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

@AlejandroFloresmotorsport

5 жыл бұрын

can you make a video about SweetSpot?

@ScienceofLoud

5 жыл бұрын

I'm sorry, I'm not sure what you mean?

@Kris.Gately

5 жыл бұрын

Can't help but feel like you need to do a related follow up on this now, explaining the resonance knob. Haha

@jacktowers7533

5 жыл бұрын

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?

@AlejandroFloresmotorsport

5 жыл бұрын

@@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!

@KC9MDO

4 жыл бұрын

what judas priest and mozart are different?

@SuperGingerRob

3 жыл бұрын

@@KC9MDO I think he means he plays the same riffs after tweaking a setting, pointless to tweak something and then play something else

@jasonlogan5622

3 жыл бұрын

I've been waiting for someone to play something into a looper and do their tweaking while that runs

@hazardeur

3 жыл бұрын

@@jasonlogan5622 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.

@leviathan_is_me

3 жыл бұрын

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 👌

@tungtobak

5 жыл бұрын

Yeah I did not at all fast forward to when the timer disappeared.

@user-jh1jj9rj3g

5 жыл бұрын

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.

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.

@DMSProduktions

5 жыл бұрын

LOL! Not very 'pro' was he?

@rajamcraja

5 жыл бұрын

if the knob was called 'led zeppelin', no explination would be necessary, just turn it all the way up to 10

@inthefade

5 жыл бұрын

@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.

@shrayesraman5192

4 жыл бұрын

@Scooters Videos lmao!

@thekramer1097

4 жыл бұрын

@@inthefade I think some guitarist needs some physics lessons

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.

@NathanielBTM

5 жыл бұрын

Pretty much

@caixiuying8901

5 жыл бұрын

yo dawg, I heard you like tone so we added tone to your tone so you can tone while you tone

@NathanielBTM

5 жыл бұрын

@@caixiuying8901 I tone so hard that my tone is toneception

@MrColmdonnelly

5 жыл бұрын

Sort of! Until you turn up the amp, and the negative feedback has less effect. Then it’s just tone.....but loud.

@Spikehead777

5 жыл бұрын

@@NathanielBTM [Inception sound intensifies, but with more presence]

My amp has "Tone" and that's probably one knob too many already.

@Pfaeff

5 жыл бұрын

@@recreationalelmersglue6053 Joyo Zombie

@themennissvids

5 жыл бұрын

Mine just has a gain knob.

@Lucartes98

5 жыл бұрын

@@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.

@djsnowman06

5 жыл бұрын

I've got a micro dark and have no idea what I'm doing...

@Pfaeff

5 жыл бұрын

@@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.

The best explanation I have ever heard. I'll just fiddle with the knob until it sounds good.

@ragingchimera8021

5 жыл бұрын

Nothing wrong with that!

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

@robertperez9808

5 жыл бұрын

Literally what I was thinking throughout the whole video 😂😂

@Cthulhu_Awaken

5 жыл бұрын

Yay! We want resonance!

@thatmechanicguy8773

5 жыл бұрын

Yes! A resonance video would be good.

@rickc2102

5 жыл бұрын

Presonance.

@mikejones-vd3fg

5 жыл бұрын

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 :)

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!

@shinjial

5 жыл бұрын

@Johnny Tightlips True! I've been following it and it has been super helpful.

"Remind me to talk about fourier transform sometime." Colin, talk about fourier transform! You're welcome.

@TylrVncnt

5 жыл бұрын

Guitar Nerd - I second this.

@funnyfarmband4410

5 жыл бұрын

Yes

@index7787

5 жыл бұрын

Plz

@reaganharder1480

5 жыл бұрын

Or watch 3blue1brown's video on the topic. Or, perhaps both would be good.

@ThiagoRochaA1

5 жыл бұрын

And then Laplace Transform :)

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.

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.

If there's a presence control... is there an absence control?

@blahblahsen1142

5 жыл бұрын

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,.

@hjelpinternet

5 жыл бұрын

My dad has that knob!

@spacejazz6272

5 жыл бұрын

@@hjelpinternet seems an odd reason to bring your dad's knob into the conversation mate

@matthewkennedy7283

5 жыл бұрын

A limiter knob

@saadniazi

5 жыл бұрын

@@blahblahsen1142 best comment xD

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

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 🤘

@ScienceofLoud

5 жыл бұрын

Thanks friend, I'm really glad all that knowledge is sinking in and becoming useful to you. Good luck with the new guitar!

Gotta love the combination of hair, accent and good info

@levikalkman5934

5 жыл бұрын

Nu nog een kopje koffie :)

@koffieverslaafde627

5 жыл бұрын

Levi Kalkman daar zit in nu aan ;)

@Rozzantbakancs

4 жыл бұрын

Fefties.... :-)

Yes to Fourier transforms! Finally I've found a guitar channel that gives th scientific explanation!

