Well, that's not : "no problem, I do this all the time"
. Also, I do not want to make any "
other programming mistakes". Hence my asking.
My goal is to have a bass sound that can be as loud as possible in the mix (well, obvious haha). Surprises in low content from the bass guitar might make a sound engineer grab the bass channel fader and bring it down
.
A good FOH and a soudcheck will solve problems beforehand, but I am not in a
major band and somethimes there's only 'line-check'...
I have experience gigging as guitarist, and mixing. I am a new bass convert so I cannot say "I do this all the time" yet.
guitar requires big changes in guitar tone from song to song, could range from a Marshall stack to a sparkly fender twin, easily from song to song. Much more varied than is typical for bass. But still with guitar you need to make sure to keep the levels consistent. Bass is a bit more complicated particularly because of the lower frequency spectrum you are in, its not hard to turn the whole room into mud if you aren't careful.
Its a good point you bring up about making sure you don't introduce crazy changes to the bass sound in the middle of a show. The reality is, most bands I have ever seen and played in, the bass is pretty much sticking to one sound for the whole show...or perhaps some subtle use of chorus or different amounts of distortion. They don't change the level much other then playing dynamics..and they don't mess with the EQ too much either particularly in the low and low-mid area. Its probably wise advice to follow a similar approach if you are going to setup a setlist of patches for a show. Stick to similar EQ output in the low and low-mid area in particular....and keep the levels consistent.
I like having all the amp models available while I am trying to dial in exactly what that bass sound should be for any particular band I might be playing in. Different situations might call for a Fender Bassman sound vs SVT, or a cleaner GK sound, etc. That doesn't necessarily mean changing from song to song throughout a single show.
But not to say, you can't do that too if you want to...but you just have to be more attentive to creating consistency across your patches in level and EQ in the low-mid area. The GT1B amp models aren't that far off from each other. The cab models are. The 360 amp model is indeed much woofier sounding. If you pulled that amp model into the middle of a show you would surprise everyone and probably anger FOH and the rest of the band. So don't do that.
You can easily get into this kind of trouble with or without more amp models. You can get into trouble with your EQ pedals alone. The Octave pedal or various other pedals all of which are capable of injecting EQ humps and level inconsistencies that will screw up the mix.
If you play without a modeler, you may have a few pedals...and you will probably not touch the controls on your amp head all night. It will be a fairly consistent sound..and FOH will certainly appreciate that set it and forget it bass tone.
With a modeler, the temptation is there to tweak all your patches and since you can just hit a foot switch to instantly change, its tempting to come up with wide sonic palette from song to song. Well I agree that can be problematic if too extreme..and you should be very careful about the levels and low-mid EQ for all the songs of any particular setlist for a show. Not everyone has the ears to do this. Using one set it and forget it sound is at least easy and consistent.
One other comment, this issue is not only related to FOH scenarios. If you are lucky enough to play with proper FOH support, then they will basically fix whatever stupid thing we might be doing with our amp in our quest to get the thumpiest sound we can get out of our amp. FOH will tame it down for the room...and rightly so. You probably wouldn't actually like the sound he/she is bringing through the PA to the audience.. Its tamed down for a reason. So yea if you go from super thumpier to less so for other songs...they may tame you down and then your other songs will sound wimpy...
But if you are playing without good FOH support..or perhaps even your bass is not even in the PA at all... Now the risk is that your big thumpy sound will literally turn the entire room into mud...because there is no wonderful FOH person there to tame it down for you.
Moral of the story? Don't try to create such huge thumpy monster best-bass-sound-of-all-time patches. Keep them more subtle.
I have been to see so many small band shows where the bass has turned the whole room into mud. If you think you will be playing without FOH a lot, then its on you to make sure your patches don't do that. And it might change from room to room. That's one reason I like the global EQ on the GT1000 for a quick fix for every room. But I got an external HPF that is actually probably quite enough for that task at least for keeping the extra low rumble out. you still have to watch out for not bringing in too much low-mid that will conflict with the drummer...at least don't do it inconsistently throughout any single show.
. The last soundguy did not recognize a SansAmp, this gave me the impression HE did not know what he was doing 
! (running a full PA in a small bar is asking for trouble anyways IMO)
. But my band is slowly shifting from sludge/doom to heavy shoegaze so my opinion might change. Regardless the GT1K feels like a swiss army knife that will do anything I will ever need.
. I now have a Pedaltrain Jr. that is half empty (half full..), it looks really big now.
