Rehearsal Rant

[Jonathan C]

How many of my fellow bass players pay to rehearse at studios? I've yet to go to one here on Long Island that has a bass rig I can tolerate using. A new band I joined about 3 months ago picked a rehearsal space conveniently 10 minutes from my home. Happily with my P bass special in hand I enter the room we're to practice in, then in horror I spied the bass rig! It was a SVT 350, upon closer inspection all the graphic eq sliders were busted off and it was sitting on top of 2 4x10 cabs, a Seismic audio and old Ampeg 410 HE. I plugged in and brought up the gain, it sounded like crap, and very little deep bass which if nothing else should have been present. Upon further inspection the Ampeg cab was unplugged, maybe by accident I thought? Plugged it in and plucked the open A string and all I heard was BUZZZZZZZZZZZ! I unplugged it and went ahead with just the top Seismic cab. Next week I brought my Mesa WD-800 and Revsound RS-210. A different room, but another SVT 350 with another Ampeg 4x10 under a Carvin 2x10. For grins I plugged into it and turned up to 1/3 gain. It sounded passable as I noodled for a few minutes, then suddenly it turned to a weird fuzz. Turned it down (it wasn't loud at all to begin with) and the fuzz didn't diminish. Turned it off and back on and it sounded normal. Hooked up my rig and went ahead with rehearsal non the less.
I get that running a rehearsal studio is not exactly a goldmine, but there is much more effort into providing guitarists amps that are usable (Marshall, Fender, etc.) Last week we went to another studio. Foolishly I left my rig at home, as I walked into a Hartke LH-1000 sitting on top of a Hartke 8x10 "VX" cab. Every single note buzzed like all of the joints in the cab were broken, and that amp? Bass, mid, treble, and a bright switch only?? I could not get an acceptable tone out of it. Today we're heading to that studio again, I'm bringing the Mesa head with my new Subway 2x12 which has only been used in my apartment, going to stretch it's legs!

 

[ArtechnikA]

It's rehearsal, not a time to be obsessing about tone.
Studios have have constant overhead and zero income for more than a year - I can understand how their backline budget is stressed.
Can't help you with cab issues, but here's a hint for LH-1000's "Fender Tone Stack EQ": 'Flat' is 2-10-2. Turn off the Limiter.
You're always welcome to bring your own cab. And share your feedback with the studio operator. They might not know. It might have been just fine until the punk band before you dimed everything and then played a set...
How did the rest of the backline sound? I've seen 10 wretched drum kits for every unplayable bass rig...

 

[J_Bass]

I do.

The amp works fine, it's a Warwick with an Ampeg 4x10.

The guy who runs it is a nice fellow, the hourly fee is very cheap, we have plenty of space for 5 guys, it's a 15 minute drive, I only have to bring my bass and the rig works. I wouldn't like to have to bring my own amp and speaker to rehearsal every week, that would be a deal breaker for me, probably.

 

[kjp360]

I've been lucky with this. The place we have been using has a bunch of SVT3 Pro's and Little Mark II's on top of 4x10 or 8x10 Ampegs, all in good shape. Had a particular SVT3 that keep going into thermal protect, but they finally fixed it. Now if we could get them to lose the 100w Orange guitar head (L.A.F.) that my bandmate likes we would really be in business.

 

[two fingers]

Yeah it's probably mostly rawk bands using those studios. As such, they're stupid loud. You can get stupid loud with a relatively small guitar rig. But it takes a ton of speaker surface area and power to compete on bass (unless the rig is cutting edge, like yours). So poor bass players trying to compete with stupid loud drums and guitar have likely blown most of the drivers in those studio bass cabs.

I'm very fortunate these days. Our practice "studio" is the bonus room over my garage. My Mesa TT800 and Subway 115 stay up there. My guitarist has about a half dozen IR rigs (pedals and pedal boards with amp modelers). Sometimes he brings a powered Yamaha PA speaker. Sometimes he doesn't. But my keys players runs the PA and can turn the guitar down if needed. And our drummer can actually play without trying to sound like a battle zone. Our volume levels are pretty logical.

I'm spoiled right now and loving every minute of it. But I've been where you are.

 

[Jonathan C]

It's rehearsal, not a time to be obsessing about tone.
Studios have have constant overhead and zero income for more than a year - I can understand how their backline budget is stressed.
Can't help you with cab issues, but here's a hint for LH-1000's "Fender Tone Stack EQ": 'Flat' is 2-10-2. Turn off the Limiter.
You're always welcome to bring your own cab. And share your feedback with the studio operator. They might not know. It might have been just fine until the punk band before you dimed everything and then played a set...
How did the rest of the backline sound? I've seen 10 wretched drum kits for every unplayable bass rig...

