Boomy Bass - need help

My RM4 / Mesa 20:20 rig has got a ton of bass. I've got the presence turned all the up on the Mesa and the bass about 9oclock on my modules. Notes on the A and E strings just boom away.


Any ideas?

What kind of power tubes are you running?

Where is the Cab located. It's relation to walls and corners directly impact the bass you hear. Try moving it closer to the center of the room or at least further away from the wall/corner

Doesn't the 20/20 have it's own presence setting too? Did you try turning that up? I think Mesa power amps only run 6L6 tubes AFAIK, that's what my Mesa 50/50 has at least, and the bass should be tight on those. The cab placement is also another thing to check.

The 20/20 has EL84's which I just replaced with JJ's and the presence on the Mesa 20/20 is cranked. Cab is a Marshall 4x10 and it's in the same location it's always been in rehearsal, previously used with my RM50 head.

My RM50 loaded with 6V6's sounded absolutely killer and I can't get close to that tone with the RM4/Mesa rig. I could always run the RM4 into the RM50 but I'd rather not lug all that gear around.

There is no presence on the RM4 BTW.

Ned,

Unless there is some sort of density knob on the RM4 (I don't think so, that's a power amp thing) I think you're out of luck. I saw that you're looking into other power amps on Huge Racks, and that might be the best idea.

Keep in mind that if you get the Randall RT2/50 power amp, first of all it has a density, so you could turn down the bass, and you could also put 6V6s in the amp, to drop the wattage.

Or you can get a MOD50 like I am.

Hope that helps,
Orren

Do you know anyone with a different power amp that you could borrow, Ned? Before you sell the mesa try something with different tubes (maybe a 50/50 if you can find one) and see if maybe that helps? If it still sounds boomy then you can rule out the power amp as the problem. Wish I could be of more help, it's hard to diagnose stuff like that without being there! If my 50/50 sounds boomy, I'm going back to the VHT... :lol:

I'll probably take my RM50 head over next week and run the RM4 straight into the power section to test it out.

Had a RT2/50 but they are just to heavy, couldn't carry the 6 space rack by myself (back surgery last year). If I'm going to divide the rack to put the power amp in a seperate rack I'll just take my head and have 6 channels.

I keep toying with a Mod50 but I really like only having to carry the rack, cab and pedal board to gigs.

If you REALLY want to keep the RM4, and you're not going to use the Mesa, why not sell the 20/20 and use the funds towards buying a VHT 2/50/2? Is that too much power? IMO it still sounds good at lower volumes, and if you have the chance to open it up a BIT it sounds freaking righteous! :shock: 8) Just my 2 cents bro!

Does the VHT have adjustable bias? ie can I load it with 6V6's?

I know the 2/50/2 can use E34L's and 6L6's (there's a switch on the inside, and then it requires a new bias of course) but I'm not sure about 6V6's, you might want to shoot Steve F an email @ VHT. He could tell you for sure, I know they accept those two but not sure about 6V6's and I don't want to misinform you sir!

guitarguy510 said:

I know the 2/50/2 can use E34L's and 6L6's (there's a switch on the inside, and then it requires a new bias of course) but I'm not sure about 6V6's, you might want to shoot Steve F an email @ VHT. He could tell you for sure, I know they accept those two but not sure about 6V6's and I don't want to misinform you sir!

Click to expand...

I agree that emailing Steve is the best way to find out for sure. But I wouldn't get your hopes up. I believe that although 6V6s are pinout compatible with 6L6/EL34 tube sockets, they need to be biased completely differently. If the 2/50/2 has a switch that can select between two bias settings, it likely doesn't have a setting optimal for 6V6s.

OTOH, if there's some way to manual bias for 6V6s by opening up the chassis, Steve's the one who would know.

Orren