Sound persons ASSuming I am happy to give over all my tone to their mixer is what gets my gig off on a bad start. Take a goddamn listen to the bass before telling me to plug myself in THERE.
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Question - DI box vs. Amp's XLR out
- Thread starter guermo
- Start date
s0c9
Supporting Member
Why does plugging in there make any difference? That attitude will not win over any friends at FOH.. and given their control over the mix, probably not a good move.. my $0.02
Read it again. There as in the DI they want to put in between my bass and my amp without even listening to a single note.
I've read enough, my friend. You ASSume that they (almost said "we", but I don't do that anymore) don't know what a DI will do to your sound. Actually, you never considered guys like me that always preferred to take BOTH, as in there are good qualities to BOTH sounds. And the other post of mine you quoted, well, I was just stating a preference about the way I like to send my bass to the mix, you don't have to be a prick about me simply stating my preference.
Keep this endearing attitude with sound people up. You are bound to sound great and go places. Especially with that kind of language. And reply with something nasty, if you like. I'm down here.
You're assuming that you would have a problem with my attitude but you have never shoved a DI in my face without listening to a note. Your preferences have blinkers on. Read what I wrote about the guys that do that to ME without putting yourself in the firing line and you'll have a nicer day.
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You're telling this to a guy who stated a preference for the tone of his rig amped up in the PA, over the sterile tone of no rig.
What is it with you guys feeling like a mixer makes a better tone than any bass rig?
Gotta say, I can't tell you how much I resent sound techs who insist I do things their way. I am always happy to work with a soundman if there is a problem with my gear, but I too have had the "Use this crappy $40 DI instead of that awesome cab mic or that awesome DI you have" attack before I even play a note, and I don't like it one little bit. Geri O, I seriously doubt I'd have a problem with you running sound whatsoever and I think you probably do have the best interests of the band at heart, but too often I get sound techs who suck and try to make up for it at my expense.
Also, any sound tech who takes it out on the band and gives them a crap mix because the bassist didn't want to use their crap Imp 2 is no professional and will likely stay at their crap position in the foodchain forever.
Also, any sound tech who takes it out on the band and gives them a crap mix because the bassist didn't want to use their crap Imp 2 is no professional and will likely stay at their crap position in the foodchain forever.
Well, being BOTH of those guys...
) (hey, I never, ever said it was better let's reel it back a notch there...And sterile is in the eye of the beholder, doncha know...)I could ask the same question in reverse, but in spite of my post and response, I get it and honestly, when it's said and done, I can't disagree with you. Just don't treat the soundguy like the enemy, ya know? Having been deeply involved on both sides of this, I've experienced what a good desk with well-designed EQ can do for all of the instruments, not just bass. As well as a kick-ass SVT rig or my own EBS rig these days. Of course, neither situation drives itself, it take a good engineer and player to make both pieces of gear do their magic.
So I say carry on as you see fit, but try and remember, sound guys are on your side...
just like players, they are only as good as their last mix.
Jimmy, you'll probably find this humorous...This isn't to make a case either way, just an experience I wanted to share...
A while back, we did a little county-side festival with several church bands on the bill. I asked the production guys if I could take the church's REDDI box and use it.
During the day, I suggested the REDDI to the other bassists and only one was open to using it. The church engineers were willing to take whatever signal the other bassists gave them. We saw crappy DIs and more line outs than you can imagine. We had a mic (Beta 52) available for bass cabs that no one even noticed.
When we played, I didn't use an amp, just my Jazz bass straight through the REDDI and using my ears and we did our thing. Nearly all the bassists made a beeline to me to see what I was playing through. I held up that red box and smiled.
trevtdogg
Guest
- Mar 28, 2015
- 21
- 3
- Disclosures
- i play in the melbourne grunge rock band charm: www.charm.bandcamp.com
sound people don't always know how you want to sound. they'll do what they think is best, but it might be the opposite of what you are trying to achieve sonically.
i used to use effects and eq in my amp for our sound, until i heard some live recordings of us when they had mixed using a DI before the amp and nothing else. we couldn't tell on stage, but there was no compression, completely different eq and tone to how we like to sound, etc.
i learnt that even though you get a lot of your tone from the amp and cab - whenever possible try and get it using pedals first. test it by recording with a line out of your pedal chain into a recorder or PC and tweak to your liking so that the signal is as close to your preferred tone to start with, then run it into your amp and see if it's workable from there for stage sound out of your cab/setup.
it's much easier to give the sound person a DI signal out of your last pedal in the chain without them even thinking twice or batting an eyelid, where as the same sound person could argue/refuse letting you mic up your cab.
i used to use effects and eq in my amp for our sound, until i heard some live recordings of us when they had mixed using a DI before the amp and nothing else. we couldn't tell on stage, but there was no compression, completely different eq and tone to how we like to sound, etc.
i learnt that even though you get a lot of your tone from the amp and cab - whenever possible try and get it using pedals first. test it by recording with a line out of your pedal chain into a recorder or PC and tweak to your liking so that the signal is as close to your preferred tone to start with, then run it into your amp and see if it's workable from there for stage sound out of your cab/setup.
it's much easier to give the sound person a DI signal out of your last pedal in the chain without them even thinking twice or batting an eyelid, where as the same sound person could argue/refuse letting you mic up your cab.
depends on what you like. If you like the coloring sound of an amp you'll be fine with the DI of your amp, if you like the coloring of an off board DI you'll be fine with that, if you like the sound of anything else send to FOH you'll be fine with anything else.
It all depends what you like to do!
I myself prefere a passive DI plugged at the power amp output of a 70s svt thus running a slightly smooth overdriven tube amp signal to FOH.
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I use a Radial Bassbone (DI + other stuff) on my pedalboard and that is what I provide to FOH. I do have a MB amp (with an XLR out) and Berg cab on stage, but that is just for my monitoring. So far (fingers crossed) I have never had a soundperson say no to using my DI or try and convince me to use the "house" DI. Now, to be fair, my tone is mostly me, my Sadowsky bass, and a few pedals, my amp+cab doesn't really color too much (so it matches up to the FOH sound pretty well). If I was into the tube amp with some grit sound then the mic would probably be required and I may have experienced more issues.
I know this is an older thread, I just had this same issue today. I have an ampeg svt pro 3 which has a di, it is also part of a rack unit that includes a sonic maximizer, tuner, and compressor. I encountered this for the first time, where a sound guy refused to use my di, and instead placed one after my fx, and before my amp.. I was pretty annoyed, but gave in, after l having played for 20+ years and spending multiple hours perfecting my tone.. but then in the middle of the gig I went to tune imbetween songs, and realized I couldn't even mute my tuner. I don't get why a sound guy would be so against using my tone, when in 20 years I've nwver had this issue.
Some sound techs are like that. They're afraid to let a bass player have even a little bit of say-so in how he or she sounds. I believe the technical term for it is "incompetent." The good sound techs let me have my way, they might say something when they hear something way out of line, but for the most part they leave me alone and I leave them alone and it's always great.
