Double Bass how bad is this?

[bass dan]

i am playing my upright with a band that the volume levels seem to get quite high. i am playing through a ai contra II that i run to the pa through the direct out of the amp. im also using a beta 57 mic straight to the pa. this is not my pa but i have noticed the channel i run from my amp is clipping the pa, not all the time but quite often in my opinion. there is a pad, but the guy who owns the pa likes the bass without the pad on. how bad is it for the speakers to be clipped quite often, the guy who owns the pa seems to feel that as long as its not continuly clipped its ok. i have my doubts.any one with pa experience or blowing up speaker experience welcome.

 

[Chris Fitzgerald]

The AI direct outs are notoriously hot. Rick mentioned that there is a reason for this, but I forget what it is. A any rate, if you want to bypass the issue, you can buy an inline -10db pad (cannon plug) for the XLR that will tame it nicely for about 15-$20.

 

[tornadobass]

Yes, the inline pad is one solution. I carry a -20db from Sweetwater that does the job. The other way is to send post-EQ signal, which also factors your input gain into the level.

That's dumb about not wanting to use a pad for bass on the PA. Once it's an active signal like from the AI's DI, the pad only influences input gain, not tone. OTOH, it might make a difference with a passive DI and a passive bass signal, but that's not what you're doing.

Avoid the clipping...there's no need to allow it!

 

[drurb]

i am playing my upright with a band that the volume levels seem to get quite high. i am playing through a ai contra II that i run to the pa through the direct out of the amp. im also using a beta 57 mic straight to the pa. this is not my pa but i have noticed the channel i run from my amp is clipping the pa, not all the time but quite often in my opinion. there is a pad, but the guy who owns the pa likes the bass without the pad on. how bad is it for the speakers to be clipped quite often, the guy who owns the pa seems to feel that as long as its not continuly clipped its ok. i have my doubts.any one with pa experience or blowing up speaker experience welcome.

Clipping like you describe will splatter sustained energy into the high frequency regions of the spectrum. That's a great way to fry tweeters.

 

[bassist1962]

Clipping like you describe will splatter sustained energy into the high frequency regions of the spectrum. That's a great way to fry tweeters.

I was accused of blowing a tweeter up at one point. No one could explain to me how. Now I know why. Thanks