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What Should I Do?

Ryan Mohr

Ryan Mohr

Oct 23, 2007
3,032
26
#1
I have always played in an acoustic/alternative rock band (think Dispatch, DMB, Weezer, Third Eye Blind) so with my Hartke LH500 and Low Down Sound 115 (a single 3015 with no tweeter) volume has never been an issue. I am now playing in a metalcore band with the same rig. The band consists of 2 guitarists, both of whom play through 4x12s and all-tube heads, and a drummer who plays a lot of double-bass kick drum. So I am competing against 8 12s and double-bass with a single 15.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the genre of metalcore, we play very similar music to August Burns Red, Our Last Night, and We Came As Romans. Here are some examples: The genre is characterized by heavy breakdowns, melodic riffs, and a combination of screaming and clean vocals. In metalcore, bass is all about enhancing the kickdrum, and making the guitar riffs and breakdowns heavier, deeper, and thicker. So I am using doubling guitar lines or keep the rhythm during melodic parts.

I am playing my heavily modified passive 4-string alder/RW SX J bass with both pickups on full and tone wide open, which I think is a good tone for this genre. My bass is tuned to B-F#-B-E, is wired up with DiMarzio Model Js in series, and is strung with LaBella Hard Rockin' Steels.

At band practice, I can hear myself very well (sometimes I am too loud :D) and my bandmates LOVE my tone. But at large gigs my rig runs out of steam and begins to compress a bit. I can usually hear myself still in the mids, but I am lacking a lot in absolute low end. That thickness, depth, and fatness I need to provide isn't there anymore. To give you guys a point of reference, the other bassists in the bands we play with have full SVT rigs.

My head is 500 watts at 4 ohms and is VERY loud for it's size so I will be keeping that. For the cab, I am left with 2 options: buy a duplicate of my cab I own so I will have 2 115s running at 4 ohms total OR buy a 410/212. I am leaning towards the first option, but I wanted a second opinion. In the second option, I would get a Aguilar GS 212, Eden D212XLT, Epifani PS-410, or Mesa Boogie PH 2x12. I'm leaning towards the PS-410 for this option.

Summary: I need more absolute volume and low end.
 
#4
I'd say another one like you have too . With two they wouldn't have to work as hard and as you know the bottom end with the 3015 is plenty deep already . Combined I'd think the low end wouldn't be a problem , it would be tighter with two of the same speakers . I had a cab with a 3015 for a couple years , great mids for a 15" and loud and light .
 
#7
Here are a couple pictures of my current cab and a soundclip from TB'er KJung to show what the cab sounds like. He described it "a wonderful combination (to my ear) of old school and modern articulation." He also said "the LDS with that wonderful Eminence driver being fatter down low and a bit more 'growly' than the more 'grindy' mid voiced Schroe," "Big down low, organic, warm, but with some nice upper mid grind that sounds very musical" and "From the first note, I was pretty blown away. I like that bit of aggressive grind (of course, much of that is coming from the very aggressive instrument I happened to use), but that cab definitely had the 'organic grunt' happening." Hopefully that gives you guys a good idea of what the cab sounds like coming from KJung.

Here's the soundclip: [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

ryan2.gif


ryan3.gif
 
#8
will33 said:
If you and the band like the tone, just need more of it, adding a second 15 same as you have now will do just that. Also happens to be the least expensive solution.
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+1 on all counts, Don at LDS is very reasonable with his prices.
::::BASSIST:::: said:
+1

Or add an 8 ohm 410. The more drivers the louder you'll be.
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Thanks for the opinion, but I would like to either have 2 15s or 4 10s, I don't feel good about mixing cab configurations from an aesthetic and tonal perspective.
Blues Bass 2 said:
I'd say another one like you have too . With two they wouldn't have to work as hard and as you know the bottom end with the 3015 is plenty deep already . Combined I'd think the low end wouldn't be a problem , it would be tighter with two of the same speakers . I had a cab with a 3015 for a couple years , great mids for a 15" and loud and light .
Click to expand...
Definitely agree on all counts, but what do you mean it would be tighter with two of the same speakers? I'm not really going for tightness necessarily.
Bass_Pounder said:
I would think about another LDS cab, but this time go for the fearful with the 3015LF and the mid.
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This is interesting, but I'm not quite sure these would gel together well. They are VERY different sounds.
cassanova said:
You could always ask them to turn too. I'm guessing they're playing much louder than actually needed. You could also tweek your mids a bit. This is a common problem in not being able to hear yourself.
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They are actually very reasonable with their sound. They don't boost bass and scoop mids like a lot of guitarists. It's that at a large gig playing with a metalcore band it's a little hard to keep up.
 
#11
I play in a band that is characteristic (in our newer unrecorded material) of very good (IMO) metal/metalcore/hardcore. We stray across the lines a lot with pop influences as well. Before I joine I know they played with We Came As Romans at the least. I use an SVT-II and 810E. I can pull that boomy bass but to be honest, I value the raunchy mids my rig puts out with a slight od on my Bass VT. It really is present in the mix and I hve power to spare.

Adding another 15 (especially a delta lf) has my vote as my cab is half stock Eminence drivers for the oomph and half Jensen Mod10-50 for the snarl. I loooooooooooove the combination and I think you'd love one like that too.
 
#12
When I said two speakers of the same kind would be tight I meant tighter than a mixed set of speakers , like a 410/212 or a 210/115 mix . A pair of 3015s in the same kind of cabinet will reinforce each other . What Jimmie said would be right too . That cabinet looks very cool and I'm sure a pair of them would kick .
 
#13
Ryan Mohr said:
They are actually very reasonable with their sound. They don't boost bass and scoop mids like a lot of guitarists. It's that at a large gig playing with a metalcore band it's a little hard to keep up.
Click to expand...

Others have suggested another 15 and 4x10. I'm going to put another option out there that I didn't see that's also relatively inexpensive. A decent 2x10 on top of the 15 would also give you the extra volume you need while still holding down solid bottom end and sounds "tight."
 

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