If you’ve ever wondered what the presence control on your Marshall does you’re not alone. Many people are scared to use to much presence either because they don’t understand what it does or are afraid of making their tone too shrill. After you read this article you’ll have a better understanding of what it does and how to use it.
So What Does It Do?
The presence control works to boost upper midrange and treble frequencies in the poweramp section of your amp. The bass, mid, and treble controls work shape the tone in the preamp section of your amp, allowing you to attenuate (remove) frequencies from the signal. What this means is that when your bass, mid and treble controls are turned all the way up then that is considered the amp’s “flat” signal, and as you turn them down you start reducing the frequencies in those ranges.
The presence control however works to boost upper midrange and treble frequencies in the power section.
Boosting this frequencies results in a wilder, more raspier sound, especially in higher notes. Rolling back the presence can result in a darker, thicker tone.
Boosting the presence in your amp will decrease the amp’s ability to control the speaker at high frequencies accurately and cause the amp to distort more easily. Balancing that with the EQ controls, and adjusting for the brightness or darkness of your speakers and your guitars pickups can be a way to open up your amp to make it sound less compressed and more rock and roll.
Check out this article on Marshall tone settings to learn more.