i never really understood what it was, what does it do and where should it be set?

 

The gain control on an amp is basically a volume control for the input signal of the amp. The gain is used to attenuate that incoming signal to the point where the maximum undistorted output of the deck will allow the amp to produce it's maximum undistorted output. If it's turned down any lower, the amp won't make it's full power, and if it's higher, the amp isn't achieving it's best signal to noise ratio. When you feed a high voltage input to the amp, you can turn the gain down which will also move the noise floor of the amp down, giving a better signal-noise ratio.

Generally, the gain of the bass amplifier is set up this way, and the gain on the other amp(s) is used to match the levels appropriately. In a higher-end system where you have line drivers and other processors, sometimes they are used for signal matching, and each amp gain is adjusted individually for maximum signal-noise ratio.

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wow, i actually understand now. thanks!