Hi, I am having a problem running my bass through subs on gigs. I seem to be overloading the woofers in my Samson 15" powered subs (db1500A). Every so often one of them gets fried in spite of my best efforts to run these cabs reasonably and keep the low frequencies to a minimum. I have 6 of these Samson subs, bought two in 2009, two in 2011, two in 2013. No problems until 2013...three of them in the space of 8 months sustained woofer damage. Here's the signal path: bass guitar (flavor of the week) into the ACTIVE input jack of Peavey Tour 700 amp. Eden 4x10 cab on stage. XLR output jack on back of Peavey Tour, mic cable connected from that to number 2 input channel on the Samson passive mixing board that I use to drive the powered Samson db1500a subs (which I use two of on our gigs). XLR cables from outputs on board to input XLR jacks on back of subs. Sub controls: volume knob at 60%, frequency knob at 50%. Gain on passive mixing board at 50%. Low frequencies almost entirely rolled off - mids all the way up - treble at 50% which is negligible anyway. Channel Level at 50%. Master levels never beyond 40%. I run the kick drum in channel 1, with low freq at 50%, mids 50%, treble 50%. Same channel gain and level as bass. There is a low cut filter (button) on each channel. Until recently I never used it for the bass...but now I'm starting to. These Samsons have been very reliable but I guess years of low level bass vibrations have taken their toll and the woofers have worn out. I don't want to keep repeating these "sound mistakes" and getting subs repaired - it's a lot of time, money, effort etc. The bass sounds very muddy of course in the subs all by itself, but as an add-on to the Eden cab, it sounds great. Sometimes I also use a Hartke 1x15 cab, powered by another Peavey Tour, which I place out front by one of the subs, and simply use a signal splitter to route my bass guitar to both amps. Is anyone else experiencing issues with Samson subs?
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Live bass through Samson powered subs
- Thread starter twinaxes
- Start date
One issue is NOBODY uses them like you do so you're pretty much on your own. In any case a pair of 15" subs is pretty wimpy, you should really take four.
Sounds like it's time for a different brand of subs. My band has a pair of 18" powered JBL's that take whatever we have thrown at them so far.
or just stop using subs the wrong way by trying to run bass directly into them!
subs are for the PA; run right, any bass guitar that needs to be in them will get there through the PA system like it should.
subs are for the PA; run right, any bass guitar that needs to be in them will get there through the PA system like it should.
learn the safe operating range of your subs and employ a limiter to make sure that you don't drive them to the point of failure. Better yet, get some gear that is rated for higher performance. There's a reason good gear is more expensive.
