Why is bass boost bad?

[vellocet]

From what I understand and have read using bass boost on your amp is not good. Exactly why is this bad and why do all amps come with a bass boost knob if it is bad?

[Duct Tape]

whenever someone uses bass boost, a puppy dies

[skatforninezero]

because it's a boost. The bass doesn't sound as natural with it

[Jethro]

Bass boost can induce clipping, which can in turn contribute to premature failure of your subwoofer driver (if the amp is powerful enough).

If your sub/enclosure/install is planned and executed correctly, you won't need bass boost. If feel the need to use bass boost with your current subwoofer setup, then you did something wrong.

[only126db]

If you buy a premade box for your woofer you will probably use bass boost because those boxes are not made to the woofers specs for the best sound.

In that case you may need bass boost to emphasize the lower bass.

I use it but in moderation, its just like the bass setting on your head unit but with a more narrow frequency range.

[basicxj]

Using bass boost (think of it as bass frequency specific equalization at the amplifier) or excessive EQ or tone control at the head unit will cause your amp's output to clip earlier on the volume dial than it typically would when used normally...this is assuming your gain settings are properly set and your amp isn't putting out full power long before your head unit's volume control is maxed out.


When an amp is driven into clipping, it will output more than it's RMS rated power into the sub- that's fine if your sub is thermally rated over and above the clipped power outputted by the amp, but not so fine if you're sub's continuous power rating is above or matched to that of your amp's RMS rating. If you have a ported enclosure and you are not using a subsonic filter (or another brand's name for the same thing), it will probably be easier to damage your sub with excess boost, and the same holds true for a sub in a larger than optimal sealed enclosure. This could be in the form of thermal damage to the voice coil or mechanical damage to the sub itself. Clipping is bad, and boost makes it easier to get clipping.

If you feel you need lots of boost cranked up to get the bass output you want from your sub, you probably require more power, a better-optimized enclosure, a different enclosure design, a different sub/amp, or any combination of the above. In a nutshell, boost makes it easier to blow up your audio gear, especially if you don't know what you're doing, if you don't listen for warning signs from your sub, or know when to stop turning up the volume .

[nauc]

its only bad if it pushes too much to your sub or you dont like the sound of boosted frequencies

you can crank it all the way up as long as your volume or gain is down enough that it wont hurt your sub

[caddy boi303]

I had the boost cranked all the way up on my cadence... and now the VC's on one of my eD 13Kv.2 rubs.. and sounds bad at higher volumes So i put my HE's back in

There's no way to repair this besides having it reconed correct?

[alperuzi]

correct

I somehow had bass boost enabled on the amp, last week I adjusted the gains with an o-scope and turned down bb completely, now it sounds much better and also blends much better with the mids and highs.

[Waco]

Boosting or cutting frequencies isn't inherently bad. Boosting to the degree that most bass boost circuits allow you to is a VERY bad thing.

[basicxj]

In the right hands almost any car audio tuning feature (including boost) has the potential to help things, but most noobs get into trouble with bass boost because they don't know what it does, and end up with some damaged subwoofers .

If a little boost is good, a lot of boost must be great, right ?

[Jimi77]

Bass boost can work in some cases. For example, if the boost frequency is on the high side, then it can be used to create efficency in the system - ie turn the gains down and turn the bass boost up. You could tune a ported box to take advantage of the bass boost frequency and create a really efficent sub bass system. However, as a general rule of thumb bass boost is to be avoided.

[PuffDaddy_d]

Originally Posted by Duct Tape whenever someone uses bass boost, a puppy dies

And it makes baby Jesus cry

[mc jasper]

Boosting or cutting frequencies isn't inherently bad. Boosting to the degree that most bass boost circuits allow you to is a VERY bad thing.

I've noticed that a lot of amps have 12 or even 18 db bass boosts, which is overkill for anything except one-note rap songs played at low volumes, but my JL amp has a 6 db @ 48 hz bass boost for my single 12W1v2 sub. If the amp is sending 250 watts to the sub and the sub can handle 300 watts, is it OK to use the bass boost? When I use the bass boost, I make sure to turn down the gain a little bit, but I don't turn it down so much that the overall bass output is equal to or lesser than the output w/o boost.

[Jimi77]

Originally Posted by mc jasper I've noticed that a lot of amps have 12 or even 18 db bass boosts, which is overkill for anything except one-note rap songs played at low volumes, but my JL amp has a 6 db @ 48 hz bass boost for my single 12W1v2 sub. If the amp is sending 250 watts to the sub and the sub can handle 300 watts, is it OK to use the bass boost? When I use the bass boost, I make sure to turn down the gain a little bit, but I don't turn it down so much that the overall bass output is equal to or lesser than the output w/o boost.

Even 6db is pretty high. When I equalize, I try to keep boost to +3db max.