How a rig sounds in different rooms

[4stringsrenough]

Sat night did a large room with carpet everywhere. Interesting on how things change . Ran my low end on the amp much higher to get that punch.

[JimmyM]

Very true. And you will no doubt play a room where cutting low end will be needed in the future. The key is to be flexible.

[jnewmark]

I'm finding more and more these days I'm turning the Bass knob more to the left, than the right, or just leaving it at zero., or straight up.

[B-string]

Welcome to the world of live performance! I actually smile when I read of bassists looking for the "perfect tone", by the time the room gets done with it the perfect tone on stage means squat out where the people who pay the bills are

[chaosMK]

I am on my way to a small gig at a brewery... thinking about precisely this stuff as I try out my Mesa PH 1x12 for the first time. I hope it gets the job done!

[nashvillebill]

Indeed, the real world is quite the opposite of the stereo guys who believe tone controls are evil...

[steve_rolfeca]

I have also found that the more tonal "colour" an amp/cab has, the more room-dependent it is.

Rigs with a tightly bandpassed low end and relatively small midrange scoops, humps and bumps, seem to translate better in rooms with goofy acoustics.

[SBassman]

Originally Posted by chaosMK

I am on my way to a small gig at a brewery... thinking about precisely this stuff as I try out my Mesa PH 1x12 for the first time. I hope it gets the job done!

Tell us how it goes with the 1x12.

[Russell L]

My rig had the perfect tone Friday night, until I stepped four feet to the left---then, I almost couldn't hear it. I was in the mains, though. Who knows what it sounded like thirty feet out front. It's often like that. You just have to enjoy the best sound for yourself where you're standing, and hope it's a good guess for everywhere else in the room.

Next room...

[mattbass6945]

russell is dead on. i've learned to not get too upset with stage sound, since i have no idea what everyone else in the room is hearing.

had a similar situation playing an outdoor gig a month ago. first night i played my sunn sorado and 1x15, when that didn't work well on elevated stage (all my low end disappeared, i couldn't get enough volume either) i brought my gbe 600 and 4x10 back a couple weeks later to the second gig. i was told to turn down.......

[Joe Louvar]

Originally Posted by JimmyM

Very true. And you will no doubt play a room where cutting low end will be needed in the future. The key is to be flexible.

^^^ +100.

[two fingers]

Originally Posted by jnewmark

I'm finding more and more these days I'm turning the Bass knob more to the left, than the right, or just leaving it at zero., or straight up.

I'm finding I do that more and more with most of my knobs. Set it flat to begin with and usually add a little bit of low mids. I haven't found a room yet that didn't respond well to that setting.

[chaosMK]

Originally Posted by SBassman

Tell us how it goes with the 1x12.

Went well! The situation was- vocals through some overheads, keyboard through a 1x12 PA, normally fairly loud drummer using bundled up chopsticks. The PH 1x12 set on the concrete floor powered by my D180 worked great... thick lows and low mids filled up the mix where I wanted it to. Unfortunately things were pretty hectic and I didnt have a chance to fine tune dialing it in, though my default settings are pretty well proven. My concern was overall low end output and I felt like I didnt have to push it much to fill things in (could have easily gone up another 2 notches). It's a huge sounding cab.

[Hilton Marsh]

Glad to read the 1x12 worked out for you. I had to play through a Fender 1x15 yesterday at an open air gig and all I can say is....never again. There were three support acts on our bill and the bass player from each band complained about not being able to hear their bass on stage. So I sent someone home to fetch my 4x10. The cabs were swapped over between the second and third songs and wow what a difference. A single 12 will always be my preference to a single 15.

[Honkycat]

Originally Posted by jnewmark

I'm finding more and more these days I'm turning the Bass knob more to the left, than the right, or just leaving it at zero., or straight up.

So true......

[Baird6869]

Originally Posted by B-string

Welcome to the world of live performance! I actually smile when I read of bassists looking for the "perfect tone", by the time the room gets done with it the perfect tone on stage means squat out where the people who pay the bills are

Very true!

I DO have perfect (to me) tone..... But only in my basement!

It all goes out the window when you add a hollow stage, carpet, high ceilings, etc.

[Bassmec]

Acoustics can be pesky little varmint's sometimes, so I sets traps for the l'll critters.
You see I had an infestation of resonances in my rehearsal room so I made some cunning traps out of bales of fibreglass loft insulation.
If you find a hollow stage in one of the venues you play or a room with a boom and you want to improve it, Just get a few loft insulation bales,
get some kids with drum sticks to punch as many holes in the plastic
wrappers as you can without breaking them and then put them in the corners and in all hollow spaces.
The theory is that the low frequency pressure waves hit the glass fibre bales, compressing the air within the bale but slightly delaying its escape, due to the slight resistance going into and out of the bale.
This causes phase cancellations at low frequency and attenuate's resonant frequencies building up in corners or roof spaces or under stages.
This room has 750 cubic feet of glass bales in the ceiling space
This has vastly reduced an annoying ring in the room occurring at about 170 Hz. its now possible to put loads of power into the room without getting build up of resonance at one or two bass frequencies, the ones you have an EQ to compensate for.

Perhaps the chaps that want to run flat should put a sweep tone through their bass rig at sound check and using a sound level meter take a note about how to make your rig agree with the room about what flat is.
Or do the flat boys only play gigs in anechoic chambers.

[georgestrings]

Originally Posted by JimmyM

Very true. And you will no doubt play a room where cutting low end will be needed in the future. The key is to be flexible.

No doubt - my band plays a couple of venues where my bass rig really booms the other side of the stage, most likely due to room acoustics...It actually sounds louder in front of the other guitarist's rig than it does standing right in front of mine - so, I've found it's better to cut some lows from my "normal" tone than it is to force him to turn up so that he can hear himself... I've also played some places where the stage was a bit hollow, or my rig caused problems with the PA, and cutting lows there was also a necessity...

I also think that having a bass/amp/cab setup that doesn't require radical EQ settings to get a tone you're happy with will make things easier to deal with room changes like these...

Lastly - these types of situations are where the "IEM only" crowd really have an advantage over those of us who prefer using a bass rig that keeps up with an acoustic drum set...


- georgestrings

[christw]

I like to have an amp and cabinet with a flat response and fine tune it to the room and the mix from there. I like my amp to be a monitor of the tone I'm sending to the FOH.

[Russell L]

Originally Posted by two fingers

I'm finding I do that more and more with most of my knobs. Set it flat to begin with and usually add a little bit of low mids. I haven't found a room yet that didn't respond well to that setting.

That's the only thing that gets me about my Little Mark III. The low eq knob is centered at 40 Hz. Don't wanna boost that. But, the low mid knob is centered at 360 Hz, skipping all the frequencies I really might wanna boost a bit. But...the damn thing sounds so good set neutral anyway, that it almost don't matter.