Here is what has worked for me and I what I would suggest.
Next time you are about to play a gig, show up as early as possible.
Set up and have the sound guy come over and hear your rig. Tell him that this is your sound and this is what you want the audience to hear.
Give him a line from your D.I. as clean as possible from E.Q. and after your effects(provided that this is possible).
Then reset your E.Q. on your rig and use your rig as a monitor, the sound that you are going after is not your sound but a sound that you will be able to cleanly hear yourself on stage. In your case I wouldn't use the 18 cab and go for less lows and especially less low mids(these muddy stuff up).
Another good thing is to isolate your cab from the floor and have it at ear level if possible. I had a gig some time ago and the floor(wooden and hollow) picked up some of my lows and vibrated as well and it made me sound ridiculously sharp. You don't have to use pro equipment for that either.
A sturdy table or chair or even a hard bass drum case could work as long it can support your cab and keep it from falling off it.
By that point you should have made your rig sound punchy enough for you to hear yourself clearly on stage.Try avoid also using a monitor for yourself(you already have your rig for that.) If any band member needs you in their monitors try to cater their needs with you rig(volume and position).Ideally you want your stage volume to be as low as possible.
I even had gigs that I did this and told the soundman to do whatever he wanted with the P.A. sound since he knew what worked better for the room(I knew I would hear myself on stage no matter what.). All of them seemed surprised with the newfound concept of ''trust''. I have to admit though, that there have been a couple of times that they went with really weird choices, for example I played my P with flats once and the soundguy assumed I wanted a really dubby sound. Man I shook windows that night and even though it was fun, it wasn't I was going after. Sure enough there were guys coming up to me telling me that they have never heard a more massive bass sound in this venue
Keep one thing in mind though for my advice. Keeping stage volume as low as possible and having bandmates that share this mentality(I am looking at you drummers and guitar players) is the key to success. I know that this might not be the case especially in rock gigs.
If this doesn't work for you I would not suggest you to turn to micing your cab.Sometimes this can be an even worse hassle that most of the time won't even worth the trouble.(Tons of bad experience here). Instead I would suggest using in ear monitors. This would solve the ''I can't hear myself problem'' for you and your bandmates once and for all, even though it might take a while to getting adjusted to that. I had one of the most carefree gigs with just a D.I. and in-ears. Everybody said we sounded awesome and it took around 5 minutes to put my setup together and 5 to take it apart and go home. And did I mention each band member had the mix they wanted of the rest of the band in their ears?
Next time you are about to play a gig, show up as early as possible.
Set up and have the sound guy come over and hear your rig. Tell him that this is your sound and this is what you want the audience to hear.
Give him a line from your D.I. as clean as possible from E.Q. and after your effects(provided that this is possible).
Then reset your E.Q. on your rig and use your rig as a monitor, the sound that you are going after is not your sound but a sound that you will be able to cleanly hear yourself on stage. In your case I wouldn't use the 18 cab and go for less lows and especially less low mids(these muddy stuff up).
Another good thing is to isolate your cab from the floor and have it at ear level if possible. I had a gig some time ago and the floor(wooden and hollow) picked up some of my lows and vibrated as well and it made me sound ridiculously sharp. You don't have to use pro equipment for that either.
A sturdy table or chair or even a hard bass drum case could work as long it can support your cab and keep it from falling off it.
By that point you should have made your rig sound punchy enough for you to hear yourself clearly on stage.Try avoid also using a monitor for yourself(you already have your rig for that.) If any band member needs you in their monitors try to cater their needs with you rig(volume and position).Ideally you want your stage volume to be as low as possible.
I even had gigs that I did this and told the soundman to do whatever he wanted with the P.A. sound since he knew what worked better for the room(I knew I would hear myself on stage no matter what.). All of them seemed surprised with the newfound concept of ''trust''. I have to admit though, that there have been a couple of times that they went with really weird choices, for example I played my P with flats once and the soundguy assumed I wanted a really dubby sound. Man I shook windows that night and even though it was fun, it wasn't I was going after. Sure enough there were guys coming up to me telling me that they have never heard a more massive bass sound in this venue
Keep one thing in mind though for my advice. Keeping stage volume as low as possible and having bandmates that share this mentality(I am looking at you drummers and guitar players) is the key to success. I know that this might not be the case especially in rock gigs.
If this doesn't work for you I would not suggest you to turn to micing your cab.Sometimes this can be an even worse hassle that most of the time won't even worth the trouble.(Tons of bad experience here). Instead I would suggest using in ear monitors. This would solve the ''I can't hear myself problem'' for you and your bandmates once and for all, even though it might take a while to getting adjusted to that. I had one of the most carefree gigs with just a D.I. and in-ears. Everybody said we sounded awesome and it took around 5 minutes to put my setup together and 5 to take it apart and go home. And did I mention each band member had the mix they wanted of the rest of the band in their ears?
