1x15 too bassy?

[carlosjrf]

As others have said:

• Raise cab off floor
• Bass down
• Mids up
• Use IEM's if all else fails and let the sound guy worry about FOH

I wish. Everything is from the amps.

 

[carlosjrf]

If you can’t hear definition and others are saying too loud.

1. Get the cab up off the floor. Especially if it is a riser or stage. Touching the floor will cause the floor to amplify the mud.
2. Check the position in the room. Bass wavelengths are measured in feet, so if you are near a corner or wall you could be dealing with interference. Try a different location and point it at your head. Also try to get a bit of distance from your cab and move around a bit to see if you are in a spot with interference. You might find a location for either the cab or you to help yourself hear.
3. It’s probably the boomy voicing of the preamp or cabinet. Could also be the room. As mentioned above, trim bass and treble and boost the mids.
4. If the room is still boomy a high pass filter set between 30 and as high as 80 might make a big difference.
5. Many amateur musicians aren’t used to hearing anyone else play and feel like they need to only hear themselves. It could be that your volume is just fine to them, but they still don’t like it. Again, point your amp at your head.

If all of the above don’t work, I’m not convinced a 10” speaker set will help, though maybe a separate preamp pedal sent in through the effects loop return (if available) could help. Worth trying instead of getting an alternate amp to try.

Thank you and everyone else for the tips. Feels like i have things i can work with here.

Yesterday I cut some bass, boosted mids, trebel flat. Someone mentioned turning on the tweeter (horn?) and i was pretty sure it was on, but it wasn’t. It actually sounded a bit better. The amp is next to a wall. I rotated i bit out and also help a bit.

I am an amateur musician myself. Its funny because the guitarist had been in a band for 30yrs. Initially he was standing towards the middle of the stage and he would say i was fine and if the others said i was too loud just cut the volume a bit on the bass for rehearsals and then boost when actually playing. Now he is next to me and is also complaining about being too loud. Oh well.

 

[2saddleslab]

Another vote for a HPF. The most essential part of my rig.

 

[Bonecat]

FWIW, the Mesa Subway 115 is perhaps the most versatile 115 I’ve ever played through. Solid, but “fast” and remarkably articulate. That cab has some magic in it…

 

[Ggaa]

Another vote for a HPF. The most essential part of my rig.

Thank you and everyone else for the tips. Feels like i have things i can work with here.

Yesterday I cut some bass, boosted mids, trebel flat. Someone mentioned turning on the tweeter (horn?) and i was pretty sure it was on, but it wasn’t. It actually sounded a bit better. The amp is next to a wall. I rotated i bit out and also help a bit.

I am an amateur musician myself. Its funny because the guitarist had been in a band for 30yrs. Initially he was standing towards the middle of the stage and he would say i was fine and if the others said i was too loud just cut the volume a bit on the bass for rehearsals and then boost when actually playing. Now he is next to me and is also complaining about being too loud. Oh well.

I try to stick my amp behind and next to the drummer on the hat side of the kit(or best possible). If he can hear me, that's enough. Usually the other guys tell me to turn up if they say anything.

 

[carlosjrf]

I try to stick my amp behind and next to the drummer on the hat side of the kit(or best possible). If he can hear me, that's enough. Usually the other guys tell me to turn up if they say anything.

I think the stage was built not ever thinking a band was going to play there. The drummer is set at the other side of the wall where the amp is usually set. I honestly don’t know if he can hear me so i will ask on sunday.

 

[FearNoEvil65]

Lifting the amp off the floor, or using some sort of decoupling like the Auralex GRAMMA v2 Isolation Riser which is expensive, but even if it's a piece of acoustic foam under the amp or even a thick folded towel, getting the amp off the floor (if it's a hard floor not a carpet) will help a lot.
I have the Rumble 200 and all my basses sound great through it, not muddy at all. I do use fresh roundwound strings also, not a fan of flats.
I don't use any of the presets (contour, bright and especially not vintage) and I generally use the 10,2,2,10 setting on the EQ depending on the room acoustics.
That being said, other amp brands have nice tones also and some people prefer them,nothing wrong with that. The Rumble's are inexpensive.
Good luck!

 

[waveman]

Rumble amps are super bassy by nature. I had a Rumble 500 for a time as my second gigging amp, I played through a Rumble 40 at a practice place. First thing is EQ. Turn the Bass almost all the way down to about 8-9 o'clock. Turn the low mids to about 10 o'clock, turn the high mids to about noon-1 o'clock, and treble to about 1-3 o'clock.

The other thing that helped I bypassed the XLR out on the Rumble 40 and used a Tech 21 Sansamp to the board for that setup.

 

[carlosjrf]

Rumble amps are super bassy by nature. I had a Rumble 500 for a time as my second gigging amp, I played through a Rumble 40 at a practice place. First thing is EQ. Turn the Bass almost all the way down to about 8-9 o'clock. Turn the low mids to about 10 o'clock, turn the high mids to about noon-1 o'clock, and treble to about 1-3 o'clock.

The other thing that helped I bypassed the XLR out on the Rumble 40 and used a Tech 21 Sansamp to the board for that setup.

No board to connect to. All amp. I’m going to play with the eq a bit more with the ideas given.

