New Setup... HELP!

[phoenixgraves]

Greetings fellow bass enthusiasts! I have been playing bass for many years now. I have been a couple hard rock/rock bands and just recently put together another band in the (best way I can describe it) progressive hard rock category. We are in the writing process and since this is a new band with a new sound, I find myself with nice equipment and not really the knowledge of how to get the sound I want out of it. I have:

Ibanez EDA 905
Mark IV amp
Laney(?) 2x10 1x15 cab
Sansamp Programmable Bass Driver (the 3 button one)

I have always just played with an ampeg combo amp. And although they are badass with tone, in this new venture I wanted big and nasty. I have never played amp and cab separates before. The Mark IV has an EQ, the Ibanez EDA 905 has all kinds of tone configs, and then throw in a Sansamp... my head is spinning.

Right now, I have the EQ set at close to the middle, my bass knobs are all turned all the way up, and my sansamp has 3 programmed sounds (one clean, one full and rich, and one distortion). My questions are: how do I best find a good EQ setting? What the hell are Piezos and how do I best use them with the neck pickup? Do I adjust the EQ on the amp THEN bass THEN the sansamp? What does the pre and post knob do on my amp? I have one chord going into the cab... is that right?

I have a cool tone right now, but I know it could be better with this setup. I just need some guidance. I can post pics if that helps but I have been searching for bass gear before I got all this stuff and this site came up quite a bit. SO I am joining in hopes of finding expertise. I am going for a rich, deep, crunch of a tone that is distinct and says: hey mutha fuc***, the bass is here and not in the background!

Ok, this is hella long. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[evilt70]

Nice bass. The Piezo's are pickups as well, they are in the bridge on that model. Basically a piezo device takes a vibration (from the bridge) and turns it into current like your regular pickup (but it does it with vibrations rather than the magnetic field of your other pickup). That bass you should be able to play with the mix between the magnetic and piezos to adjust tone. You can also adjust the sensitivity of each individual piezo as well for different tones. Not familiar with the sansamp, so I can't tell you much about that.