Lows without Mud?

[JonathanD]

Alright, so I went to a concert to see Clutch(a somewhat successful band from I dont know where.) The bass and kick were WAY TOO LOUD. They were muddy and covered everything up.

With this in mind, The only way I can get heard in my band is if I leave my settings flat, and boost the mid/highs of my bass/DI. But when I do this I miss the bottom end(really low, not the 150-220Hz stuff but more like 30-80hz what you can feel like its tangible) If I try to boost the lows at all I start to hit the limiter all the time. I normally drop the 150 slider out. Any suggestions?

Another way to say this is that I can get a good jazz melodic tone, awesome tone for any sort of busy lines or solo type stuff, but I cant get the chunky P-bass quarter notes/half notes that fill the room with their presence.

I currently run 490 watts into the Eden D210XST(maybe the new speaker will improve the response) and 490 watts continuous into my Ampeg 210. This should be enough... right?

 

I could aways add another cab to each side and make the load 2 ohms on each side, but I dont want to carry that much cab. I also dont really have the money for another cab or 2. And I like to play in stereo mode with the amp.

 

Thanks, Jonathan

[Gruuve]

Ya know...I'm honestly not sure that you really need very much 30Hz signal, if any at all. Have you ever listened to a 30Hz tone by itself? It's nothing but mud...you can't even hear the pitch.

 

If I need more lows, I tend to boost the lower mids instead...somewhere between 150-300Hz is a frequency range that's still low enough that it can be felt to some extent, but high enough that's it's not just totally boom. Boosting 150Hz will take a lot less amplifier power than boosting 50Hz, for example. I find that 750-800 Hz or so seems to be a good upper-mid frequency for most of my basses...boosting a little in that range really brings out the presence and growl on the growlier basses. I typically cut at the 30Hz point or so...that gets rid of any sub-low bumps and other noise.

 

A mid-scooped tone sound great when you're playing by yourself...but put it with a full band, and the bass guitar gets lots. Gotta have those lower and upper mids (and highs IMHO) to cut through!

 

HTH,

Dave