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Are bass amps obsolete?
- Thread starter sanwin17
- Start date
These days I’m only using my amp 10% of the time. I’ve got a MXR Bass Preamp+ on my pedalboard and I always have my MXR M-81 Bass Preamp in my case. I really don’t miss having my amp on stage.
Step one, back away from any "presets" in your mixer. You stand a much better chance of making things sound good without them than with them. Set the gain level, then EQ to taste. If you don't have an understanding of compression/limiting/gates etc. then don't feel obligated to use them. There's a good chance most of the presets have significant "stuff" going on. Use your ears...it's really no different than dialing in an amp/cabinet. You have to listen/know what you're starting with from a tone perspective in order to get to something different. It's very much akin to someone buying the latest and greatest modelling device, then being mad because it doesn't make them sound good with the presets out of the box. Presets can't account for the wild varieties of things going into the input of the device, so getting good results involves getting to know the details of what's going on so you can adjust things to get your desired results.
Assuming you have program music available (something you know sounds good) and the PA replicates it without issue....concentrate on working with the channel EQ until you can approximate the tone you're looking for. When dialing in a sound system, however, there's a lot more advanced stuff to get into like "slotting" the EQ's to create space for instruments in the overall mix. Guitars/bass/vocals/keys all have a lot going on in the same frequency bands, which leads to big piles of mush if you just "turn them up" and expect a mix to work. Depending on content, you may find that individual instruments don't sound as good solo, but "work" when the full band is playing. Then you can start applying other "processing"...it really is a deep rabbit-hole. Fun when you start getting it though
Haven't had a chance to read the entire thread yet, but I couldn't play without an amp. We bring our own PA, since none of the bars or parties we play at have sound gear, and the gear we use is pretty much for vocals and accoustic instruments.
Looking back, in the almost four decades I've been gigging off and on, I played through FOH once, at an outdoor festival. Jumped onstage, plugged my amp head into the board and played. It was heaven!
Looking back, in the almost four decades I've been gigging off and on, I played through FOH once, at an outdoor festival. Jumped onstage, plugged my amp head into the board and played. It was heaven!
It’s your job as a band to play as well as possible and the sound guy’s to capture it. Many sound guy’s are dicks. Many sound guy’s are cool. A group I was in played the same bar two different times with two different sound men. One guy loved the fact that we set up differently than most bands. Guitar, bass drums sax/keys in a semi circle sort of half facing each other for visual cues. The other hated that we weren’t drums in the back, three guitars across the front, memorize when to put your fingers where, press start and play. The point is, the second guy was a lazy dick. Actually, the point is set up the same as you practice and practice how you set up to play out. Let the sound guy do his/her job and you do yours. There are enough variables (nerves) to worry about. All that said we played tiny combo amps and could load in in one trip. Ha!
Fender Rumble is a good choice. I wasn't pleasantly surprised when playing through one at a jam.
New Years of this year was the first time I played without a cab
was great until 2 or three songs from the end of the night my in ear pack died .
I played the last three or so songs sitting beside our Drummer listening to his giant drum fill .
Really funny but think I will drag my cab back out for the next gig
Should also add both of our guitar players are not running cabs
and it sounds awesome in the pa .
Cab simulators work great .
was great until 2 or three songs from the end of the night my in ear pack died .
I played the last three or so songs sitting beside our Drummer listening to his giant drum fill .
Really funny but think I will drag my cab back out for the next gig
Should also add both of our guitar players are not running cabs
and it sounds awesome in the pa .
Cab simulators work great .
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I don't want the FOH guy changing my tone. I want him to spend a couple of minutes in front of the stage so he can hear what we want the audience to hear.Having a quality personal monitor helps me give a good performance. I see no contradiction here.
I remember being at Billy Bob's in Fort Worth (an enormous honky tonk) and the Bellamy Brothers were playing. The lead guitarist was playing his heart out and to the band it sounded great. The guy was extremely good. But if you stepped back fifty feet or so you could not hear one single note he was playing. The FOH guy was an idiot.
Wouldn't be a "Dick's Last Resort" by any chance, would it?
Bet there wasn't much dancing going on there, huh?
I think all these guys that b atch about FOH guys should try being one .
I am both bass player and tech and find most of the time guys come in with an SVT and don't know how to dial it in properly for the room or have crappy flabby tone that just clutters up the mix .
Or play to loud thinking they can fill a large room with a bass amp when all they are doing is screwing up the monitor mix and forcing everyone to play too loud .
Usually with a lead singer who sings as loud as a little girl and has the whole band bleeding through there vocal mic .
rant rant rant
Pro's just get the job done in any situation amp no amp whatever floats your boat .
I am both bass player and tech and find most of the time guys come in with an SVT and don't know how to dial it in properly for the room or have crappy flabby tone that just clutters up the mix .
Or play to loud thinking they can fill a large room with a bass amp when all they are doing is screwing up the monitor mix and forcing everyone to play too loud .
Usually with a lead singer who sings as loud as a little girl and has the whole band bleeding through there vocal mic .
rant rant rant
Pro's just get the job done in any situation amp no amp whatever floats your boat .
I'll be your huckleberry!
FOH stands for Front of House......that is to say the main sound reinforcement system (P.A.)!!
Amen brother! Sure am glad that I’m not the only one.
I was somewhat kidding, although you really have to stick to certain musical genre to get some gigs nowadays. I think playing upright is super useful too.
I did not change my address but I recently moved from Tahoe to the Caribbean. So instead of having 4 ft of snow around my house right now, I am in short and teeshirt living by the water.
I get how much you love your tone, because I love mine, too. In your honor I played tonight's practice session through my Ampeg PF-20T and a 1x15 cabinet. An all-tube amp into a tweeterless cab is just such a lovely sound that's impossible to achieve with a dry DI. Either the Ampeg's transformer-balanced line out, and/or a mic in front of the 15" would have sounded amazing through front-of-house at any venue. (But tonight it was just me at home with the cat.)
Maybe generational, but I have issues playing without at least a 2X10 or 1X15 cabinet hugging me on stage. Of course back when I started the bassist had to carry the house, so functionally you proviďed your own PA. Cant say that I or my back miss the wall of cabs, but i do miss the immediacy.
More rencently i had played in rotation at my church. Some time in they were transitioning to DI boxes. I begged a combo amp with a line out so at least i could tweak my own tone and then turn the amp down. Eventually the amp went away, and as I play passive basses, my tone sucked. We parted ways.
The FOH guys, no matter how skilled, don't know what tone you are shooting for, and with the broad spectrum of music in most sets tonal needs change from song to song. I'm old, half deaf and no doubt set in my ways. So don't screw with the one thing I can offer, enjoy doing and take all the fun out of it.
More rencently i had played in rotation at my church. Some time in they were transitioning to DI boxes. I begged a combo amp with a line out so at least i could tweak my own tone and then turn the amp down. Eventually the amp went away, and as I play passive basses, my tone sucked. We parted ways.
The FOH guys, no matter how skilled, don't know what tone you are shooting for, and with the broad spectrum of music in most sets tonal needs change from song to song. I'm old, half deaf and no doubt set in my ways. So don't screw with the one thing I can offer, enjoy doing and take all the fun out of it.
Depends on the type of music, I always have a Bass Amp on stage, can't have I don't play.
Right us mortals never get stage monitors for Bass, you hit it right on the note.
