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Concept
Bass amplifier
Summary
A bass amplifier (also abbreviated to bass amp) is a musical instrument electronic device that uses electrical power to make lower-pitched instruments such as the bass guitar or double bass loud enough to be heard by the performers and audience. Bass amps typically consist of a preamplifier, tone controls, a power amplifier and one or more loudspeakers ("drivers") in a cabinet.
While bass amps share many features with the guitar amplifiers used for electric guitar, they are distinct from other types of amplification systems, due to the particular challenges associated with low-frequency sound reproduction. This distinction affects the design of the loudspeakers, the size and design of the speaker cabinet and the design of the preamplifier and amplifier. Speaker cabinets for bass amps usually incorporate larger loudspeakers (e.g., speakers are more common for bass than for electric guitar amps) or more speakers and larger cabinet sizes than those used for the amplification of other instruments. The loudspeakers themselves must also be sturdier to handle the higher power levels and they must be capable of reproducing very low pitches at high sound pressure levels.
The bassists who first sought methods to make their instruments louder were upright bass players. While the upright bass is a large instrument, standing about six feet tall (with its endpin extended), due to its low register it is not a loud instrument when played acoustically and because human hearing is less sensitive at low frequencies. In the 1890s and early 1900s, upright bass players performing in bars and brothels often found it difficult to be heard by the audience over louder instruments such as trumpet. A partial solution was playing slap bass style, slapping the strings against the fingerboard to make a relatively loud percussive sound.
In 1933, the Audiovox Manufacturing Company was founded by Paul Tutmarc, subsequently the inventor of the first electric bass, the fretted and solid-body Audiovox Model 736 Bass Fiddle, in 1936, which was designed to be played in a guitar-like horizontal manner.
Official source
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