So I've been playing bass at church for about three years now, and my live rig has always been a a few pedals going into a sansamp DI'd into the sound board. I've never been too concerned about on stage volume, as we use IEM's. However I recently joined a band and we have a few gigs coming up, and I'm not really certain what my live rig should be. I haven't gigged much outside of church so I don't really know what to expect. Do I need an amp? Should I run a DI from my amp head? Is a speaker cabinet needed? I'm just not really sure where to start. Any help is much appreciated!
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I have an 220watt amp head and a 2X15 cabinet, but I DI post amp eq to the board. My rig is mainly for my monitoring. Your pedal board and sansamp DI'd ought to be just fine.
Markbass LMIII and NY151. If there's PA support it serves mostly as a stage monitor. If not I turn it up and it can fill any room we've played.
s0c9
Supporting Member
Line6 G90 wireless -->Ampeg SVT7Pro --> Avatar 2x10 NEO cab
Also IEM
UPDATE: I bring a cab because my guitar player still uses a wedge, even tho he bought UE7 IEM's and a Senn G3 IEM wireless rig. He can't seem to make the jump to IEM's.. to used to that "amp in the room" sound I guess.
I would prefer to bring my Ampeg SCR-DI (can carry my entire rig in my bass case), plug in and go.. but <shrug>.
Also IEM
UPDATE: I bring a cab because my guitar player still uses a wedge, even tho he bought UE7 IEM's and a Senn G3 IEM wireless rig. He can't seem to make the jump to IEM's.. to used to that "amp in the room" sound I guess.
I would prefer to bring my Ampeg SCR-DI (can carry my entire rig in my bass case), plug in and go.. but <shrug>.
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No iem's yet.. Hopefully soon.
Radial Bassbone, Zoom B3 in the effects loop, Korg PB tuner in the tuner out. Bassbone's DI to the FOH. And stright through to my stage rig - Mb. fusion, fEarful 12.6 (+/- ) 12.Sub
I'm currently messing with an icePower power amp module and taking a mix from the board to it and using that to drive the fEarful setup. The idea is that in quiet, small spaces where I am about standing on thr kick, I can put the kick in my stage mix and get a little more - as my amp is behind the kick, it may not work due to polarity.
The icePower module setup is sweet. 700 into 4 mono in a tidy little box. More expensive than the equivalent Crown XLS kinda power but it plays like it has head room to spare and it is dead quiet... And it is small. I can see why amp designers are going gaga over these things...
(Makes me wonder where the polarity switch is in Master fader 3.0. Got some reading to do...)
Radial Bassbone, Zoom B3 in the effects loop, Korg PB tuner in the tuner out. Bassbone's DI to the FOH. And stright through to my stage rig - Mb. fusion, fEarful 12.6 (+/- ) 12.Sub
I'm currently messing with an icePower power amp module and taking a mix from the board to it and using that to drive the fEarful setup. The idea is that in quiet, small spaces where I am about standing on thr kick, I can put the kick in my stage mix and get a little more - as my amp is behind the kick, it may not work due to polarity.
The icePower module setup is sweet. 700 into 4 mono in a tidy little box. More expensive than the equivalent Crown XLS kinda power but it plays like it has head room to spare and it is dead quiet... And it is small. I can see why amp designers are going gaga over these things...
(Makes me wonder where the polarity switch is in Master fader 3.0. Got some reading to do...)
If it is a typical bar gig, don't assume you will have a monitor suitable for your bass. You should AWLAYS have a bass rig (head with cab or loud combo) with you. You will need to hear yourself. Talk to your band mates about the bar, find out their experiences at the place or even better, stop by the bar when a band is there and simply observe what is going on when the stage is being setup. You can talk to that band/sound man AFTER they setup and learn more. Don't talk to them DURING their setup. Many people love to teach others about what they do.
You can always talk to the sound man beforehand and ask if you can observe what he is doing on the mixer board. The key is TALK and not just be nosy. Some people do not want to bothered until they "feel" like it. Report back with your findings, and we can help dispel a few myths and/or give you more insight.
You can always talk to the sound man beforehand and ask if you can observe what he is doing on the mixer board. The key is TALK and not just be nosy. Some people do not want to bothered until they "feel" like it. Report back with your findings, and we can help dispel a few myths and/or give you more insight.
When I use my amp I go wireless
Sennheiser wireless -> GK MB800 -> CX410
When I don't use my amp I don't go wireless (yet)
Boss TU3 -> Digitech Drop -> Ampeg SCR-DI
Sennheiser wireless -> GK MB800 -> CX410
When I don't use my amp I don't go wireless (yet)
Boss TU3 -> Digitech Drop -> Ampeg SCR-DI
For the bars and small clubs I've typically played, it's G-K MB-500 into one (usually) or two G-K Neo112 cabs, but for a rock musical I used my Roland Cube 100. I recently joined a cover band that plays at modest volume, with which I might just use the Roland if I know the venue has decent PA support. It's plenty for stage monitoring, and has a decent built-in DI.
Small gigs, Ampeg Portabass 250 head and cabinet. Larger gigs, Crown XLS 2000 amp, MXR BassDI, fEarful 12/6 or 15/6 cabinets
Ampeg V4B (or Fender Super Bassman ) into 2 Fender Bassman Pro Neo 115 cabs
I'm waiting for the Peavey MiniMax to be in stock somewhere....
Currently hartke head into SWR Goliath III.
Just a korg pitchblack tuner and little bear bs1 (woolly mammoth clone) for pedals.
Thinking of a Dunlop mini bass wah.
Currently hartke head into SWR Goliath III.
Just a korg pitchblack tuner and little bear bs1 (woolly mammoth clone) for pedals.
Thinking of a Dunlop mini bass wah.
s0c9
Supporting Member
most common problem I find is no ground!
This will generate all kinds of "hum"...
My rig changes as the gig changes. I have a GK MB200 and a rack rig consisting of a BBE BMax preamp into a 1000w Alto power amp. I have 2 GK Neo112's and a 4ohm Eden Nemesis 212. If I really need to be loud, I put the 2 GK's on 1 channel of the rack rig and the 212 on the other channel and I run my power amp in parallel mode. Most gigs I use the GK MB200 and the Eden cab.
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