Gear required to sound independance ?

[lstelie]

Hello,

I have a likely very naive question.. sorry

The context

Until not that long I used to play only at home for me. Everything was ok sound wise, I could adjust my sound to my liking and so on.

Since the end of last year I participate to two groups, a jazz workshop and a old rock cover band

In both cases rehearsals are held in places were I do not always have access to the same amplifier, and worse, in the case of my jazz workshop, the amps available are Hartke (HA5500 and a small A70) that sound awfull (at least for jazz).

And even if all the amps I have to play with had a good sound the problem is that I don’t control this sound

The question

How do you proceed, you giging musicians, to control your sound, have always the same in various very different situations were you don’t chose the amp you work with.

Are the preamps (Aguilar Tone Hammer, Microbass EBS, Zoom B3…) the solution for this ?

Thanks in advance

Luc

 

[EastCoastThump]

I'm guessing that there's a cabinet available to use with the HA5500, no? With a decent cab, the HA5500 is a capable head, and it ought to give you some useable tones.

More generally, if you want guaranteed *control* over the sound of your stage rig, you'll need to either bring your own amp or in-ear monitor rig. If you have to use the supplied backline amp, you sometimes have to give up chasing your ideal tone and find a tone you can work with at the stage volumes required. (I usually listen to the backline amp as it's set; but if it's not even close to the tone I want, I'll usually reset all the eq to flat and adjust from there.) If the backline rig is too small for the gig, that usually means cutting low end and working with a more mid-heavy bass tone so you can at least hear yourself without killing the amp.

If the bass won't be in the PA but you know you'll have a decent cabinet available and a powerful enough bass head for stage level, you can bring your own preamp and run into the effects return (if any) of the supplied bass head. (That will usually bypass the preamp section of the bass head, so you'll essentially be using it as a power amp. However, the stage rig will still be voiced through the supplied cabinet, so it's useful to have some flexible eq available in your preamp of choice.)

If you'll be able to run through the PA, you can bring a preamp or DI to get your sound to the house. Unless it's a big gig, though, the stage monitors might not be robust enough to give you full bass tone at volume—so you'll still need to deal with the supplied backline or else bring a rig.

 

[hrodbert696]

If the amp has an effects loop, you might use an outboard preamp to get the tone you want. If I understand correctly (and those better informed can correct me), on most amps the effects loop comes after the amp's EQ in its internal chain, and goes straight to the power amp. That means that if you plug straight into the FX loop in jack, you bypass the amp's tone shaping. Run your bass through something like an MXR M-80 or a Tech 21 VT Bass Deluxe and that will dictate your tone rather than the amp.

 

[lstelie]

thanks a lot guys

 

[s0c9]

I have a [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]. Weighs in at 29 pounds and packs a punch.
Took it to a rehearsal with a "Nashville recording artist" who put a band together for a gig.
The guy whose house we meet at had an old 8x10 cab in the corner with (IIRC a Kustom) 100w head on it.
He looked at MY "little" amp and said, "That ain't going to be enough for bass!!".
I smiled.
300w in a normal-sized front room is more than enough!!

At the end of the rehearsal he came out (he was hosting, not in the band) and told me he'd had "NO PROBLEM, hearing the bass "over everything" at the other end of the house.

 

[4Mal]

Jazz workshop... Don't stress over the tone, find something that is audible and pay attention... It's a workshop afterall... Seriously do not get hung up on bedroom tone. You simply can't get it everytime out. I've met folks who get so distracted by not having it that frankly their playing suffers. There is something to be said for being able to play through...

BTW - unless it's trashed, there is nothing wrong with that Hartke head. It was good enough for Stu Hamm afterall...

Rehearsal.. I've done enough of them to either just play with whatever is there OR stash a rig of my choice. What I don't do is waste rehearsal time schlepping and setting up... To me rehersal time is kinda sacred. Show on time, get going with the minimum fuss, accomplish as much as you can in 2 hours and kill it before folks get antsy over the family, day gig, pet sitting, whatever.

So ... From a tonal perspective, do the best you can with it, keep the ring in sight though. There might be better times and places to obsess over the nuances of tone...

There is also the concept of dress rehearsal where you bring the live rig, play at live volume, obsess over tone, etc... make sure that everybody is on the same page before taking your thing live. Hopefully there is an actual bandleader (with his head on straight) that run's it, makes the calls. Not always the case and always a bad sign longevity wise.
How people run their rehearsals is a predictor for me... /Soapbox

 

[wallawallabob]

We love it when a venue is small enough for our own rigs - we can virtually always get the sound/mix we want at the volume we want. Since I double (upright and BG) my sound is VERY different between the two. If we know we will need to go through a house PA, we just do a full set with the upright in the middle of the show and EQ the BG separately for the rest of the gig - or I just leave the upright at home. Although some sound guys really enjoy the challenge of live upright amplification, some don't......

 

[4Mal]

URB ? Bring it on. Preferrably with a Realist installed ;-)