Tuba through a Bass Amp?!

EBodious · #1 12-03-2010, 11:44 AM

the sound guy at a club i play regularly is booking the dirty dozen brass band (awesome show!). they expect the club to provide the drum kit, a super reverb, and a bass amp. he asked me and my band if he could rent our stuff.

last time i saw the band their "bass" was a tuba playing thru an ampeg rig via a clip on mic. i assume this is what would be happening at this upcoming show.

i have an eden wt400 and two berggie ht112's. my question: how will it handle tuba? i am happy to help out, but i don't wanna blow my gear! i imagine the frequency range is the same, but i am thinking the punch of the tuba will be stronger than a bass guitar.

any thoughts/advice would be greatly appreciated.

thanks.

stiles72 · #2 12-03-2010, 11:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EBodious

last time i saw the band their "bass" was a tuba playing thru an ampeg rig via a clip on mic. i assume this is what would be happening at this upcoming show. .

Nice. Old Ampegs had "Accordian" inputs on them, but a Tuba would rock!

scottbass · #3 12-03-2010, 12:03 PM

I wouldn't worry about the tuba having too much "punch". I play both tuba and bass guitar, and IMHO picked and slapped bass guitars have much more attack (steeper slope on an oscilloscope) than a "violently tongued" tuba. Just make sure the gain is set appropriately, exactly as you would with a bass guitar.

I'm gonna spend the rest of this afternoon pondering the concept of violent tonguing!

waleross · #4 12-03-2010, 12:08 PM

LONG LIVE THE TUBA......................

rpsands · #5 12-03-2010, 12:28 PM

http://www.tnt-audio.com/topics/frequency_e.html

While the Tuba does seem to have right around the same frequency range, my concern would be more with how much fundamental it has vs. harmonic.

I would expect a brass instrument with a horn that long to have tons of fundamental, but I've never seen any charts.

Lots of fundamental 43.65hz could easily blow bass cabs, but I think your situation you shouldn't have a lot to worry about. HT112s use pretty good woofers from what I know, and the WT400 is not an excessively brutal amp power-wise.

JimmyM · #6 12-03-2010, 12:30 PM

tuba players don't often go down to the low E, and most never venture below the Bb, so i think the chance of it blowing out your rig is minimal.

wshines1892 · #7 12-03-2010, 12:33 PM

This leaves the question, active or passive input?

rpsands · #8 12-03-2010, 12:35 PM

Depends on the mic output. I'd expect the mic would go through a mic preamp, which would mean the active input probably is safer (since mic preamps have a shedload of gain).

Sending the mic directly in, no idea!

fenderhutz · #9 12-03-2010, 12:38 PM

I would say due to the nature of a brass instrument ask the sound guy for a dedicated compressor for his input to lull the peaks and it should be fine. Or if your amp has one enabled it.

eyeballkid · #10 12-03-2010, 12:39 PM

can anyone recommend some good tubas for my amp? I did a search...

fenderhutz · #11 12-03-2010, 12:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by eyeballkid

can anyone recommend some good tubas for my amp? I did a search...

The \m/metal\m/ ones.

HolmeBass · #12 12-03-2010, 12:44 PM

Below Bb (1st fret on A string) are all pedal tones on the tuba, they are all pretty quiet. He'll be playing notes "mostly around the 7th fret" so to speak. I wouldn't worry about attack or depth much at all. I might worry a bit that he'll crank the volume quite significantly, so some more speakers/bigger cabs would probably help safeguard anything bad from happening.

Actually maybe it's below the A, (a open string) that are all pedal tones. It's been about 26 years since I last played a tuba...

JimmyM · #13 12-03-2010, 12:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fenderhutz

I would say due to the nature of a brass instrument ask the sound guy for a dedicated compressor for his input to lull the peaks and it should be fine. Or if your amp has one enabled it.

good luck getting a sound guy to give one of his compressors up to the bass player. and you also have to consider if the player wants to sound compressed in the amp. he may not like it.

honestly, this is a lot of worry for nothing. unless he plays so loudly through the amp that it can blow the cabs (a worry for anyone, not just tuba players, and i seriously doubt he will), there's nothing inherently dangerous about running a tuba through a bass amp.

sleepytime · #14 12-03-2010, 12:46 PM

So what's the best metal for tuba?

greenboy · #15 12-03-2010, 12:49 PM

Until you get to the levels where you need to depend on broad-scale PA, various tubas (they are NOT all the same in range) and sousaphones have in the hands of a good player, a fair amount of acoustic output. So in even a fairly rowdy assemblage you don't necessarily need to provide much for them.

EDIT: but whatever it is is, it should give a little "cut-through" and not fart out easily on electric bass.

greenboy · #16 12-03-2010, 12:56 PM

By the way, back when DDBB was first coming on strong, they didn't need keyboards, drum kits or guitars or electric basses and their tuba guy could roust most bass players for gettin' the joint to jump, live. Actually the interplay with bari sax and lower trombone was syncopated heaven. If you liked the Meters, you will find this equallly devastating!

Passinwind · #17 12-03-2010, 12:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EBodious

the sound guy at a club i play regularly is booking the dirty dozen brass band (awesome show!). they expect the club to provide the drum kit, a super reverb, and a bass amp. he asked me and my band if he could rent our stuff.

last time i saw the band their "bass" was a tuba playing thru an ampeg rig via a clip on mic. i assume this is what would be happening at this upcoming show.

i have an eden wt400 and two berggie ht112's. my question: how will it handle tuba? i am happy to help out, but i don't wanna blow my gear! i imagine the frequency range is the same, but i am thinking the punch of the tuba will be stronger than a bass guitar.

any thoughts/advice would be greatly appreciated.

We had those guys in a few times at the the club I used to mix in. Ping 4Mal, I'm pretty sure he provided his rig the last time.

Keep in mind that your rig will likely be just for stage monitoring, and the acoustic volume of the instrument will already be fairly high to begin with. Make sure they comp you into the show, it's a great band.

dincz · #18 12-03-2010, 01:02 PM

I'd guess a tuba would be capable of maintaining a higher average power level - long continuous notes and no string decay. Could be a problem if the amp was cranked high, no?

lavaman67 · #19 12-03-2010, 01:03 PM

Best thread ever!

greenboy · #20 12-03-2010, 01:05 PM

Time to listen to some DDBB methinks. Especially the classic albums. That'll tell you more about tonal and amplitude envelopes and distribution.

Things are usually going by too fast for long sustain to make a difference. This is not Wagner.