MASSIVE boomy E all across the board.

Are you noting this when playing by yourself, or noting this when playing with guitarists/others? If by yourself, then I'd say it's the room: very difficult to get loud, clear and NOT boomy in those rooms, based on size. How does the setup sound in a gig, with a proper room size?

 

Then it's probably the room, and short of changing physics (sorry to say), you'll have a choice to make. You can cut back on the frequencies (eq sliders or knob) but the tone isn't going to be ideal, or you can go for the tone that you like and it's going to be boomy.

I'd say cut back on the low end in practices even if you think it sounds bad. Two benefits: not boomy, and less temptation for others to play louder or "over" the boom, which also helps save your hearing.

Save the great tones for the stage.

Plus not always having that ever-present low end pillow of deep, thick sound makes you even more appreciative when you CAN have it, and make you feel not as much like a fish out of water when you can't (the gymnasium/auditorium or otherwise sonically challenged gig)!

Also the guitar players (and their Es) don't help at all in a small practice space.

 

Dump the Ampeg (only kidding) flatten out all your EQ's and start over.

Plug your bass directly into the PA and see if you still have boomy (E's)

 

Sounds like you hit the resonance frequency of your practice rooms. Its one of those things you more or less have to live with.

 

parallel walls can create standing waves, really bad sounding. Are there any diffusers on the walls? reflections happen. Re-EQ for each room too

 

After rereading your first post I have the solution to your problem...get a smaller amp. Part of the problem probably lies in the fact that you are running a tube amp so low in these smaller rooms that it cannot develop its full tone. How loud do you turn up the Mesa and 410 in these practice rooms?

Also, a 410 cabinet is essentially a stright throw cabinet and you don't get full definition on it unless you are 10+ feet away. Some of these rooms aren't even that big and that could be contributing to your problem

 

Where do you place the cabinet? In the corner, against a wall, a few feet from a wall, or does it not make a difference where it is?

 

It could possibly be helpful to run a pink noise test in your rehearsal rooms, starting with the band rehearsal space, just to see if the room is doing anything weird at low frequencies. Run some pink noise through the PA (if you have one) at rehearsal volume in the band rehearsal space, set up a mic in the room, and see what the spectrum of the pink noise passed through the room looks like VS regular pink noise (I think Audacity can do spectral analysis...). If there's huge bumps below 100HZ, that would likely mean that the physical nature of the room is reinforcing the low end and making things sound muddy. If not, then...

You can try the same "pink noise test" through your bass rig at rehearsal volume, record what it sounds like in the room, and examine it using a spectral analyzer, looking for similar funny stuff in the low end below 100HZ.

I think you should be able to tell after doing these kinds of tests (probably would take 30 min or so to do both the room and the amp) whether the bass rig or the room itself might be causing the boominess. (Anyone who has done this sort of thing before, please correct me if I'm wrong about this!)

 

This kinda thing kills me. I have had the same type of thing happen. The first thing I check is mike stands and bass drum mikes. The bass drum can act as a Hemholtz resonator.

http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/jw/Helmholtz.html

The biggest offender is when my drummer had a mike stand rigged to his drum "rack" with a gooseneck (you know, the 80's rock drummer thing). When he went conventional drums, problem disappeared. If your stage/platform has subs underneith it, that will cause trouble.
This resonant thing on a few notes is usually contact feedback when the notes "swell" and run away from you.

 

You could try moving the cab away from any walls and possibly raise your E string (which can make it more trebley) or lower your other strings...or get a compressor/limiter. Is it a HE cab or a HLF?

 

Them furry little critters worse than mice they are, you can set traps for them though with large loose packed bales of rockwool placed in the corners if they are wrapped in plastic you can give your drummer the
job of making as many holes in it as he can with a drum stick, thats to let them little acoustics in. (he will enjoy that).
You see the acoustics go into the traps and when they are ready to come out they find it hard to get out so when they do they are then late for the sequence of all other little acoustics that are running back and forth between the walls so the little ****ers all crash into each other in a heap and stop these waves of little ****ers doing your bass end in.
As your playing in a square box try putting more bales at one end to
make the room less square.

 

Can I lure them out of the room with acoustic cheese?
In all seriousness, I will try loading some foam in to make the room less square.

Thanks again for the help guys! Any other suggestions appreciated.[/QUOTE]
Open cell foam Cheese slices for getting at them acoustics are expensive and don't work any better than ordinary bales of rock-wool unless you do the whole suspended floor anechoic foam wedges all sticking out of the walls ceiling and floor about 1' 6" long.

 

is it any e, or just the low e? try the octave as well to see if that has a similar effect. the resonance will effect harmonics as well

 

The source of your problem is a combination of room resonant modes and a speaker cab that accentuates the midbass in the same frequencies. The cure is a parametric EQ with adjustable frequency and bandwidth, or 'Q'. Standard shelving and graphic EQs have too wide a bandwidth to kill the boom frequency without killing everything around it as well, and also lack the ability to dial in to the exact offending frequency.

 

It would work very well, not only as a boom buster but also as a global tone control. Parametrics are by far the most useful EQs due to their infinite adjustment capabilities.