Going direct

[Kerry Brown]

Our band wants to eliminate onstage amps. I was the last holdout. I was using an EHX Batallion as a DI. It was OK but I wanted better. Went to Long & McQuade and picked up an Empress Bass Compresor and a Radial JDI. I'm thrilled with the tone through my mixer at home practice levels. Can't wait to try it through the band's mixer.

 

[ezstep]

I played in a country/classic rock band (errr...still do) a while back that decided to go amp-less. Everything worked very well for four or five gigs until the guitarist said, of course, he couldn't hear himself. Brought an amp. Then, keyboardist couldn't hear himself. Saxophone player brought an amp, and I decided not to fight them. We all went back to amps. But I really did like hearing everything on stage without all the amp noise. Good luck with it. I hope it works for you.

 

[kittywithabanjo]

Nice little set up as a sound guy id be quite happy to draw a signal off your board.

 

[seanm]

Can your PA deal with bass? I own the bands PA. I never run bass through it.

 

[Marko 1]

Can your PA deal with bass? I own the bands PA. I never run bass through it.

I'm guessing the band has that figured in,

but my PA can handle bass when I use the Subs, but indoors I don't use Subs anymore, and I also keep the Bass out of it.

My bass rig provides the lower frequencies to the room that make the Sub not necessary (again, indoors).

Of course the music we play doesn't really require that pounding Kick, nor high volume.

 

[Zbysek]

I am using JDI for my ampless rig as well…

 

[Kerry Brown]

Can your PA deal with bass? I own the bands PA. I never run bass through it.

We are looking at new speakers and subs. Right now it's ok but not great.

 

[Kerry Brown]

I'm guessing the band has that figured in,

but my PA can handle bass when I use the Subs, but indoors I don't use Subs anymore, and I also keep the Bass out of it.

My bass rig provides the lower frequencies to the room that make the Sub not necessary (again, indoors).

Of course the music we play doesn't really require that pounding Kick, nor high volume.

I will use my amp for most gigs. It's outdoor gigs where I'll be ampless.

 

[kittywithabanjo]

You missed out I just sold my turbosound system to someone on the gulf islands

 

[tshapiro]

I played in a country/classic rock band (errr...still do) a while back that decided to go amp-less. Everything worked very well for four or five gigs until the guitarist said, of course, he couldn't hear himself. Brought an amp. Then, keyboardist couldn't hear himself. Saxophone player brought an amp, and I decided not to fight them. We all went back to amps. But I really did like hearing everything on stage without all the amp noise. Good luck with it. I hope it works for you.

This is what happens when everyone shares a single mix. Using a digital mixer where everyone has their own mix (they can be louder in their own mix) solves this.

 

[Geri O]

This is what happens when everyone shares a single mix. Using a digital mixer where everyone has their own mix (they can be louder in their own mix) solves this.

Yes. And I had to comment, love the profile pic. You go, boy!.....

 

[Kerry Brown]

After a few practices I've changed things up a bit. I added a EHX Batallion preamp. The sound to the PA was a little sterile. The Batallion adds a little something. This is my rig for some upcoming outdoor gigs. The chain is tuner, HPF, compressor, preamp, DI. The XLR goes to FOH and the through out to the amp. The Ibanez is my goto with the Yamaha for backup. The Ampeg RB210 with the Epifani is for stage sound. I found I needed to feel the sound. It also made my drummer happy. He wanted to hear more bass as well.

 

[tshapiro]

I spent a long time developing my direct sound and I have it down to a science now. I run a Cali76 Compressor, Mesa Preamp to boost before my Darkglass overdrive pedals, and then to a SansAmp. From the SansAmp I take the parallel out straight to my amp. The direct signal is split with independent feeds that run to the in ear mixer and FOH. It’s a little involved but sounds fantastic and very controlled which is is important when running through large FOH systems. I started using the SansAmp to help smooth the overdrive sounds which can get buzzy in the in ears without it. Also found that it smooths out the slap sound when the OD’s are bypassed. (In the image below, the amp is being fed from the SansAmp 1/4” out which is not how I usually run it. My singer helps set things up and sometimes goofs up on some of those details. I most likely caught that and switched that cord back to the Parallel out on the right side of the SansAmp).

 

[amper]

Our band wants to eliminate onstage amps. I was the last holdout. I was using an EHX Batallion as a DI. It was OK but I wanted better. Went to Long & McQuade and picked up an Empress Bass Compresor and a Radial JDI. I'm thrilled with the tone through my mixer at home practice levels. Can't wait to try it through the band's mixer.
View attachment 5091228

I'm curious, why are you running the HPF before the compressor, when the compressor has a side-chain HPF built-in?

 

[Kerry Brown]

I'm curious, why are you running the HPF before the compressor, when the compressor has a side-chain HPF built-in?

I tried it both ways. I prefer the sound with it in front of the compressor. Hard to describe what the difference is but I hear it.

 

[agedhorse]

I'm curious, why are you running the HPF before the compressor, when the compressor has a side-chain HPF built-in?

Because the side chain HPF is not in the audio path and is present to help with LF pumping of the compressor’s gain cell, where the low frequencies can otherwise modulate the midrange during compression. It’s an alternative approach to a multi-band comp.

 

[amper]

Because the side chain HPF is not in the audio path and is present to help with LF pumping of the compressor’s gain cell, where the low frequencies can otherwise modulate the midrange during compression. It’s an alternative approach to a multi-band comp.

Yes, I know. That's why I was asking.

 

[Zooberwerx]

I tried it both ways. I prefer the sound with it in front of the compressor. Hard to describe what the difference is but I hear it.

I had the same experience and posted my observations in another thread...the test subject was an earlier Empress comp. While totally subjective, we preferred the HPF in the signal path upstream of the Empress as opposed to the side-chain.

IOW, you're not imagining things...unless a pink elephant is running sound.

Riis