@index7787

5 жыл бұрын

Right! Such well rounded content.

@reaganharder1480

5 жыл бұрын

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.

@mal2ksc

4 жыл бұрын

He should do a collab with Because Science. They could have an epic hair battle.

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.

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.

@jamietaylor8663

5 жыл бұрын

He's not a viking though, his people were pillaged and raped by the vikings...

This is one of your best vids, Colin. Great description of this feature! Moo

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 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?

Well that explanation was just perfect. Thank you, I have wondered what that control did for about 30 years!

Unlike so many other videos on these same subjects which are hit and miss, Colin, you seem to know exactly what I need to know and you convey it in a way that makes perfect sense. Thanks so much.

This is one of the best explanations I've ever seen on KZread about any gear anytime. So detailed and yet so comprehensible. Subscribed (:

As usual a brilliant explanation of something that could become incredibly over technical. Great work.

I'm reminding you, talk about Fourier Transform sometime!!

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!

I love these videos. Especially the ones that I think I know a lot about the subject, but I watch anyway because I know I will always learn something more, or just get a deeper understanding. You are a bright spot in a dim world, my friend. Keep em coming Colin. Love you man!

PLEASE COLIN, TELL US ABOUT RESONANCE NEXT!

@ZILtoid1991

5 жыл бұрын

And the depth, which is present on other amps

@davidfuller581

5 жыл бұрын

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.

@Starch1b2c3d4a

5 жыл бұрын

Lol

@Caged63Man

4 жыл бұрын

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!

@kevinmcguinness1113

3 күн бұрын

​@@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.

Excellent overview of presence! Can you do one on Depth next? And maybe the relationship and interplay between depth and presence? Cheers!

Mate your content is so good! I'm so glad I found you. I was never afraid to ask, because I simply didn't know what I should've asked many years ago - you've filled that gap! ❤

I’ve learned more from you in the past month than I have from everyone else in the past 10 years. Thank you for these great videos!

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

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.

I already knew what the presence control does to the sound, but I never thought about how it actually works. Very nice explained!

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.

Have no clue why I hadn’t subscribed to you yet. I find your videos all the time. Thank you for the info.

As a mechanical engineering graduate I absolutely love your videos, they pick up right where my formal education left off. It's like getting to go back to school, but learning about amp design which is just brilliant. Thanks for doing what you do the way you do it!

Is there a Colin's Scottish english accent class on skill share??

@NsteveA

5 жыл бұрын

I can't begin to imagine what a transcription of this would look like in American English. 😂

@xneurianx

5 жыл бұрын

"Scottish English" is a term you REALLY want to avoid in Scotland!

@geetarwanabe

5 жыл бұрын

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.

@rafaeloda

5 жыл бұрын

@@geetarwanabe I meant to learn how to speak Scottish accent, it's awesome!

@jamiemacmillan4056

5 жыл бұрын

@@xneurianx last time I checked more than half of us were perfectly happy being united with England 😊

I always thought it controlled the volume on Zeppelin's best album. Don't most amps have that album built in?

@JohnnyArtPavlou

5 жыл бұрын

CLardPercussion, Achilles Amp Stand, with some models.

@joelspaulding5964

5 жыл бұрын

Nice

@CLardPercussion

5 жыл бұрын

Niiiiice

@getulioprates

5 жыл бұрын

I used to boost Presence when playing Dark Side of the Moon tunes. What an irony, or big mistake. Nobody's fault but mine.

@kevinbradshaw1420

5 жыл бұрын

Hmmm... Not hearing anything but mangled zeppelin coming from my amp. Must need a presence upgrade.

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.

Best series in the Guitar community. So brilliantly explained. Thanks as always, Colin!

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.

when you’ve only got gain, volume, bass, and treble on your main amp

@snape1464

5 жыл бұрын

When you've only got volume xP

@santi-xj1qr

4 жыл бұрын

When you only got input jack

Awesome explanation. Simple enough to understand, but also very thorough and detailed. Learned a few things, keep up the great work!

Arise, Sir Colin. KBE for services to rock! In a single stroke, the gremlin in my signal chain has been slayed. Nevermore will the Presence knob read more than Zero!

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.

@lobsterbark

5 жыл бұрын

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?

So that means Peavey's Resonance (Depth on Revv amps) is the same, but for the lower frequencies

@tolvajakos

5 жыл бұрын

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.

@5roundsrapid263

5 жыл бұрын

Ákos Tolvaj The 5150 amps have both.

I love these videos, coming from the type of player that just twiddles the dials until I get the tone I'm after it really is great to understand what they actually do! Thanks man.

Awesome video! Not only did it give me a better understanding of how the presence control is supposed to work, but in a roundabout way it helped me understand why a Vox ac30 doesn’t sound like a Marshall and gets confused for being a class-a amp. Strong work dude!

