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Problem getting a good sound.

#21
I also agree with the EQ comments.

You are reverting to the Bridge pup since the neck pup is
too bassy. But you BOOSTED the bass. So you scooped your
mids, exactly the range that cuts through the mix.

Take off the bass boost. Now cut the bass and highs slightly.
EQ it for the neck pup. If it is still boomy, cut some more.
Do it in small increments as this is a EQ test. Then if you like
it, adjust the pup pan and tweak your tone controls on the bass to suit for the bridge pup.
 
#24
The thing that kills speakers is a clipping amp.

When an amp runs out of power, it sends DC voltage into the voice coils. The reason is more complicated than we need to go into here but trust me on this. Remember science class, what happens when you send DC voltage into a coil, it turns red hot like a cigarette lighter. The coil melts and the driver is fried.
A speaker has limitations of coarse. You can also destroy a driver by over-excursion. That is where a cone is designed to travel only so far, by exceeding that range, the surround will give way any the speaker rips apart or the voice coil is hurled out of the magnet field.

The point here is that a hi fidelity sound requires enough power to execute the transient attack of the strings and execute the eq curve you have designed. This takes big power for low frequencies. Get a big power amp!

For the sake of your hearing try some moderation and ask your band mates to do the same.

With 4 x 10 and a single 15 you should be able to create considerable sound preasure. If you need more than that you will be deaf in 5 years.
 
#25
One other thought, filtering of subsonic frequecies will help your speakers stay alive. Those frequencies below the range of the fundamental notes produced by the bass. You can't hear them (subsonic) but they sap power and make your drivers work way too hard. Filtering out sub sonic frequencies is a good idea to keep your drivers alive. Also use compression. I believe some Hartke amps have it built in. Use it.
 
#26
Dbassmon said:
The thing that kills speakers is a clipping amp.

When an amp runs out of power, it sends DC voltage into the voice coils. The reason is more complicated than we need to go into here but trust me on this. .
Click to expand...
The DC thing is a myth. The signal remains AC, but the tops of the sine waves are chopped off (clipped). In this scenario, amp produces more power than it's nominal rating, meaning you could potentially be overloading the speakers and potentially burn the voice coil.

At 100%THD, full-bown clipping that's so bad you're distorting like crazy, an amp produces roughly twice the power it's rated for. So you can see how a 200W amp into a 200W speaker could be dangerous when the amp is putting out more than 200W. The same amp into a 1000w speaker can clip all day and not hurt is because at most, tha amp willl hit it with 400W. The tweeter may not be so lucky, but that's another thread.
 
#28
Petebass said:
The DC thing is a myth.
Click to expand...

Disagree Pete. When wave forms are clipped they travel for a distance as flat line. During the duration of the clip, the amp is sending DC voltage to the driver. Flat line = no alternation.

I got this information in an Audio Fundamentals coarse at the State University of New York at Potsdam, which I took as a pre-requesit for audio engineering.

I guess I could be mistaken, maybe I got that confused with a mythology class. Who knows.
Click on this graph to enlarge
Fig 1 shows a simple sign wave being produced cleanly by a 250w amp.
Fig 2 shows what happens when the wave amplitude exceeds what the 250w amp can produce. Notice that sign wave becomes a square wave (in red) as the tops of sign wave have been clipped. Where clipping has occured the tops of the square waves travel in flat line before the amplitude of the wave decreases to the point at which the amp can accurately reproduce the waveform again. It at these places where DC voltage is created and causes the coil to heat.
 
#29
Dbassmon said:
Disagree Pete. When wave forms are clipped they travel for a distance as flat line. During the duration of the clip, the amp is sending DC voltage to the driver. Flat line = no alternation.
Click to expand...
I understand what you are saying, but it is still AC. Clipped AC, but still AC. Anything that goes above and below 0V is AC.
 
#31
You might also play around with where you are attacking the string - closer to the bridge will be bright and cutting, typical Jazz growl, closer to the neck will be fatter/dubbier, for lack of a better word.

I'd also second the recommendation of a good compression pedal.
 
#33
There is a very easy fix to this. I had the same issues until about 8 years ago. I picked up a Sadowsky outboard preamp. You can favor your bridge pickup and then bring up the bass on the preamp. You get all the clarity of a bridge pickup with solid bottom end.

I could never get a decent sound that cut through until I went with an outboard pre. I'm sure the Aguilar works just as well. Much cheaper solution that changing amps and buying more cabs.

I opened for the 80's band Hot Chocolate once and their bass player compained of the same problem that he had for years. I plugged in my Sadowsky during his sound check and he was blown away. Just run the amp flat and control the bottom from the preamp. You'll quickly understand why these devices sell so well.
 
#34
My back up head is a Hartke 3500....It backs up my 76 SVT...I play with one loud twanger....so I hear ya about having to turn it up to 7-8......
Now with you having 2 twangers in your band, dude your underpowered.....Might be time for a bigger amp head.. Or have the twangers stop competing with each other as twangers do! And have them turn down, so the bass can be heard... or mic it in the P.A...
Keep groovin......tallpaul
 

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