Jazz Duet - PA System?

[jadenjazz]

I play background dinner music (standards) in a jazz duet (keyboard & bass) at a local restaurant. We typically play through our amps in one corner of the restaurant and just guess as to our volumes. This week I purchased a portable PA system with two speakers, plugged both instruments into it, and left the amps in the car. It was perfect! I loved hearing both our instruments mixed in each speaker vs hearing my bass amp in one ear and the piano amp in my other ear. When the manager gave me a wave that we were getting a little too loud on "Cherokee", one knob easily turned us both down. Now, my bass tone wasn't as nice as playing through my Mark Bass rig, but the overall experience was wonderful. Am I on to something or just late getting to the dance?

[MNAirHead]

Late to the dance

[jadenjazz]

Thanks... I thought as much!

[MNAirHead]

What are you using for a pa?

[jadenjazz]

Originally Posted by MNAirHead

What are you using for a pa?

Samson Expedition XP308i

[4Mal]

Yep, a little late to the party. Smething like the sans amp paradriver - not the bass driver! Will make your forget about the bass rig for small gigs. In my case the PD works well as I am not trying for grind, grit or ampeg emulation, I just want more bass friendly EQ points for my channel when I don't have my studio live board along.

[hoketus]

Originally Posted by 4Mal

Yep, a little late to the party. Smething like the sans amp paradriver - not the bass driver! Will make your forget about the bass rig for small gigs.

Can I ask why you say that? I'm curious about these devices.

[4Mal]

The Bass Driver is very colored. The Para Driver is clear enough to put on acoustic guitar. I actually put it on an accordian last week. And of course it works great on my basses, passive or active. If you want the drive / ampeg emulation you can dial it in using the blend control. Compared with the Bass Driver, you lose the Presence control but gain a sweepable mid. Mids are where problems get solved with bass in my experience. That is a huge point for me.

The EQ voicing on the PD is bass friendly. Not sure what the points are but the bass & treble controls seem effective to me though I tend to run them close to centered - lot's of point gain on tap... So combine that bass friendly eq, the clarity with the sweepable mid going to the board and a dry or wet line going to my amp on stage... The paraDriver is an eminently useful device. The BDDI... Not so much, unless you really dig the color in which case carry on!