Rehearsing through PA..?

[Willem]

Hey guys

after a bunch of gigs I did the past couple of years I've come to the decide to sell my bassguitar amplifier. Why? I always asked for no bass in the monitors because it sounds utterly crap. But then there was always the fight 'hearing yourself vs too much bass FOH'. You all know what I'm talking about there. But I'm getting sick of hauling the gear and not having any benefit from it.

So I was thinking of selling amp and cab and getting a Tone Hammer or a Sansamp and going ampless. Getting a powered sub and a powered speaker and just hooking the DI up to that. The sub will give me the low end and the speaker will simulate a monitor when playing live. This will help me get used to playing off of monitors alone.

I know it will probably not sound as good as an amp, but I think soundmen will love me for it. And my back. And I won't have to help my bandmates lug their gear, 'cause I ain't got any.

I have kind of made up my mind to try this. But if you have any comments, please feel free to share.

Peace to you and a stable government for my country!
Willem

[Bocete]

I wholeheartedly agree. On both rehearsals and gigs, I plug into my Boss GT-10B, and then into the DI. The soundman works with me on getting a balanced sound that's related to the room. From that point on, I take over with my sound patches, which I did my best to only change the vibe of the sound and keep the output level and EQ as intact as possible.

But, to be frank, I think I'd manage just fine with a lone Sansamp VT pedal and changing the "vibe" by changing pickup configurations.

On carrying your own monitors - that's a fine idea, but might be unnecessary. Depends on where you rehearse and where you play, I guess.

[Willem]

I wouldn't be carrying my own monitors. They would stay put at rehearsal space.

[tony_clifton]

I'd say don't do it (selling your amp). I'm from Belgium myself and a lot of events are PA'ed by Ampli (at least, in my area). I really like those guys - even when you have little time to set up, they both mike and DI my amplifier without asking. Okay, you don't get a lot of bass trough the monitors, but they don't mind running my 500 watt amp very loud either. Outdoors that is. Outdoors a good amp is bliss.

Indoors you are completely right - but if you know there is a good PA you can still just bring your Sansamp and avoid lugging the big amps around.
Personally I try to be able to hear as much amp as possible and soundguys never get angry with me.

Don't think the 'monitor-training' will work - you will only get tired of playing/practicing because of how awful it sounds. You'll just bring the problem to your home. And it will cost money.

Off course, in my opinion!

[Chasarms]

Most of us use powered, low-frequency friendly, personal monitors on stage and DI to the house. We just call those monitors "bass amps."

[naturalkinds]

Originally Posted by Chasarms

Most of us use powered, low-frequency friendly, personal monitors on stage and DI to the house. We just call those monitors "bass amps."

: )

Right. Either go DI, and leave the monitoring to FOH, or bring an amp. It doesn't make sense to bring your own monitor if you're DI-ing, for that defeats the benefits of going DI.

[tony_clifton]

He doesn't want to bring his own monitors, only a DI box and use monitors at home to get used to how they sound.

[naturalkinds]

My mistake.

[gjbassist]

Originally Posted by Willem

And I won't have to help my bandmates lug their gear, 'cause I ain't got any.Willem

I would think just the opposite. Now that you have less to carry they will expect you to help them carry more of their gear!

[Randall]

If you want ultra light and you have a mixing board and PA at your space you can just bring a preamp or di and use in ear monitors . I bring my bass, one of my preamps and plug in at our rehersal space and am good to go

[peterpalmieri]

Why sell your amp? Use your amp for rehearsals and a DI or preamp for gigs?

You will most likely need your amp for other stuff in the future.

[Willem]

Originally Posted by tony_clifton

I'd say don't do it (selling your amp). I'm from Belgium myself and a lot of events are PA'ed by Ampli (at least, in my area). I really like those guys - even when you have little time to set up, they both mike and DI my amplifier without asking. Okay, you don't get a lot of bass trough the monitors, but they don't mind running my 500 watt amp very loud either. Outdoors that is. Outdoors a good amp is bliss.

Hey nice to have Belgian opinion on here

I never worked with those guys. Had my amp miked only twice and was turned of completely front of house because I was too loud on stage, not hearing myself very well. We also almost never play outdoors.

