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Posted by: Jakub Luptovec May 12 2009, 09:36 PM

Say you are making a pod patch - what does the presence attribute change? Like I hear the change, its less and less sharp (on gauge Sharp/Blunt) but what exactly is it? and what is its use? because I hardly set it lower than 80%. What sort of tone you can get with tweaking ?

Posted by: Muris Varajic May 12 2009, 10:19 PM

Answer is in the question already, tweak it.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presence_(amplification)

Posted by: Sami May 12 2009, 10:21 PM

gotta love wiki

When i think of presence i think of paul gilbert's tone

Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic May 12 2009, 10:23 PM

It's upper high mid range, sort of higher than guitar amp treble control. Just another frequency to tweak, look at it that way mate.

Posted by: Jakub Luptovec May 12 2009, 10:29 PM

Oh thanks, thats what I wanted to hear:)

Btw. sorry for not using wiki - I didnt even think, it could be there Silly me

Btw what was that with Paul Gilberts sound?

Posted by: Sami May 12 2009, 10:51 PM

Well on one of his instructional DVDs Gilbert responds to people saying that he has a very trebly tone by stating that the secret to his tone is high presence...

Then he precedes to make a joke where PRESENTS are thrown at him haha.

Posted by: Arrival May 13 2009, 07:14 AM

I believe some amps call the setting "Lead," meaning that cranking it up will make your sound cut through more, where as turning it low would have less "presence" for a rhythm tone.

Posted by: Kristofer Dahl May 13 2009, 10:31 AM

Very good question - I am usually pleasantly surprised when I find a presence knob on an amp as it gives more control. People often add eq pedals to their chain, to make that final tweak. But if you have got the presence knob and want to add some extra bite/treble to your rhythm sound - it is well worth tweaking it.

Posted by: Jakub Luptovec May 13 2009, 10:47 AM

And is there some situation, when (any of) you would tone the presence all the way down? Just so I get the idea:P

Posted by: Dejan Farkas May 13 2009, 10:57 AM

Presence makes a sound more 'present', when you add presence your guitar will stand out from other instruments, if you reduce the presence the guitar will mix in the background

Posted by: Muris Varajic May 13 2009, 02:40 PM

Maybe but lacking of presence also leads to lack of attack, try it.

Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic May 13 2009, 02:51 PM

When you are playing somewhere and you know what type of sound you are needed, you use all the available gear & knobs to make that sound. If you work with some amp that isn't yours, you will wanna tweak it to make a sound similar what you prefer and like. This is where the presence knob can help among other things. If the amp or your guitar is too bright, then lowering down the presence could be a good way to make it more darker, so that would be one example of presence tweaking I guess.

Posted by: Santiago Diaz Garces May 14 2009, 06:26 AM

Presence pot is an active filter that works with mid range frecuencies. The presence makes your sound more trebly, gives the impretion of having more attack. But if you use it with an external eq for example, be careful because it could make your tone too agressive and can distort your sound. It depends on what sound do you like and what sound you want to get. If you have a graphic eq. move the 600k range and you will notice that it's like moving the presence.

Posted by: AlexLion May 14 2009, 07:21 AM

Wow, didn`t know that, very helpful info, thanks