bass thru pa?

[bass dan]

i have noticed just about everyone prefers not to run the bass soley thru the pa. most everyone posts about bringing there rig and maybe running the di from the amp or mic'ing the cab. or using a pa with a sub.
i am only assuming that some of this is due to sheer volume needs or tone preference. i am not all that different, i use my combo amp and the di to the pa. now if i play upright bass i use a contra combo amp and use very little volume on it and get most my volume out of the pa. really only using the amp as a pre for my bass and a little thump behind me. when i play electric i usually only bring a sadowsky pre/di or in the past have used the sansamp bddi and no amp at all, just mains and monitor for sound.
my playing situation is a acoustic string band with no drums so the volumes are not thunderous and the venues are not very big. we have been using a peavey xr8600 powered mixer and some crappy berhinger 12's with a jbl jrx12m for a monitor. beleive it or not i have been really pleased with the sound and even the bass responce in this situation has not been bad.
things have been going so well for the band we decided to reward ourselves with some new speakers. we went with a pair of jbl mrx515's. i am hoping this makes things even better(specially since the speakers cost more than the rest of our pa crap put together). im hoping the 15's give us better bass response and cleaner sound all the way around. decided not to go with a sub for now.
does running the bass like this, in this format seem crazy? it makes me wonder because it seems no one else seems to be doing it this way. i realize everyone is in different playing situations that may call for big rigs or micro rigs or whatever on stage. i seem to get by and be rather happy just using the pa with no subs.
i have not gotten the speakers yet so i cant say how i like them but they have gotten great reviews from many people. i have not ruled out getting a sub in the future, but want to see how the 515's do before deciding on that.
does running thru the pa only seem crazy to you guys?

 

[hbarcat]

i have noticed just about everyone prefers not to run the bass soley thru the pa. most everyone posts about bringing there rig and maybe running the di from the amp or mic'ing the cab. or using a pa with a sub.
i am only assuming that some of this is due to sheer volume needs or tone preference. i am not all that different, i use my combo amp and the di to the pa. now if i play upright bass i use a contra combo amp and use very little volume on it and get most my volume out of the pa. really only using the amp as a pre for my bass and a little thump behind me. when i play electric i usually only bring a sadowsky pre/di or in the past have used the sansamp bddi and no amp at all, just mains and monitor for sound.
my playing situation is a acoustic string band with no drums so the volumes are not thunderous and the venues are not very big. we have been using a peavey xr8600 powered mixer and some crappy berhinger 12's with a jbl jrx12m for a monitor. beleive it or not i have been really pleased with the sound and even the bass responce in this situation has not been bad.
things have been going so well for the band we decided to reward ourselves with some new speakers. we went with a pair of jbl mrx515's. i am hoping this makes things even better(specially since the speakers cost more than the rest of our pa crap put together). im hoping the 15's give us better bass response and cleaner sound all the way around. decided not to go with a sub for now.
does running the bass like this, in this format seem crazy? it makes me wonder because it seems no one else seems to be doing it this way. i realize everyone is in different playing situations that may call for big rigs or micro rigs or whatever on stage. i seem to get by and be rather happy just using the pa with no subs.
i have not gotten the speakers yet so i cant say how i like them but they have gotten great reviews from many people. i have not ruled out getting a sub in the future, but want to see how the 515's do before deciding on that.
does running thru the pa only seem crazy to you guys?

The new JBL's you got seem pretty well suited for what you're trying to do considering you're not after a lot of volume. A rock band is going to need subs but if you don't need the extra punch then you shouldn't bother with the extra Pain In The Butt of subs (and the crossovers, electronics and amps that go along with it).

Actually, my classic rock band sometimes uses only our 3 way 15" PA mains for driving the bass and drums (when we don't have space or desire to bring the subs) and it's enough as long as we stay disciplined with our stage volume.

Since you guys are running quieter than we are there is no reason why you can't get away with just DI and no stage sound for the bass.

 

[T-Bird]

Hi.

For gigs like You describe, I'd do it just like you do.

The problem usually isn't the bass player not hearing the bass, but the other musicians, especially the drummer. The bass rig is the bands bass foldback as well as the back-line.

Having a low stage volume and full FOH control usually rewards You and the audience with a balanced and pleasant overall sound. Even if the individual levels aren't just spot on.

The reason that the approach is often frowned upon is simply because people don't give it a chance, or they just don't know better .

Regards
Sam

 

[RDUB]

I do a piano/bass/vocal trio gig regularly, and I often just go through the PA. It's quiet enough on stage that I don't need more than that to hear myself, even with limited monitors on stage.

It doesn't work for gigs with drummers, though. I've had to go the DI only route in my rock band before when my amp blew - and that really sucked. Nothing beats the kick in the butt from your amp to make the groove happen.

And as T-Bird said about front of house - you'll make any sound man VERY happy with a low stage and monitor volume. Then they don't have to compete to make you sound great out front!

 

[bass dan]

thanks for the replies guys. it eases my mind to know doing it this way is not out of bounds. part of my concern is that i have somehow become the soundman for oue band. a job i dont mind trying to tackle but if im going to be spending our bands money on gear i want to make sure im not wasting it.
this is why i went with the mrx series from jbl. seemed i could not find anyone on any forum or else were that had complaints about that speaker for foh.
upon researching and researching it seemed to me the first thing that needed to be addressed was speakers. we have been playing thru berhringer 12's as mains. hopfully the 515's will put to rest a need to upgrade for a long time. my next move is going to be to replace our jbl jrx monitor with a better quality speaker, possibly a mrx 12.
my next concern is maybe getting a 31 band dual eq. im not sure i can use it with a powered mixer like the xr8600. i would like to keep it simple and stay with the powered mixer at this point instead of a mixer with amps, x-overs,processers and all the other stuff that will surely follow. does anyone have experience useing a 31 band eq with a powered mixer? i would not be opposed to adding that next if it would work with that mixer. the xr8600 has very limited eq, which really is not that big a deal but would be nice to have more flexability.

 

[modulusman]

Hi Dan, You can use a graphic EQ with your mixer. I would go with a stereo 31 or 15 band EQ. Use one side for mains the other for monitors. On the 8600 you have some outputs on the bottom right corner labeled monitor and main. Run a shielded patch cable out from here into the EQ then out of the EQ to the jacks labeled power amp in. If you don't have an xr8600 owners manual you can download one on the Peavey website.

 

[bass dan]

i do have the manuel that i downloaded off the peavey site. i think i see what your saying. do you think there would be much to gain in adding a 15 or 31 band eq, or would the on board one do a good enough job? obviously there would be something to gain like control over many more frequencies. i basically leave our eq flat and my ear is not trained enough to know what to do with a eq outside of eliminating feedback. i would like to gain some experience with eq'ing so maybe getting one would be in a step in the right direction.

 

[modulusman]

If you havn't been having much problem with feedback then you probably can get by without a graphic EQ. For the most part the graphic EQs on powered mixers are kind of an after thought, as in they work but not real well.