Thanks for your input. I don't feel that I'm obsessing over my tone, and I totally sympathize with the studio's lack of revenue. These issues for many of these places existed before in my experience. And judging from what I hear other bands sound, yes they beat the hell out of everything. I miss playing in bands that had their own studio where I could leave a rig and knew what I was getting. I posted to see if others had the same experience.
I helped another bassplayer load his 130 lb Mesa 6x10 into his jeep last week because he didn't want to use the house gear.

 

[Jonathan C]

Yeah it's probably mostly rawk bands using those studios. As such, they're stupid loud. You can get stupid loud with a relatively small guitar rig. But it takes a ton of speaker surface area and power to compete on bass (unless the rig is cutting edge, like yours). So poor bass players trying to compete with stupid loud drums and guitar have likely blown most of the drivers in those studio bass cabs.

I'm very fortunate these days. Our practice "studio" is the bonus room over my garage. My Mesa TT800 and Subway 115 stay up there. My guitarist has about a half dozen IR rigs (pedals and pedal boards with amp modelers). Sometimes he brings a powered Yamaha PA speaker. Sometimes he doesn't. But my keys players runs the PA and can turn the guitar down if needed. And our drummer can actually play without trying to sound like a battle zone. Our volume levels are pretty logical.

I'm spoiled right now and loving every minute of it. But I've been where you are.

You hit the nail on the head, stupid loud competition to rehearse. I've invested too much $ to get good tone out of my gear (even though my playing sucks! LOL). I just want to hear something like what I've intended. I like my bandmates but the rehearsal places are a huge negative, I am optimistic we'll get to play some gigs soon which will soften the blow.

 

[brianrost]

I've been to a couple paid rooms for one-offs, the amps were always working and loud enough to deafen everyone. Last room I was in had an older (not v3) Rumble combo. Can't remember the others...Hartke and/or GK maybe. Hey, it was 15 years ago.

If I'm going to pay for a room on a regular basis I expect management to correct any amp issues. They are supposed to be providing a turnkey experience.

 

[Jonathan C]

I've been to a couple paid rooms for one-offs, the amps were always working and loud enough to deafen everyone. Last room I was in had an older (not v3) Rumble combo. Can't remember the others...Hartke and/or GK maybe. Hey, it was 15 years ago.

If I'm going to pay for a room on a regular basis I expect management to correct any amp issues. They are supposed to be providing a turnkey experience.

It's turnkey alright, but the motor has a misfire and the tires are bald!
One studio I used to go to with another band I was in, the guy build a beautiful studio, all brand new gear, Ashdown ABM with 4x10 for bass, which was more than decent. Covid really hurt him, I visited a few months ago to jam with some folks. He had only a couple of open rooms, and there was broken gear all over. He had a go fund me page up to raise some cash. Depressing!

 

[JRA]

Rehearsal Rant


i voted "needs more practice" --- not ready for prime time! but i look forward to your real rants in the future!

good luck with both your rehearsals and your rants!




also: always expect to use your own gear until you know better!

 

[Jonathan C]

Rehearsal Rant


i voted "needs more practice" --- not ready for prime time! but i look forward to your real rants in the future!

good luck with both your rehearsals and your rants!




also: always expect to use your own gear until you know better!

I really should join the "grumpy old farts" club! I'll heed your advice on more practice too.

 

[LBS-bass]

Musicians are mostly overgrown children and this is why you can't have anything nice. Whatever they put in those rooms is going to be destroyed so they're not going out of their way to provide the best gear. I used to have to bring my head to one studio and plug it into a cabinet that only had one working speaker.

The bands I'm currently in all have provided gear in someone's home. One guy is a bass player and he's got a decent rig. The other guy is a guitarist who dabbles on the bass and he has this anemic little Acoustic combo. In my own rehearsal space I have my own stuff but I'm only using that for one group at the moment.

 

[Oddly]

You didn't mention it, so I'm guessing you didn't actually complain to the rehearsal studio staff?
Any rooms I've ever used (which would be just about all the ones in Dublin), if ever there was an issue with an amp, they'd do their damndest to fix it or replace it immediately.

