How Do FOH Engineers Feel About Effects Through the PA

[GregShadoan]

As a soundperson, I will take the DI from where ever the bassist wants it from. Pre/post beforefx/afterfx, pfft their bass, not mine. Mic the cab.
As a Bass player, I give a clean DI pre out of my head, unless it makes noise, then I will DI after my volume pedal, and mic my cab. That gives the engineer the most versitility on my signal. Clean bass into the console, and grit outta my tube head/cab. I really don't use any fx to speak of though.

 

[MNAirHead]

Everyone I've asked will request CLEAN/naked from a Quality DI..

Remember this is when asking them - "exactly how do you like to receive a signal"

IF running effects DI I'd "guess" that this is really a function of how high a quality your stuff is.. and/or if you have a gate etc.

Only real ones I use are sometimes a preamp DI, volume etc.. I quit using stomp boxes as I didn't have the patience to dork with them.

 

[(b)Assman]

I don't think they care about effects in general but an Octaver on a bass sounds like yikes to me if I were a soundman, especially if it were mixed with distortion.

 

[JimmyM]

Everyone I've asked will request CLEAN/naked from a Quality DI..

Remember this is when asking them - "exactly how do you like to receive a signal"

IF running effects DI I'd "guess" that this is really a function of how high a quality your stuff is.. and/or if you have a gate etc.

Depends on the effect, really. For stuff that just modifies a clean signal while leaving it clean, DI is fine. For stuff that involves distortion, it's a whole different story, because distortion really sounds nasty when you DI and don't roll off high end. Fortunately, my distortion box is a VT Bass, which rolls off everything past 5k whenever it's turned on.

And you are right...the majority of bassists like a nice clean DI. Nothing wrong with that...not my thing, but it's perfectly valid.

 

[D.A.R.K.]

when i'm mixing foh i'll take the di either before or after effects, depending on what the fx are, and also use a mic (especially for distortion/feedback sounds). i think fuzz going di can sound quite nasty,
most bass cabs even with horns (except maybe some bergs) don't have the same amount of top end that a full range pa has...
so, it isn't going to be what the player hears out of their amp.
if i use di before effects, it's ususally about 30% of the mix at foh.
after effects, it's usually 50/50 with the mic.

 

[jaywa]

What I can't figure out is, the same sound techs who have no problem with a guy having his 5-string bass de-tuned to low "A", will get all panicky when I show up with my 4-string E-A-D-G bass and a sub-octaver.

 

[JimmyM]

Ever hit a low E with the sub octave on? That'll make your sub put out some xmax!!!

 

[warwick.hoy]

Ever hit a low E with the sub octave on? That'll make your sub put out some xmax!!!

I would never do that because analog octavers blow when it comes to tracking that low.

 

[jaywa]

Ever hit a low E with the sub octave on? That'll make your sub put out some xmax!!!

Yah, but I thought most sub-octavers couldn't track below about a low "A" anyway.

 

[greenboy]

Yah, but I thought most sub-octavers couldn't track below about a low "A" anyway.

My V-Bass tracks pretty much anything you can tune a string to; I can have sub-octave content on the low B ferinstance. But as the wet output gets lower and lower it's obvious that some internal high pass filter is limiting the very lowest part of the spectrum. For most purposes, suboctave output down to the bottom of the E string (41.2 Hz, with suboctave at 20.6) is about as full and heavy as one can stand anyway ; }