Presence: What Does It Do? | Too Afraid To Ask
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 1 ต.ค. 2024
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The only 'stupid questions' are the ones you are Too Afraid To Ask. "What does a Presence control do?" is the question for this TATA video. Let's look at amplifier topology and power amp feedback loops to find out.
Leave your TATAs in the comment section and I'll make a video answering them.
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This video was sponsored by Skillshare. First 500 people get 2 months FREE membership here: skl.sh/csguitars4
The only 'stupid questions' are the ones you are Too Afraid To Ask. "What does a Presence control do?" is the question for this TATA video. Let's look at amplifier topology and power amp feedback loops to find out.
Leave your TATAs in the comment section and I'll make a video answering them.
More from CSGuitars:
Gain access to exclusive content at: www.patreon.com/csguitars
Buy CSGuitars Merchandise:
csguitars.bigcartel.com/
Website:
www.csguitars.co.uk
Contact:
colin@csguitars.co.uk
can you make a video about SweetSpot?
I'm sorry, I'm not sure what you mean?
Can't help but feel like you need to do a related follow up on this now, explaining the resonance knob. Haha
excellent video mate, I’m gonna take an educated guess based on how it sounds, that a resonance control basically does the same thing with the negative feedback loop and overall colouring of tone and gain, just with the Lower Mids and Bass frequency’s?
@@ScienceofLoud i mean the sweetspot of the amp, the best sound you can get on the amp
FINALLY someone who plays the SAME riffs when comparing settings. THANK YOU!
what judas priest and mozart are different?
@@KC9MDO I think he means he plays the same riffs after tweaking a setting, pointless to tweak something and then play something else
I've been waiting for someone to play something into a looper and do their tweaking while that runs
@@Jack_Rivet agreed, it would be so simple.
by now, i don't even trust anyone that doesn't compare the exact same soundbits. who knows, maybe they want to downplay some shortcomings that would be way too evident otherwise.
Yea, I hate it when they play some heavy palm muted riff then an open chord rock lick to compare...
Nice of you to show a timer during the add 👌
Yeah I did not at all fast forward to when the timer disappeared.
9 minutes 59 seconds long instead of 10:01? Timer during paid promo? Why can't all youtubers be like this. The timing is also an amazing compromise. Steadier pay for youtubers, people can skip through without skipping too far.
So you tweak your tone with bass mid treble to get your sound and after that you tweak the presence to tweak the tones tone.
Pretty much
yo dawg, I heard you like tone so we added tone to your tone so you can tone while you tone
@@caixiuying8901 I tone so hard that my tone is toneception
Sort of! Until you turn up the amp, and the negative feedback has less effect. Then it’s just tone.....but loud.
@@NathanielBTM [Inception sound intensifies, but with more presence]
I'm so glad you started this series. This was another very important, very informative video that I'm glad it's here for everyone to check. Thanks a bunch!
@Johnny Tightlips True! I've been following it and it has been super helpful.
You know, I bought a guitar tutorial DVD done by Scott Ian of Anthrax about 14 years ago, and there was a part where he was going through his amp controls and explaining what they do. When he got to the Presence control, he simply showed us the setting where it sounded good to him, and blatantly stated that he didn't know what Presence was, other than a Led Zeppelin album.
LOL! Not very 'pro' was he?
if the knob was called 'led zeppelin', no explination would be necessary, just turn it all the way up to 10
@Shockheadd45 Someone didn't watch the video...
Dion R; I find musicians start to get confused when you explain phase cancellation to them. The idea that a wave can cancel another, including soundwaves, tends to make their eyes glaze over.
@Scooters Videos lmao!
@@inthefade I think some guitarist needs some physics lessons
My amp has "Tone" and that's probably one knob too many already.
@@recreationalelmersglue6053 Joyo Zombie
Mine just has a gain knob.
@@Pfaeff I love the simplicity of mine because there is so much less I can fuck up than my previous amp, It always sounds good.
I've got a micro dark and have no idea what I'm doing...
@@Lucartes98 I don't need the possibility to dial in 100 different shitty tones and a hand full of good ones. Give me one knob to cycle through the ones that are actually useful to me.
I know resonance is essentially the presence for the bass/low frequencies, yet I’d still love to a see a video on it. It seems like it’s rarer than presence yet your demos showing the context of presence made me want the same thing for resonance. Cause why not? XP
Literally what I was thinking throughout the whole video 😂😂
Yay! We want resonance!
Yes! A resonance video would be good.
Presonance.
