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How to Gain Bass on an Amplifier

The EQ (equalizer) knobs on guitar amplifiers are designed to allow you to easily adjust the tone of your guitar. Some amps have a lot of knobs or buttons and can be intimidating at first glance. If you know what you're doing, however, you can easily adjust the tone of your amp to produce higher, crunchier sounds or deep, low-end bassy sounds. Gaining bass on your amplifier will produce a heavier sound such as that popularized by artists like The Black Keys, The White Stripes and Jimi Hendrix.

Instructions

    • 1

      Plug your guitar into the main input on your amplifier and turn the amp on.

    • 2

      Turn on any foot pedals or distortion that you'll be using during the EQ adjustment process. If you're only going to be using clean, or switching back and forth between clean and distortion, then leave your amp on "clean" for now.

    • 3

      Play a chord and let it ring out. Turn all of the amp EQ knobs all the way down. In other words, set your "low," "mid" and "high" knobs to zero. There shouldn't be any sound coming out of the amp right now.

    • 4

      Keep strumming chords and turn up the "low" knob to at least halfway. Bring in your "mid" and "high" knobs slowly to tweak the EQ even more. If you get the right tone, but feel like the volume is too low, simply increase the "master" volume knob.

    • 5

      Turn on your distortion pedals once you've found your "clean" tone.

    • 6

      Adjust the EQ knobs on your distortion pedal, much in the same way you did for your amp. Begin by turning all of the EQs down to zero. Bring in the "low" tone first, followed by the "mid" and then "high." Once you get the tone you want, adjust the "master volume" knob/switch on your pedal so there's not a huge difference in volume between clean and distortion.

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