Even though I have been playing my Ceriatone OTS for a while, it has been either with a band playing moderately loud or in my studio at bedroom levels. Today, I cranked it a little and found something I hadn't consciously heard before. In playing a note on the first string and a 6th below on the third string, if I bend approximately a semitone, I heard the sound of passing through lower frequencies until I hit a pure m6 or M6. I did some arithmetic and found that the low notes were difference tones of the pure 6ths. If the note C5 on the first string is understood as an octave higher than middle C, then I can explain my observations using pitch number notation. While playing C5, if I play D on the third string and bend it up a semitone, the difference tone is Ab2 (equivalent to Ab on the sixth string). If I bend up to E on the third string, then I get the difference tone is a little flat from G3 (equivalent to open third string). However, I also hear a fairly strong C3. If I bend up to F, a fifth, the difference tone is F3.
I really like the timbral/frequency change in the background when I bend the lower note of a m7, M6, m6 up a semitone. I can hear the difference tone change very quickly as I bend up a semitone. I am not sure whether I should be calling every note produced by interference a difference tone of the fundamentals of the two notes, or maybe a difference tone between the louder harmonics of each note. I can also represent the two notes of the interval and its difference tone all as harmonics of a lower C or F.
I haven't changed the settings on my amp yet. I first wanted to label what it was that I was hearing.
Big question: for most Dumble players, is this another cool thing that it does and should be exploited, or does it complicate the sound by introducing low frequencies?
Difference tones
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