Need help with my rig. Unhappy with sound

[ubercore]

Hello!

I'd like some constructive criticism of my rig, as I'm not thrilled with my sound. I feel like I've done my homework on each component, but the net result is... underwhelming.

Peavey T-40 / Ibanez Sr885
Sansamp RBI
QSC PLX 1602
RNC compressor
Acme B2 (4ohm)

I've had the Acme the longest (probably about 10 years now), but the rest are all new-ish additions.

My sound isn't quite as warm as I'd like. Sometimes it crosses over to "boomy", rather than tight. Notes lack definition. I like some grit to my tone, but rarely cross all the way up into distortion; mostly gentle overdrive. The Sansamp sounds pretty good, but it has pretty basic EQ options.

Now, assuming everything's working properly, what would people suggest I try? I'm most suspicious of the Sansamp. I'm thinking of trying out a tube preamp. I've also been thinking of trying an Avatar 212 to warm up the sound a bit, but keep things tight. I'm also having some volume issues with the Acme, even driving it bridged at 1600W, when we play outside without great monitoring.

So, help! Let er rip.

Thanks!

[Tunaman]

Musicman sterling, end of boomy period.

[WingKL]

There might be too much low end. As I found out when cranking an M9 through my Acme B2, the louder you play, the more the low end fundamentals dominates and obscures tone definition. Try a high pass filter or eqing out the low bass. The Acme is one of the least efficient cabs I've played through. You may need more speakers or other more efficient cabs for outside gigs.

[LarryO]

have you tried throwing in a graphic eq?

[bassist4dalord]

The B2 is ported, right? That in itself may be a source of the boom. No personal experience, but from what I've read on this forum, Acme cabs are quite boomy. Look for something sealed maybe? That's all I can add. Best of luck!

[aurian4parker]

someone just has a subtle case of GAS

oh, that means Gear Acquisition Syndrome by the way...

[dhomer]

I'd sell the Acme, build either a fEarful or a BFM O15TB..

[cableguy]

Also try playing around with the blend knob on the RBI. I've found the RBI is very touchy. Small changes make big differences. I've never had the Acme cabs so I don't know if that's a cause or not. Good luck.

[sonic assassin]

graphic EQ

perhaps you should take the release time down on your compressor? it might be holding out boomy notes too long. as well as tighten up the attack so giant low notes get squished a bit.

idk anything about that cab, so i cant speculate there

[aledeville]

My experience is: bad cab results in bad tone.

[baron665]

try another cab. I'd sell the acme and get a used 410 or 212. and do what everyone else is saying and get an eq, lower the bass frequency, etc.

[kai_ski]

I had a low b2 for a while, and never thought it was particularly boomy. I actually found it to be well balanced with particularly good low-end extension for a 2x10. I ran it with my LMII and it held up well with loud drummers in medium sized/low ceiling rooms and small stages. Ported cabs often have a reputation for being boomy, and some are, but the only cases I've presonally seen of this are the ampeg hlf series and some eden cabs (which are front-ported.) I think you might be right in suspecting the sansamp because the sansamp di's I have heard definitely can be boomy, but my experience here is limited to the bddi and vtbass.

I can tell you that your acme is definitely not going to move enough air for an outdoor gig. I was running one with 700 W on a large outdoor amphitheater gig with minimal monitoring (openers get screwed, what can I say?) and I could barely hear myself. At 1600W I would say you're overpowering the speaker, and that would explain why the tone you're getting would be less than stellar.

From the ACME website regarding the Low B2:

# Loud enough for a single cabinet to hold its own against most drummers.
# High power handling. 350W RMS is a good starting point due to the relatively low efficiency of the cabinet. 500W RMS is ideal. The more power, the better the sound. (Within reason - It's only a 2x10"!)

Anyway, to start, I would suggest adjusting your eq so that there are more mids in the mix. Increasing the compression to 3 or 4 should also help with the issue, but it won't be that noticeable if you're overpowering your cab. If you can get the rig to sound good in a small/medium room with the band, then I would suggest picking up another low b2, to have a vertical 4x10 array for your outdoor gigs. That should solve the outdoor volume issue while maintaining the tone you're used to in a smaller space.

[Son of Bovril]

I think your problem is the voicing of the RBI coupled with the lack of efficiency from the Acme, and the fact that it is proabably too small for the sound you are trying to get from it...

Firstly back the blend knob on the RBI way back otherwise you lose most of your mids and the actual sound of your guitar to the tube emulation.

the compression settings could also me messing with your tone, so to start with, take the compressor out of the chain till you have your sound sorted then put it back in and set it to do it's job without interfering with the tone.

