need help badly

countrybassist · #1 07-03-2011, 03:59 AM

My problem was that my stage sound was fine, but at the board it was distorted badly. Heres my chain. NYC Sadowsky with a new battery. Shure wireless, new battery and gain set. Rack mounted tuner with AC. New Samsamp VT, to countryman type 85 with phantom power to it, ampeg 3 pro, Hartke HX410. The sound coming from the cab was great but the soundman told me I was distorting badly at the board. We tried another DI and it did the same thing. The 3 other bands before me used my LM11 Hatrke cab and DI'ed outta the head with no problem. The head settings were flat, master at 2'oclock and gain at 12. One guy last night said that the sansamp could be too much signal to run straight into the sansamp. I've never heard of that but theres alot that I don't know, so maybe? Oh the sansamp settings are Level 1 oclock, mid 11 oclock, character 9 oclock, drive noon, low 1 oclock and highs 2 oclock. This was an out door gig so I was much louder than the casino gig I did Friday night and I didn't get any complaints from the soundman there. so could i just be pushing the rig too hard and clipping something. Oh one more thing, when I bypassed the vt, the problem went away. Maybe I should di from the head to the cab today

**TheMutt** · #2 07-03-2011, 04:13 AM

Sounds to me like you had the VT Bass up way too high, and/or the tech didn't know how to adjust the gain on the bass channel.

Back when I owned a VT, I kept the volume at 9:00-11:00 depending on the gain I had dialed in. If you had it set at gain 12:00 and level 1:00 it's no wonder that you were coming out distorted at the board. The VT can indeed put out enough signal to drive a power amp (never tried this myself, but have read about it elsewhere).

countrybassist · #3 07-03-2011, 04:26 AM

Ok. I will try that. The 3 pro with an 8 ohm cab, just doesn't seem to be loud enough for outdoor gigs so I had to crank the vt. I guess a 3 pro at 8 ohms just isn't going to cut it.

**TheMutt** · #4 07-03-2011, 04:36 AM

The only question I have is:
If you were plugging into the board (assuming that you were in the FOH mix), why did you need to crank the amp? At that point it's just acting like a stage monitor. If you can't hear it, get a tiltback stand so that the speakers are firing at your ears instead of your shins.

countrybassist · #5 07-03-2011, 04:42 AM

I was in the FOH mix, but I guess I'm kinda deaf from all the years of gigging. It was a large stage and I wasn't loud enough in the monitors so when I was on the other side of the stage, I couldn't hear myself at all. PLus we have a very loud stickman.

rodl2005 · #6 07-03-2011, 06:05 AM

Another 410 & you'll hear yourself fine!

countrybassist · #7 07-03-2011, 06:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rodl2005

Another 410 & you'll hear yourself fine!

That is an option I've been considering, but I do have an Ampeg 810. What I was trying to do it decrease the weight so I was going with 1 410. I've been looking at on the internet this morning about a GK RBH 410 at 4 ohms. I've never heard one of these cabs and was curious about it.

tech21nyc · #8 07-05-2011, 11:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by countrybassist

My problem was that my stage sound was fine, but at the board it was distorted badly. Heres my chain. NYC Sadowsky with a new battery. Shure wireless, new battery and gain set. Rack mounted tuner with AC. New Samsamp VT, to countryman type 85 with phantom power to it, ampeg 3 pro, Hartke HX410. The sound coming from the cab was great but the soundman told me I was distorting badly at the board. We tried another DI and it did the same thing. The 3 other bands before me used my LM11 Hatrke cab and DI'ed outta the head with no problem. The head settings were flat, master at 2'oclock and gain at 12. One guy last night said that the sansamp could be too much signal to run straight into the sansamp. I've never heard of that but theres alot that I don't know, so maybe? Oh the sansamp settings are Level 1 oclock, mid 11 oclock, character 9 oclock, drive noon, low 1 oclock and highs 2 oclock. This was an out door gig so I was much louder than the casino gig I did Friday night and I didn't get any complaints from the soundman there. so could i just be pushing the rig too hard and clipping something. Oh one more thing, when I bypassed the vt, the problem went away. Maybe I should di from the head to the cab today

Did you have the VT Bass set for unity gain? Also I'm a little confused by your setup. Was the VT Bass also going into the front end of the amp as well?

Is it possible that the soundman maybe didn't have his gain staging set correctly. The VT Bass has a pretty hot output. If he had his input gain set for an instrument level signal you could be clipping the board.

If possible I would try to check your signal path to make sure everything is working together properly through a board that you know. Sometimes in a live setting it's hard to figure out the problem. If you know in advance that your signal chain at the end of your DI is producing the proper level it makes it easier to fix it in a live situation.