they say my bass rig is TOO LOUD...

mrWr0ng · #1 06-14-2002, 10:33 PM

it started the other night when my band played this jam night in fremont. i brought only my Ibanez SR405 (with bartolini pickups and preamp. AWESOME stuff), my WT400 and 410XLT with a few pedals, a boss EQ, wah, and digital delay.
with the preamp turned about 11 o'clock, and the master at about 11o'clock, i was asked to turn it down after the song. or rahter, i was TOLD to turn it down... i turned the volume on my bass (which was turned all the way up) down about 25%, and after the second song, i was told to turn it down AGAIN. i turned the bass volume down about another 25% and the guy kept yelling at me to turn down my amp (he was a d*ck, he was the bassist in the house band and was REAL pissed that this new band came in and totally outshined them, especially me). so i had to turn down my preamp to about 8o'clock before he would finally stop yelling at me. after that, i couldn't even hear myself.

then last night at practice, i had my full rig set up, my WT400, 410XLT and my D115, about 12'oclock on both preamp and master (just under so as not to clip) with my compressor hooked up and turned way up to get my sounds pretty solid (all my other pedals hooked up too). after the singer stopped singing, he just went to sit down in a chair while the rest of the band went through our material, and he sat down about 10 feet in front of my cabs. one or two songs into it he gets up and comes back in with earplugs, and when we're done, he's talking about how LOUD the bass is, and how even when he had his earplugs in, he could just FEEL my bass in his head, and it just vibrated the earplugs.

i think that's a compliment, but i'm hoping i don't continually get told to turn it down... i've spent a lot of time tweaking my setup for the perfect bass sound, to really give the band its own unique sound, and i'm really getting tired of constantly told i'm too much for the room.

Stu L. · #2 06-14-2002, 10:57 PM

Get a bigger room!

Other than that I dont know. Good luck.

BASSnSAX · #3 06-14-2002, 11:14 PM

hmmm....just kick some ***!!!...or crank your amp and blow the walls out and you guys could play outdoors!!!...errr...nevermind.

dancehallclasher · #4 06-14-2002, 11:47 PM

singers.

what did the REST of the band think?

Brendan · #5 06-14-2002, 11:58 PM

screw em! I'm the same way. two D-410XLTs, 1000watts of power, hey, at least I CAN be louder than all of them. Never, never turn down. We've come to far in amplification to back down now.

Vote for the Union Label!

Oh, sorry, off on a tanget there. My advice: it's never too loud, till the cops come.

Nick man · #6 06-15-2002, 12:06 AM

I say that each time they tell you to turn it down, you turn it up!

by the third time, the guys head will have exploded, and you wont have anymore problems!

Now I have a question for you.

Do you think the WT400 is big enough for a big high school football stadium?

How about a medium to small sized college football stadium?

I really want an Eden amp as my next amp, and I was just wondering if its gonna be big enough for my main gigs (playing with my school band).

Keep in mind that since we end up playing a bunch of new hip hop songs and other stuff that will get the Miami crowd going, we need some killer LOUD BASS.

I love our new band teacher. He's young and cool, plays in a band, and he never has a problem with the bass being too loud!

Peace
Nick

chucko58 · #7 06-15-2002, 12:51 AM

Jeez, what is this, a d**k size contest? You get a decent rig and you start to act like the guitar player?

If your bandmates think it's too loud, TURN IT DOWN. Yeah, it's cool that you can overpower the rest of the band, but that doesn't mean you have to.

Nick Gann · #8 06-15-2002, 01:00 AM

You have to see mine. It's blow you all away.

all 100 watts of it.

mrWr0ng · #9 06-15-2002, 10:33 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by chucko58
Jeez, what is this, a d**k size contest? You get a decent rig and you start to act like the guitar player?

If your bandmates think it's too loud, TURN IT DOWN. Yeah, it's cool that you can overpower the rest of the band, but that doesn't mean you have to.

nobody in the band thinks it's too loud, it was the bassist for the other band who said i was too loud. the guitarist was encouraging me to turn it UP the other night.
i think the singer was just sayin it was loud and powerful, because he's sitting where the soundwaves start to converge, from the 15 and the 4 10s, so he's getting a full-on sound, compared to when he's on stage and is just hearing individual speakers.

nick man: on its own, if you got a wt400 and a 4 ohm D410XLT or something similar, you could probably do a whole football stadium with that. my setup is an 8 ohm 410XLT, so i'm only pumping 275 or so watts into it by itself, or 200 watts into that and 200 watts into my D115 when they're together... but if you were to put all 400 into a 4 ohm D410XLT or something similar, it would probably be more than enough for a football stadium. just my guess.