Interesting thanks for the info, ive been using a TPA-1 power amp vst, it emulates a power amp and you can pick the tubes and adjust a bunch of setting including a "resonance" knob which I always wondered about. In the end you just turn it up or down and listen if it sound good but it would be good to know whats really going on, and for some reason the resonance sound good turned up. Its a free vst plugin by ignite amps if anyone want to try it. You put your own preamps before it, software or real ones, like for example im using a digitech rp7 a floor effect thing that has a tube in it as the preamp, but its also got a presence knob so i dont know what thats about, maybe its got a poweramp in it too? While were at it might as well get into those bias knobs and settings too :)
"Remind me to talk about fourier transform sometime."
Colin, talk about fourier transform!
You're welcome.
Guitar Nerd - I second this.
Yes
Plz
Or watch 3blue1brown's video on the topic. Or, perhaps both would be good.
And then Laplace Transform :)
If there's a presence control... is there an absence control?
yep. volume knob on your guitar. if you got a passive pickup, rolling it down makes all the good sounds absent. basically an acoustic-inator,.
My dad has that knob!
@@hjelpinternet seems an odd reason to bring your dad's knob into the conversation mate
A limiter knob
@@blahblahsen1142 best comment xD
The best explanation I have ever heard. I'll just fiddle with the knob until it sounds good.
Nothing wrong with that!
I never thought TATAs would tackle a question it hadn't occurred to me to ask. I mostly just left my presence controls at noon and worried about other things. Well done man! You have improved my tone immensely.
Learning so much every time ! I recently bought a guitar and an amp, so my parents asked me a lot of questions about what does everything and how, and I'm proud that I was able to answer every one of them thanks to your videos. You really are making me more clever with every single video. And the quality is so good ! Can't believe that you are still doing all of this by yourself, well done mate, you deserve every single subs you have and even more 🤘
Thanks friend, I'm really glad all that knowledge is sinking in and becoming useful to you.
Good luck with the new guitar!
Is there a Colin's Scottish english accent class on skill share??
I can't begin to imagine what a transcription of this would look like in American English. 😂
"Scottish English" is a term you REALLY want to avoid in Scotland!
Spend an hour in Glasgow and see if you think he is hard to understand. I'm Scottish and I can't understand half the people in Glasgow at times.
@@geetarwanabe I meant to learn how to speak Scottish accent, it's awesome!
@@xneurianx last time I checked more than half of us were perfectly happy being united with England 😊
Yes to Fourier transforms! Finally I've found a guitar channel that gives th scientific explanation!
Right!
Such well rounded content.
I will not lie, when he pops schematics up, I sometimes pause the video to try and figure out exactly what's going on with my somewhat limited electrical understanding.
He should do a collab with Because Science. They could have an epic hair battle.
I learned something. Thanks for digging into the technical part of it. I always describe Presence & Resonance as the "Treble & Bass" controls of the power-amp section. The preamp tone controls help you push the part of the signal you want to break up, and the power-amp tone controls let you shape the final tone as you've already pointed out. Do you have a detailed video on the "Resonance" control?
Gotta love the combination of hair, accent and good info
Nu nog een kopje koffie :)
Levi Kalkman daar zit in nu aan ;)
Fefties.... :-)
PLEASE COLIN, TELL US ABOUT RESONANCE NEXT!
And the depth, which is present on other amps
Let me beat him to it. Like the presence control, a resonance/depth control (same thing) is an active EQ control. Instead of cutting high end in the negative feedback signal, though, it cuts low end - which means an increase in low end at the output of the amp. The usual configuration is a low-ish value capacitor (around 4.7nF-6.8nF, generally) in parallel with a potentiometer. Capacitors cut low end based on their size, and you can adjust how much signal goes through it with the pot. It comes before the presence control in the negative feedback loop, usually right after the resistor that sets the amount of negative feedback.
Lol
Amptweakers 'Depthfinder' pedal, will give you all your answers in real time.
It turns good amps into ultimate beasts, and shite ss amps, into tube tone gods!
@@Caged63Man"shite ss amps" - all relative my friend. I've been running SS amps for over 20 years and would never go back to tubes.
I always thought it controlled the volume on Zeppelin's best album. Don't most amps have that album built in?
CLardPercussion, Achilles Amp Stand, with some models.
Nice
Niiiiice
I used to boost Presence when playing Dark Side of the Moon tunes. What an irony, or big mistake. Nobody's fault but mine.
Hmmm... Not hearing anything but mangled zeppelin coming from my amp. Must need a presence upgrade.
Depth/Resonance controls/boosts also exist here! They're a high pass filter (the presence control is a low pass filter), so they behave basically the same way, but for low end. The only exception to this is the presence control in the Mesa Rectifier's modern mode - the negative feedback loop is disconnected so it's a treble dump right at the end of the tonestack.