 

[LowTorque]

Rumble amps are super bassy by nature. I had a Rumble 500 for a time as my second gigging amp, I played through a Rumble 40 at a practice place. First thing is EQ. Turn the Bass almost all the way down to about 8-9 o'clock. Turn the low mids to about 10 o'clock, turn the high mids to about noon-1 o'clock, and treble to about 1-3 o'clock.

The other thing that helped I bypassed the XLR out on the Rumble 40 and used a Tech 21 Sansamp to the board for that setup.

If I'd set my rumble 800 to those settings at rehearsal I'd get myself fired.

 

[waveman]

If I'd set my rumble 800 to those settings at rehearsal I'd get myself fired.

Well, it's all about the room, sound reinforcement, instrument, and the person... everyone is different. It never crossed my mind to run my Rumble 500 that way when I had it. I got rid of it because it was too bassy. Got Peavey MiniMax 500 as a backup instead, much better for "my" tones

 

[tshapiro]

Thank you and everyone else for the tips. Feels like i have things i can work with here.

Yesterday I cut some bass, boosted mids, trebel flat. Someone mentioned turning on the tweeter (horn?) and i was pretty sure it was on, but it wasn’t. It actually sounded a bit better. The amp is next to a wall. I rotated i bit out and also help a bit.

I am an amateur musician myself. Its funny because the guitarist had been in a band for 30yrs. Initially he was standing towards the middle of the stage and he would say i was fine and if the others said i was too loud just cut the volume a bit on the bass for rehearsals and then boost when actually playing. Now he is next to me and is also complaining about being too loud. Oh well.

Only because you mentioned you are an amateur musician, could be your sense of stage volume hears your bass a little too loud. In other words, maybe you’re too loud Might be that you need some in ears (maybe just have one in) to give you the little boost in volume for you to hear. As a pro musician for over 30 years, I do notice that my proper stage level is not what I want to hear because I want myself louder. That’s I follow my own advice and supplement with in ears. Just a suggestion.

 

[carlosjrf]

Only because you mentioned you are an amateur musician, could be your sense of stage volume hears your bass a little too loud. In other words, maybe you’re too loud Might be that you need some in ears (maybe just have one in) to give you the little boost in volume for you to hear. As a pro musician for over 30 years, I do notice that my proper stage level is not what I want to hear because I want myself louder. That’s I follow my own advice and supplement with in ears. Just a suggestion.

I’ve been told turn it down to where sometimes i can heart very well, but being it too bassy is a different issues, which is what my post is about. Can’t use in ears, no set up for it. Acoustics are miced up and electrics are all from amps on stage.

 

[pepj]

Depends on your overall tone goals.
For me, they are typically too much but I'm sure I could tame it if I had one on stage.
I have a 310 that is too much, but a decent amp and bass set up will get you there, almost.

People..including makers.. confuse bass with tone.

 

[carlosjrf]

Thanks all for the ideas. The 10-2-2-10 thing made a difference. Still working on positioning, but i can work with this now. Appreciate the help.

 

[spiritbass]

Another vote for a HPF. The most essential part of my rig.

It truly is a crucial tool to bring out the frequencies that you can hear and get you heard. Rolling off the lows is the key to emphasizing your mid and high range. It also increases your headroom - lows take a LOT of power to amplify. Essentially, you're delivering the power to where it is needed when tuning the roll-off frequency on your HPF of choice.

 

[Thunderthumbs73]

Hello. Been part of the church band for past 3 months. Having lots of fun.

I play a pbass. We have a fender rumble 200 with the 15” speaker. The more i play the less i like the 15. Granted im not able to listen to the band when playing, but remember not being a fan of the tone before joining. Too bassy that im not able to hear the notes in the mix and not sure they are projecting well.

The rest of the band usually dont have opinions but are always saying im too loud when warming up but never say anything about when actually playing. To me sounds ok. But thats a convo for another day.

I tried cutting the bass the last couple of weeks and boosting the mids, a bit better but meh. How can i improve the tone so i feel it sounds better? I wish we had a 2x10.

I'm not a fan of 15s. It's why I bought the Rumble 500 with 2x10 and tweeter configuration. For me, it's not that 15s are exactly "too bassy", but they lack the sonic detail and kind of sound in the higher frequency spectrum of every note that I like that some configuration that has at least 2 ten-inch speakers (or more) is more likely to deliver. A 1x15 that has a tweeter is not great either, but the tweeter adds enough top end detail that is acceptable.

 

[bassfreakah]

Yes just get the cab amp up off the floor. And keep it out of the corner of the room if you can. These are just suggestions tho. Dont use any of the mid scoop settings. Imho

 

[carlosjrf]

I'm not a fan of 15s. It's why I bought the Rumble 500 with 2x10 and tweeter configuration. For me, it's not that 15s are exactly "too bassy", but they lack the sonic detail and kind of sound in the higher frequency spectrum of every note that I like that some configuration that has at least 2 ten-inch speakers (or more) is more likely to deliver. A 1x15 that has a tweeter is not great either, but the tweeter adds enough top end detail that is acceptable.

If I had to bring my own amp it definitely would be a 2x10 of some sort for the same reasons.

 

[carlosjrf]

It truly is a crucial tool to bring out the frequencies that you can hear and get you heard. Rolling off the lows is the key to emphasizing your mid and high range. It also increases your headroom - lows take a LOT of power to amplify. Essentially, you're delivering the power to where it is needed when tuning the roll-off frequency on your HPF of choice.

definitely doing the 10-2-2-10 thing has worked. Although i have the treble at 11-12.