Which rig to bring? (revenge)

[PatentNonsense]

I've started playing in a church band, and the grumpy old sound guy seems to hate bass. After lots of promises, my wife caught him turning me down to where she could not hear me at all. (I couldn't hear myself either.)
I'm tired of playing air bass on stage, and tired of broken promises, so tonight I'm not relying on the DI. Instead I'm bringing my B2000 and a cab or two. So my choices are:
a pair of Big Bens;
a Carvin BRX10.4;
a Carvin 2121 sub-sub; and/or
a Basson 810B.
The Basson is amazingly quiet - nice sound, but it eats Watts, and it's heavy.
The BRX goes low enough to sound a low B, so I don't want to haul the sub-sub unless I'm doing something special. I also think that the BRX or the Big Bens, with the B2000 behind them, will make an impression if I want to. (I'm not going to break windows, I'm just real tired of these stupid power games.)
I'm tempted just to park the BRX in the hall - it's heavy enough that it probably won't walk, and it's not as irreplaceable as the Basson. The B2000 is light enough that I can just carry it in a big briefcase with the cables.
The Big Bens have a nice reggae-ish sound, and I can put one on either side of the stage; but if that's crucial, maybe I just need to get a second BRX! I'll tell my wife.

 

[Clark Dark]

I'd take the Carvin rig. The B2000 with the BRX 4x10 should be adequate.

 

[DiabolusInMusic]

A Basson??!! No way!! I always wanted to try one of those.

I say bring the Basson because I am not carrying it. I am pretty sure that 810 is in excess of 200 pounds, isn't it?

 

[PatentNonsense]

225 or si - but it does have wheels.

 

[el jeffe bass]

Bring it all, why limit yourself?

 

[lancimouspitt]

Let us know how much grumpy soundman repents after you rock the place with the divine rig of justice.

 

[friendlybass]

Hows the room shaped? If its a big honkin sanctuary like mine, cut your lows and I betcha you come up in the mix.
If that fails, I vote big bens

 

[AlembicPlayer]

I'm going to take the heat here and propose the opposite approach.
I would play air bass. If no one notices the lack of bass, then maybe you are not needed in the mix.
On the other hand, if others complain of the lack of bass, you can address it with the sound guy.
I'm thinking your approach to bring the armory may get you more then you are bargaining for.
I understand the frustration, but I'm not sure louder and more gear is the answer here.

Good luck

 

[Lizardskyball]

I love this story. I hope you blasted it OP.

 

[s0c9]

I'm going to take the heat here and propose the opposite approach.
I would play air bass. If no one notices the lack of bass, then maybe you are not needed in the mix.

To the OP - I'm with AP here.
Completely turn down the volume on your bass and play. See if anyone notices.
If they don't.. then perhaps you should quit?

But.. Bringing in enough bass horse power for a Nokia Theater show isn't going to win you any friends and may come across as a juvenile/immature response to the issue.

 

[AltGrendel]

To the OP - I'm with AP here.
Completely turn down the volume on your bass and play. See if anyone notices.
If they don't.. then perhaps you should quit?

But.. Bringing in enough bass horse power for a Nokia Theater show isn't going to win you any friends and may come across as a juvenile/immature response to the issue.

The OP has said that he's already at minus-infinity at the board. And it's not like he wants a volume war with a guitarist, he just wants to be heard.

OP:
And that's what I'd take, just enough to fill the room without killing the mix.

 

[s0c9]

The OP has said that he's already at minus-infinity at the board. And it's not like he wants a volume war with a guitarist, he just wants to be heard.

What he actually stated was "the grumpy old sound guy seems to hate bass. After lots of promises, my wife caught him turning me down to where she could not hear me at all. (I couldn't hear myself either.)".

Over the years behind the board, I've run into many wives, significant others, etc. who approach, telling me their "guy" isn't loud enough in the mix when that guy was already blowing out the PA with their stage volume.
NOT implying that is the case here.. but it does happen.

The OP's message is that he can't hear himself. We all know you need to be able to hear yourself play.. !!

