Hi all— long time since I’ve been here
Currently in a rock band with two, and at times three guitars plus keys and drums.
I’ve been struggling to dial in enough punch in my tone to cut through with clarity without cranking my overall volume too much. This especially becomes problematic when I go to my envelope filter or synth pedal (yes, I do leave dry tone in that signal chain).
My gear:
Genzler Magellan 800 head and two Genzler Bass Array 1x12 cabs.
Bass is a Kinal 5 string with Bartolini soap bars and Bartolini 18v preamp, usually running the bridge pup in series and usually with a bit of a boost at 350hz on the preamp.
Should I switch to a 4x10 cab?
Switch pickups to something more modern like Nordstrands?
Appreciate any advice.
Part of this of course depends upon what bass you're using. Personally I'm using a passive '82 Jazz Bass with all-maple neck and 70's era pickup spacing (4" center to center). It's a bit brighter than the 1965 Jazz I had from 1966 to 1976 (was stolen) and has a lot more sustain than my '65 did. I run all my control knobs (V, V, & T) dimed.
I typically run EQ flat with my Eden amps except for adding some boost (to about 1:30 on a clock face) at 250Hz. With some of my amps I'll run that same amount of boost at 500Hz because that's the only low-mid frequency I can address with them. Both spots work great and actually I used my WTDI (DI box with built-in Eden WT preamp) at a recording session at a pro studio in Seattle and used 500Hz with it because that was the only choice and the raw recordings were outstanding. Sounded so good the owner of the studio along with the sound engineer came out to see what I was using. I carry that WTDI around with me to go directly to boards if a venue wants us to just use their FOH system or if I'm forced to use a backline. I can plug the WTDI into just about any amp's effects-in/return and make it sound like my Eden/DNA gear.
I played with a 5-pc. group for years and it had 2 guitars, Keys, Drums, and me, and I never had any trouble being heard. A little boost in the low mids between 250Hz and 500Hz typically adds definition and presence to the sound of the bass. I'm surprised you don't have it with your boost at 300Hz. Of course you could have too much or too little. It's a bit of the "Goldilocks effect" - too little, too much, just right. I'd suggest you adjust the boost at 250Hz if you can address it or 300Hz if you can't and do it bit by bit until your sound honks at you. That honking characteristic to your sound means you've boosted the low mids too much. Then just slowly turn it back down until the honking characteristic goes away and you should be good.
Now be aware that how you need to sound in a group for presence and definition is usually going to be different than what you like to hear when playing by yourself. You may think when you hear yourself alone that you have too much low-mids, but in a group, that's what you need to be heard without getting into volume level wars. If you have a wireless set up or can borrow one, I'd suggest you use it to walk around the venue when doing your sound check and listen to the balance of the group around the perimeter, in the middle of the tables, and on the dance floor. Ideally the perimeter, especially where the bar is, will be low enough for the bartender to take orders and the loudest section will be the dance floor. In all cases you should be easily heard, but without drowning the rest of the group out - you're looking for a balance of sound here.
A rig I used for medium-sized venues for about a year back in 2018 was two Eden EX-112 4Ω cabs driven by my Eden WT500/800 amp (class A/B amp weighs about 36-lbs. in its rack). The amp is a dual powerblock amp which can deliver up to 400-watts per channel into 4Ω or 800-watts bridged into 8Ω. The EX-112 cabs can handle up to 300-watts rms and I plugged one into each of my two power channels. Worked great and sounded great too. I typically would run the master on my Eden amp at ~9 o'clock to 9:30 indoors. But for large venues, outdoor venues, and music festivals, I'd use my DNS-410. It's an 8Ω cab and will handle 1400-watts rms, so I bridge my big Eden amp into it with up to 800-watts available. It's a really loud cab though and if I run the master up to 10:30 at wide-open outdoor music festivals, I get told to turn down. And that's OK because that means I don't ever need to lug around an 810 cab.
I would suggest if you are really going to be playing at high levels all the time, get yourself a good 410 cab or buy two 8Ω 210 cabs that will handle 400-watts or more to get the most out of your Genzler 800-watt amp. You can use one cab for small to medium venues and add the second for large venues, outdoor venues, and music festivals. I did it backwards and bought my 410 first and later bought my DNS-210 (handles 700-watts rms) when I joined the DNA Endorsing Artist group in 2019. Bought it for use with small and medium venues. Ended up using it for all indoor venues because it's more than loud enough to handle it, but still use my 410 for outdoors and music festivals.
Here's the 2x112 set-up I used and got lots of compliments on. Low mids would be boosted to 1:30 at 250Hz with this amp. Never really pushed it because I didn't need to at medium-sized venues. The 112's are very compact because they use a whizzer cone for high-mids and highs instead of a separate tweeter horn.
And here's a shot of both my DNS210 and 410 stacked together with my Eden WT500/800 supplying the power. I only actually used the 210 at this "almost large" venue because it was more than loud enough. The 410 was just an expensive amp stand at that gig that I brought along in case the 210 wasn't enough...it was.
I also have a DNA-800 class D amp (800-watts rms into either 4Ω or 2Ω). I'll actually run either my 210 or 410 with that even though it will only put out 400-watts into an 8Ω load because those DNS cabs are loud, that's all I need for most places, it only weighs 4.8-lbs., and I'm old so I like lightweight. I can run the full stack with it, but haven't needed to yet.
