Do bass effects even cut through the mix?

[b to g is yummy]

I'm just curious as to whether bass effects esp. overdrive are even noticable to the audience when pumped thru the house subs?

Even listening to records thru a decent stereo system i (think i've) found that sometimes i don't hear the effect until maybe i listen to it with headphones. Am i just off the wall here? Btw I love effects so the answer prolly won't change me, i'm just curious

[sarcastro83]

wouldn't it depend on what you're playing, what everyone else is playing, how prominently you're situated in the mix, what effect you're using?

Seriously, when it comes to this kind of thing, I'm new. Any insight?

[tplyons]

Saying this as a former effects junkie and former Effects Forum moderator:

They will cut through most of the time. Depends how many stompboxes your guitards are using as well, how exposed the part is, what kind of bass you have, etc. There are a lot of variables.

[kayakbass]

Most of it depends on your mix/sound guy. The part is the style of music. You're much more likely to notice the FX on a bass in the mix with a clean guitar or keyboard ( like R&B/Funk ). Less likely to hear it in the mix with lots of distorted guitar and bashing cymbals ( metal / heavy rock ). You CAN get it to stand out though...Doug Pinnick from Kings X plays with overdrive and it GRINDS beautifully in the mix with the guitar. Chris Squire... another good example.

[IanStephenson]

I use quite a bit of overdrive on one project. Sounds awefull on it's own. In the mix you can barely hear the distortion BUT you can hear the bass! The distortion adds to the bass sound, and fills out a lot of space (it's a three piece), but it's not really noticable as distortion.

Flange and phasers seem to be just a good way of making sure you're NOT heard...

Ian

[heroincredible]

Originally Posted by IanStephenson

Flange and phasers seem to be just a good way of making sure you're NOT heard...

Ian

Have you tried mixing the flange/phasers with some overdrive? I used to use just phaser on one of my bands tunes, and while it fit the song I didn't cut through very well. I added overdrive and no longer have problems being heard.

[b to g is yummy]

Maybe i should re-word the question...

How accurately does a PA system with subs reproduce an effected bass tone?

My thinking is the rumble of the subs will cover the actual effect. Maybe subs can create tone and not just bass tho...hmm

[bryan bailey]

Originally Posted by b to g is yummy

Maybe i should re-word the question...

How accurately does a PA system with subs reproduce an effected bass tone?

My thinking is the rumble of the subs will cover the actual effect. Maybe subs can create tone and not just bass tho...hmm

Yes. But unless you're doing solo stuff there's gonna be a lot more going through the PA than just you. Your sound has an effect on the total sound, people may not notice you have some chorus on but it effects the end mix coming out no matter what. That's what makes playing bass such an underrated instrument, not necessarily on top of everything but it has an effect on everything in a mix.

Bass is just as important as anything else in a band anyone who tells you different is too biased to be in the music biz.

[lemur821]

Originally Posted by b to g is yummy

Maybe i should re-word the question...

How accurately does a PA system with subs reproduce an effected bass tone?

As accurately as the sound guy wants. Unless he does something strange (or your amp tone is bad), the bass sound from the PA should be similar to your amp tone. Subs may be tuned to produce only rumble, but you're still (hopefully) going through the full-range speakers up top as well.

[ROON]

Listen to some Type O Negative. Peter's effect smothered bass is all you can hear at times.