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Where's my bass?

#21
Great suggestions: Turn off any effects that cut mid-frequencies. turn down the bass and turn up the mids, tilt you cab and... fire those guitar players if they won't listen to reason. And try some rotosound round wound strings to cut through.
I hate those situations. I played in a metal band 5 years ago and the guitar player had double Marshall stacks - he must have been kin to your guitar players. I used an 1800W power amp going into a 3015lf and a 3012lf custom cab. I tried to set up as far from the guitar player as possible but sometimes had to hover around my cabs - and I was freakin LOUD.
Finally quit the band.
 
#22
Do the guitar players hear you ?
If they don't , that doesn't ring a bell to you?
They probably don't give a Beeeep at the overall band's sound.

You should try a couple of songs with your amp to OFF.

If they don't notice , get yourself an IEM kit and sell your amp.
 
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#25
Bass beard said:
Ok so no matter at practice or live I get drowned out big time by two guitar players with tube heads. I got swr working pro 400 solid state and hartke xl 4/10 aluminum cone with horn both rated at 400 watts , schecter 004 bass with active pickups and can't hear myself. Suggestions please. I play metal so no the guitar players will not turn down.
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Try finding a used XL410 on Craigslist or something. In my past experiences, you need at least 810's to hang with 2 metal guitarists and their 412's. I assume your drummer is probably pretty loud as well. Never met a quiet metal drummer. With 8-10's, 400 watts, and some boost in the midrange, you should have some sonic authority in the band.
 
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#26
+1 to those who say the midrange makes all the difference. More than wattage. Honestly, the sound you need when playing with other instruments is a whole different animal than the one you like when by yourself. Nothing cuts through the mix like the right midrange, and you don't need a ton of wattage to produce it.
 
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#27
Bass beard said:
Bass is at the 3 o'clock position, mid level and freq are both about the same around 3 o'clock position , treble is about all the way up, bass intensifier level is about 4 o'clock position an the cut off for it is about the same. The gain is at 1 o'clock and the master volume is about 12 o'clock. The amp won't get any louder than where it is rite now. Guitar players do have 4/12s with tube heads with their volumes on 2 but they crank the level on their distortion pedals all the way( I know that's backward but they won't listen to me, I'm just a bass player what do I know).
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This actually works to your advantage since they are getting all their distortion from the stomp boxes and not overdriven tubes which do require higher volume. Ask if they can hear you, obvious answer is "no" then tell them you can't hear yourself either. Suggest you start at a lower volume to get the mix right and then increase as needed/ desired. Make sure that each member can hear all the others all the time. That is called playing as a band. If no one can hear you then they don't need you and you might as well go do something else. I have wasted too much time with too loud guitarists to give it any more effort than that. If for some reason (outdoor festival gig, performance for deaf audience, playing in an acoustically dead room, etc.) they need to be that loud agree to upgrade your rig but for now insist on practicing at volumes where everyone can be heard.

Some guys won't change, their egos are too big. They are used to hearing a bit of drums, some lead vocals and mostly lots of themselves. If that's all they want, let them have it and find a different group.

I played guitar in a group where the lead player was always too loud. I played a Peavey Classic 30 which got plenty loud for the rooms and music we played. He played a Fender twin with red knobs, I think 60 watts. We fought about it every gig and practice. He just didn't care and even liked the fact that he was all most people could hear, even over the drums. The final straw was when he rolled in a Fender 100 watt head and a 412. He claimed he would keep it on 2 and he only bought it for the "tone". After the first song where I could hear nothing but him I shut off my amp, unplugged my guitar, packed up my stuff and left. Best decision I could have made regarding that band.

Bottom line, do your best to work it out but don't be afraid to walk away if things don't change.
 
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#28
Gearhead17 said:
Where is your Aural Enhancer knob set to? What about the Transparency knob? I suggest keeping the Aural Enhancer knob at "Min" for the time being. The transparency knob at 5/10 is fine for now.
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Better yet, turn the "Aural Enhancer" knob to zero, then break it off at the shaft.
 
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#31
I am an old geezer (sort of) who is not playing live these days, but if I only knew, back in the day, what I know now about the importance of the midrange, I would have been a much more effective member of the band. Sound-wise, at least :unsure:
 
#36
Bass beard said:
Maybe I just need more speakers?? Hate lugging it around.i have hartke aluminum cone cabs but they don't seem like they like overdrive too much and I like some in my sound.
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Your bass knob and intensifier settings are way high, making the speakers flap around more than they're supposed to. Set those to noon or lower and leave the mids boosted. That'll take some stress off the speakers allowing you to up the volume a bit more.

The aural enhancer adds gain/loudness up to about the noon position and starts scooping mids beyond that. Maybe back that one off a notch.

SWR's baked in eq curve notches out lowmids in the 200-300hz area. Can do a lot of boosting there that's getting back to "even" and still not actually "adding mids".

An HPF can help as well as their lowend isn't filtered off.

This little mod might interest you...

http://www.talkbass.com/threads/swr-aural-enhancer-bypass.643201/

Can at least see there where you're working from with your eq.
 
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#37
And yes, they need to just turn the hell down and work on mix slotting. Meaning lower their bass knobs and let you play the bottom. Or if they're going to run scooped tone, you fill in the gap with a midrangey bass tone and don't compete for the bottom.
 
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#38
Are you walking around out in front and not hearing your bass, or is it only when standing in front of your cab? How far is your cab from back or side walls? Could be boundary cancellations going on as well.

All the comments about mids are spot-on. One of the reasons the fEARful, FEARLESS, Audiokinesis's Hathors and BigE-MAS MVW cabs have been getting so much attention is they are engineered with robust mid drivers (among other things) to be able to cut through.
 
#39
will33 said:
And yes, they need to just turn the hell down and work on mix slotting. Meaning lower their bass knobs and let you play the bottom. Or if they're going to run scooped tone, you fill in the gap with a midrangey bass tone and don't compete for the bottom.
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Yeah I don't like the aural enhance crap. The volume on this head seems to stop at around 5. After that there is no noticeable change. I had the bass up cause it was giving me some volume and for everyone else here I thank you all for you input but my guitar players will not turn down. I live in south jersey and around here there is no one to play with or you find some people and have to work around their stupidity. Im just trying to do the best I can with what I got and it's not much.
 
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