Bass......sound system?

Giga Hertz · 04-12-2011, 12:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fenderboss7

i heard that it would be better if you have sub woofers or something like that, but we don't

Yeah, subs definitely help with the bass, but they're not necessary for your purposes.

Quote:

If your bass player has a bass amp that is big enough, I would consider not putting it into the PA and seeing if the amp will be able to fill the room by itself.

In my experience, if it can be helped, sound operators very much prefer to be able to control the mix, though. :P

**thesteve** · 04-12-2011, 01:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Giga Hertz

In my experience, if it can be helped, sound operators very much prefer to be able to control the mix, though. :P

When you're trying to do what it sounds like they're trying to do, sound quality is going to be pretty low regardless of who is doing what with the sound.

fenderboss7 · 04-12-2011, 02:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thesteve

When you're trying to do what it sounds like they're trying to do, sound quality is going to be pretty low regardless of who is doing what with the sound.

true.....but right now.....we only have a roland micro cube bass amp. (can actually get pretty loud)

i think what im gonna do, since there seems to be two or more ways to do it, ill ask our sound guy to see what he thinks we should do.

i just don't want to try something, and blow up the speakers u know haha

1/2-Fast Player · 04-12-2011, 06:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thesteve

If your bass player has a bass amp that is big enough, I would consider not putting it into the PA and seeing if the amp will be able to fill the room by itself.

Unfortunately, once the bass is loud enough from its own amp to fill the room, it's almost certainly too loud on stage. So the drummer plays louder. So the bass player turns up more. And then the piano player bangs harder. And next the vocalists want their monitors turned up.

This road leads to chaos.

Go DI. Let the sound guy be able to control the mix by moving a slider, rather than waving his arms at the bass player.

**Rainer.** · 04-12-2011, 10:20 AM

Or if the bassist is too loud, tell them to turn down, or turn it down. My band plays most of our small gigs with the bass just coming out of a bass amp. I think it is definitely acceptable to just use the bass amp if you can.

Whatever works. Whatever is well rehearsed and workable with a minimum of surprises. Being able to control your own level in the mix is a good skill.

Maestro_dmc · 04-12-2011, 10:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rainer.

Or if the bassist is too loud, tell them to turn down, or turn it down. My band plays most of our small gigs with the bass just coming out of a bass amp. I think it is definitely acceptable to just use the bass amp if you can.

Whatever works. Whatever is well rehearsed and workable with a minimum of surprises. Being able to control your own level in the mix is a good skill.

+1

ibanez_dude · 04-12-2011, 01:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1/2-Fast Player

Unfortunately, once the bass is loud enough from its own amp to fill the room, it's almost certainly too loud on stage. So the drummer plays louder. So the bass player turns up more. And then the piano player bangs harder. And next the vocalists want their monitors turned up.

This road leads to chaos.

Go DI. Let the sound guy be able to control the mix by moving a slider, rather than waving his arms at the bass player.

Yeh, +1. The DI approach is really helpful, and most gigs I have done involve this technique, even the more professional bands. I rarely ever see a miced bass amp, and I've done a number of fairly large gigs. The beauty is that not only can the sound tech now adjust the bass in the house mix, but the volume of the bass amp on stage can be changed to some level without really messing with your house mix.

**thesteve** · 04-12-2011, 02:26 PM

So I looked into the Micro Cube Bass manual. It looks like it has a recording/mixer/headphones out on it. However, when you plug something into that jack, it cuts signal from the speakers. If you're dead set on running bass through the system, here's what I would do:

Run the bass into the Micro Cube. Plug the recording out on the back of the amp into a DI box and run that into the sound system.

This should allow your bass player to have some control over his tone and use the effects built into the amp. More importantly, it should allow your bass player to pump the gain of the signal a bit higher giving the sound system mixer more flexibility in terms of balancing sound.

fenderboss7 · 04-12-2011, 02:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1/2-Fast Player

Unfortunately, once the bass is loud enough from its own amp to fill the room, it's almost certainly too loud on stage. So the drummer plays louder. So the bass player turns up more. And then the piano player bangs harder. And next the vocalists want their monitors turned up.

This road leads to chaos.

Go DI. Let the sound guy be able to control the mix by moving a slider, rather than waving his arms at the bass player.

yeah......ill probably do that, but ask first...............

is everyone in your team going through the speakers?

Quote:

Originally Posted by thesteve

So I looked into the Micro Cube Bass manual. It looks like it has a recording/mixer/headphones out on it. However, when you plug something into that jack, it cuts signal from the speakers. If you're dead set on running bass through the system, here's what I would do:

Run the bass into the Micro Cube. Plug the recording out on the back of the amp into a DI box and run that into the sound system.

This should allow your bass player to have some control over his tone and use the effects built into the amp. More importantly, it should allow your bass player to pump the gain of the signal a bit higher giving the sound system mixer more flexibility in terms of balancing sound.

so the sound is going into the the system, and the amp is just an effects thing?

when it cuts off, it cuts off the amp speakers?

**thesteve** · 04-12-2011, 02:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fenderboss7

so the sound is going into the the system, and the amp is just an effects thing?

when it cuts off, it cuts off the amp speakers?

Basically, yes.

When you plug a jack into the recording output of the amplifier, it disconnects the signal from the internal speaker. Thus, the amp (if I understand the manual correctly) becomes a pre-amp unit allowing you to use the built-in effects and EQ/Gain controls.

fenderboss7 · 04-12-2011, 05:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thesteve

Basically, yes.

When you plug a jack into the recording output of the amplifier, it disconnects the signal from the internal speaker. Thus, the amp (if I understand the manual correctly) becomes a pre-amp unit allowing you to use the built-in effects and EQ/Gain controls.

so it's like a huge pedal to the sound system

**thesteve** · 04-12-2011, 05:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fenderboss7

so it's like a huge pedal to the sound system

Sure, you can think of it that way. It's a little more complicated than that, but I think for our current purposes the description is sufficient.

pfirst · 10-01-2011, 09:29 PM

Subs added to your Mains is always a good idea. We eq everything below 100 (some people use 125 , depends on your speakers), off our mains and shoot 100 and below to the subs. It makes the bass sound better and the keyboard too. No one speaker reproduces all the frequencies perfectly and pushing highs and lows through one cab some times ends up muddy. The low sounds bounce everywhere but the high are very directional so you need to separate them for the best sound.