « **on:** March 12, 2009, 08:56:17 PM »

Well, I received my Essence bass today and put on some new DR Fat Beams. My Essence has the Europa electronics and I have been turning and flipping numerous combinations and I can not seem to get a good sound. Granted, I am plugged into my single 15 Trace Elliot practice amp at the house. (However, my Epic sounds 100 percent better through it). I will be able to experiment a lot more when I head to band practice on Saturday. My main rig is a Genz Benz GBE1200 and a Nemesis 8X10 cabinet.

Anyway, does anyone have any recommendations on the settings? I know it is a personnal preference, but I seem to be only able to get a dull bassy or trebly sound. Also, I noticed that the bridge pickup is set a lot higher then the neck pickup. Is this correct? When I received the bass, both pickups were loose and I had to tighten the screws back in.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Steve

terryc · « **Reply #1 on:** March 13, 2009, 02:41:35 AM »

Nice looking bass.
Okay now the sounds, when I got my MK Signature it took me ages to master the whole conrol system.
Starting at the front, how about putting a new battery in.
Amp set at flat i e zero graphic or turned off, no shelving controls, turn filters all the way up and Q's on.
Play bass or better still get some to play it and turn the controls to find the tones you want.
With a bass like that it would be hard to imagine it sounding to the extremes of tone.
Remember that your ears and brain get used to familiarity and maybe because you are used to your Epic this is a new set of information for you to adjust to.
For further experimentation lowering or raising the PU's and adjusting the trimpots in the cavity might be the order of the day.
Patience....and you will get there
And again..nice bass!!!!

adriaan · « **Reply #2 on:** March 13, 2009, 07:22:06 AM »

The filter takes some getting used to. The main thing to understand is that it is not like your average active treble control.

To put the filter in neutral, turn the knob all the way open. As you turn back the knob, you're lowering the cut-off frequency. This means you're filtering out the frequencies above that.

The Q switch adds a boost at this cut-off frequency - flip it down, hit a note and then quickly turn the filter pot all the way down, and all the way up again. You will hear a wah-like sound as you turn the filter pot either way. When engaged, the Q effect can be heard at the start of the note. On a sustained note, switching the Q on and off has little or no effect.

Personally, I always leave the filter on my Spoiler wide open. I have a three-position Q switch that offers 3 and 6 dB boost options, which is softer than the standard 8 dB (a little harsh to my ears).

The treble and bass boost/neutral/cut switches should work as normal.

David Houck · « **Reply #3 on:** March 13, 2009, 10:06:47 PM »

If you adjust the pickup heights, make sure you know how they adjust so you don't break the tabs. There is an excellent post on adjusting the pickups here. That thread is included with three others that talk about pickup heights .