Hello... noob here to the forum, and yes, also a noob to bass guitar. But I have certainly been around guitars most of my life (53yo,) so I'm quite familiar with multiple pickups and their corresponding controls.
Having said that... I recently acquired a Dean Edge 10 w/Active EQ (4 string; not the 10, not the PJ) in a gear trade; and a nice little Eden EC10 to run it thru... both virtually brand new and I only paid $45 for the amp... apparently quite a bargain. I'm already thrilled with both as they seem to be of great build quality, and they sound pretty awesome together as well. I was quickly able to get to some of the tones I had in my head (something I like to call "piano tone") with just a little effort, which I'm sure many of you can relate to... that instant feeling of gratification with new gear that goes a looonnnggg way towards feeling like you made a good choice, and that it won't just sit around and collect dust. So... not bad for a (bass) beginners rig!
So there's my short (not) hello/history (yes, I'm wordy)... now here's my quandary: I'm not sure I understand how the controls work... at least in regards to what they are supposed to do. Of course as used gear goes, all I got was the bass... no manual or whatever. So I emailed Dean and requested a pdf of whatever might have come with the guitar when new, as I couldn't seem to find anything on their website. I got a reply stating that their guitars don't come with any documentation, but he was nice enough to send me a better spec sheet than what was on the website for this model.
It stated that the controls were: 1 volume, 1 blend, 1 bass eq, 1 treble eq.
Okay... that would make sense since there's no pickup selector. But on my guitar, it seems more like: Volume, Volume, Treble... and one that does nothing. Now given what I already now about guitar controls and typical layout, I'm pretty sure the one that seems to do nothing is probably the bass eq, and it's just so subtle that I'm not really hearing the difference... so, no big deal there. It's the "is it a volume or is it a blend knob" that I can't wrap my head around. Of those two... I can dime one and zero the other and get tone. I can then reverse those two... and still get tone, albeit a different tone. It just seems like that's two volume knobs then... one for each pickup, neck and bridge. If one were a "blend" as Dean states... then wouldn't I be able to turn the "volume" to zero, and not be able to hear anything regardless of where the "blend" knob is set to?
So I'm hoping someone here (or many someones) owns one of these, or has at least played around with one enough to know what's what and can explain this to me. Granted, it's a used guitar and I suppose the previous owner could have altered the electronics... but that wasn't my impression. My understanding was the guy bought it, played with it a bit, lost interest, and then it hung on his wall for a year.
Yeah I know... "just fiddle with the knobs till it sounds good and play... don't worry about what they do!"... but I'm the kind of guy who likes to understand the reason behind things, and the way they're supposed to work so that I can get the most out of what I have. Like I said... the guitar is solid as a rock and (to me) sounds amazing... I just want to be sure I'm going to be able to squeeze out its full potential as I get better at playing.
Thank you in advance for any help or insight you can provide. I'm including a pic (hopefully) of the bass (stock photo) just for reference.
Having said that... I recently acquired a Dean Edge 10 w/Active EQ (4 string; not the 10, not the PJ) in a gear trade; and a nice little Eden EC10 to run it thru... both virtually brand new and I only paid $45 for the amp... apparently quite a bargain. I'm already thrilled with both as they seem to be of great build quality, and they sound pretty awesome together as well. I was quickly able to get to some of the tones I had in my head (something I like to call "piano tone") with just a little effort, which I'm sure many of you can relate to... that instant feeling of gratification with new gear that goes a looonnnggg way towards feeling like you made a good choice, and that it won't just sit around and collect dust. So... not bad for a (bass) beginners rig!
So there's my short (not) hello/history (yes, I'm wordy)... now here's my quandary: I'm not sure I understand how the controls work... at least in regards to what they are supposed to do. Of course as used gear goes, all I got was the bass... no manual or whatever. So I emailed Dean and requested a pdf of whatever might have come with the guitar when new, as I couldn't seem to find anything on their website. I got a reply stating that their guitars don't come with any documentation, but he was nice enough to send me a better spec sheet than what was on the website for this model.
It stated that the controls were: 1 volume, 1 blend, 1 bass eq, 1 treble eq.
Okay... that would make sense since there's no pickup selector. But on my guitar, it seems more like: Volume, Volume, Treble... and one that does nothing. Now given what I already now about guitar controls and typical layout, I'm pretty sure the one that seems to do nothing is probably the bass eq, and it's just so subtle that I'm not really hearing the difference... so, no big deal there. It's the "is it a volume or is it a blend knob" that I can't wrap my head around. Of those two... I can dime one and zero the other and get tone. I can then reverse those two... and still get tone, albeit a different tone. It just seems like that's two volume knobs then... one for each pickup, neck and bridge. If one were a "blend" as Dean states... then wouldn't I be able to turn the "volume" to zero, and not be able to hear anything regardless of where the "blend" knob is set to?
So I'm hoping someone here (or many someones) owns one of these, or has at least played around with one enough to know what's what and can explain this to me. Granted, it's a used guitar and I suppose the previous owner could have altered the electronics... but that wasn't my impression. My understanding was the guy bought it, played with it a bit, lost interest, and then it hung on his wall for a year.
Yeah I know... "just fiddle with the knobs till it sounds good and play... don't worry about what they do!"... but I'm the kind of guy who likes to understand the reason behind things, and the way they're supposed to work so that I can get the most out of what I have. Like I said... the guitar is solid as a rock and (to me) sounds amazing... I just want to be sure I'm going to be able to squeeze out its full potential as I get better at playing.
Thank you in advance for any help or insight you can provide. I'm including a pic (hopefully) of the bass (stock photo) just for reference.
