Hi i am currently running an eden wt550 through an eden gs212 and a custom 15 cab. been having problems with being too quiet on stage. needing more power and volume. was thinking about getting a mesa 400+ and 412 cab. would that be sufficient in getting more vol? i tend to have a lot of bottom end coming through my sadowsky wich seems to suck alot of power. any thoughts?
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more volume?
- Thread starter A_E_A
- Start date
Are you pushing the full 750 watts RMS? What style of music are you playing? That should be enough for you on stage unless your band is wicked loud on stage and trying to ruin your hearing. I'm only pushing 400 watts on an Eden Nemesis NA650 at 50% through a single 12" in a rock band and have no trouble keeping up with two electric guitarists, a heavy handed drummer and a keyboard player.
Is your band using a PA system? If so, see if you can run the bass signal into the monitor mixes as well as the mains. You can make that Sadowsky VERY loud through monitor mixes and mains if you really want to. It sounds like you have a killer setup. I'd just err on the side of seeing what can be done to avoid having to buy more gear.
Sorry, but I hate to advocate buying your way out of a problem as the first and only answer to that problem.
Good luck with it.
Sorry, but I hate to advocate buying your way out of a problem as the first and only answer to that problem.
Good luck with it.
+1 on using the PA to give you the extra volume you feel you need.
But, again, if your current set up isn't giving you enough volume, you and your bandmates should consider going and buying some stock in a hearing aid company. I've been playing for nearly 35 years and was always careful about volume levels. Even so, at 47 I am finding I don't hear as well as I once did and that can be both frustrating and embarassing (when you have to ask people to repeat themselves). It doesn't take long for high SPL to damage your hearing and once your hearing is damaged there's no way to make it as it had been.
But, again, if your current set up isn't giving you enough volume, you and your bandmates should consider going and buying some stock in a hearing aid company. I've been playing for nearly 35 years and was always careful about volume levels. Even so, at 47 I am finding I don't hear as well as I once did and that can be both frustrating and embarassing (when you have to ask people to repeat themselves). It doesn't take long for high SPL to damage your hearing and once your hearing is damaged there's no way to make it as it had been.
boths cabs are 8 ohm so im gettin 550 from it i think. im pushing the amp just below clipping. it just gets lost. i don't really wanna put the bass through monitors as i prefer keeping it for vocals. otherwise i find it gets too muddy and harder to pitch with our singer. we play pretty decent sized venues and the sound engineers like my sound just more of a band feel on stage that lacks if that makes any more sense
Man, that should be cutting through just fine. The rock band I play in has done numerous outdoor gigs where the sound dissipates as soon as it leaves the speaker cabinet and even my rig still hangs in there.
How many monitor mixes are available? Might work better (and improve the overall quality of your stage mix) if you just think of your rig as a "personal monitor" of sorts for you and maybe the drummer and mix the bass into everyone else's monitor feeds (and not in your own). Increasing your levels beyond what your current rig is capable seems like a way of making everything on stage louder/muddier, not a way of clearing things up so everyone can play better.
How many monitor mixes are available? Might work better (and improve the overall quality of your stage mix) if you just think of your rig as a "personal monitor" of sorts for you and maybe the drummer and mix the bass into everyone else's monitor feeds (and not in your own). Increasing your levels beyond what your current rig is capable seems like a way of making everything on stage louder/muddier, not a way of clearing things up so everyone can play better.
Just a dumb question, but are you sure both of your cabs (and all of the speakers) are wired with the same electrical polarity? If the speakers are wired "out of phase" with each other their outputs will cancel each other out.
I had the same problem, "way back when", where the 3-12" cab I was using lacked bottom, so I bought a 1-18" cab. No matter what I tried I couldn't get enough volume when both cabs were connected. Then I discovered that the single 18" speaker was wired to the cab's input jack "backwards", positive speaker terminal to jack ground and vice versa!
You can check by connecting a 9-volt battery to a cord connected to the input of each cabinet (battery + to the tip of your cable plug). The cone of each speaker should "jump" towards the front of the cab when you connect the battery, and all of the speakers in each cab should "jump" the same way.
Just a thought...
Ken
From what I'm hearing, this situation really is a "band problem" in disquise, and has filtered down to being a "bass player need to fix it" problem instead. Before you go down the road trying to buy your way out of a problem which may still not fix the tone/muddiness, volume, etc... the way that you think it will, I strongly, strongly, urge to have a band talk and to try to see if the bass signal can be run into the monitor and mains, along with the vocal. Of course, they can say, "why can't you just buy a bigger amp", and of course it's your money. But the "fix" for all this may indeed be "free" with just some knob tweaking and experimentation. I prefer free.
Practicing in small practice rooms, for better AND worse, is never going to be like some stages in terms of the sound that you are used to hearing. I know you want that comfort zone, but see if you can get a mix, via the help of the soundperson, to help it make the sound comfortable for you and the rest of the band. It IS the soundperson's job to at least try if you ask him/her!
its strange but i seem to have this sort of problem no matter what band i am playing with. i can never get enough volume for the band. iy seems my cabs throw alot more than they should. although when other people play through my rig it seems to not be as bad... could it be mme playing too heavy handed??
Do you know what the SPL (sensitivity) numbers are for your cabs? Something like 101 dB to 103 dB means your cabs will play pretty loud. If, however, the number is in the mid to low 90's then your cabs are quite inefficient. If you don't know the numbers are your cabs ported or sealed?
as for out of phase i use only the 212 for smaller gigs and have the same problem. even in rehearsal rooms im easily overpowered
my eq is set pretty flat. my bass is blended slightly towards the p pickup on my pj5 sadowsky with a little bass and treble boost.
It honestly sounds like something in your rig is not working right - 750 watts should be plenty of power, and should not "get lost"!
Again, check that one of the two 12" drivers in your 2-12 cab is not wired out of phase inside the box. Also, check your speaker cable wiring.
Also, have you tried a different amp? It might be there is a problem with your amp's power supply, so you're not getting the juice you need for the full 750 watts.
Ken
Rick Auricchio
Registered Bass Offender
So perhaps it's just hearing yourself onstage that's the problem? Try stacking or tilting your cab(s) so you can hear yourself better. The 15 won't be worth anything for midrange clarity, however.
Though you play in multiple bands, do all have a bottom-heavy crunch guitar? That'll kill the bass.
I was at a new-band project practice Sunday. One guy who doubles on sax switched to guitar. (We were working on "Mr Soul," which has heavy E-root emphasis.) After one pass through the tune, I realized his chord was playing my root note almost as loud as I was. This resulted in us both playing the root in unison, but not in perfect sync. The bass was buried, and the whole bottom end was muddy---both due to his heavy distortion and the effect of "two bassists at once."
At my request, he switched to a different guitar, cut the bass heavily, and all was good: we heard bass and crunch guitar quite nicely.
