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Different volumes for different notes in practice room

N

Notic3

Jul 11, 2006
11
0
Porto, Portugal
www.youtube.com
#1
Ok, I hope someone can help me with my situation. I rarely post something here but this is my reference website when it comes to the bass.

After a long time playing with one guitarist, and then two guitarists, in their basements with our practice combos, we are finally a 5 piece band with our own isolated practice room.

In there, both guitarists have some huge amps (like 80 or 90watts, I really don't know), but I have to mic my 25w lil'Dean Markley "old as f*ck" to the PA so we can hear my bass playing trough the soundspeakers (where the voice also comes).

It has "worked" in about 4/5 rehearsals, but last night something weird happened.

After some playing I've noticed that the closer I got to the middle of the neck, the louder my bass got.

I tested this by playing with the exact same technique in the 1st, 3rd, 5th, 9th fret in all 4 strings and the volume on the 5th was like the double of the 1st and 9th. Fortunately the rehearsal was coming to an end, so I just played very smoothly on the middle of the neck.

I consider myself to be an advanced bass player in terms of technique, but I'm a complete ignorant when it comes to the "electronic" aspect of playing music (I never cared for it, all I was interested was to improve my playing).

On another note, how can I "regulate" the intensity of the sound, from the E and A strings to the lighter ones? When the sound comes out of the combo, all volumes are "equal" on the strings, but trough the PA the E and A string are much more "booming", losing sound clarity (when the PA's Low Mid and High are flat).

Sorry for my bad spelling, I don't write English very often! :hmm:
 
#2
Good question...could be it needs some EQing, it could be the room causing it, could be the mic...doesn't sound like the bass is at fault, though. I wouldn't worry about it too much unless it happens again.
 
#4
Sounds like some kind of phase cancelation. On the notes above and below the middle of the fretboard, the bass amp may be out of phase with the pa speakers, and canceling the "loudness" and shifting in the middle areas making it seem louder. Just a guess.
 
#7
The issue you describe can be due to the acoustics of the room as well as the gear. Some notes just get eaten up by small rooms and some are reinforced louder. Bass guitar notes have huge wave lengths on the order of a meter or more. That interacts with the room. An EQ is you best weapon. I also find that basses almost always have areas that are weaker or stronger in output. Sometimes you can compensate by picking/plucking intensity and string/position choices. The whole issue distracts me from my playing. My gear choice has been driven by this issue and it's an ongoing process.

--TS
 
#8
TS said:
The issue you describe can be due to the acoustics of the room as well as the gear. Some notes just get eaten up by small rooms and some are reinforced louder. Bass guitar notes have huge wave lengths on the order of a meter or more. That interacts with the room. An EQ is you best weapon. I also find that basses almost always have areas that are weaker or stronger in output. Sometimes you can compensate by picking/plucking intensity and string/position choices. The whole issue distracts me from my playing. My gear choice has been driven by this issue and it's an ongoing process.

--TS
Click to expand...

That's basicly what I thought. Well, in the last rehearsal all was back to normal, I've switched between all of our 3 microphones, and I used the better one for my bass (sucked a little for my singer but that's life :hmm: )

So now all notes in the E and A strings are loud and clear, and the ones on D and G are a little more "quiet", but I know now that's because of my amp, as I used my bass in a Warwick Blue Combo and wow :eek:

Thanks for all your help folks! :D
 
#9
I don't have a bass amp yet, playing through a small Marshall guitar amp or a Mackie CR1604 direct. I have the problem on the amp, but not through the board:

My bass - 5th fret on D string louder than the others - same G note on the 17th fret of D string dramatically/obnoxiously/unbearably louder than all the others.

I noticed it before on my guitar through the Marshall: the G on the 3rd fret on E string louder, and the Gb on the 14th also louder and G on the 15th horribly louder, most noticeably when using the neck pickup. It's a cheap Marshall MG15 DFX, I assume it's a defect in the amp's electronics.
 

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