Anyone Tune Amps?

[s4Xcelence13]

I just put an Alpine B12 Amp in my car to power my 10' Alpine Type-R sub, and i was wondering if anyone knows a good setting for it to be set for some awesome base?

[Arclight]

In my experience, amp tuning is done by ear. I would dial the amp gain to a low level then shut the trunk, sit in the driver's seat, and pop in your favorite tune...one you know extremely well - you should know where the bass should hit and at what level.

Then play the song at a listenable level and see how the bass sounds. It should sound natural, not overpowering the music or too low and drowned out. If your setup is done properly the bass should feel likes it's emanating from all over the car, not localized at the place where the sub is situated. If it's too low, go back to the amp and put the amp gain up a bit, then go back to the drivers seat and repeat the process. Do this until you get the bass where you want it.

Most head units have a bass gain function. Make sure this is set at the "0" gain level or the center-of-the-screen setting in the factory HU. Once you have your amp dialed in you can adjust this on a song by song basis.

There may be a more scientific way to do this, however, this is the way I set my amps when I used to compete. Good luck....

[yakendo]

I added an amp & 10" JL sub to the Bose system in a Z28. I never got the integration I hoped for, however, following the above recommendations may do it?

Building subsequent systems from scratch helped me understand why it hard to just "add" bass. Unless, someone just wants BOOM BOOM BOOM.
Ideally, subwoofer crossovers should be set controlling the driver between ~60db to ~80db.

A lot of people turn gains as high as possible...my preference is the exact opposite.
Good luck.