Mark III bass control question

I just picked up a red stripe mark iii combo which seems to work fine and sounds fantastic but wondering if the bass control is working correctly.

The push pull bass knob definitely adds bass when pulled but the bass knob itself seems to make no real difference wherever I set it.

Is this normal? Is the bass knob subtle on these?

If this isn't normal what might be the issue if the push pull seems to be working fine?

Thanks!

The best way to describe it is that you won't find any more bass than you're giving it, and almost everybody will tell you its sounds better below 2 anyway. On a Mark, if you need to compress someone's ribcage that's what the 5-band is for.

If I'm plugging my Jackson with EMGs straight in, the bass knob does nothing worth mentioning lol. Old 14-pound Ysmaha SG, there's a *bit* of room between 0 and 2. Try switching to your neck pickup and see if that makes the control behave a little differently, or put an EQ pedal in front and boost the lows just to test. It's possible that the knob is shot, but yeah, it is pretty subtle.

Check out the bass control in the clean channel. It should be effective there, no doubt about it.

In the lead channel it will be less effective. Basically it'll just control how much bass gets into the clipping stage.

The tone controls are pre-distortion. The graphic EQ is post distortion. So, tone controls don't really increase the volume of bass, midrange, or treble when in the lead channel. (Or rhythm 2)

woodbutcher65 said:

The tone controls are pre-distortion. The graphic EQ is post distortion. So, tone controls don't really increase the volume of bass, midrange, or treble when in the lead channel. (Or rhythm 2)

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I assume you are referring to preamp distortion? I posted an inquiry regarding output tube saturation and would love your input on that if you have any.

As for the bass control, remember the effectiveness of both bass and mid are dependent upon the setting of treble. The higher treble is set the less impact bass and middle have on the tone. So if you have your treble set at 7 or higher you won’t get much if any response out of bass and middle.