Secret to Low end brutality?

[catzodellamarina]

For a while this year when I had no poweramp, I played my rack equipment through my tube combo.
(Rockmaster preamp & TCE G-Maj) line out > Zinky 50-watt 5881 power combo (clean ch) > 2x12 cabs. The natural low end on this setup was brutal. It rattled windows and vibrated things off of shelves in my house.

Not wanting to lug the Zinky around and get it road worn, I replaced my power section with a Mesa 2-Fifty. I now like my overdrive and cranked tone better but the natural low end was cool but now it's gone with the Mesa. Even if I jack up the bass, it's just not the same "feel". It's not a big deal to me but I'm still curious does running a preamp setup into a clean ch of a tube amp really add more oomph by utilizing the additional preamping? Is this why you see more heads powering pedals and racks that all rackmount rigs?

[GuerillaPete]

It varies depending on the preamp section. With the Mesa Power amp, are you using a different speaker cabinet? That also plays a major role in the 'thump' (low end) of the spectrum.

[chrisolson]

Read: aggressive bass player.

I don't get the need for tooth rattling low end in guitars. And I own 3 7-strings...

[jgcable]

5881's will always give you more thump... especially on the clean channel with a preamp plugged in. The clean channel gives you more headroom and that helps with the thump too.
Your Mesa is much looser so you will get better midrange and tone in those frequencies but less thump because of the looseness.

[Twitch]

Ok, heres the deal, while tubes make a difference, thats not the entirety of your experience. Your preamp is boosting the guitars frequencies produced, the clean channel of the combo is boosting the preamps and the guitars frequencies produced, then the combos power amp is relatively cleanly boosting the combination of the guitar, preamp and clean channels signals, which have added their own "colors" to the signal.

When you switched to the power amp, you lost a boost by nixing the clean channels boost and color. The result is, since you had essentially lost a gain stage, you in turn lost some of the color. The power amp stage of an amp is relatively linear, meaning it colors your sound very little. The clean channel (which is a preamp as well) and your rack preamp both added their own color to your guitars original signal. Thats what a preamp is made to do besides initially boosting the guitars original signal. So, if you want that boost of bass back and still using the Mesa power amp, get a rack eq (another preamp) and color it to your taste.

EDIT: Your other option is to buy an amp that has that punch in a ready package. Heres a few in varying price ranges; Bogner Uberschall, ENGL Powerball, Carvin X100B Series IV reissue with EL34s, An older Mesa Dual/Triple Rec, Randall V2, Peavey 6505+ etc. These are all bass monsters, but the Uber and the ENGL are top of the heap for bass reproduction, second is the X100B, in my experience. Ive owned every amp I just listed except the Mesa and the Uber, but I spent a lot of time with them.

[Endrik]

The secret to low end brutality is a good bass going through octave pedal, fuzz a lowpass filter and into a good ballsy amp.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpUynozoWhk

[toejam]

Add a 15" or 18" speaker.

[jdr94]

Are you using the eq in the gmajor? If not, it could help. I used to play a hafler t3 to a 31 band eq, then to the gmajor using that eq too, then finally to a mesa 50/50 to a mesa recto 412 and got more than enough low end.

[warlok]

Celestion G12T-100 speakers find their own low end thump!!

[tonemonster]

If your searching for the secret to low end brutality, go to walmart.

[catzodellamarina]

Thanks for all the info. The missing low-end isn't a show stopper for me. I'm happy with the Mesa 2-Fifty and how everything sounds. I was more curious about why and how.

[data187]

try a genz benz cab. the low end on these crushes the mesa recto cabs. it's way too much low-end in my opinion, but some folks love it.

[jdr94]

Yeah mesa recto 212 cabs are horrible. I had the 412. Does genzbenz have a 412? If so i bet that sounds brutal

[Twitch]

Yeah mesa recto 212 cabs are horrible. I had the 412. Does genzbenz have a 412? If so i bet that sounds brutal

Yes they do, the G-Flex 412.

http://www.genzbenz.com/?fa=detail&mid=1410&sid=419&cid=93

[Grim]

Yeah mesa recto 212 cabs are horrible. I had the 412. Does genzbenz have a 412? If so i bet that sounds brutal

I have absolutely no low end problems with a 212 recto cab.