Bass Control
The Bass control, as stated above, works in a range that will be useful under most “normal” conditions. Its musical use might
be thought of as a “fatness” control. Leaving the Aural Enhancer in a position lower than 12 o’clock will not boost the extreme
bottom so much as to make indistinct the effect of the Bass control. The overall “punch” of your instrument, from your low E-
string on up about two octaves (midway up the G- string), will be determined with this control. With passive instruments, this will
be straightforward. With active instruments having bass-boost controls more exploration will be worthwhile. (Some active tone
circuits have boost/cut controls, while others have straight boost controls).
Mid Range Control
The Mid Range control operates in a crucial area for most instruments. Many basses, particularly those strung with round-
wound strings, can have a very “honky” or nasal sound. Dropping the Mid Range control can go a long way toward smoothing
out your tone. We suggest, though, that what sounds best when your listening to your tone by yourself may not be what works
best in a band or recording. Sometimes that objectionable quality may be just the right “hair” on your note to still have an audi-
ble presence in the track or on stage.
Treble Control
The Treble control operates in a tonal area that extends through and beyond the usual Treble control range. It may be thought
of as a “transparency” control. Boosting the control will open up the sound of a dull instrument, particularly in conjunction with
the piezo tweeter. However, this is also the range of string rattle, finger slides, pickup clicks, etc. Again, we recommend you
experiment with the control alone with your instrument, and listen again in a band context, both near to and away from the
WorkingMan’s 12. Qualities like punch, fatness, presence and bite can be fairly well spread out. Treble, despite the broad dis-
persion of the piezo tweeter, is a very directional quality. Spend some time exploring what you can hear in this area as you
move around.
AURAL ENHANCER
The Aural Enhancer was developed to bring out the fundamental low notes of the bass, reduce certain frequencies that can
“mask” fundamentals and enhance the high-end transients. The effect becomes more pronounced as the control is turned up.
The result is a more transparent sound. Listening to a passive bass with the control set all the way down, and then turning it all
the way up, can be likened to listening to the bass suddenly become “active.”
EFFECTS BLEND CONTROL
The Effects Blend control mixes the signal coming from your instrument with the sound coming from your effect. With the
Blend control fully counter-clockwise, no signal from your effect will be heard. As you turn this control clockwise, more of the
effect can be heard in the overall sound. When the Blend control is fully clockwise, no dry or unaffected signal is heard other
than the output of your effect device.
This type of control and patching arrangement is very effective in reducing noise caused by effects devices and in maintaining
a more natural sound. If your effects device has a similar control, we suggest leaving it set to its maximum effect/minimum dry
signal position and using the Effects Blend control for this function. Please read the “Effects Loop” section for more informa-
tion.
MASTER VOLUME
The Master Volume control adjusts the signal level going to the power amplifier. It DOES NOT control the output of the effects
send jack or Balanced Direct Record XLR output. It DOES affect the output of the internal speakers, headphones, and exten-
sion speaker jack. Losses caused by effects units can be recovered by increasing the Master Volume.
NOTE: If you need more volume than the Workingman’s single 12" can provide, add an extension speaker cabinet. The
extension cabinet should have an impedance of 8 ohms or greater.
WORKINGMAN’S COMBOS OWNER’S MANUAL • 9