Question for Touring bassists. Need for cabs?

[eureka kid]

I have never been on tour but I do have high end equip. and the question I ask may not be that stupid. Now if our amp is running through the board and we have ear monitors or floor monitors so we can hear ourselves(running through the board)Then what do we need our beautiful, great sounding, high dollar cabs for? Am I making any sense?
Thanks for any and all replies

 

[BlacknWhite]

I have never been on tour but I do have high end equip. and the question I ask may not be that stupid. Now if our amp is running through the board and we have ear monitors or floor monitors so we can hear ourselves(running through the board)Then what do we need our beautiful, great sounding, high dollar cabs for? Am I making any sense?
Thanks for any and all replies

If the band are wearing in ears (which I can't do lol) or have good stage monitors you don't need cabs. I know lots of guys who don't use amps or cabs. Just go straight to the board through a pre amp/DI. I use my rig on stage because I like the look and hearing my own sound on stage.

 

[Grumry]

Our bass guy only carries his burst p with flats and tort and his IEMs. We've done anything from 100 person clubs to festivals with 10s of thousands.

 

[Downunderwonder]

I have never been on tour but I do have high end equip. and the question I ask may not be that stupid. Now if our amp is running through the board and we have ear monitors or floor monitors so we can hear ourselves(running through the board)Then what do we need our beautiful, great sounding, high dollar cabs for? Am I making any sense?
Thanks for any and all replies

What is a cab for but providing cab tone? If cab tone isn't important to you then your cab investment is useless.

 

[Wasnex]

I have never been on tour but I do have high end equip. and the question I ask may not be that stupid. Now if our amp is running through the board and we have ear monitors or floor monitors so we can hear ourselves(running through the board)Then what do we need our beautiful, great sounding, high dollar cabs for? Am I making any sense?
Thanks for any and all replies

IEMs
Well if your running an all tube amp you typically need a speaker load on the output so you don't it blow it up. Other than that, a speaker is not essential. Possible benefits of a speaker: 1) Some like to mic their cabs instead of using a DI. 2) If you stand close to your speaker and have it loud enough, it might provide some tactile cues to your body so you feel more connected to the music. IMHO using a speaker this way is a bit counterproductive. One of the primary benefits of using IEMs is to reduce or eliminate stage wash, so the house sound is better. Cranking your speaker largely negates this benefit, so a better solution for tactile input is to use your amp to push something like this EICH Amplification :

Floor Monitors
I haven't had a lot of luck running floor monitors without an amp. I have used some pretty high end monitors, and although they were able to produce sufficient volume and low end, I almost always found it difficult to get the sound of the bass to pop out of the mix. IMHO, It takes a good engineer who knows how and is willing to give you what you want and you have to have some serious monitor cabinets and possibly a dedicated sub for it to work well. Under most realistic circumstances, your probably going to be better off using your amp and speakers or IEMs. YMMV

 

[javi_bassist]

I have an Ashdown ABM with its ABM cab and I love it. In ten years of playing, I have only seen two guys using a mic in my cab. Now, my amp stays at our rehearsal room. I bought an Aguilar Tone Hammer and I use it all the time. In case I need it, I use an Ashdown combo to be my monitor, but in most cases my band is given enough monitors. I became lazy... only pedalboard and bass now. No amp

 

[chadds]

For some their entire signal chain fingers to cab is their instrument. In that case leaving your sound to the variables of a monitor engineer, monitors, DI, etc. is asking for inconsistent sound gig to gig. Your group and fans want to hear you. For me it’s worth the tote.

 

[alaskaleftybass]

For some their entire signal chain fingers to cab is their instrument. In that case leaving your sound to the variables of a monitor engineer, monitors, DI, etc. is asking for inconsistent sound gig to gig. Your group and fans want to hear you. For me it’s worth the tote.

Agree with this wholeheartedly. While on the rise you may initially feel you've "arrived" because you no longer need a backline. But THERE IS A REASON touring professionals use backlines. Part of yours, and most bass players' sounds comes from not only the bass but the colored/uncolored sound they produce in the amp behind them. Your unique identifiable sound comes from both bass and amp.

Now, if you don't feel you have any unique tone and personality to add to the mix as a bass player maybe IEM's and allowing the FOH engineer to define your sound for you is sufficient. Have you ever done a large show with an SVT/810 backline? There is something very comforting knowing that you have that creamy awesome sound coming from behind you, flapping your pants and driving the band. Now, if you feel you can rock out with a pair of .6mm headphones all the power to you. For myself I like hearing a physical sound of my bass through my amplification. That's who I am.

 

[buldog5151bass]

It all depends on the PA. I think the reason a lot of big musicians have amps on stage now is because the amp company is paying them.

 

[chadds]

It all depends on the PA. I think the reason a lot of big musicians have amps on stage now is because the amp company is paying them.

I’ve played some big festivals with huge monitors. Often they sound great for everything horns vocals etc. just not bass. You pluck like you would your amp and meh or distortion. Now you can’t push your drummer to do what he does. Once in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park the JBL sidefills made me smile and smile. It was like I had big Sunn cabs rocking across the stage. But the chance and cost of sounding poor is so high.....

The last thing I want to do is not be there bringing my part in punch, volume, and clarity because the band needs it. Go big or go home.

