Help! I have thousands of dollars in gear and still cannot hear myself!

Ladies and gentlemen of Talkbass--

I need your sage advice. I have been having the same problem again and again for a couple years. I keep overhauling my rig, but it seems like no matter what I do, I cannot hear myself in the mix, at least not very well. My band's new drummer is probably the loudest drummer we've played with yet, and that is making it even harder to hear myself. Our music is not metal, but we do rock out pretty hard. Besides our drummer, I am only competing with one guitar player, who plays a Fender Strat through an Ampeg Reverberocket 2x12 50-watt all tube combo. This amp is loud as hell. We also hope to add another guitarist, so that is going to be more mix for me to try to cut through.

I am using an Eden WT 800 head, which I love, but I don't think I am using it to its max potential. I am running this bridged mono through a Schroeder 1212 (1000 watt cab), ordered from Jorg. I dearly love this head and cab but for some reason, I need the gain at about 12 to be able to even begin to hear myself. With the gain that high, the compressor light comes on like crazy. I am also using some pretty damn loud basses... a USA Fender Dlx Jazz with an 18v preamp and a G&L L2000, which is the hottest bass I've ever played. The G&L has such a powerful preamp that if I turn the gain too high on the amp, I start getting distortion from the low strings. But if I turn the gain down, I can't hear myself over the drums and guitar.

Someone told me the best way to hear yourself is add more cabs. I am wondering, if I want to keep my Eden, should I go with 2 separate 4-ohm cabs (Avatar???) in stereo rather than just the Schroeder 1212 bridged mono? Or do I need an all-tube head for maximum cut?

I am not sure what the problem is here, and having put almost $1500 into a head and cab, I want to be able to plough right through the old mix without having to ever go past 12 o'clock. We have a KILLER new drummer, a new practice space (my wife and I just bought a house with a finished basement), and are starting to practice more and play more and more shows. Now I just need that perfect, or near perfect rig. For $1500 or less..hah.

If you look at my profile and see the "previously owned gear' section, almost all of that has been in the past 2 years. If you look at just amps and cabs, you can see how many rigs I've gone through already. I want my next one to be the RIGHT one!

ANY HELP APPRECIATED!

 

I have thought about in-ears, but I'm not sure that's my problem. I think I just need to have more output in general for everyone to hear, not just me. The drummer today asked me to turn up a bit and it was at that point where the G&L started to cause some crapping-out sounds to come out of the amp...I think because the gain was too high and that G&L can get pretty hot. Not wanting to deal with it, I put down the G&L and picked up the Fender Jazz.

I have heard GK heads and played with one briefly. It did have killer mids but sounded too trebly and metallic. I like big, fat, round, warm sound. I am thinking I MAY need to go the all-tube route. Not sure. My Eden has a tube preamp which is pretty sweet...but that's not quite the same.

 

Nope. It's currently on a milk crate. I've had mixed results with this. On a stage with a hardwood floor, I found I got much more presence without any elevation...just cab to floor. But at home, in the carpeted basement, I need to elevate. So I have it on a milk crate right now...about 10 inches elevated or so.

Incidentally, the best piece of gear for getting a bass cab up a bit off the ground is an Iron Cobra bass drum pedal case...no lie.

Anyway...

 

Pretty loud, but I have heard louder. Enough to be heard from the street...our drummer is pretty loud, and his drums themselves are loud.

I forgot to mention, I wear Musician's Plugs (custom made earplugs from an ENT doctor) when we practice. They evenly reduce the volume by 9 decibals across the frequency range so everything sounds quieter but not muffled. I generally find this helps me hear myself, since the guitar isn't so overbearing with the plugs in.

Standard tuning and occasional drop-D

Yup.

Both.

 

I try to run everything close flat, with the enhance knob (I think all Eden amps have them) turned to about 3 o'clock. Right now I have the low bass frequencies turned to about 10 or 11, the mids up to about 2-3 o'clock or higher, and the trebles pretty much at 12. So my mids are the highest of anything and it isn't scooped. Still no dice... can't cut through. I don't particularly like the "too much midrange" tone either.

And I can't really add another cab to this rig because the Schroeder 1212 is 8 ohms and 1000 watts. If I run it with only one side of the amp, I'll only be putting about 200 watts into a 1000 watt cab...I don't see how this cab could be efficiently used other than by using bridged mono mode.

 

Protoz, we play original rock that ranges in intensity from a song that sounds like "Blackbird" by the Beatles (our mellow side) so hard rock in the vein of Nirvana/Smashing Pumpkins.

SUBass, I forgot to mention, I have the master as well as the gain up to 12. The master sometimes higher. I will try the method of setting levels that you described, though.

Eric-I have the speakon plugged into the only speakon jack on the cab on one end and the other end plugged into the "8 ohm bridged output only" jack on the back of the Eden. The bridged mono switch is on. I don't know what more there is to it.

SUbass, you're probably right, I need an SVT or maybe a Mesa 400+
I love Eden gear though, and I owned an Ampeg SVT-3 Pro for a while that was pathetically weak compared to my old Eden WT330 (both before I bought the Eden 800) I've been less than impressed by Ampeg's bass heads but I love my little Ampeg combo for individual practice

 

I used to have a similar configuration. An Eden WT330 and 2 Aguilar GS112s. I think I had less trouble cutting through then than I do now. Weird.

Something is definitely fishy here.

I'm pondering the idea of a couple Avatar 12 cabs with the Eden.
Or selling the Eden and the Schroeder both and getting an all tube head and some new cabs.
Damnit....

 

One guitarist and he is running through an Ampeg 2x12 50-watt Reverberocket tube combo...it is the loudest 50 tube watts ever.

For a while we had a second guitarist with a Fender Twin Reverb but he has since been fired...long story.