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sinador
New
Username: sinador

Post Number: 5
Registered: 3-2009
Posted on Thursday, March 12, 2009 - 7:56 pm:   Edit Post

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.

SteveEssence 1
terryc
Senior Member
Username: terryc

Post Number: 735
Registered: 11-2004
Posted on Friday, March 13, 2009 - 1:41 am:   Edit Post

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
Senior Member
Username: adriaan

Post Number: 2139
Registered: 6-2002
Posted on Friday, March 13, 2009 - 6:22 am:   Edit Post

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".
davehouck
Moderator
Username: davehouck

Post Number: 7726
Registered: 5-2002
Posted on Friday, March 13, 2009 - 9:06 pm:   Edit Post

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 here.

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