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Cutting through live in a metal band

#61
Mystic Michael said:
Right. And that reason is because the SVT has been around for something like 45 years, it was the first widely-available, mass-produced, high-volume rig of its kind...and especially because people are such creatures of habit that it never occurs to most of them that the state of the art in bass amplification might have progressed somewhat since the time when it was introduced to market. :rollno:

MM
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You know, I'm really sick of this attitude so many people have that we're all under some mass hypnosis from decades of seeing Ampeg 810's and we don't have any clue what we're doing and we just pick it because we saw people on TV using them. I have played PLENTY of other cabs, including 3-way cabs (not like they weren't around forever, too), and I use the 810 because I like it better. Period. We could go a very long way without the smarminess, thank you very much.
 
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#62
One of the projects I do, is kinda desert rock mud sledge metal crap...Im very bias to post punk, very very bright bass sound, so I struggle with it. I play with blue steels, and a dean and or spector, both are pretty bright basses, the dean has more mids. I only use DI, no mics. Our guitarist plays with really heavy strings, low eq all the way up, so I let him have those frequencies and eq above him. I boost at 2khz to 5khz on both my amps, and then at 40 to 60hz (below the kick primary at 80hz.) I notch at 250hz to 800hz (where the guitar is and normally shouldnt be) Were downtuned to drop C#. I make sure my di outs are POST EQ. If you have crappy amps, get a DI and eq pedal. I end up being pretty mid dominate (1k to 5k) but it cuts across the mix beautifully.

Also, If im playing a club with a typical sound guy that will make my bass nothing but low muddy mess (aka a typical ampeg sound) in the mains. Ill turn up my lows during sound check so he dosnt add so much in and then turn them back down at the start of the set.

 
#63
JimmyM said:
You know, I'm really sick of this attitude so many people have that we're all under some mass hypnosis from decades of seeing Ampeg 810's and we don't have any clue what we're doing and we just pick it because we saw people on TV using them. I have played PLENTY of other cabs, including 3-way cabs (not like they weren't around forever, too), and I use the 810 because I like it better. Period. We could go a very long way without the smarminess, thank you very much.
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And I'm sick of this idiotic, but incredibly stubborn notion, that because the SVT was the first rig of its kind, and has remained popular since it was introduced more than 40 years ago, it automatically establishes the SVT as some kind of "gold standard" in modern bass amp quality & performance. Sheer, simple-minded nonsense; the "ad populum" fallacy all over again: "One hundred thousand people can't be wrong!", etc. Sure they can. Happens all the time.

Now for someone who doesn't just follow the herd, but keeps an open mind and listens critically, then chooses an SVT rig for his needs, well and fine. That's the way to do it. But when it comes to the SVT, that's very often not the way it happens. Quite the contrary.

In any event, I reckon that you personally would be one of the exceptions to the rule, Jim Bob. As you have approached your decision mindfully - an approach that is by no means widespread or commonplace, IME...

MM
 
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#65
fundamental tone differences between trace elliot users and ampeg users. ;) its all good. but most peggers do seem to favor low end over tone and clarity. they can be fun, like riding a moped....fun until your friends catch you. although I do give a nod to silver sun pickups for actually getting halfway decent bass tones out of an ampeg. and on the flipside, oasis has managed to get a muddy mess of bass tone out of TE so its a crazy world.
 
#69
yes, there have been some minor design and technology improvements in speakers in the past 45 years, but they are not used in mass market bass speakers. check the price difference between replacing your markbass or whatever bass speaker drivers with high end jbl pro sound speakers.
 
#70
to the original post- the only way i have found to cut through any guitarists, is to make sounds they cannot interfere with. that way, your amp does not compete with anything. the majority of my tone is from 30-100 hz. guitars don't go that low, some go down to 100hz, but my 100hz is clean and clear, it stands out from their 100hz simply by having a different character therefore calling attention to itself. most of my treble sound is from 900hz-4khz. there is guitar there also, but dirty and distorted. my treble is so clear it pokes right through all the fizz and chainsaw noise of any guitarist. have you ever put on fresh strings and played with no amp with a pick in a quiet room ? notice that silky beautiful zing when your pick scrapes the strings as you play ? you can hear the pick scrape every wind on the string. thats what i hear onstage. you can put 2 marshall full stacks cranked next to my amp and they cannot cover up that sound. i did not buy those two horns in my photo to look cool, or just to have something expensive. nothing else made for consumer bassists would reproduce what i was looking for so i had to go find it myself.
 
#71
our second bassist wants to change from the electric bass to guitar, which should be fine, because i'm assuming that putting the nickels back on the sb-2 will place it under the guitars space, but i'm sure the vintage L2k finger styled will in no way clash with the guitar, i overdrive the L2K and use the rat tail with the sb-2 for a hard clip bassy abrasive tone
 
#72
pick, picking style, strings, bass and amp/preamp seem to have more effect on tone and cutting through the guitardists crap than the cabinet design. Not to say that it dosnt effect it, but to a certain extent, a bass driver is a bass driver
 

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