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Ampeg V4 Overpowering Guitars in band, need advice

#81
If there's a separate room connected to the rehearsal space, I'd try sticking the bass amp in there. Maybe open the door a bit. Or drape a heavy blanket in front of the speaker cab.

If it's an active bass, try switching to passive mode.

Don't take this the wrong way, but: I remember worrying about getting my tone during rehearsal. That was a long time ago. For the band I'm in now, the priorities are to nail our parts and make sure the vocals are good. Since we practice quietly enough that the singers barely need microphones, I don't bother with any of my amps during rehearsal but just plug into a PA channel.

This is a working band, though. When we play live, we're plenty loud. If I were in a band that spent all its time rehearsing rather than gigging, I'd definitely want get my tone during rehearsal. Otherwise, where's the fun in rehearsing?
 
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#84
kastro64 said:
I haven't tried this with a different speaker cable or with head off the cab. Will give it a shot. Def non-speakon. I've tried a ton of different EQ already, posted about 3. The biggest reason I don't think its the head is bc the tech is highly highly respected in my community and is known to take his time with work. Dan Russell. Is it possible? Surely, but I'd like to limit that to the end. Especially since it was serviced less than 6 months ago. I would have everyone get louder but then you get the singer/diva guy that shows up to practice sometimes start to complain that he cant hear his vox -_-.
Sorry you feel that way man, but I think I've been pretty open minded all around about options. I may have shot down "Turn Down", but its not that simple. I wish it were.
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Best techs in the world might get something wrong once in their lives ;). The last thing I'm (and I assume everyone else who brought this up) is saying is your tech is a horrible one and no one should ever trust their amp to him... I think all that has been said is to have him check it again or seek a second opinion. JimmyM knows his Ampeg stuff I believe, so if he is saying they don't usually sound like that at the settings you have, I'd trust him.

I threw the speaker jack / moving the head off the cab one in there because I've actually had that happen. Drummer suggested I move the head off the cab because he thought it was actually vibrating on the top causing the sound we were hearing. Didn't fix it directly, but the slightly more sideways force on the speaker cable caused better contact with the 1/4" jack and everything was fine. Eventually 1+1=2 and replacing the jacks fixed it for good. Making sure you didn't accidentally use an instrument cable instead of a speaker cable is a darn good suggestion too. I've done that once myself... yep, just once. :oops:
 
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#85
kastro64 said:
I could turn down below 2, but then forget any sort of overdriven tone, or tone at all. Its a 500 watt cab, and in pretty damn good condition too. Not really the answer I'm looking for.
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That sounds like the sort of logic that drives me nuts when I hear guitar players say that... "but I need to be this loud to get my tone!"...
As the bass player, your job is to serve the music and be supportive, not stand out with your tonal brilliance. If sacrificing tone for the sake of volume helps you practice better, and in turn makes the music better, it's just selfish to not adhere to that because of YOUR tone needs (definitely not saying you're selfish here... just generalizing).

Gotta think in terms of the team or the band. As bass players, we're like the offensive line in Football. Most people won't know your name. They won't care what color your cleats are or who you're dating in the outside world (translation: what your tone is) but if you keep that QB protected, you've done your job (translation: do whatever it takes to serve the music)... Ok, that analogy was definitely a reach, but I think it illustrates my point somewhat.

My $0.02

"Not really the answer I'm looking for"... Well, why don't you just tell us what the answer is that you're looking for, we can cut to the chase and say it back to you, then you'll have the exact answer you're looking for.
 
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#94
silky smoove said:
Several pages ago I suggested that he turn the volume of his bass down, but the idea didn't seem to get any traction.
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That's because I believe there's actually something wrong with his rig somewhere that turning down his bass isn't going to fix. No way he should be distorting even a little with those settings he's showing us.
 
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#97
JimmyM said:
That's because I believe there's actually something wrong with his rig somewhere that turning down his bass isn't going to fix. No way he should be distorting even a little with those settings he's showing us.
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100% this. ~20% throttle on this rig should not be causing the speakers to fail, something else is wrong. I don't know how much more this guy is supposed to turn down.
 
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#98
JimmyM said:
That's because I believe there's actually something wrong with his rig somewhere that turning down his bass isn't going to fix. No way he should be distorting even a little with those settings he's showing us.
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I have the same amp. jimmy is 100% correct. no way that should be distorting. I have 6550 tubes in mine and i can go to about 11 o'clock before it starts to break up. Tech time. Maybe take your rig with you and demo it for the tech to hear?
 
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