My wife complained that she could feel the air 15ft away. I have been told by other females that this thing is a party force field. You will crap in your pants when women start flocking to the stage when they feel that force field!
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
My wife complained that she could feel the air 15ft away. I have been told by other females that this thing is a party force field. You will crap in your pants when women start flocking to the stage when they feel that force field!
I've wanted to try one with IEM's.
You may want a separate amp for it.
In the old days, if I wanted to feel like a rock star I'd wake up with my car on the lawn, me halfway in it, with a cigarette in my mouth.
You may want a separate amp for it.
In the old days, if I wanted to feel like a rock star I'd wake up with my car on the lawn, me halfway in it, with a cigarette in my mouth.
I would suggest a separate amp if you plan to run a speaker cab setup because it might get a touch overwhelming at the level your cabinet needs. Eich figured this out and put individually controlled power amps in their heads for those only wanting to use one.
I don’t need two amps since my church runs a quieter stage with IEM’s and the Bassboard ends up being my speaker cabinet.
Finally got to use my Bassboard live and it saved me from a bad IEM mix where my bass got buried at the start of the first song. With my body feeling everything I was still able to keep up, and once I got the IEM dialed in it was pure symmetry between the two. Really can not recommend these enough for IEM users! It adds a major missing element that a bass player craves, and that is FEELING what we play.
I now have both of them after finally getting a chance to demo the BackBeat at NAMM. The way to describe it is that it’s a different experience. You can have the portability and the extra options that come with the BackBeat, or you can have a less portable option and significantly more power with the Bass Board. You still need to power the Bass Board as well, so that’s another piece of gear and more money.
The BackBeat is not an eyeball rattling experience and it has its limitations with power. You’ll hit distortion past a certain point, and I find that I’m a bit spoiled by the power of the Bass Board. I purchased one to run the drums through when I play live (yet to be tested) so I can have that feel back again to lock in with the drummer while the Bass Board handles my bass signal. This for an all IEM setup.
Other things about the BackBeat -
1. It adds a good chunk of weight to your strap and you have to be cautious when removing your bass so that it doesn’t collide with it. You’ll also wrestle with the clips to try and get them to open enough for a thicker leather strap that a lot of us prefer.
2. Because of the weight and damage possibility, I found that it works best for me when I have it hooked to the back of my belt on my pants. I like the feeling better when it’s placed on my lower back instead of my shoulder blade area. I can also reach the controls with ease. A funny side effect with this is that the vibrations get transferred through my belt and I can feel it all around me at times.
3. Piping music and your bass through it at the same time while running it out to headphone/IEM’s is a cool experience. You can feel whatever low end is being produced, and this can be very useful if you’re practicing to something that you need to lock in with.
Overall, the Bass Board wins for my live bass monitoring purposes because I specifically purchased it for my current gigging scenario. I use the S version and it’s easy to move and transport. The M would be a lot harder to do that with and I definitely don’t need something that big.
I’ll post an update next month when I get a chance to use the BackBeat with the drums being piped through it.
Thanks for sharing your experience! I own BackBeat myself and like what it does...so I am considering buying Bassboard too...
I definitely recommend it if you don't mind the extra transportation and power requirements. It's probably the single most useful piece of gear that I've ever purchased in 21 years of playing.
Forgot to post my update! I last played live on 03/15 at church (to an empty sanctuary and streaming live) and I was able to hook up an unused Aviom to my BackBeat with only the kick and toms coming into it. Such an AWESOME experience being able to feel it like that. I was able to lock in with the drummer far quicker than I normally would. We get very little rehearsal time and, even though I practice like crazy to the recordings, I still have to find myself figuring out what exactly he's going to do once we go live since he tends to change it up a bit.
Like I posted above, my preferred method is to attach it to my belt by my lower back. It's very inconspicuous there and I'm able to adjust the controls and access the cables for both a quick setup and exit from the stage. It just comes with me until we're ready to go back up again at the end of the service. I made a custom length 1/4" cable with two right angle male ends on it (one end stays attached to the BB) so I can quickly find and attach it to a custom female end 1/4" cable that makes its way to the Aviom. It's a little more complicated than that as far as how it's all routed, but the goal is still the same.
Last edited:
No. I still used my Eich Bass Board for my bass since my setup is configured for it. However, If I wanted to bring in the bass to the BB I could have very well done it by raising the channel it occupies on the Aviom.
The BackBeat is good, but it’s nowhere near as powerful as the board. Having the drum vibrations separate from the bass worked out really well and they aren’t fighting for the same sonic space on one device.
I see. That's great setup you've got! I understand that Aviom is a mixer, correct?
I can see Aviom manufactures tactile transducers as well...
Aviom Products - BOOM-1 Tactile Transducer Processor
Aviom Products - BOOM-1 Tactile Transducer Processor
Yes to the mixer question, and I actually tried their setup at NAMM in 2019. It’s unique for an all-in-one package if you’re going to use Aviom for all of your on stage personally mixed monitoring. It takes it a step further and adds a board that you can also mix whatever channels you want to it. It still needs power (a rack mounted unit) and all of the other Aviom equipment. It’s more for a permanent or a bigger touring installation and isn’t anywhere as portable as the Eich or the BB.
One thing which I like about Eich board is that I can feed it with my bass amp. No need to buy another "engine"... I think I am going to buy Eich board eventually (when the lockdown is over).
That’s the biggest plus with it in my experience as well. There’s a place and a purpose for all of the products that have been mentioned on this thread, so it only comes down to what works best for your situation.
