I have gone through the stage of scoping the mids in my sound, only to later learn some of the things you wrote about in your post. 'Course, that was in the 80's. Good stuff.
In my own amp adjustments, I find the "Presence" knob to be the most maddening. Not every amp has this setting.
My understanding is that Presence is the amount of influence you allow your EQ/Tone settings to have...or maybe "strength" would be a better term.
In other words, the lower the presence, the less effect the bass, mid, and treb settings will have. If I turn down the presence all the way, I have mud. If I turn it up all the way, I have marble. Is this accurate?
Lemme know what you guyz think.
Peace
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