Well that explanation was just perfect. Thank you, I have wondered what that control did for about 30 years!
when you’ve only got gain, volume, bass, and treble on your main amp
When you've only got volume xP
When you only got input jack
So, basically, it’s like a built in treble booster that doesn’t bleed off any low end signal?
In a sense, yes. Obviously it's a bit more complex than that, but not a bad way to look at it.
As usual a brilliant explanation of something that could become incredibly over technical. Great work.
Excellent overview of presence! Can you do one on Depth next? And maybe the relationship and interplay between depth and presence?
Cheers!
I'm not too afraid to ask, it's just everytime I've asked anyone, they gave an answer that sounded like made up magical gobbletygook
That and the "this amp goes to 11" kind of answer.
hey CSGuitars for your next TATA what is RESONANCE/DEPTH on an amp?
David Piland II - I second this!!
My understanding is that it's the same concept as presence, but for low-mid and bass frequencies.
Ooh, I know one!! Why do you need like triple the wattage for solid state, to reach the same tube volume? The Fender Tonemaster series is a good example; the Super Reverb just came out, and it's like 200 watt output but is labeled like 40, and the Deluxe is labeled 22 but is actually like 100. When I got my Boss Katana Artist, I cranked it for a second and the breakup sounded like crap, and within seconds I could smell burning. Tubes simply do not do that. Laters!
Do TATA Ceramic vs Alnico magnets.
Omg this please!
The scientific as well as the layman explanation is extremely helpful. I can always find out what I'm looking for.
You're crushing it Viking! Very well done.
He's not a viking though, his people were pillaged and raped by the vikings...
Thanks for this Tata!
Could you do one on amp choices of Boutique, Crunch, Tweed, Ultra etc in multi - effects processors? Maybe add the cabinet choices like 4x12 and mic placement emulators.
I don't see what you are asking. Do you wanna know what amps those are supposed to be? Or are you asking how shitty effects processors are in practice?
👍🇺🇲❤NOTHING BEATS A TREBLE BOOSTER PEDAL.......AMPS PRESENCE SET AT ZERO 👍🎸
Seriously, this series is phenomenal. Being completely selftaught, playing for about a decade, i never had anyone to explain some of these things like this to me, so this Michael Scott- esque "why don't you explain it to me like i'm 5" way of talking about those seemingly complicated and scary things is awesome. Much appreciated
can a tube amplifier's power section be run without a feedback loop? on solid state devices like op-amps, running with an open feedback loop saturates the output to the power rails, but tubes are quite a different beast and I'm not sufficiently experienced to understand how they would behave
So that means Peavey's Resonance (Depth on Revv amps) is the same, but for the lower frequencies
I've played amps that had both. Resonance and presence. I might be early with my comment, haven't seen the video all the way through, I am just rejoicing over the topic.
Ákos Tolvaj The 5150 amps have both.
Great video. I always though that presence was just an extra high treble EQ control, pretty sure everyone I've ever talked to about it has thought the same thing. This knowledge is so important for guitar players. How can you go for tones if you don't understand what you're doing?
This is one of your best vids, Colin. Great description of this feature!
Moo
So what does a presence pedal do? If it's defined in part by hitting during the power amp stage...a pedal doesn't hit at that stage...??
Here is a TATA question for you: What does the Resonance control do on the amp?
Sorta like a bass control of the power section of your amp as is the Present knob is like a Treble control of the Power amp section.
The lower frequencies ...
So, a Tube Screamer pedal is actually a Presence pedal... 👍🏻
I've been running my presence at about 2-3 o'clock once I heard Pete Thorn say increased presence adds more complex distortion. I lower the treble to compensate. Glad you confirmed all this in detail.
Got an amp with dual "Resonance" controls for the corresponding video? :-)
Lower the treble (witch is a sort of mixer between lows and highs ) when you raise the presence = more bass and Nice High mids
I had no idea that I didn't know this, thank you!
Great A/B. High presence sounds great on extended range/baritone guitars, rreally tightens and brightens them which they always need.
In too many guitar amps it makes the sound shrill and fizzy
Yea! That tone! I personally like to crank up the presence, makes it sound heavier and clearer too!
My favorite ENGL amp is the Powerball
You will probably not read this, but thanks for sharing your knowledge with us :) I'm learning a lot from you
Why does increasing output level on an overdrive or distortion pedal that is in front of a dirty channel increase the "angriness" of the sound?