Originally Posted by tony_clifton

Indoors you are completely right - but if you know there is a good PA you can still just bring your Sansamp and avoid lugging the big amps around.
Personally I try to be able to hear as much amp as possible and soundguys never get angry with me.

It's not that they get angry, they don't even bother you know. But the times I hear my amp decently on stage, I hear from audiencemembers I was too loud.

Originally Posted by tony_clifton

Don't think the 'monitor-training' will work - you will only get tired of playing/practicing because of how awful it sounds. You'll just bring the problem to your home. And it will cost money.

I thought of trying it 30 day money back thing. The way I calculated it, I came of cheaper.

Originally Posted by gjbassist

I would think just the opposite. Now that you have less to carry they will expect you to help them carry more of their gear!

I'll roll their marshall cabs to the car.

Originally Posted by Randall

If you want ultra light and you have a mixing board and PA at your space you can just bring a preamp or di and use in ear monitors . I bring my bass, one of my preamps and plug in at our rehersal space and am good to go

Can you use in ears when you're the only one using them? And I would want them wireless and that gets expensive again. Well the earplugs would be expensive without going wireless. Thanks for the suggestion though

Originally Posted by peterpalmieri

Why sell your amp? Use your amp for rehearsals and a DI or preamp for gigs?

You will most likely need your amp for other stuff in the future.

Yeah but I want to get used to the monitors and with a sub it can be bass amp, PA and house party system!

[peterpalmieri]

Originally Posted by Willem

Yeah but I want to get used to the monitors and with a sub it can be bass amp, PA and house party system!

If that's the case you'd be best served by using a monitor that you would realistically encounter in a club. I highly doubt you'll find a seperate sub and top dedicated as a monitor to the lonely bass player.

[Randall]

As long as you have a mixer and a headphone amp you can go in ears alone or with the whole band. They can choose to listen to their monitors/amps or take a feed off of the mixer/headphone amp for their in ears.

Although I have a nice amp setup I can go to a practice with a bass/preamp/cable/in ears and leave the amp at home.

[jmattbassplaya]

Originally Posted by peterpalmieri

Why sell your amp? Use your amp for rehearsals and a DI or preamp for gigs?

You will most likely need your amp for other stuff in the future.

+1

Or at the minimum sell what you have and use the money to pick up a lightweight 2x10 and 500w SS head (TC, Markbass, etc...). More than likely you`ll need it in the future for jams or shows that won`t have a PA setup for anything but vocals and maybe some kick or snare.

[vinxbass]

Back in 2001 thru 2004 I played the Reno/Tahoe circuit and we were not allowed to have any amps on stage whatsoever. So I played thru a Digitech BP-200 and that's how I got my sound. It worked out just fine. No amp to carry, just a digital proccessor and it was a very quick setup. Ran thru the PA and the monitors or we alot of the time used in ears for monitors and it worked just fine also.

Good luck to ya.

[StuartV]

I'm currently gigging on drums. But, the bass player in my band goes from his bass to a SansAmp BDDI and from there straight into the board. He hears his bass via his stage monitor speaker (a Yamaha SM112V - i.e. wedge with a horn and 12" woofer). He can hear it just fine and it sounds good. The guitar player also goes DI to the board and gets his own monitor mix in another SM112V. I use wireless IEM with my own monitor mix.

It sounds to me like maybe you need to get the other guys in your band to get their stage volumes under control - or your hearing is going. You shouldn't need your amp to be so loud that it makes the bass at the FOH too loud.

[tekhedd]

Originally Posted by StuartV

It sounds to me like maybe you need to get the other guys in your band to get their stage volumes under control - or your hearing is going. You shouldn't need your amp to be so loud that it makes the bass at the FOH too loud.

Advice on how to accomplish this? I assume hostages or blackmail is used?

[BassmanPaul]

Originally Posted by Willem

It's not that they get angry, they don't even bother you know. But the times I hear my amp decently on stage, I hear from audiencemembers I was *** ****.

Willem, you are not allowed to use foul language on this forum! I fixed your post to reflect this!

Paul

[Willem]

You are right Paul. Totally over the line there. Sorry

Thanks for all your input guys, I appreciate it!
I'll be thinking about it some more!