11
About Equalization
The Hartke Systems Model 5000/7000 Bass Amplifier gives you enormous con-
trol over shaping the sound of your bass, using a process called equalization.
To understand how this works, it’s important to know that every naturally occur-
ring sound consists of a broad range of pitches, or
frequencies, combined
together in a unique way. This blend is what gives every sound its distinctive
tonal color. EQ controls allow you to alter a sound by boosting or attenuating
specific frequency areas—they operate much like the bass and treble controls
on your hi-fi amp, but with much greater precision. The Model 5000/7000 pro-
vides you with two different means for equalizing your bass sound:
• Low Pass and High Pass Contour controls provide 18 dB of cut or boost in
two broad frequency bands.
• A Graphic Equalizer provides 15 dB of cut or boost in ten narrow frequency
bands.
Normally, you will adjust the two Contour controls before “fine-tuning” your EQ
with the Graphic Equalizer. The Low Pass Contour control affects a broad band
of frequencies with 100 Hz as the center point; similarly, the High Pass Contour
control affects a broad band of frequencies with 10 kHz as the center point.
When either is in its center detented position (“0”), it is having no effect. When it
is moved right of center, the particular frequency area is being boosted; when it
is moved left of center, the frequency area is being cut (“attenuated”). Because
there is very little bass guitar energy at 10 kHz, the High Pass Contour control
should be thought of as your overall “noise” control—turning it down (to the left
of the “0” position) will help to eradicate hiss and buzz while having very little
effect on the bass guitar signal. Similarly, the Low Pass Contour control, when
set left of 0, can be used to eliminate rumble and “woofiness.”
The ten-band graphic equalizer provides ten sliders, each corresponding to a
single narrow frequency band (at 30 Hz, 64 Hz, 125 Hz, 250 Hz, 500 Hz, 1 kHz,
2 kHz, 3 kHz, 5 kHz, and 8 kHz). This allows you to “draw” the desired tonal
response of your system. When a slider is in its center detented position (“0”), it
is having no effect. When it is moved above center (towards “+15”), the particu-
lar frequency area is being boosted; when it is moved below center (towards
“-15”), the frequency area is being attenuated. We carefully selected these
frequency areas because they have maximum impact on bass signals. For
example, the lowest slider (30 Hz) affects the very lowest audible frequencies
(in fact, most humans cannot hear below 20 Hz), while the highest four sliders
(2, 3, 5, and 8 kHz) affects the “twang” of a bass string.
WARNING: Use caution when raising the 30 Hz slider above 0 if you are
operating at high volume levels (especially if Compression is not being
used) since this can place undue stress on connected loudspeakers.
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