I generally suggest working with what you have or taking things out of the chain to get the tone you are looking for as opposed to adding more gear to fix bad settings in the beginning, but maybe all you need is a simple eq pedal to let you sculpt your tone a little more than the RBI is allowing

[Bassdirty]

Originally Posted by ubercore

Acme B2 (4ohm)

I'm not 100% positive..
But I'd start with the cab...Maybe you need 410?

.

[KJung]

Originally Posted by WingKL

There might be too much low end. As I found out when cranking an M9 through my Acme B2, the louder you play, the more the low end fundamentals dominates and obscures tone definition. Try a high pass filter or eqing out the low bass. The Acme is one of the least efficient cabs I've played through. You may need more speakers or other more efficient cabs for outside gigs.

+1 totally. With a PA type power amp, if you don't have some sort of hi pass on there, it can be a boomy mess, and those deeply voiced drivers can quickly overwhelm the small mid driver and even smaller tweeter.

Also, +1 that as unique as the B2 is, it is still only a 210, and actually will result in less SPL and perceived volume than a more mid voiced and tighter 210.

Hi Passing (hopefully there is that option on the OP's amp) should fix 75% of the issue.

[billfitzmaurice]

How is your cab placed? The midrange dispersion of the B2 is better than average thanks to the mid driver, but if the cab isn't tilted back much of the mids will still pass you by south of your beltline. As for the volume, you can only get so much from two tens. A second B2 stacked above the first would cure both the midrange dispersion and total output considerations. The rest is probably EQ oriented. A tube pre with full EQ, at least five bands and a low-cut filter, would do well.

[tech21nyc]

A couple of things here. There are 2 DI's on the RBI. One DI gives you the entire sound of the RBI with SansAmp amp and speaker emulation, efx loop and the other is your straight signal. Neither DI is boomy in and of itself. Here is the thing to remember. When running a DI to the mixing board you need to set the sounds to the PA first without using you bass amp as a monitor. The reason being that a good PA system will always be able to produce more low end content than a typical bass guitar rig. So if your cabinet or onstage monitoring system is lacking low end and you try to compensate with the RBI the added low end sent to the more efficient PA subs will be way too much low end. You can only get so much low end out of a 210 bass cab.

To the OP. The aforementioned may be part of your problem. The other thing I would suggest is not using the compressor with the RBI. The analog circuitry in the RBI is designed to sound and behave like a tube amp which means as you add some tube emulated grind to your signal the signal will have some pleasant natural analog compression. If you add compression after that, your sound will lose definition and become unfocused. The RNC is a good compressor (I own one) but the thing with compression in general is that it is a gain reducing device. When sending a signal to a compressor with a lot of low end content the compressor will clamp down even more and your high end will sound dull unless you really have it set just right.

[VisualShock]

new strings.

[Art Araya]

Seems like most posters are placing the blame on the Acme cab. I have no experience with 'em so I can't speak to that.

Regarding the Sansamp, I've owned one and also had to play thru one at a church for a few years. I wasn't crazy about the sound either time. Different basses, different speakers, etc... but always underwhelmed with my sound. Am now using a tube-pre (SVP-CL) and am much closer to the sound in my head.

[jellymax]

Originally Posted by ubercore

Hello!

I'd like some constructive criticism of my rig, as I'm not thrilled with my sound. I feel like I've done my homework on each component, but the net result is... underwhelming.

Peavey T-40 / Ibanez Sr885
Sansamp RBI
QSC PLX 1602
RNC compressor
Acme B2 (4ohm)

I've had the Acme the longest (probably about 10 years now), but the rest are all new-ish additions.

My sound isn't quite as warm as I'd like. Sometimes it crosses over to "boomy", rather than tight. Notes lack definition. I like some grit to my tone, but rarely cross all the way up into distortion; mostly gentle overdrive. The Sansamp sounds pretty good, but it has pretty basic EQ options.

Now, assuming everything's working properly, what would people suggest I try? I'm most suspicious of the Sansamp. I'm thinking of trying out a tube preamp. I've also been thinking of trying an Avatar 212 to warm up the sound a bit, but keep things tight. I'm also having some volume issues with the Acme, even driving it bridged at 1600W, when we play outside without great monitoring.

So, help! Let er rip.

Thanks!

a 210 cab can only do so much. in a large room, or outdoors
it will sound thin. like Bill said, stack another cab on top
for outdoors & such.

both of your basses are humbucking, no? have you
tried a jazz or a P bass thru your rig, or something
with single coil pickups?