 

[Killing Floor]

I want to hear more about your 212 in an apartment. That’s awesome!
Let’em know a bass player lives next door.

 

[Jonathan C]

I want to hear more about your 212 in an apartment. That’s awesome!
Let’em know a bass player lives next door.

I usually practice with a Rumble 40, but if the neighbor upstairs is away which is frequently, I've used the Mesa, but it's still never had it's legs stretched. It's new, only had it about 6 weeks. I didn't need it either as I have 2 nice Revsound cabs, and my back is not thrilled with the Mesa's 52 lbs. I wish Mesa made it a tilt back like the 2x15 Subway. I was in gear acquisition mode before I got married (June 4th), now I have to behave.

 

[Joe Nerve]

This was in a studio on LI. I could find out where if you're interested... I know LI is big, so it may not be of any value...



Outside of that, rehearsing on crappy gear I believe makes for a better, tighter band. I don't usually care, I plug in and play. If however I was rehearsing more than I was gigging... I'd have to be happy. Otherwise, what's the point?

 

[Yellow Bang66]

How many of my fellow bass players pay to rehearse at studios? I've yet to go to one here on Long Island that has a bass rig I can tolerate using. A new band I joined about 3 months ago picked a rehearsal space conveniently 10 minutes from my home. Happily with my P bass special in hand I enter the room we're to practice in, then in horror I spied the bass rig! It was a SVT 350, upon closer inspection all the graphic eq sliders were busted off and it was sitting on top of 2 4x10 cabs, a Seismic audio and old Ampeg 410 HE. I plugged in and brought up the gain, it sounded like crap, and very little deep bass which if nothing else should have been present. Upon further inspection the Ampeg cab was unplugged, maybe by accident I thought? Plugged it in and plucked the open A string and all I heard was BUZZZZZZZZZZZ! I unplugged it and went ahead with just the top Seismic cab. Next week I brought my Mesa WD-800 and Revsound RS-210. A different room, but another SVT 350 with another Ampeg 4x10 under a Carvin 2x10. For grins I plugged into it and turned up to 1/3 gain. It sounded passable as I noodled for a few minutes, then suddenly it turned to a weird fuzz. Turned it down (it wasn't loud at all to begin with) and the fuzz didn't diminish. Turned it off and back on and it sounded normal. Hooked up my rig and went ahead with rehearsal non the less.
I get that running a rehearsal studio is not exactly a goldmine, but there is much more effort into providing guitarists amps that are usable (Marshall, Fender, etc.) Last week we went to another studio. Foolishly I left my rig at home, as I walked into a Hartke LH-1000 sitting on top of a Hartke 8x10 "VX" cab. Every single note buzzed like all of the joints in the cab were broken, and that amp? Bass, mid, treble, and a bright switch only?? I could not get an acceptable tone out of it. Today we're heading to that studio again, I'm bringing the Mesa head with my new Subway 2x12 which has only been used in my apartment, going to stretch it's legs!

I n the LA,CA area I've played in many rehearsal studios almost all have a crappy Backline, I usually take my own rig unless impossible! its funny only once did I have a decent one! its seems it usually a Peavey head & some cheap 4x10 Cab!I dont have to pay too much( 10-15 bux), so Idont mind bringing my rig! once we practiced at a high end place for ($25-35 bux). but they had a newer backline so it was cool!

 

[RyanSaranich]

It's rehearsal, not a time to be obsessing about tone.

I think I disagree with you here. Yes, the primary concern in rehearsal is locking/getting parts right/etc. But for real: If you're about to play a gig or a session and your rehearsal is filled with off-sounding bass tone (or any other instrument for that matter), how confident are you going to be in going into that next situation feeling like everything's going to go well? You surely can't base it on the idea of, "Well, we sounded great in rehearsal last night."
For a lot of musicians, it's pretty wise to bring your own gear into the rehearsal space. I always like to keep the mindset of, "Soundcheck like you're playing the show" and I think this might fall into that a bit.

 

[yodedude2]

o.p. ... you sound upset. i can only sympathize, but it seems like lugging your own gear around is a good approach for you. your anecdote reminds me of the n.y. studios with ampeg gemini guitar amps that were 'locked' so that they could not be turned on without a key ... strictly for a certain group of studio cats to use, and no one else.

edit: that was, like, 55 years ago or so.

 

[DoctorZee]

I’ve had mixed experiences. The one I typically visit has Eden amps and Hartke or SWR cabs. Old and abused, but loud and in working condition.