Bass Cab in Monitor System?

[Joe Smithberger]

Here's one for you folks who like to go amp-free. Has anyone experimented with using a small bass cab as your monitor intead of a wedge? In other words, replace a wedge on the monitor daisy chain with a bass cabinet to get better bass response. We are not ready for in-ears yet, but I have been wanting to go amp-less for my church gig. My thought is that maybe if I replace my wedge with a 1x10 SWR or 1x12 Avatar CB112 bass cabinet, I might get a more satisfactory bass sound and de-emphasize the frequencies in the upper mid and treble range where my bass signal doesn't live anyway. Might this act as a "monitor subwoofer" for the rest of the group as well?

I will probably try it the next chance I get, but I was wondering if the mucho experienced folks on the board had attempted this already. Obviously, I don't want to waste rehearsal time fooling around with something doomed to failure.

[wulf]

Doesn't that defeat the point of going ampless? Setting up the foldback so it acts like a bass amp sounds like it's just making life more complicated!

I like having my amp on stage (well, in the musicians area!) at church. I'm very conscientious about keeping the volume low enough so that it doesn't overwhelm everything else but it means I get to hear myself clearly with a good sound while no other bass needs to be sent back though the monitors, clearing up that mix.

If I'm playing fretless, where I want to be able to listen very carefully to the bass, I often use the headphone output on one of the amps. This kills my stage sound but means I can hear things clearly without affecting anyone else (in that situation, a bit of bass would then be sent in the monitor mix but I only play the fretless when I'm adding colour rather than 'driving the bus').

You could try it though - five minutes would be enough to give it a spin and maybe you'll find that your idea works for you and your group.

Wulf

[Joe Smithberger]

Actually, it's more complicated than just me hearing. Acoustic drums and 7' Steinway means that there has to be a certain amount of stage volume. We have no sound man, but everything goes through the mains - Synth, 3 vocs, 2 guitars, mics on drums and piano. There are no other amps except mine. Our monitor system isn't too too bad - crown power amp into two wedges (12 and horn but no bass response) and two Bullfrog Trap PA speakers used as wedges (some bass) run from a submixer next to the piano player. Because of phase cancelations and stuff, when I crank up my amp, I hear myself great, but the monitors sound like mud, the other players can't hear me well, and I'm huge in the room. When the drummer is using brushes, I could go ampless now and be OK because I hear enough of the mains to set a level. When we get going though, I am bigger in the mains than in the monitors.