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Why have a nice rig just to be run direct?

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#83
We still do it. Any of the smaller gigs where it's vocal PA only. Its not that hard. DI only has been a miserable experience in the times I've done it, except for one soundman/club where my cabinet lost its crap mid set and I had no other choice. He did right by me.

Most soundmen are terrified to put real bass in stage wedges anyway...and just 'having sound' on stage is sort of like having a great meal...of stale bread and warm water.
 
#84
chadds said:
So I sound like I want to sound.
So my band mates hear me sounding the way they are familiar.
So I can be out of the mix and rocking the honeys and the room.
So I can be heard if there is no PA or it's shite.
Sometimes we have the engineer only do vocals and leave everyone else out of the mix. We can balance so all the engineer has to do is monitor the room mix balancing the vocals with the band.
I/we come from an era when musicians could play live balanced without an engineer. :)
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wcriley said:
Regrettably, the ablility to self-mix is a dying skill.
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JimmyM said:
Even worse, it's become frowned upon. A shame.
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+1 on all of the above...


- georgestrings
 
#85
JimmyM said:
I've found two things in my travels:

1. Those who like tweeters don't usually like to run a mic anyway.

2. The rare bassists who do like tweeters and mic'ed cabs find that the tweeter sound always makes it to the mic anyway. At least that's been my experience.


BWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Er...sorry. I meant to say that I respectfully disagree.


Whatever works for you. If I did that, everyone would go home happy except the people on the stage, especially me.
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[/QUOTE]

Says the guy whose bread and butter gig is playing songs that were popular when dinosaurs walked the earth.:D
 
#89
If I was the sound engineer and some bass player was making a stink I would say "K i'll do both and blend them man", and then just leave the cab out. Or blend it. Best not to worry about it just let the engineer do whatever he is used to doing or most comfortable doing and it will sound better then if you make him jump through hoops.
 
#90
I've never had a problem running direct and using my cab as a stage monitor. I've listened back to a few live performances and my bass tone always sound good. Might be because a lot of my EQing goes down on my pedalboard, though. Not gonna pretend to know what I'm talking about in regards to live sound.

What the crowd hears is more important than what I hear.
 
#93
IME, all the better venues/sound engineers use both a DI and a Mic. Whatever they do upfront to make it sound good is up to them.

Sometimes it's important to have a big amp on a big stage. I can hear my 2x12 on most any stage but looking back at it sitting on top of a milk crate is can be emasculating. I've done festival gigs where the monitors were up SO LOUD from the previous band that the drummer and guitarist automatically go into caveman mode and the only way I'm hearing myself is by way of the fridge.

FWIW, I don't use effects aside from a little naturally occurring tube hair and I was taught from the very beginning to start off with the amp flat and get the best possible tone with the knobs on my bass and the hands. At this point I still don't use much amp EQ so I'm comfortable plugging my bass directly into a DI.
 
#98
No, there was no misphasing. I brought the mic and told him I hate DI's, but he said he was getting distortion from the upright and said he would only use the DI for the upright. He lied, and it turned out the distortion he was referring to was the wireless vibrating on low notes because of a wire touching the tailpiece. Me being somewhat new to the upright at the time, I didn't realize it ;)

I think the DI he used was a Countryman but I can't remember.
 
#99
Anyway, you guys are missing the point here. I know what I'm doing and I had a great sound and my wishes were disrespected by the soundman on my own gig. That don't fly. Nobody insisted that the guitar player use a DI. It happens all too often that bass players' wishes are disrespected on their own gigs, and I'm sick of it, and the soundmen who do it always turn out to be the worst soundmen we work with. And it ain't bass player ego saying it, as my opinion is always shared by the other band members.
 
#100
Oh, and just to put out this fire that I know is inevitably about to start, I once had a soundman tell me that I had too much low end dialed into my rig and he was having a hard time dealing with it in the room, and I turned it down a notch and he was happy and so was I.

Talk to me like a man, I react like a man. Start barking orders to me or resort to subterfuge and trickery, and I let them know whose gig it is.
 
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