mic placement with 2 15s & 2x10?

[HollowSound95]

Hi, so this is my first TB post after reading for about 7 years.

I'm picking up 2 Mesa Diesel 1x15s and will be running them with a Trace Elliot 2x10 through a Mesa 400+. I'm confident this is going to be a great sound on stage, but how would you personally prefer to send it to the house?

I usually use the DI from the 400+ and then mic the dirtier cab sound. Does it make more sense to mic one of the 15s or the 2x10?
Those Diesel cabs are known to be extremely punchy for 15s, but I don't want to miss out on the brightness of the 2x10. At the same time, would mic-ing the 2x10 marginalize the sound of the 15s?
Has anyone ever seen or heard of a mid size venue mic-ing more than one bass speaker, or is that just too much?

Thanks

 

[Mo'Phat]

Question - are you running the sound for yourself, or the is the house soundguy doing it?

The 400+ d.i. is solid, so you probably don't really need to mic anything.

But, if you have the option, use three channels - DI, 10" and 15". At a minimum, though, I'd opt for DI + 15". Others will probably say the 10.

Any brightness from the 10 that you want can be mixed in by the DI signal.

 

[Mo'Phat]

PS - a Mesa 400+ through two Diesel 1x15's should be all the rig you need. I'd guess you'll be leaving the TE at home much of the time.

 

[walterw]

PS - a Mesa 400+ through two Diesel 1x15's should be all the rig you need. I'd guess you'll be leaving the TE at home much of the time.

+1 you won't miss it.

also, what impedance is that 2x10? you don't just load up tube amps with speakers, they have to be run at the exact right impedance. any mismatch results in less power, and possibly stress on the amp.

 

[HollowSound95]

Awesome, thanks guys. My bands got a pretty big show coming up and I really want my sound to be dialed in. There's for sure going to be a house sound guy.
I forgot the DI will be brighter than the 15s anyway, good call.
All 3 cabs are 8 ohms. I've read on a 400+ board that it's possible (correct me if I'm wrong) to run 3 8ohm cabs by running 2 to the 4ohm inputs and 1 to the 8ohm input.
(a 400+ has 3 inputs for 8ohm, 3 for 4ohm, and 3 for 2ohm)

 

[Mo'Phat]

No...the 400+ has two inputs each for 8, 4, and 2 ohms.

See the manual: http://www.mesaboogie.com/manuals/Bass 400 Plus.pdf

"Two 8-ohm, two 4-ohm and 2-ohm speaker jacks are provided on the Bass 400 Plus. The amp will produce its full power at all of these impedances, provided that the total impedance of your speaker cabinets is matched to the output(s) used. (Slight mismatches are not a major problem, but they will cause slightly lower output and may shorten tube life.) When using more than one speaker cabinet, remember that the total load impedance goes down as more cabinets are connected. For example, if you use one 8-ohm speaker cabinet, use one of the 8-ohm jacks. But if you use two 8-ohm cabinets, they will be operating in parallel and the total load will be 4 ohms. Therefore, plug each cabinet into a 4-ohm jack. If you want to use two 2x15 cabinets where each cabinet is rated at 4 ohms (which is how Boogie 2X15’s are wired), connect both cabinets to the 2-ohm Jacks provided."

Sounds like you need to send two speakers from the 2 ohm jacks, one to one cabinet, and daisy-chain the other two. Total load on the amp will be something like 2.66 ohms.

 

[walterw]

that, but you could just run those three 8Ω boxes each into one of the three 2Ω jacks to get your 2.66Ω, which is reasonably close to 2Ω.

as it is, the soundguy would probably rather you left one cab at home, that thing will be plenty loud with 2 cabs.

 

[Mo'Phat]

But there's only two inputs for 2 ohm (and 2 for 4, and 2 for 8), not three.

 

[HollowSound95]

Thanks, I think I got it all figured out. Picked up the Diesels on Monday and they're complete tone monsters. Can't argue with the manual, I think the layout of the inputs made me remember them in sets of 3 instead of 2.
Idk if they made different ohms for different production runs, but my Diesels (2 1x15s, not 1 2x15) are each 8 ohms not 4.
But like you guys have said, I don't need to run the 2x10 now that I've heard the awesomeness of the 2 15s.

 

[Mo'Phat]

Yep...that Diesel 1x15 (which is Mesa's version of the Electro-Voice TL-606 enclosure) was my motivation for the build in my signature. Stack your 2 1x15 cabinets with the shelf ports on the side, and you have my cabinet.

I sometimes really wish I never sold my 400+, but this may be blasphemy, my current amp holds its own very nicely.