Bassin' · #10 06-15-2002, 11:26 AM

Hey, I grew up in Fremont.

How big was the place you did this jam at? Having a setup with both a 4x10 and a 1x10 might be too much.

I'm not real familiar with the power ratings on a WT400 but I use a WT1000 power amp and an Aguilar DB680 preamp and one of the biggest factors, for me, isn't the amplification but the amount of speakers.

I use an Eden 210xlt and 410xlt but I rarily get into a situation where I have to use both cabinets at the same time. When I first got the speakers I would bring both and I had a few complaints from sound people . The problem was I could barily hear myself onstage and yet they could only hear bass offstage. I then tried to be a bit more objective as to what I actually needed- smaller places I bring only the 210xlt, medium places the 410xlt, and larger halls I bring both.

What I would do, if I were you, is see if you can't dial up a good sound with just the 410xlt... I doubt if that will be a problem as they are great cabinets. Once you do that you can decide whether you want to bring your whole setup or just a partial setup that will accomodate the place your playing better.

Nick man · #11 06-15-2002, 01:04 PM

Im actually gonna be using an 8 ohm 2-15" cab.

I guess a better question is if you think it gives off as much clean amplification as other amps of its ratting. Ive seen some amps where the specs and the real world setting are a little off because of how they test their amps for specs. I trust Eden, I just want to be sure.

It should work alright as long as the power amp puts out as much as I suspect.

Thanks for the input.

Peace
Nick

Nato · #12 06-15-2002, 07:36 PM

I have the same kind of problem with the worship band i play in. I'll get everything set just right and then one of the singers will tell me to turn it down. It really sucks. Oh by the way i have found that depending on where you stand in a room changes how much bass you hear. With the rig at my church when your standing right by the cab you can bearly hear it over the rest of the band but if you stand at certain spots you can hear it really well. so that might be some of the problem. But if that isn't the problem just turn the bass up untill you blow away anyone who complains

bassin4him · #13 06-15-2002, 07:55 PM

I've found that most of the time when a bassist is perceived as being too loud, the problem is not the volume; its the muddy sound due to too much low end spillover (from voices, and other instruments, particularly keyboards) from the stage monitors.

I've learned that taking some of the phatness out of the bass's tone, i.e., cranking up the midrange and attenuating the lowrange really makes a difference in what you hear out in the house (gives the bass a much more focused tone), and also improves the monitor mix, but still allows you to hear yourself. What one hears onstage is often vastly different than what you hear out in the house. (I've worked as a house and onstange sound tech, and that has changed the way I setup my amps and instrument.)

Of course, this may not be the scenario you're playing in, but the first statement about the sound being muddy, is often the problem, rather than the volume.

ldiezman · #14 06-15-2002, 09:27 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by bassin4him
I've found that most of the time when a bassist is perceived as being too loud, the problem is not the volume; its the muddy sound due to too much low end spillover (from voices, and other instruments, particularly keyboards) from the stage monitors.

I've learned that taking some of the phatness out of the bass's tone, i.e., cranking up the midrange and attenuating the lowrange really makes a difference in what you hear out in the house (gives the bass a much more focused tone), and also improves the monitor mix, but still allows you to hear yourself. What one hears onstage is often vastly different than what you hear out in the house.

A most excellent observation. Many people don't reallize this ever.. I've played gigs with other bands where the bass player had a bigger rig than mine and was surely louder get lost in the mix because he was a no midrange.. full bass and treble guy.. all you got was an earfull of mud..

Munjibunga · #15 06-16-2002, 12:39 AM

Sounds like you're playing too loud and enjoying all the attention it draws. What's your objective?

Brendan · #16 06-16-2002, 01:15 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Munjibunga
What's your objective?

Would that be "objection" there munji?

mrWr0ng · #17 06-16-2002, 01:34 AM

i play at what i consider a great volume... we have a drummer, a lead guitarist, and a bassist... i fill in for rythym guitar and bass with my style, so i need a good amount of volume, especially because it's all clean.

Munjibunga · #18 06-16-2002, 01:53 AM

Oh, OK.

bassplayajew · #19 06-16-2002, 02:00 AM

Mr.wrong, what kind of preamp do you have in the Ibanez?

rogereeve · #20 06-16-2002, 02:27 AM

Dont confuse volume with quality of sound, just because youre the loudest doesnt mean the audience are enjoying your performance. The overall sound of the band is what counts, after all if the manager of the venue likes it and sells loads of beer he'll book you again, piss him off and he'll show you the door!! If someone listening to the performance says youre too loud, turn it down!!!!