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Pushing a head too hard?

#141
Worrying about damaging an amp or a speaker should take a back seat to your health. Here is a sight I ran accross for ear muffs for chain sawing and shooting etc. The info is important if you don't want to suffer extreme tinnitus. Some people contemplate suicide when it literally drives them crazy. I quit loud bands if they don't listen to reason. Here is some science. 11 Best Shooting Ear Protection [Electronic & Passive Hands-On]
 
#142
bdplaid said:
A guy asked about tone settings to offset 412 guitar cabs and got 7 pages of warnings about hearing loss. OK, we get it. How about some actual helpful info for the guy?
Click to expand...
Low-mids is what will give you definition and presence in the mix. Anywhere from 250Hz to 500Hz or 550hz will do the trick. You don't need to boost it a bunch. With a 15db +/- on my Eden amps and my DNA-800, I run the boost up to about 1:30 with my passive Jazz Bass. If you boost it too much, your sound will honk at you. Then just turn it down slowly until it stops honking.

Give that a try. Works for me!

Here's an iPhone video from about 3 years ago where we are playing Somebody to Love by the Jefferson Airplane. It was the second time we played the song and the recording is just OK. But you have no trouble hearing me. I'm running through my Eden WT500/800 amp which puts out 400-watts rms per channel into 4Ω or bridges to 800-watts rms into 8Ω. I'm pushing two Eden EX-112 4Ω cabs, each plugged into its own power channel.

I ran everything flat except for the low mids. I selected ~250Hz and ran the boost up to 1:30. I'm playing in a group with a loud drummer, keys, two guitar players and me. I'm not burying everybody at all, but I have a nice presence in the mix and you can hear every note I'm playing:

 
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#143
mntngrown said:
Worrying about damaging an amp or a speaker should take a back seat to your health. Here is a sight I ran accross for ear muffs for chain sawing and shooting etc. The info is important if you don't want to suffer extreme tinnitus. Some people contemplate suicide when it literally drives them crazy. I quit loud bands if they don't listen to reason. Here is some science. 11 Best Shooting Ear Protection [Electronic & Passive Hands-On]
Click to expand...
Hearing protection for shooters is not the same thing as hearing protection for musicians. In the opening sentence of that article, it mentions "percussive vibrations" as the threat to shooters' hearing. That's not what we deal with, even if you are standing next to a loud drummer.
 
#145
Ok. I'm no audiologist but I misspent my youth in the Fillmore and Winterland and by far the worst ringing in my ears for days was after a Who or Cream etc concert and way worse than my indoor shooting and misdirected flash bang incidents as an adult. All I know is I am sitting here as I do every morning or night in my quiet rural environment listening to the ringing that is constant. If you don't think Keith Moon and company was percussive than I defer to your expertise. My ears rang for days. I merely offered that site to explain the ear mechanics etc, I am glad I never played metal.
 
#147
BernardBass said:
Hahahaha I was near about to at our last gig man... They had the amps up that loud and then kept asking for more in the monitors... I was screaming saying to turn the whole shaging thing down and only put vocals through the front monitors with a bit of lead... Tumbleweed, heads down noodling lol
Click to expand...

I cant imagine any decent soundman putting up with this. I've see even the most chilled sound engr I know launch a band over stage volume, well, the gtrs.
I think gtrs like that needed a roasting ...someone was going to at some point.
They'll be all the better for it down the line.

And your ears will thank him too.
 
#148
BernardBass said:
Hi guys,

I'm just curious... I have a 1000watt head and a 1200watt cab both @4ohm and sometimes I find myself pushing the master vol up to 8/10 to cut through a live set with 2x guitarists using 4x12 marshall cabs...

I've asked them countless times to turn down as I'm afraid of pushing my head too hard. I've had a hartke head crap out on me before pushing it up to 8 also... Am I being paranoid or is it a legit concern?

Appreciate any info!
Click to expand...
I hopevyou all wear ear protection with 1000 Watts up that high or you will all end up at Earsavers.
 
#149
The bull elk is a very crafty animal for about fifty weeks of the year; his senses are so sharp that only an artful stalker can get within a thousand yards of him...but when the rut comes on, in the autumn, any geek with the sense to blow an elk-whistle can lure a bull elk right up to his car in ten minutes if he can drive within hearing range.


The dumb bastards lose all control of themselves when the rut comes on. Their eyes glaze over, their ears pack up with hot wax, and their loins get heavy with blood. Anything that sounds like a cow elk in heat will fuse the central nervous systems of every bull on the mountain. They will race through the timbers like huge cannonballs, trampling small trees and scraping off bloody chunks of their own hair on the unyielding bark of the big ones. They behave like sharks in a feeding frenzy, attacking each other with all the demented violence of human drug dealers gone mad on their own wares.
 
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#150
If all else fails. You turn up wearing industrial ear defenders..preferably in a bright day glow colour...that'll deliver the message.
And to the post questioning all the hearing advice....A guy posts that his "1000watt" head is not enough? No amount of "tech" advice is gonna totally solve this. Everybody needs to loose the bass and lower the volume..
 
#155
There is nothing in the term sound reinforcement that suggests the requirement is two ego driven fools should destroy the hearing of everyone they play in front of.
Maybe it is time to walk away and find a band that doesn't need the crutch of excess volume to make up for other deficiencies.
 
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#156
Ampslut said:
What cabinets are you using with your 1000 watt head?
Click to expand...
Barefaced big twin... It is plenty loud and I can cut through its just on a few occasions recently I've had to put my master vol at 8 on the head and I'm afraid it'll crap out mid gig. We always play a 2 hour set!

One thing to note, we are playing on very large stages... With a full giant PA's .... Like my amp is 20 ft from me.
 
#158
Rip Van Dan said:
Low-mids is what will give you definition and presence in the mix. Anywhere from 250Hz to 500Hz or 550hz will do the trick. You don't need to boost it a bunch. With a 15db +/- on my Eden amps and my DNA-800, I run the boost up to about 1:30 with my passive Jazz Bass. If you boost it too much, your sound will honk at you. Then just turn it down slowly until it stops honking.

Give that a try. Works for me!

Here's an iPhone video from about 3 years ago where we are playing Somebody to Love by the Jefferson Airplane. It was the second time we played the song and the recording is just OK. But you have no trouble hearing me. I'm running through my Eden WT500/800 amp which puts out 400-watts rms per channel into 4Ω or bridges to 800-watts rms into 8Ω. I'm pushing two Eden EX-112 4Ω cabs, each plugged into its own power channel.

I ran everything flat except for the low mids. I selected ~250Hz and ran the boost up to 1:30. I'm playing in a group with a loud drummer, keys, two guitar players and me. I'm not burying everybody at all, but I have a nice presence in the mix and you can hear every note I'm playing:

Click to expand...

Yeah I posted my eq settings earlier and I do all that, but it's not the issue... I can hear myself and my amp fine. Each venue dictates my sound settings and I change accordingly even when the bass tone is not what I want. The issue is pushing the head that hard I'm afraid I'm pushing it too hard.

The gigs in question are very large stages... Like our amps are 20 ft from us and we can run around with plenty of space.
 
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