Just out of curiosity, how are you inter-connecting the SansAmp and DAP power amp?
Riis
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Help appreciated! Not enough power? Cab?
- Thread starter jeroenmaesen
- Start date
Just out of curiosity, how are you inter-connecting the SansAmp and DAP power amp?
Riis
I use the XLR out of the SansAmp at the moment, and have used the sansamp out jack aswell.
Did you notice a difference or have a preference? I use the 1/4" > 1/4" and keep the XLR on reserve for DI work. This is addressed as such in the manual.
Riis
I started using it like this when I was experimenting to drive both amps and used the 1/4" out to send to the GK and the XLR to the DAP. This in order to lower the master on both amps.
After disconnecting the GK the XLR connection just stayed the way it was.
I have noticed the DI out has a higher output. It is also a balanced out and less prone to interference.
It would surprise me if the sound is different, but I'll definitely check next time to be sure.
Bedroom bass, clean lows and clean highs is what sounds good, any distortion or fret noise to me, that sounds like crap.
No rumor, I do not like bass eqed for a mix. I hate my tone by itself (and pretty much any bass soloed), but love it in the mix.
My opinion is bass (no mater what or who it is) is a only good when played with others. Solo is just, boom plank plank boom.
Nothing to do with gear, bass is an ensemble instrument like drums, I do not want to listen to them solo.
Again, my opinion.
Yes quite the dilemma if you are paying by the hour.
I can understand the drummer getting impatient if you spend a lot of time fiddling with the controls. As you get more experience, you will be able to dial your sound in quicker and frustrate the drummer less.
If the guitarist is interested, consider a session with just the two of you to experiment with EQ...or maybe the two of you can arrive before the drummer to dial in your sound. Of course you will need to make some adjustments when the drummer starts playing.
Keep in mind, acoustics are a significant factor. So when you play in a different room or move your rig to a different location in the same room, there is a good chance you will need to adjust your tone. The point is you really need to develop some skill in this area.
As far as the hiss and the GK. Let's keep in mind that you have a graphic EQ and compressor before the GK's preamp. Each of these is adding a bit of hiss, and the tweeter on the GK reveals the problem. Nothing says you need to use the tweeter, a lot of players don't like tweeters and turn them off.
My suggestion is to try and get your sound without the graphic if hiss is a problem. I guess the question is, when you plug your bass straight into the GK, does it still produce too much hiss? If the answer is yes, then there are two possibilities. 1. The amp has a defect. 2. You are using improper gain staging.
Gain staging is tricky, especially when you are stacking multiple devices with EQ. Also high gain circuits designed to produce distortion typically generate a lot of noise, and compressors tend to accentuate any noise that is generated in circuits before them. I normally like my compressor close to the front of the signal chain.
I have a GK 700RB/112 combo and it also gets a bit hissy when I turn the Master up past 3:00. But I don't have any need to run the Master this high because the amp makes plenty of power at lower settings.
After you get the GK repaired, plug your bass into it. Set Boost and Master to about 10:00 and turn up the Gain until the input starts distorting when you pluck really hard. Back the Gain off until the sound remains clean. GKs are not really designed to produce distortion in the front end of their preamp; that's what the Boost control is for.
Next turn up the Boost until the amp produces the sound and feel you want. The Boost circuit is designed to emulate a tube being pushed. As you turn up the Boost, the sound should get compressed first, and then break into overdrive. Keep in mind both the Gain control and the Boost control effect the level sent to the Boost circuit. So if you turn the Gain down, you will need to turn the Boost up to maintain the same level of compression and drive.
The signal path inside the amp is something like this:
So the Boost Control is just an attenuator before the Boost Circuit. Also the Boost Circuit is most likely just a single FET that is setup to emulate a tube amplifier stage. If you hit the FET with a hot signal, it is designed to compress and produce OD similar to a tube.
After you have adjusted the Boost for the desired level of compression or OD, adjust the Master for the desired volume.
