Studio Devil Virtual Bass Amp – User’s Guide, Page 6 of 9
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CONTROLS
CONTROLS
CONTROLS
CONTROLS
The controls of Studio Devil Virtual Bass Amp are pretty easy to understand. We designed them to be intuitive, simple, and
able to let you get your tone quickly. If you’ve used a bass amplifier before, then you already know how to operate them.
But just in case, here’s a description of the controls, what they do, and how to use them to sculpt your tone:
PRE
PRE
PRE
PREAMP
AMP
AMP
AMP CONTROLS
CONTROLS
CONTROLS
CONTROLS
The PREAMP CONTROLS help you tweak your sound until it’s just right. Here’s a bit about what they do and how
to adjust your sound:
GAIN:
GAIN:
GAIN:
GAIN: This knob controls the amount of bass guitar signal that’s fed into the amplifier. Turning this control up (to
the right) means more gain, more distortion, more clipping, more compression, and more punch. Turning the gain
knob down (to the left) results in a cleaner tone, less distortion, but more dynamic responsiveness. This knob
also mimics the effects of gain knob capacitors, which controls a bit of your tone and the high-frequency
distortion. But whichever setting you choose, remember that Studio Devil acts just like a real tube head…you can
also use your bass guitar’s volume knob to achieve similar results. Experiment with both your bass’s volume
knob and the gain control to see what works best with your playing style!
BOOST SWITCH
BOOST SWITCH
BOOST SWITCH
BOOST SWITCH: Turning this switch on has the effect of increasing the overall gain and adding more preamp
distortion. When you just need a little bit more gain…where can you go from there? 11? It’s one louder. Flipping
the BOOST switch on gets you there. Here’s a trick: Even though a high gain knob setting with the boost switch
off may have the same overall gain as a low gain knob setting with the boost switch on, they will sound very
different. Try both to see what works best for your style of play!
TONE CONTROLS:
TONE CONTROLS:
TONE CONTROLS:
TONE CONTROLS: (BASS, MIDS, FREQ, TREBLE) These TONE settings control the bass, mid, and treble
frequencies. The BASS knob sets the level for the lows, the TREBLE knob sets the level for the highs, and the
MIDS knob controls the level of the mid-frequencies. There are many different bass amps out there that all use
different frequencies for the MID control. So, to give you the best of all of them, we gave Studio Devil VBA a FREQ
knob which allows you choose what type of MIDS knob style you want! The FREQ knob allows you to set the
center frequency of the MIDS knob from 40Hz to 4kHz. Pay close attention to the dramatic range of tones you
can get from subtle changes in the MIDS and FREQ knobs. There are a lot of possibilities but it’s all about
tone…experiment until you find what works best for your sound!
Now remember, these tone controls come before the power amp compression, so not only do they affect your
tone, but they also allow you to control which frequencies compress more than others. If you want more control of
your tone without affecting the power amp compression, refer to the description of the GRAPHIC EQ section that
follows.
DEEP BUTTON
DEEP BUTTON
DEEP BUTTON
DEEP BUTTON: Pushing this button turns on the DEEP feature which adds more low-end to your bass. If you like
your sound with lots of bass, push this button on! If you’re playing through smaller speakers, and want to back off
the deep low end, push this button again to turn it off. This button lights up to let you know when the DEEP effect
is enabled.
BRIGHT BUTTON
BRIGHT BUTTON
BRIGHT BUTTON
BRIGHT BUTTON: This works a lot like the DEEP button, except it controls the high-end. Some preamp settings
can sound a bit noisy, especially when the GAIN or DRIVE is turned way up. You can help correct this by pushing
the BRIGHT button off. But if you like crisp, punchy highs, then push this button on to add more high frequencies
to your tone. This button lights up to let you know when the BRIGHT effect is enabled.