But, that wasn't my point. Which was - that if he comes back with enough rig to play a major sized venue, the end result may have unintended consequences.

 

[AltGrendel]

But, that wasn't my point. Which was - that if he comes back with enough rig to play a major sized venue, the end result may have unintended consequences.

Agreed.

 

[buldog5151bass]

Bring the Carvin 4x10. After the service, have a talk with the guy. See if he wants to be reasonable, or just a @#$@!$!. In that case, you probably are not going to win no matter what.

 

[fclefgeoff]

I would just stay home and sleep in. That's what I usually do on Sundays.

 

[pbagley]

To the OP - I'm with AP here.
Completely turn down the volume on your bass and play. See if anyone notices.
If they don't.. then perhaps you should quit?

I think I've worked with this sound guy, or at least someone very much like him.

I too recommend the mature high road. I know the other path is more entertaining, but a majority of the congregation is unaware of the situation and you risk putting yourself in a bad light.

If you notice that you are inaudible, turn down a little. Still inaudible, turn up, add mids, add treble, add bass; generally keep making changes to see if you can improve the situation. If all else fails, talk to the team lead and explain that you cannot hear yourself and that this is hindering you from giving your best. Then step down to find a situation that has a greater need for your talent. A lot of churches would appreciate your service - I can name three off the top of my head.

Or stay on board until they get a better sound guy. In the mean time you can make a show of playing every guitar lead line. On second thought, don't. That would be too immature.

Good luck.

 

[great bleudini]

I've been down this road before. It can get ugly if you let it. I started off as a guitar player in the church band. The sound dude wore ear plugs when he mixed. He didn't like electric guitars so I was doing air guitar most of the time. The worship leader would talk to him and he would turn me up and then it would gradually go down. He left and I switched to bass. We got a new worship leader who was indifferent to the bass. All the congregation could hear was him and his acoustic guitar. I started to get real resentful and at one point I turned my volume all the way down. Nobody noticed. My attitude really started to suck. I really started to question why I was even on the team.

After thinking it through I decided I didn't want to play on the team if I was angry all the time. If I wanted to serve the church I should do it cheerfully and if the drummer and guitar player were the only people who could hear me than so be it. The quality of the different sound guys we've had over the years has not improved. If they were paid I would have fired them. Since they are all volunteers I had to accept the limitations of what I was working with. From now on I worry about what's going on the stage but I have to let go what's going on in the congregation. Being pissed off in church kills the energy of why I am there in the first place. Jesus can still hear me and I think he likes it when I throw some fancy runs and pops in, even if no one else can.

Best thing I did to help my attitude was join a blues band. The quality of the musicians, the type of the music, and the technical expectations are what gives me fulfillment. That is one environment I can control. It helps me laugh off most of the stuff that happens at church.

There's an old church hymn my grandma would sing as we drove to church. It goes:


Heartbreakers gonna break, break, break
And the fakers gonna fake, fake, fake
Baby I'm just gonna shake, shake, shake
Shake it off, Shake it off

 

[jamro217]

It's a church gig? Pray about it.

 

[Fishyfishfish]

I have the same problem (kinda) fighting with the keyboard player walking on me every single song. I know it is a volunteer position but what the heck, at least a little fun can be had.

 

[Fielding]

I'm going to take the heat here and propose the opposite approach.
I would play air bass. If no one notices the lack of bass, then maybe you are not needed in the mix.
On the other hand, if others complain of the lack of bass, you can address it with the sound guy.
I'm thinking your approach to bring the armory may get you more then you are bargaining for.
I understand the frustration, but I'm not sure louder and more gear is the answer here.

I think the turn down completely approach is passive aggressive. Even though you might not be able to hear yourself in the mix, that doesn't mean others cant. Your drummer and guitarist, et. al. may be able to hear you and are relying on that bottom end to hold. If you turn down and they start having problems, you either aim their ire at the soundman, who genuinely isn't at fault that time, or come across as petulant because you didn't get your way.

Got a problem, man up and address it; again if need be and bring the worship leader into the conversation. If you still cant hear yourself, then bring your own venue appropriate rig as a monitoring solution.