If you are going to run other devices in front of the GK, you need to experiment with signal levels to see what gives you the best (S/N). I suggest plugging in one device at a time and working backwards through your signal path. I would start with the GK adjusted the way you set it up in the last paragraph. Set the output level of the device preceding the GK to produce the same volume you get when you plug the bass into the front of the amp. If that is too noisy, reduce the Gain on the GK, and bring up the output level of the device before the GK to see if the S/N ratio is better or worse. After you get the first device dialed in with the amp, add the next device in your signal path and go through the same process.
Gain staging is also something that takes some experimentation and practice to figure out. You might also want to Google and read about it a bit. One things that makes gain staging tricky is we often combine devices that are designed to work at slightly different signal levels. The more drastic the difference in signal level, the more difficult it can be to get a good S/N ratio. Also some devices are just plain noisy.
This suggestion probably relates more to the Sansamp and DAP. In my experience, GKs do get a bit noisy if you run the Master wide open.
Even with power amps, you may need to use some attenuation on the input to optimize your signal to noise ratio. However, you usually start with the controls wide open. The optimum setting depends on a lot of factors. For example, 1. What is the sensitivity rating of the amp and 2. what is the nominal signal level of the device driving the amp? Ideally the two should be about the same.
Hye All
I want to give a small followup on the problem that I had and what we as a band did to solve it.
Fist of all, I succesfully repaired my gallien krueger MB212. (my electronics background, because I couldn't find a deicent repair shop, took me 3 weeks dough..)
I no longer use the 15inch 500Watt DAP + Sansamp configuration. I'll keep it as a spare.
I bought an ampstand that raises and tilts the GK. (Large Fender Ampstand)
I lowered the subs -6db, boosted the low mids/mids +6db. the high mids are flat, high is -3db. on my IQ pedal.
Also on the GK the bass is dialed back to 11oclock, midds 1 oclock, trebble 12, the boost is on 3oclock.
Contour off. Tweeter on. Limiter on.
We have moved the setup in the room, drum in furthest corner, guitar and bass in corners on opposing wall.
I stand further away from my amp now.
We have moved the stage curtains around a bit.
The guitarist uses a boss eq pedal to lower the bass, have more mids. it is still not allways on. but we the subject is open for discussion. as it was not before.
Now I really cut trough the mix much better than before. The rest of the band members also think so.
The amp is also not pushing it. i think half open. I can hear the my distortions more clearly.
Also the hiss of my pedal effect chain is acceptable (almost bought me a 270€ power supply, and am glad I do not have to anymore)
Overall result: I really enjoyed playing my music.
Thank you all for your help! I believe I'll come back a few times to read trough the comments, because there was soo much good advice!
Thanks a million!
Jeroen
I want to give a small followup on the problem that I had and what we as a band did to solve it.
Fist of all, I succesfully repaired my gallien krueger MB212. (my electronics background, because I couldn't find a deicent repair shop, took me 3 weeks dough..)
I no longer use the 15inch 500Watt DAP + Sansamp configuration. I'll keep it as a spare.
I bought an ampstand that raises and tilts the GK. (Large Fender Ampstand)
I lowered the subs -6db, boosted the low mids/mids +6db. the high mids are flat, high is -3db. on my IQ pedal.
Also on the GK the bass is dialed back to 11oclock, midds 1 oclock, trebble 12, the boost is on 3oclock.
Contour off. Tweeter on. Limiter on.
We have moved the setup in the room, drum in furthest corner, guitar and bass in corners on opposing wall.
I stand further away from my amp now.
We have moved the stage curtains around a bit.
The guitarist uses a boss eq pedal to lower the bass, have more mids. it is still not allways on. but we the subject is open for discussion. as it was not before.
Now I really cut trough the mix much better than before. The rest of the band members also think so.
The amp is also not pushing it. i think half open. I can hear the my distortions more clearly.
Also the hiss of my pedal effect chain is acceptable (almost bought me a 270€ power supply, and am glad I do not have to anymore)
Overall result: I really enjoyed playing my music.
Thank you all for your help! I believe I'll come back a few times to read trough the comments, because there was soo much good advice!
Thanks a million!
Jeroen
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