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I miss playing loud

#21
I play LOUD quite nearly every time I pick up a bass or guitar, which is almost every day. Renting space for practicing is necessary but worth it. I would miss playing too if I didn't do it anymore.

s_mcsleazy said:
ive had soundmen who said i shouldent use pedals.
ive had ones that said d.i. boxes ONLY
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Screw soundmen, well most of 'em. The only soundmen I use are the ones that know me and are hired by me. The rest of them can have a tall glass of shut the h*** up. I have my own Sennheiser microphones, so why is it so difficult to for them to mic a cab to a PA? DI is okay, but far from my preference. Many times, I just use PA for vocals.
 
#23
JimmyM said:
some of you may know that i play quieter than anyone with my regular gigs doing oldies with bowzer and my regular band. i am probably the only one on the entire talkbass who can use a b-15 on a gig and still have headroom. everyone always complains if i play any louder than that.

tonight i did a sub gig for the blues brothers tribute band i used to play in at our local house of blues. i brought my micro vr/210 av and cranked the holy living dogcrap out of it. we usually stand back to give the blues brothers guys some room, but i do pop up front now and then. that was when i found out that they also had me slamming in the side fills. it's been at least 2 years since i played that loud. i really liked it.

honestly, it still wasn't that loud. we weren't playing metal. but it was a good solid volume that felt good. i don't get to do that anywhere else. tonight we're doing a gig with davy jones and they wanted an svt, so i'm bringing mine and i'll have it so quiet that i'll strain to hear it from the front of the stage. pussies.

got to say, though, that micro vr hung really well in this situation. but next time i do house of blues, i'm bringing the svt :bassist:
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I just got in a pretty loud , very hard rock band and oh my god , what a culture shock :eek:
Even with with my 12db ear pad , it's still too loud !
Gonna have to go buy some 15 or 20 db.

Can't concieve how people work in these conditions , they probably don't give a **** about their hearing.
(I'm talking +-110dbA )
 
#24
I don't have a practice space here and I never get to turn up anymore. Occasionally at rehearsal I get to go up to about 1.5 on the volume (which on a 400+ is still relatively loud) but man I miss just diming my amp and tearing it up for a couple hours every once in a while. It's therapeutic.
 
#25
steveksux said:
Same boat, just got IEMs and LOVE them. I can hear everything clearer, no ringing ears at the end of the night. The problem is I love the sound of my amp, spent years perfecting it, and now I'm blocking it out with IEMs.. :bawl:

Sooner or later might be selling the big rig though, did one gig with no amp, just a preamp. It was a nightmare, no bass in the stage monitors and didn't have IEMs yet (until I put some together with Altoids box based headphone amp on the break). But once I jury-rigged IEMs for bass, it was marvelous.

It is a LOT of fun bringing in a mic stand, a bass, and a preamp instead of lugging a whole stack around. I can definitely get used to that.

Randy
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It's nice to play with a fully-equipped PA; on-stage volume can be much lower and far better balanced - under optimal conditions.

Are your bandmates hearing your bass through IEMs or stage monitors? Are you standing on a sub-woofer platform like the ButtKicker to give you the feel of the low end?
 
#26
I play in a Tool tribute band through a GK 2001RB and either an SVT CL or a GK 1001RBII and always through my Mesa Powerhouse 8x10 and 4x12 (same size as the 8x10) cabs.
We play good size clubs with big stages and PA's and we bring our own soundmen who are great and work well with us and love Tool.
So needless to say, we play LOUD. My amps are turned UP, as are my guitar player's Diezel and Marshall over on his side. I have guitar CRANKED in my wedges (I need it with all my stage volume).
So ... my ears ring. That's the down side.
I've always liked playing loud ... so all you hard rockers, be careful what you wish for, you just might get it.
 
#27
Jazzdogg said:
It's nice to play with a fully-equipped PA; on-stage volume can be much lower and far better balanced - under optimal conditions.

Are your bandmates hearing your bass through IEMs or stage monitors? Are you standing on a sub-woofer platform like the ButtKicker to give you the feel of the low end?
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Just got the IEMs, so still bringing my bass amp for everyone else to hear. The one band I was in was putting bass through the mains, could have gotten away with minimal stage amp, but they got tired of date conflicts and are using my sub as the main guy now... just before the IEMs arrived.. marvelous.

The other band uses the house PA, no subs, so I'm still supporting the bass from stage. In that situation, the IEMs are functioning as adjustable earplugs, with great freq response and extra vocals injected.

So no lack of low end feeling from my perspective at this point.

Randy
 
#28
steveksux said:
I tried earplugs, worked fairly well. Problem was the etymotic universals aren't so flat, knock out enough highs its tough to hear if you're in the right key, let alone in tune. Also hard to hear vocals, other instruments.
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Tell me about it; try playing prog on fretless on a dark stage with earplugs. I mean, I can make it work, but thinking is the last thing I really want to be doing up there (some of you may totally get that and others may not). While I have some parts I've figured out and play fairly straight, if I can't improvise at least some, then music is not worth doing.

It's nice to be able to hear yourself in that sort of situation as the ear is the only honest correction for FL. Maybe I need to look into some of these in-ear monitor systems (I'm assuming that's what the acronym IEM is all about), but I don't now jack about what's good and what isn't.
 
#29
gregg, sorry, but i never suggested iem's to you that i know of. i've never even used them ;) however, i think it may be possible you had some weird situation where i thought iem's could help. but i honestly don't remember suggesting them to you.

and thanks to those who suggested earplugs, but look...it's not like i was doing a tool cover gig ;)
 
#30
I hear ya, Jimmy - one of the things that makes playing bass worthwhile to this former guitarist is being able to feel my rig as well as hear it... I play in a fairly loud 2 guitar band, and have aquired a rig with the capability to be heard, regardless of the setting - I call this the "mutually assured destruction rig":

IMAG0126.jpg
 
#31
georgestrings said:
I hear ya, Jimmy - one of the things that makes playing bass worthwhile to this former guitarist is being able to feel my rig as well as hear it... I play in a fairly loud 2 guitar band, and have aquired a rig with the capability to be heard, regardless of the setting - I call this the "mutually assured destruction rig":

IMAG0126.jpg
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not bad for a small rig.

;)
 
#36
High volume has a sonic and physical quality that cannot be achieved any other way.
I'm not talking about ear bleed levels here, that generally is not necessary and in fact is usually counterproductive, but good, solid, room-filling volume that balances with the rest of the band and the environment we are playing in is a must in my book.
 
#37
Basshappi said:
High volume has a sonic and physical quality that cannot be achieved any other way.
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Heck YEAH!

I see so many bands using IEMs and losing the feel of actually playing as a group. It's sort of like playing along with the stereo. The dynamic range just isn't there. Not that there aren't some great bands using IEMs but most of them honed their chops without them.

You see, there is that sweet spot in your overall volume level where you're loud enough to move enough air to get the tone and the FEEL you need to play as a band. But not so loud as to raise blood blisters on your eardrums.
But all too often I hear a band that it just keeps getting louder until no one can distinguish what's what and everything just mushes together.

I used to use the 4x10+2x15 Marshall 5200 Dynamic Bass System for club gigs. For large venues I ADDED an old Peavey Max (the roadcase amp) with a Peavey 4x10FC and two 115 EV-TL15 cabs.

I moved a lot of air with minimal stage volume. I scared a LOT of sound guys but nearly every one of them later remarked how good it sounded at reasonable levels
And for those times when the soundguy was a complete buffoon I still had enough watts to be heard/felt without losing tone.

 

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