That's because overdrive adds harmonics which are the cause of the 'dirty' sound in the first place. Put those through your amp which is already overdriven, and you have odd harmonics which are the result of all of the other harmonics, causing the angry, fuzzy sound instead of the crunchy overdrive sound which is comprised of even harmonics only. Tubes cause even harmonics (overdrive) while transistors cause odd harmonics (distortion and fuzz). One of the main reasons we're still using tubes in our amps or try to imitate them digitally.
Colin should really do an item on Fourier transform which describes this really, really nicely.
As someone who is currently studying physics this subject really interests me. I hope colin does a video about it.
Thanks for an excellent explanation of presence, and feedback loops. Very clear. Do you realize you're almost shouting at the camera? Is it a Scottish thing or are you going deaf from Marshall stacks?
It's both.
This guy must of hit the lottery or robbed a music store. He sure got a lot of nice equipment awfully fast.
I'm just getting a lot better at sweet talking gear companies into letting me borrow things.
@@ScienceofLoud Colin, those companies appreciate nice T.A.T.A 's like all of us should. Thanks to the likes of you, we all learn something new all the time. Keep them coming!
Great graphics. Terrific explanation.
Now we need an explaintaion of what the "Contour" control does:D
Contour is a mid cut
*T*hanks
*A*gain
*T*his is
*A*wesome!
Definitely Explained Well My Friend, We Always Have To Remember That not everyone Knows All This Stuff So It Hs To Be explained on Beginner Mode And You Did It Rockin 👍👍🎶🎶🎸Keep Bringin The Awesome Videos.
Loving this part of the channel! Especially this video. I have a Laney LV300H and its the first amp I've had with a presence knob. Never known exactly what it does. I also has a contour knob. Any chance on a video based on those? And possibly the relation ship between presence and contour?
Clear and presence danger 👻
Presence knob should always be at 10
I'm reminding you, talk about Fourier Transform sometime!!
Amazing topic. I have a friend who was hired as a session musician to do some recordings at abbey road studio (yes that one), tours internationally, heard him live and heard bonamassa live, and comparing those two performances I'd much rather listen to him than Bonamassa, his tone, his feel is absolutely amazing. Even he could not tell me what the presence exactly was. "Jus set it to middle, nobody ever gets their tone from turning that up and down anyway!" :) And he is not ignorant, he knows his gear, but nobody ever was able to explain it properly to him either.
This was really interesting, and I have to be honest, I've puzzled for years over what exactly the presence control does... I knew it affected the final sound, and had kind of played around with it to get sounds that pleased my ear, but never understood the science behind it.
Would I be right in thinking this is similar in a way to the old Treble Boost pedals?
is there a universal control that will control the "fizz" an amp puts out? or is that still presence based?
I have a pedal that says presence on it, will it do the same thing?
Are there any dangers in changing the presence from low to high(viceversa) very quickly?
starts 2:09
Ah good old Fourier transforms, a staple of my comms module when I did my degree. Nowhere near as painful as Laplace transforms though
Thanks Colin. After viewing many, many guitar technical videos over the years, I have come to the conclusion that yours are superlative. Your technical knowledge, understanding of what guitar players really want and your exuberant presentation style put you head-and-shoulders above the rest of the crowd. Outstanding.
I already knew what the presence control does to the sound, but I never thought about how it actually works. Very nice explained!
I think you should do a video on resonance as well, cause why not. Keep up the great vids! Cheers from Tennessee!
Bodacious TATAS dahlink! ;oP
Presence helps you to be haired.
Love it. I've also been told - and based on your explanation I'm inclined to believe it's true - that boosting the presence boosts the frequencies that tend to cause the most hearing loss. I've always kept my presence (very) low because of that, but I'm inclined to try to find a happier medium.
Have no clue why I hadn’t subscribed to you yet. I find your videos all the time. Thank you for the info.
Low, Mid, Trebble, Presense, Pedals, Guitar Tone knobs... Too much turning... Too much knobs... Hobnobs.... Mmm... I want a cup of tea with some hobnobs.
My amp gets a lot of presence on Christmas!🎄⛄🎅 😂
Just Christmas? Pffft, you're neglecting it ;) it has birthdays too!
This is one of the best explanations I've ever seen on TH-cam about any gear anytime. So detailed and yet so comprehensible.
Subscribed (:
7:58 99% of the dudes sitting in front of amps at Guitar Center
Great info! I've not had much experience with "presence" controls, and my simple, uninformed experimentation with it left me with the impression that it was just basically "more treble than treble", like maybe it was doing something above the frequency range covered by the regular "treble" knob. I noticed it tended to "brighten up" the sound.
Best series in the Guitar community. So brilliantly explained. Thanks as always, Colin!
