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G is WAAAY too loud on stage!

Bassist4Life

Bassist4Life

Dec 17, 2004
3,581
50
52
Buffalo, NY
#1
I've been noticing that any G I play on my bass at church is WAY too loud. Does anyone else experience something like this? What causes it? Is it my fault or something with the room/pa system?

I tried tweaking the eq on my bass, but it didn't help. The G just stands out sooo much. I have to play that note with a lighter touch when playing at church.

Joe
 
#2
That frequency must resonate a lot in that particular room.

You can likely fix the problem with a parametric equalizer, preferably one where you can adjust the frequency range to cut just a very few frequencies. But before you cut the frequencies, do a sound check where you can temporarily BOOST the level instead, and sweep the center frequency up and down to find the place where the boominess is at its absolute WORST. That's where to stop and cut those frequencies drastically. The room will make up for the cut and it should sound more balanced.
 
#6
Since it's any G he's playing, its not a pickup issue.

I would agree its a room issue. Some venues are simply built to hold as many people as possible, with resonance a distant consideration in the layout and the materials used.

If you're running mainly through the house, you should look to having the system professionally EQed. A 31 band EQ can do wonders for room resonances. On the other hand if most of your sound is coming from your amp you can invest in a notch filter yourself.
 
#11
definately the room. you could go nuts with EQ but i think the room will have its way with your sound in the end, and the EQ thing sounds like itll work in theory but might be really frusrating when it comes to tuning your sound to the room.

i'd just play with the appropriate touch.
 
#14
+1 to all the "it's the room" replies, and also +1 to all the "try to fix it with EQ" replies as well as all the "don't hope for too much" replies.

BTW, the majority of the boomy room issues I come across are usually G or near-G issues, with the next most frequent being E/A harmonics. I don't know why that is. I can't believe there is that much commonality of dimensions or width-length-height ratios among all those different venues.
 
#16
If you use mainly the volume from your amp for the room maybe try moving you amp to another spot on the platform. Pay close attention to proximaty to walls. Or just use a good DI (my fav is the Sansamp Bass DI)with no amp at reheasal to see if it's still their. If it still there after both trying both of these play em loud and pround like Stingray5 sez.
 
#17
cableguy said:
If you use mainly the volume from your amp for the room maybe try moving you amp to another spot on the platform. Pay close attention to proximaty to walls. Or just use a good DI (my fav is the Sansamp Bass DI)with no amp at reheasal to see if it's still their. If it still there after both trying both of these play em loud and pround like Stingray5 sez.
Click to expand...

No amp. I go direct through my Putnam Mod'd VT Bass pedal. All of my settings are pretty conservative.

I do use a lighter touch when I play the G's. I have to... it gets crazy loud and I don't want the sound guy to turn me down.

Thanks for all the responses on this. I'm going to talk to one of the guitarists and see if they have the same issue.

Could it just be my instrument even thought it is ANY G I play?

Joe
 
#18
It does sound like your problem is a room resonance issue. My question would be how do you monitor yourself? Also is the soundman also complaining about the G issue?

The problem that occurs when going direct is that most PA systems can produce much more low end content than a typical bass or guitar amp is capable of. So if you set your sound for what sounds right to "you" it won't always work in the FOH. If you're monitoring through headphones this will really be a handicap for bass guitar. I've worked in musical theater for a number of years and the trend has been for certain shows to run the bass through a DI and no bass amp. What they do sometimes for the bass player is set him up with a ButtKicker [Invalid or Expired Link Removed] under his chair so he will "feel" like he's using a real amp and this also restores the low end content that a set of headphones won't produce.

You will usually achieve the best results by working with your soundman and either finding a compromise with your rig and settings or using a separate DI rig that is tweaked just for FOH.
 
#20
The problem is easy to solve if there is a fully parametric EQ. First do your homework. Find out what frequency the open G is. Then wait until the sound person has gone home. Then go to the EQ (if it hasn't been locked!) and find that frequency. Just push it down a tad.
When I do sound in a church I can almost always push the 300 hz down as low as it can go, because most churches have concrete block under the plaster. Concrete block does horrible things to sound around 300 Hz. Trust me and try it.
 

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