Super color for the bassist's harmonics. In live performances, details matter in producing a striking impression from your instrument toward those who are there to enjoy you and applaud you after all the hard work it took to get to that point. In recordings... what can I tell you about something from your work that will remain forever for posterity, as solid proof of your musical sensitivity.

It is true that everyone's wallet has different holes in it, and as the bullfighter "Rafael el Gallo" said at the beginning of the 20th century... "Everyone is who they are...".

This business of professional music has set the bar rather high, and our first consideration should be what we want to contribute through our determination to get a piece of the "pie."

If it is just a hobby to pass the time or to pick up dates, a small budget settles the matter, because there is plenty of affordable choice in instruments and amplification, even when buying new.

But if our sights are set on a serious musical project for the future, the first thing will be to make a serious investment to get the best instrument possible, in our case a bass, to the limit of our means, one we feel comfortable with and that makes our playing easier, taking care of it as lovingly as if it were an extension of our own body.

After studying with it, seeking out lessons from someone we consider to know much more than we do, it will be time to think about amplifying it properly, finding an amplifier for three possible ways of working: a) one that serves for practicing at home; b) an amplifier for the recording studio with a low noise level and a sound we can "tame" to our liking depending on the type of music we need at any given moment; c) one with a powerful sound so we can perform our bass parts on stage. For option a), almost anything will do, even headphones, since it is more about exercising our hands. For b), we could choose a "combo" containing a good amplifier with its corresponding preamp and at least one speaker with a cone larger than 12", although it is always possible to send our sound to the recording desk via a line signal. Option c) is like an exam where "all the cheat sheets" are allowed along with our best style, where our musicality will be judged. In this case a combo could also work, preferably with two 12" speakers or one 15" or 18", or two 15" or 18" in two separate cabinets working together from an amp head that, of course, must be top quality, a graphic equalizer with at least 10 bands and the odd extra (sound effects or "effects pedals"), as well as enhancers for the whole sound setup, such as what the PEAVEY Kosmos Pro achieves.

Amplifiers and Their Possible Add-ons
When looking for quality in a good bass amplifier, I would mention these brands in alphabetical order (there are many more, and a range of finishes): AMPEG, FENDER, GALLIEN-KRUEGER, HARTKE, MARSHALL, ORANGE, PEAVEY, TRACE ELLIOT. I don't know in what order PEAVEY would rank, but it would undoubtedly be among the very first, and not only because of how long it has been on the market. Peavey was already one of "the big ones" in the early tube era, and even those old units still fetch very high prices today from collectors and musicians who still enjoy them more than the digital generation. Major rockers and more eclectic musicians have preferred them for many years to "deliver" their musical message with a powerful, "heavy" sound. Peavey's designers, well aware of that success (a "groundbreaking," spirited, powerful, "clean," "natural" or controlled-distortion, infectious sound, etc.), now...

Bring Us the PEAVEY Kosmos Pro
Many will think the quality offered by PEAVEY amplifiers is already enough, but on stage we bassists often miss those deep lows with great dynamics, "piercing" and undistorted, like the ones that left us spellbound last July 8 in Villalba (near Madrid) from the brilliant Victor Wooten and none other than John Patitucci (performing with Chick Corea), a show I did not want to miss, because among other things they used units of the kind discussed here connected to their rigs. Thanks to Peavey's Kosmos Pro installed in our sound rig, or in the signal sent from the main mixing desk to the room's speakers, we will enrich the dynamics both in the lows and in their higher harmonics, from the "original" sound (the one delivered by our bass pickups) plus the "add-ons" (intelligently generated electronically by this unit) which, together and adjusted with the Kosmos Pro controls, will work across their full range to dial in the most suitable "punch" point of the sound in our speakers or in those of the listening room.

Controls like these may already be built into future preamps (the most sophisticated of a possible new generation), but the truth is that, for now, this is a new refinement that magnifies our sound, the fruit of new electronic research that of course never stops improving with practical results.

New Controls on the PEAVEY Kosmos Pro
A new concept of controls is being born, ones we used to almost ignore and that are now possible on this unit. Settings such as "QUAKE" (which adds a synthesized low signal one octave below the original we fed it), generating spectacular new sub-harmonics that nonetheless sound completely natural, as if they really came from our "special bass guitar"... The same effect can be used to enhance percussion, especially kick drum, snare or toms, providing an overwhelming and very significant "extra power" in the room. The activity of this control is shown by a small light called "Quake active," which does not light up if there is no activity in the generated sub-harmonics. The control called "QUAKE DYNAMICS" lets you precisely set the most effective point at which the room's speakers respond with the most accurate or appropriate "punch."

"THUD" is a new control that can add, at will, a specific band of low frequencies designed to enhance the sub-harmonics generated by QUAKE, with which it is synchronized in both waveform and amplitude, producing an overall very regenerative sound. With another control in the form of a switch (called "depth"), we can fine-tune this effect by cutting out certain specific frequencies within the low range "in one stroke." There are two other controls called "XPANSE" and "BAROMETRICS" that work together, better distributing the higher frequencies and the panorama or stereo image. These tweaks are also helped by the "STRATOS" control, which adds better harmonics to the higher frequencies, providing a special brilliance. A control called "SUB-WOOFER" provides a 90 Hz crossover that, like a "gate" control, limits at will the action produced by the controls mentioned above.

To make all these adjustments, it will be the live setup in the room in question that tells our ears which sound is most suitable or the one we want to get. The tool to achieve it is here, regardless of how we have made other adjustments with an external equalizer in the signal chain.

Rear Connections
They are extensive, and practically nothing is missing. It has digital inputs and outputs synchronized at 44.1 kHz (and up to 48 kHz), and any connection faults are pinpointed by indicator lights on the unit. There is also a separate output for a subwoofer line and others with XLR and ¼" TRS connectors (wired in parallel), with balanced and unbalanced inputs or outputs depending on each use, even, if desired, for specifically MONO signals.

It allows many ways of being used; perhaps the best is to send the final stereo signal from the main control desk in the room to this PEAVEY unit and from there to the main listening speakers. But it can also be included in the desk on its auxiliaries as an extra effect option for each channel.

My overall impressions
Its precise settings are easy to make, not only because of the warning lights on the control panel, but because we will notice its effectiveness when we hear it at work in the room where it is installed. It adapts easily to the type and size of the speakers we use and to the impedances of the rest of the analog gear we combine it with, and even with digital gear.