How Would YOU Configure this Rack Gear?

I already have a few ideas of how I'm going to go about this, but I just wanted to solicit some opinions on how other people might connect the following rack gear:

Main bass is a 99 Stingray 5 string, occasionally I'll use matching passive 74 P and J basses.
Alembic F-1X tube preamp
Ashly CLX-52 dual compressor
Ashly PQX-571 7 band parametric EQ
QSC PLX1602 power amp
Bergantino HT322 speaker cab

I mainly play pop, rock, funk and R&B. I do slap, and one of the reasons for the compressor is to balance out the sounds of my slap and fingerstyle playing and to even out the upper and lower strings. I also use a pick on occasion if the song calls for it. In the past I've used effects, but right now in my current band I'm not. I do solo on occasion.

Basically I'm wondering if it would be best to run everything in line and/or the effects loop. I'm also wonder if other people would use both sides of the compressor or just one of them.

I'm not interested in alternate gear suggestions. I have the stuff I plan on using. At least until I change my mind...

So I'm looking for ideas of order and where you would plug them in (in line or via the effects loop or a combination). Thanks in advance!

 

You'd hate it...it's over 20 years old, heavy, a few of the caps on the knobs are missing, it never breaks down, and delivers that same great buttery tone every time. Boring.

I've run it that way hundreds of times and it definitely sounds great. O'l man Wickersham obviously knew what he was doing when he designed that pre, but he obviously also knew that some people would require more serious EQing options than the F-1X and F-2B designs could handle or he wouldn't have designed the SF-2 Superfilter to go with them. Unfortunately I haven't been able to find one of those used and can't afford a new one, so the Ashly is going to have to work for me.

Yeah, I totally agree with that concept. I'd really like to figure out a way though to be able to set each compression engine for separate basses and then sum the outputs into the F-1X so that I could set different compression ratios and gain stages for each bass when I'm using my P and J basses. In that case I'd probably want the EQ after the comp so that both basses are getting the EQ.

Another interesting thought was that I could put the comp after the preamp, use the crossover outs to send the lows to one side of the comp and the highs to the other, then sum the output again somehow to basically give me multiband compression.

 

This is kind of where I think I'm going to end up. I think though that I'll probably end up using one of the compressor engines in the effects loop very lightly just to level things out a bit and catch peaks. That'll help in sending a nice signal to the board when I DI out of the preamp. From there I'd go line out to the EQ and then through the second compressor engine to add some fatness. I've always hated it in the past when I was running sound and bassists would send crazy EQ and/or compression to the sound system. What translates well through your cab might not be right for the sound system as a whole. I usually run my Stingray pretty flat and just make small tweaks to the onboard EQ as the song calls for it. I picked the Ashly comp specifically because it's supposed to be super transparent and not add any character of it's own or rob the signal of highs or lows.

I probably won't be able to resist the urge to bring the bass knob up a bit on the Alembic, though. Too much magic going on there. My magic setting over the years has been 4-10-2 1/2. I'm going to be using the EQ to dial in a little mid hump and some definition up top, but everything is going to be very subtle.

 

I don't think that the original QSC PLX's work that way in bridge mono mode. The manual doesn't specify, but it says to use input one when bridging the amp. It doesn't specifically say that input 2 won't work. I'll have to test it out when the compressor arrives next week.

 

The Alembic preamp has no compressor and the EQ basically does flat or scooped. Regardless, there are few amps that have onboard compression that can rival a dedicated rack compressor.

Just for the record, I didn't just buy all of this stuff. I've been gigging on and off with the Alembic pre for 20 years and the QSC power amp for probably 12. I have a really good idea of the capabilities of this gear and what I'm trying to accomplish with the new stuff. I know how everything works and a few different ways to hook it all up. I ran sound professionally for a few years and have done a lot of studio work and know the gear. I'm just looking for alternate ideas that I might not have thought of.