Guy looks like that guy who sold Homer a bass guitar
Funny you should mention Fourier series, the lecturer at Glasgow University who taught the 3rd course on that subject couldn't say the word "Fourier" to save himself - it just came out as a mumbled fooor, which was a shame as he had to say it ten times a lecture.
Then, one day he comes on with half his face limp - he'd just been at the dentist and could barely speak at all. It took half an hour before he finally had to (attempt to) say Fourier, but it was worth the wait.
To this day, I honestly couldn't tell you that lecturer's real name as we only knew as Foor-Boy, which compared with Prof Shit-beard and Baw-Hair is towards the tame end of the unflattering nicknames we had for academic staff.
Well fuck me sideways and call me a biscuit. I always thought that "presence" was merely a fancy name for 10kHz+ EQ boost. Thanks for clearing that up!
Hi, Collin. I think my question is more subjective, but here it goes: what’s the lowest volume you can dial on an amp for its speakers to produce a “full” sound?
I’m asking this cause my only amp is a 100w Marshall MG, with two 12” speakers (which I love), but it took me a long time to set it so I could get a good sound at bedroom levels.
Hi Colin, Excellent Video, Thank you👍👍👍
Take care,
Melbourne, Australia.
twhat is the Depth knob?!? and the, we all know them; GIRTH GRIND AND HOW THEY RELATE TO GAIN aswell as DEPTH AND PRESENCE...lol.. iwasnt yelling i swear.. just trying to be clear.. THANKS FOR ALL YOUR HARD WORK!! ok i was hollering just then.lol.
Hey Colin, Greetings from New Zealand. I just had one question. I'm using a pre-amp pedal (Diezel VH4-2) and running it into the effect loop return of my amp which is a Marshall DSL40. The pedal already has presence and resonance controls on it, but the presence and resonance controls on my amp still work as well. so i wanted to know what i should set these controls on my amp to, in order to have them make no difference to the signal (Essentially just use the marshals power amp without affecting the tone from the pedal with these controls). Should I leave them at 12 or at 0 or at max? which one essentially turns the control off? sorry for the long winded question. Eagerly awaiting your answer. :)
Hands down the best video explanation of presence in the history of amplifiers. AWESOME!!!
These videos are outstanding. Many are 4/5 years old. I wonder what has changed over time? Looking at your REVV teeshirt, they were amongst the first to hard-wire attenuators into their valve amps: now attenuators are ubiquitous. Mega bands are increasingly no longer taking amps on stage, doing everything digitally. What are they using? Are they better or just more convenient? Phillip McKnight suggests that some big venues don't allow valve amp stacks on stage anymore.
Here's my question; why do some guitarists DON'T always use Reverb? And why do some use Reverb?
I'm finally starting to understand how pots work, different resistances across the frequency range and how they get sent to ground. Want to eventually just be my own guitar tech, cos I'm poor lol
So this is why presence still works if go in thru 'return'. Makes so much sense now.
Commercial ends @2:10
OMG SO USEFUL!!! Loved this video
TATA video idea: signal chain connections.
XLR, 6.5, 3.5, RCA etc. Stereo cables, instrument vs speaker vs patch cables. Quality comparisons and where does it matter.
Nice video, great job explaining things simply yet comprehensively. Subscribed.
I just want to thank you for making this video. I have been using an amp with a presence control for well over a decade. Until today, I had mistakenly believed that it controlled a frequency band above treble and was otherwise no different than the other eq controls. Thank you for opening my eyes!
Is it just me, or is your strat not plugged in when you’re playing? 🤔 6:15
Oh... Nice and informative tutorial. Thank you.
Yes, I see it now on a bigger screen. My apologies for doubting the authenticity of Colin’s work. 🍻
Hello. here's a question for an FAQ video. I've asked a few people but can't get a straight answer, maybe you can. Is it possible to add a 2nd or more preamp tubes to things such as a tube pedal to add more gain? ......Behringer VT999 for instance. I love your videos.....Rock On!!!!! \m/ \m/
very informative! That Engl Savage Mk II is fucking awesome! I'm torn between getting one of those OR the Engl Steve Morse sig head OR a Marshall JVM410 ugh decisions, decisions!
please sir, how about speaker slaving? for example,hooking up two 4x12 cabs to a triple rectifier which has one output per ohm selection. not all 4x12 cabs have a slave out jack. I would prefer not rewire all my cabs. I have an awesome 2x12 with c-90 black shadow celestions which I want to run in series with my 1x12 housing a v-30... my 1x12 has a slave out but I am AFRAID to run a 150 watt head through a 60 watt cab into a 180 watt cab... please please please help? THANK YOU