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Is that all you got? asked the soundman

T

tmart937

Jan 20, 2006
131
0
#1
Then I stared at my Hartke then checked all my knobs and turned and said yeah. Then that night proceeded with the worst sound I've had through a PA, so I was told. My amp/cab on stage were fine and I could hear myself.

Why would my amp (Hartke 3500) not be enough when it has worked several shows before?

I need a check list for the me and the sound man so this doesn't happen again. I played a very solid show for a good sized crowd only to find out my bass sounded like a muffled turd!

Any help or suggestions?
 
#3
It was pre. Although the sound man was behind my amp and I never went back and checked it.

I've had a sound guy say they weren't getting much from me but after the first song everything was fixed.

I haven't been playing live for very long. So it's hard for me to imagine a sound guy "messing" with my sound because he doesn't like my rig! I mean did his wife leave him for a Hartke? :confused:
 
#5
You say the soundguy was behind your amp, so I'm guessing your amp has a built in DI that he plugged into. Maybe the DI in the amp is crap, they often are. Try an external DI next time and see if your level is hotter from that. The only thing he could be referring to is the signal level to the board.
 
#8
a few suspects:

-low batteries in an active bass.
-my amp's DI has a volume knob, could be yours was turned down...
- sound guy's cable or other "downstream" issues not yr problem.

I'm try to plug my DI into our rehearsal PA and test my own set up to verify that the problem is elsewhere.
 
#9
mambo4 said:
a few suspects:

-low batteries in an active bass.
-my amp's DI has a volume knob, could be yours was turned down...
- sound guy's cable or other "downstream" issues not yr problem.

I'm try to plug my DI into our rehearsal PA and test my own set up to verify that the problem is elsewhere.
Click to expand...

I change my battery before every show. It is a DI built into the amp with no way to change the volume.

I think a sound check would have solved the problem. They gave us about 2 notes each before we played.
 
#11
varunkapahi said:
lmao

anyway do you have any clue what was wrong with the PA sound? was too clanky or muddy or brittle/thin? was it a little too overboard from how you normally eq it? i mean for example you like the lows a little boosted and the pa sound had way to too many lows?
Click to expand...

"It was just a warble and had no definition out front."

That was the quote from our sound engineer from the studio we record at.
 
#13
Ok so I just read on another thread about the Hartke 3500 settings that someone uses the passive input always even if he uses an active bass. Then of course he left no explanation to method of his madness! Any takers?
 
#14
tmart937 said:
Ok so I just read on another thread about the Hartke 3500 settings that someone uses the passive input always even if he uses an active bass. Then of course he left no explanation to method of his madness! Any takers?
Click to expand...
Usually all the active input is is a normal input with a -10dB pad on it. Plug an active bass in a passive input and you're basically just removing the pad, giving the amp a stronger signal from the bass itself.
 
#15
Usually all the active input is is a normal input with a -10dB pad on it. Plug an active bass in a passive input and you're basically just removing the pad, giving the amp a stronger signal from the bass itself.



Thank you! Maybe I could have done that for the sound man.
 
#18
Strange... few years back I played the best venue in town (where national acts play regularly), and their in-house FOH engineer told my drummer it was the best sounding bass he had ever mixed.

I was using a Hartke 3500 head, running direct from the onboard balanced out, pre-EQ. IIRC I had both the Solid State and the Tube pre knobs straight up, i.e. about a 50-50 blend at 50% of total available output.
 
#20
jaywa said:
Strange... few years back I played the best venue in town (where national acts play regularly), and their in-house FOH engineer told my drummer it was the best sounding bass he had ever mixed.

I was using a Hartke 3500 head, running direct from the onboard balanced out, pre-EQ. IIRC I had both the Solid State and the Tube pre knobs straight up, i.e. about a 50-50 blend at 50% of total available output.
Click to expand...

Is there a standard volume signal the DI sends out? Or is it based on your volume levels?

Don't get me wrong this head has done well at many other shows. This was the first time I've had it happen. I have a strange suspicion it was switched to Post.
 

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