Now we need an explaintaion of what the "Contour" control does:D

@Daniel-be6ue

4 жыл бұрын

Contour is a mid cut

So, basically, it’s like a built in treble booster that doesn’t bleed off any low end signal?

@ScienceofLoud

5 жыл бұрын

In a sense, yes. Obviously it's a bit more complex than that, but not a bad way to look at it.

All your videos are insanely educational man. Absolutely love your work.

Absolutely fantastic and if you're new to tube amplifiers (like me) this is a great explaination of the pre-amp and power amp! Well done!

hey CSGuitars for your next TATA what is RESONANCE/DEPTH on an amp?

@TylrVncnt

5 жыл бұрын

David Piland II - I second this!!

@deangullberry5148

5 жыл бұрын

My understanding is that it's the same concept as presence, but for low-mid and bass frequencies.

Do TATA Ceramic vs Alnico magnets.

@Cthulhu_Awaken

5 жыл бұрын

Omg this please!

These videos are so great, Colin. Love the level of detail you go into! What about Resonance/Density next??

I was just thinking about this earlier this week, wasn't quite sure what it was for. Great video & explanation!

Clear and presence danger 👻

Here is a TATA question for you: What does the Resonance control do on the amp?

@utubehound69

5 жыл бұрын

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.

@scottyd2262

4 жыл бұрын

The lower frequencies ...

amazing content! it really seems you upped the level lately. so thank you sir! throwing an idea- a vid about cab shapes and how they affect tone would be pretty awesome.

Great vid as always Colin, thank you!

Got an amp with dual "Resonance" controls for the corresponding video? :-)

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?

@Stoney3K

5 жыл бұрын

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.

@onurkeremozmen6729

5 жыл бұрын

As someone who is currently studying physics this subject really interests me. I hope colin does a video about it.

Great explanation. This video was really helpful in understanding how presence works.

A very well done explanation, with the technical aspects delivered simply enough to sufficiently address the sonic details. Now I know.

This guy must of hit the lottery or robbed a music store. He sure got a lot of nice equipment awfully fast.

@ScienceofLoud

5 жыл бұрын

I'm just getting a lot better at sweet talking gear companies into letting me borrow things.

@curtpozzi5527

5 жыл бұрын

@@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 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.

Love these tata’s Colin. I didn’t know much about presence, but understand a lot more about it now. 🎸🤘🏻🔥

Nice video, great job explaining things simply yet comprehensively. Subscribed.

Great vid as always! Love the production style on your vids!

@ScienceofLoud

5 жыл бұрын

Thank you

Colin.... I cannot thank you enough for this!! After all these years!! A 'Revelation'

I've been playing for 6 years and because I learned most of what I know through KZread, this series is a blessing for me because a lot of these terms are just thrown around and expected to be known, so thanks

I have had amps with presence controls for years and my ears can hear what happens when I turn them, but now I know what they actually do. Best description on KZread. Thanks.

I think the important question is how it sounds when you set your preamp tone controls for NO MIDS! Seriously though, this is the best, clearest explanation of what the Presence control does and how it works I have ever seen.

I've been curious about this forever, thank you!

Thanks for the vids! They are super informative and unpretentious, which is a hard combo to pull off! :D

This was reaally informative! love the diagrams by the way! great job and thanks!

So this is why presence still works if go in thru 'return'. Makes so much sense now.

Nice helpful explanation and illustrations. Great job.

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?

The explanation yet!! You rock bro!! Cheers

Great video and great explanation as always man! And nice playing btw! Keep doing it! =)

Brilliant video Colin!

This blogger surprises me everytime. The information that I learn from this gent is informative. Smart. Well explained and thumbs up. You should have 1 billion subscribers by now

I been literally tHINKING BOUT THIS SINCE LAST WEEK AND WAS ABOUT TO ASK U

@ScienceofLoud

5 жыл бұрын

My mind reading device is a success!

This is something I've heard and noted, but never understood at the technical level. I love the nerdy guitar sound explanation stuff. Your channel is a personal boon.

This is an amazing series! Thank you very much!

I can just say... Thank you ! This series is sooo informative and educational!

Thanks for the informative video! Got an Engl Powerball, myself, and it's very clear to me that Presence is a key part of what makes my tone sound so full but I never understand the 'why' exactly. This really helped me check that and further educate myself on a feature of my amp I wasn't very clear about. Now if only I could figure out how the Depth control works! :P

Thanks for your great explanation videos, Colin. From Buenos Aires.

Excellent video mate!

I've learned so much from you! Thanks for all of your great input!!!!

Awesome vid mate, cheers!

Yet another great bit of info - brilliant, thank you again!

Awesome examples and technical explanation, loved it!

Nice one! You deserve a lot more subscribers.

Glad I’ve been using the presence on my amps correctly as I truthfully was not aware of it's (technical) functionality until watching this. Thanks, Colin👍