 

[JimmyM]

Several reasons...

---I hate the way most monitors sound for bass.

---We don't use IEM's and have no plans to start.

---I don't want anyone else's instruments in my monitor and they don't want mine in theirs.

---I love the way my amps sound and that's what I want to hear and what I want to go out to the PA, and even though I was forced to give up the cab mic by whiny bitch sound techs, I make darn sure that my DI line sounds as close to what's coming out of my cabs as humanly possible through pedals and high end tube DI's.

---Once in a great while, I hear an ampless band that sounds good. Invariably, they are high end major bands that have awesome PA, and most, I've come to find out, have offstage amps. Otherwise, the vast majority of them sound sterile and lifeless.

If you choose to go ampless, that's fine by me. But this is why I won't and never will unless someone is paying me very well to do so. I've tried it, and I absolutely hated it.

 

[GonzoBfiddy]

For some their entire signal chain fingers to cab is their instrument. In that case leaving your sound to the variables of a monitor engineer, monitors, DI, etc. is asking for inconsistent sound gig to gig. Your group and fans want to hear you. For me it’s worth the tote.

Nicely put. Never heard it said like that before but I feel exactly the same way!

 

[Maxfenderbass]

No wedge/IEM I have used will ever sound or feel the same as my SVT rig - Ever.

 

[Life of Brian]

I like having my 2x10 cab standing vertical with my amp (mark bass cab and amp) and leave the other part of the cab at the house. Even if i'm running in ears or floors I still like having some punch behind me. Both amp and cab are super lite and low profile so just turning it up to 3 gives me that confidence without competing with the mains. To each there own.

 

[Paulabass]

90% of our bass tone is for our own enjoyment. The audience does not hear it, and you could be playing thru a bad rig, and if you hear yourself it's good enough. I take pride in my stage sound, and my FOH sound, over which I have some, but not complete control.
If your expensive rig makes you happy, it's worth every penny. Every comment I've ever gotten on my sound was from people who ONLY heard my FOH sound.

 

[T Bassman]

Also depends on the tour you are doing. I did a 3 week run last summer where each venue provided backline for bass/drums. I just brought a bass and my pedal board with a preamp pedal and some others, which came in handy when the provided heads weren't terrific, and for radio sessions we did.

 

[JRA]

Am I making any sense?

absolutely! FWIW: the tour/road manager can answer your questions and attend to your issues.

whiny bitch sound techs

 

[JimmyM]

90% of our bass tone is for our own enjoyment. The audience does not hear it, and you could be playing thru a bad rig, and if you hear yourself it's good enough. I take pride in my stage sound, and my FOH sound, over which I have some, but not complete control.
If your expensive rig makes you happy, it's worth every penny. Every comment I've ever gotten on my sound was from people who ONLY heard my FOH sound.

It is not like there's this invisible wall between you and your rig that prevents the audience from hearing it Even at the piddly volumes I play at, my rig can be heard just fine by the audience, so I know that most of you have rigs they can hear as well.

 

[el murdoque]

Reasons:
1. Backup.
I've played shows where the supplied high end PA turned out to be something the local tech dragged in from a garbage heap. My rig was able to carry the venue, so it did.
On one gig, our singer's IEM receiver broke. He was unable to perform without it since there were no monitors. I gave him mine and played with what I got from my amp.

2. Bass on stage.
With IEM I still like to feel the bass. The cab will rattle the stage and if I stand right in front of it, I feel what I play as much as I hear it. The singers, who are on quite cheap IEM buds with little bass response rely on that as well.
Without IEM it's always a gamble whether or not the local FOH guy brings monitors that sound good for bass, mostly they do not.

3. Communication.
A good FOH guy will listen to what your amp is set and reproduce your sound with the PA (given that you have a sound he considers worth reproducing). It's always harder to get what you want when you go direct.

4. To show off your expensive gear to other gearheads and/or to represent your endorsements.


I've done everything from showing up to a gig with a bass and a cable to bringing a full stack to a bar gig.
Bringing bass and cable is easy on the load in and setup work, but it's a gamble. You might have to play through a
non-decent monitor and hear very little of what you do.
Bringing too much amp is no problem as long as you're aware of the fact that the low frequencies will be louder off stage and if you know where to locate the master volume on your amp and how to use it - but it requires more carrying of stuff, more worrying about stuff, costs more and leaves your back sore.

Right now, I use a barefaced Super Compact cab with my amp setup. I provide a proper DI signal for FOH with my equipment and a 10kgs cab plus a small class D poweramp on top for reasons 1-3 is not too much hassle.

 

[fhm555]

And then there are the bands on a three state “tour” in a 13 passenger van with a single axle trailer in tow and are responsible for stage and FOH. Since most of their venues will be smallish, good sounding stage amps and a clean, uncluttered vocal from the PA is the ideal situation.
At the other end of the scale is the national tour that plays venues like the Staples Center. I would imagine any show that big will have a musical director and chief sound engineer and the backline (if any) and FOH would be dictated by the people hired to produce the attraction’s signature sound. If you are getting paid well to sound like goose farts on a muggy day, you are still being paid well. You can roll with it or remain a starving artist alone in their principles.