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Question for Mackie DLM12S users

LowDown Hal

LowDown Hal

Aug 30, 2007
1,486
7
southeast Michigan
#1
I just brought one of these home to play with for a week. I noticed that it does provide good clean deep Bass ...BUT...

It seems to lack that kick in the chest subwoofers typically provide. I don't "feel" the Bass. So, I wonder if I'm using it wrong? I have the Bass and the Kick routed to an Aux Output on the board. That aux out then goes into the subwoofer. I've tried it with the crossover set to the 12" DLM12 setting and I've tried it with the crossover set to optional (or whatever it's called) where I set the high point at around 120hZ.

What am I missing?

HELP !!!

I really want to like this unit. The size, weight, spec sheets, etc. are great. But I want to "feel" the Bass a little. It's mostly Blues, Folk Rock, Classic Rock, no techno rave music etc. so I don't really want/need anything big and heavy....
I tried a Yorkville single 10" 200W sub that was bigger and heavier and seemed to "kick" better than this Mackie.

Ideas?????????

THANKS,
.Hal
 
#2
have you tried running some recorded music directly into the sub to confirm it is functioning properly? I have the DLM12S and use it for bass and drum bix beats and it seems to kick well for me. It is also beneficial to compress or limit the feed to the subwoofer, which will help maximize headroom.
 
#4
FWIW, when I use the DLM12S along with a full range speaker for my bass guitar rig, playing in small rooms in a 4 piece rock band (bass, drums, 2 guitars), I always feel like I run the risk of overpowering the band with low end from my bass. I can't even consider turning it up anywhere near full crank without destroying the room with low end. Mind you, much of the time these are small rooms of 150 capacity or less.

I set the crossover frequency a little higher than you might typically for PA subwoofer use - at 120hz in order to catch most of the fundamental tones the bass produces. If running this as a subwoofer in a PA system, I'd likely set the crossover point lower, from 80hz to 100hz. Unless you have the sub crossover frequency set very, very low (the lowest frequency is 60Hz), I can't imagine that you'd have difficulty getting enough low end oomph to do the job. Their spec sheet claims that they are capable of reproducing down to 35hz.

Just my experience...YMMV.
 

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