Pre-amp into PA is a valid rig.
And those QSCs are better than some house rigs I've played through.
And those QSCs are better than some house rigs I've played through.
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Using, and stacking, QSC K12s for bass amplification?
- Thread starter zappatalist
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Gigging, for sure- that’s the crux of my quandary, as I’m kind of trying to avoid having to buy a whole amp rig at the moment, but I definitely have to be able to be heard playing out where there may or may not be PA support.
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Ok cool. Definitely doable, whether or not you like the tone is up to you.
Yamaha DRX15 lacks nothing low. I do find bass to be a little more simple harmonically through mine though, compared to a proper big ole bass amp. Leaner with less fluffy biz.
Some of y’all dig that. I do sometimes and other time not do much. And this is with a tube preamp in front of it.
Some of y’all dig that. I do sometimes and other time not do much. And this is with a tube preamp in front of it.
I do quite a bit of traveling with a jazz adjacent trio and have used the K12’s a lot. They sound fine to me. Main reason I’ve used them is that so many backline companies only have huge, heavy bass amps and we need to stay compact to fit in one car.
The Yamaha sounded much better with bass than the k12.2 when I tested them. However, it sounded terrible with guitar and the k12.2 sounded great. So for me, using the same rig for bass and guitar the k12.2 was the way to go. Bass only, the Yamaha is a better choice IMHO.
I was going to ask if you went DI tibtye PA but after seeing it, looks like you had almost the same fire power as the PA sans the sub.
I'm interested in learning how the Capo works out in this kind of scenario.
You could use a Low Shelf EQ to bring up that low end roll off but there's a risk of dialing in mud. But for me, 80hz is where the bass is heard and I HPF at 45hz. So it sounds like the k12 would be ideal for my needs.
Oh it's in the pa, the stage stuff is barely on. Volume aside there's still the dispersion and the mix to think about. That was very much a 'because I can' thing to try once. Never again.I was going to ask if you went DI tibtye PA but after seeing it, looks like you had almost the same fire power as the PA sans the sub.
I have a pair of K12s for my PA system and one of the subs. I’ve tried going direct with it in some situations but still prefer a bass head/cab if we don’t have the sub included. It’s not so much the low end I think but rather the balance of the lows and highs.
The LF roll off isn’t that different from common bass cabs as you pointed out. -6db at 52Hz and -10 at 48Hz is a little steeper than some, and especially paired with a class D power amp might feel a little soft, but the power amps send equivalent power to the 12LF driver and the HF driver. It feels/sounds like a lot of wasted power on high end that overwhelms the sound of the LF driver as a bass amp. The “bass amp” setting on the 12.2 sounds to me like it would make more effective use of the two amps/drivers, and the increased power on the 12.2 would probably favor use as a standalone bass amp. Maybe also better if you’re running something with speaker cabinet emulation ahead of the K12s.
But I also like passive basses, tube amps, and cabs without tweeters so they may just be somewhat antithetical to what I want in an amplifier.
It's just unnecessary for what I need. The pa is better placed to do all the volume. I just need to hear me. For reference here's a gig I did last weekend on the beach with the qsc as a monitor.
I’ve tried this in a full band situation (large wedding) and hated it. Not enough dynamic response. However, I used a pair of K10.2 wedges and that was pretty good in a comparable situation (same band, wedding). I’d like to try a pair of stacked K8s with one set to sub. The K8 is a great size and sound.
Just goes to show we all work differently. In normal circumstances I'm not anywhere near the limits of a K12.2, there's plenty of loud left in the tank for the big notes. Granted, it doesn't have the limitless feel that some of my big rigs have had in the past, but that's not a fair comparison. It's nothing to do with 'wedge vs amp' it's because at the end of the day it's just a 1x12".
