Hot or not?

[woody357]

I recently did a gig where the sound man did nothing but complain about my sound. They said I had too much bass, or I was red lining their equipment. I used my head with his cab. I have a Eden Wt550 I had it set flat and the DI level set at 9 o’clock so I know I wasn’t sending a hot sig to his board, I even had my bass set pretty flat (bongo HH 5er) I have never had a sound person have a problem with my set up or my volume, they normally say it is easy to set me in the mix, this is a first. Mind you he didn’t want me to use my amp he wanted me to use his a Yorkville (don’t know the model) I used mine because it was easier to use what I know than something I don’t know. My question is did I do or set my amp wrong or did dude just have a hard on because I didn’t use his stuff? Is it better to send a hot sig than to dial back?

[billfitzmaurice]

Originally Posted by woody357

I recently did a gig where the sound man did nothing but complain about my sound. They said ...I was red lining their equipment.

If he doesn't know how to set the gain at the board to prevent that he's an incompetent jerk. Don't worry about it.

[Calaverasgrande]

It is actually more complicated than that. Some mixing boards, especially older ones, do not have the gain range on their inputs to accept both line level and mic level on the same connectors.
I have seen some where the gain range for line covers -10 to +4 and the gain range for mic covers -55 to -25. That leaves you with a big hole in what is generally nominal instrument level range!
IIRC old Soundcraft and Ramsa were like this.
It sounds to me like your head's DI output was giving him line level or at least a very robust instrument level (the bongo is an 18v active, so its actually got the potential to be a lot louder than a Stingray for instance, much less a Jazz bass).
When this is the case leaving the input in mic range and lowering the fader wont cure the distortion. The mic preamp is gettnig slammed. The FAder is jsut the master volume for that particular channel, so you are just turning down distortion. If you put it into line level you may end up with a weak signal that is all hissy and noisy when you boost at the fader or the subgroup.

I am not familiar with your particular amp, but quite a lot of modern solidstate bass amps with DI outs will have a switch for mic or line level. For recording use the line level and go straight in to the box. For live sound use the mic level, as that is usually what is most common on stages.

Either way, this is why we have soundchecks! It is a shame that they are less and less common these days. Either way, be nice to the soundguy. They are there for the whole show. You are only up for your bands slot. They are in control of how yoru entier band sounds. You only control your bass (and maybe your voice?). Quite a few soundguys are jaded and bored from seeing so many bands. TRy and brighten up their routine by giving them a nice "how do you do" and talking to them like a person. If your band got pizza offer a slice.
Too many bands (especially younger ones though they are by no means exclusive on this) get confrontational with the soundguy. Sometimes it makes an entertaining shtick for the band to berate the FOH about the monitors or about how they cant hear the rock TURN IT UP! But usually it just gets your snare mic turned off and the monitors become hell windows.

[Basshappi]

Originally Posted by billfitzmaurice

If he doesn't know how to set the gain at the board to prevent that he's an incompetent jerk. Don't worry about it.

THIS.

The behavior described by the OP is the standard MO for a "Soundman" who is incompetent.

[Sundogue]

It takes very little time to actually work with the soundman, incompetent or not. OK...maybe a tad bit longer if he's incompetent.

I'd prefer to help troubleshoot the problem than simply playing the blame game, especially if I'm using my rig and he's using his PA...where you each know your own stuff, but don't know how it plays together.

[robd]

Learn how to work with soundmen because they can make you sound like crap if they want to.

[tsunami1052]

Running the Eden WT550 DI - post or pre EQ?

[Calaverasgrande]

funny all we know is that the soundguy said the signal from the bass was too hot. I do not see how this qualifies the soundguy as incompetent. As I stated above, there are simply pieces of hardware out there that dont have a lot of leeway in terms of input signal level. Modern mixers are somewhat better at this, but not all!
It also occurs to me that the soundperson may just have bad habits when it comes to preserving headroom and gain structure. If you have no headroom, a boomy bass can certainly ruin your day. Thats what a HPF is for, or an inline attentuator, etc.
In a pinch I have repatched "too hot" signals from the cahnnel input to the effect returns. On some mixers these have wider ranging acceptable input levels in the -30 to +10 range.
I just tried to suss teh true level of the TW550 DI out. Edens manual from their site gives no specs for it. Though it does state that its pin 2 hot and phantom protected. So it "sounds" like it is mic level. If that was coming in at too hot then maybe the sound guy really is a dolt.

[tsunami1052]

Most PA/Mixers have a balanced and/or unbalanced line in jack with a gain control or pad switch and each channel has a channel level control. Should be able to keep a hot signal under control?

[woody357]

As stated, I know the sound man can make you sound like crap, and I didn’t get into a pissing contest with him even when he suggested I had low end equipment. As someone said I do have a hot bass, but like I’ve said this was a first for me with any sound person. This guy started going off the moment I said I was going to use my own head. Told me I could not use it with his cabinet, then when he found out what it was he said ok, but only after he suggested that it was low end to middle of the road equipment. I stayed cool, but it was a long night for me, because I never could hear myself, and I did refram from turning up!

[selftitled907]

Sounds like a bummer deal all the way around....(no one ended up happy). but the few times i have dealt with sound guys (i do all my own sound for the band now) if they didnt like the signal the got from me i worked with them and everytime before the gig started we were both happy with the sound. but i would have to agree....sounds like he just wanted you to use his gear.

thats a prime example as to why im always willing to haul my own gear and now always insist on using it beacause i know it well and can make it work in damn near ANY situation.

[Rick Auricchio]

In all of this, the soundguy didn't offer his own DI? That's why he should have one. A quick slap of a DI between your bass and amp solves his problem without taking any time.

But obviously he chose to blame your "low end" Eden amp. He hasn't a clue.