I give up.. Are you guys even reading what I'm typing? At 1 out of 7 shows I was completely buried, and it's a show I didn't use my rig to carry the place.. Every other show, even another where I didn't use my rig to carry it, I was right up there and heard as well as anyone could want.. This is a SINGLE show where I was not carried at all..

That has nothing to do with the bass I'm playing, how it's EQ was set or anything of that nature.. Put any bass with any rig, turned down, in the middle of 650 watts of guitar amps driving 14 12" speakers, blaring metal, with a pa reinforcing them and the drums, and not carrying the bass, and you're going to be buried.. Leo Fender himself with his personal OMG uber P bass playing it with fish taped to a power drill would not be heard in that setting..

Maybe what is not getting got here is that we all get it.
You somehow pissed off the soundman and he hosed ya.
Bummer. Next time clobber him with an 810.

Not sure how I would have pissed him off. I was full blast for about 2 notes, then I backed it off.. Maybe he has something against balding, graying, middle aged fat guys playing heavy metal..

Back on topic, what you need for cabs is determined by what you play, where you play, the tone you want, and how much you want to be able to make up for a venue's lack of resources..

If you have a drummer and he doesn't exclusively use brushes then ear plugs would be a wise idea - although some people appear to be able to withstand much higher SPL than others without permanent damage you'll never know if you're one of those people until it's too late.

I don't like running much bass, if any, through monitors - they can rarely handle it without it negatively affecting the rest of the mix through them. I've noticed that bringing down the volume of my rig and the stage volume in general consistently results in a better sound and vibe. However I've continued to take just as much bass rig with me because you can't beat having speakers pointing at your ears, not at your knees!

Alex

I've gotta tell you - if I were a soundguy and some dude came on to my stage with a 2x15 and an 8x10 and played anything at full blast I'd be pissed.

Yourlord - at the point at which this topic came to light, you had played a total of four (yes - 4) gigs.



...and yet you seem to be blowing off the collective wisdom from a bunch of very experienced players who are offering you advice to help make your sound better.

Heck - I reckon lots of the guys here have played more gigs than I've had hot dinners! I'd be taking their advice.



I learned very quickly to talk to the soundguy before I do anything. I always find out what he wants before I start loading up his stage with my gear. Granted - I haven't been around for anything like as long as lots of the guys here - but I have played dozens of gigs, and I'm yet to meet a sound guy I didn't get along well with (I'm sure the time will come, but so far they're all been great guys).

No, I had played 4 venues, 7 gigs.. several at the same venue, not that it makes much difference.. I understand a lot of these guys have a lot more experience in gigging than I do. But I also understand that in any situation where there is equal power applied to my bass, it cuts through the live mix just fine.. It's never been a problem on any of those 7 gigs or in the thousands of jam sessions and rehearsals, except the last gig, where the sound guy just didn't run me at all it seems..

One show where the sound man didn't turn my channel up does not translate into "abandon all your gear and buy a p-bass and a 210 combo.."

Also keep in mind that I had just kicked on the rig after hooking it up and played 2 notes to test if I had signal when I realized someone had jacked the post gain knob all the way up during transport.. I then walked over and dropped it back and kicked out a couple more runs to test and it was fine.. Not loud at all.

I don't have a P-Bass, but my 2x10 combo RAWKS!

Quick note to everyone. I recommended that you never power UP or DOWN an amp, or plug in/unplug your instrument without first turning the volume right down, or pressing the MUTE switch if you have one.

Your amplifier, speakers and ears will last a lot longer.

Very true. Every time I power my combos up or down my Speaker (mute) switch is off, and the gain and master volumes down to zero.

Before the switch is hit my pre and post are both at zero.
After 7 gigs I can tell you one thing for sure. That will not be the last time a hard lesson is learned.
I salute you for keeping a thick skin.

This thread just keeps getting more and more amusing.

You're more and more amusing.

The Firebass actually does not pop the speakers at all.. It appears it doesn't engage the outputs until the amp is stable.. That's my guess at least since it's never popped my speakers.. I also run my boss ME-50B through the effects loop, and plug in the bass with the volume pedal all the way down so I get no pops from that..

ok, I checked the manual on the Firebass 700. TV is so bad at the moment that I have to get my entertainment reading other people's bass amp manuals There appears to be a level control on the DI. Were you DI'd direct from the firebass? Was the soundman aware of this? Could the same event that saw your Master Volume get knocked up also have knocked the line level down?
What did you sound like in sound check?

Pretty soon I'm going to unleash the war kittens upon this thread. Then you'll all be sorry. You'll see.

Which is precisely what would happen to the war kittens in my neighborhood. Meee-Yowww baby!

One of out seven gigs where you didn't like the sound and one gig on which everyone screwed up the tunes.

That's not a good average.

Hope it gets better as you continue.

There were many years when I played seven gigs a week...and they were four hour gigs. Some were good, some were bad. I've forgotten most of them.

Well, I didn't like the sound, but we didn't slaughter it this time.. I hope it gets better as well, and it will..

The line level was set at 5, I set it there when I plugged in the cable. That's the level I always set it at for every gig I actually get a line for. During sound check the sound man discovered the bass wasn't even getting to the board.. We actually had to stand around and wait while they troubleshot the issue and found they had a blown channel on the mixer, which was the one I was plugged into.. They moved my cable to the next channel, where they said they had signal on me, though I never noticed them turn me up on anything.. All I ever heard was my amp, and it was at a fairly low level.. At this point we were so late starting that we just plowed into the set (only a 20 minute set at this place, sucks)..

It's very much possible that the channel I was on was also blown, and that's why I wasn't carried. My issue is that I wasn't given any notice about it. The guy knew what my rig could do from the couple of notes while wide open, and if the house pa couldn't handle the job he could have just told me over the monitor to run the rig higher. no problem.. Instead he had me play while he "set the levels" and gave us the nod to start, when I disappeared completely..

Put it in your biography and move on. It's over, it's been over for a while now.

You brought an 8x10" cabinet and a 2x15" cabinet for a 20 minute set? Wow.

I just mentioned Matt Freeman and Rancid in another thread.

Matt has one 8x10 on stage. Rancid is pretty loud. For part of the show I was onstage behind Matt's amp.

The theater where I saw them was handing out earplugs at the door.

He has the other guys in the band carry the stuff in for him!

How can I work that out with the guys I play with? Our rule is "every man for himself", and my personal rule is, everything I want to bring must be able to get into the place in one trip from the van.

Doesn't everyone?

You can say that again!

???

Do you have a handtruck or do you just DI? I can't imagine how you could carry at least one bass, your leads and pedals, and any amp worth the name in one trip? I can't see you carrying stuff in a gig bag with straps... or am I guessing wrong?

You can actually carry your gig bag with bass, amp (mark bass, eden, focus) and a neo cab in one hand.

Leaves a free hand for a cigarrete.

Well, yeah... if the amp was light enough. I used to have a Bassman combo and, conceivably I could have done it, come to think of it.

Again!

Sorry guys, the temptation was too great.

Lucky I'm not into metal!



Therein lies the problem, my friend.

I can do my bass in gig bag on my back + case with leads etc + 210 combo in one trip.

...have done on numerous occasions

Not as mobile as Phil though. I need some wheels for that combo to get truly portable.

For sure.