jrixn1

I think I'm missing some information: do you have monitors, and if so what do you put through them? If you have bass amp as backline, guitar amp as backline, drums are not miked, only vocals in the monitors, and the PA (the two 710s) is just for vocals - then yes that's a standard setup for a smaller gig. But you said to put the CMD in the sub position - how would you and your bandmates hear the bass? And then this: "then for larger venues I can take along the CMD 121H for a bit of additional low end support" - I still think I've missed something, because this implies that for smaller venues, you're not taking along the CMD 121H. So how are you hearing the bass here - just from being behind the 710s? Sorry if I've missed something already mentioned!

It sounds like a bodge. Do you already own a CMD 121 - is that the consideration? But they are just different things - a sub doesn't normally put out anything above 150Hz, and can put out much more volume at 40-150Hz compared to a bass amp. I wouldn't say that the kick going through a sub benefits the drummer; it benefits the audience. You need to work together to get the best sound for the whole band! I know subs cost money, and have to be stored somewhere, and someone needs to bring them to the gig. I'm fortunate in my current band that I don't buy or store any of the PA. But I have been in bands in the past where the tops are at the guitarist's house, and the sub is at the drummer's house, but the guitarist is depping out next week's gig so the singer had probably better take the tops home after tonight's gig, or the drummer's coming from his aunt's house that weekend so can't bring the sub, etc...so yes I do appreciate the issues. But unless I misremember, I thought you already had a sub - an RCF 708? How did that work out, and what tops did you use with it? Or it also seems you're happy with your RCF 912s - other than you don't like hauling them around. TBH I've lost track of how many bands you're in, or what gear you have! In terms of gig fees, do you get an extra share for providing the PA - and if not, would that change the situation enough for you? I can't quite remember but I think in my previous band, an eight-piece, the money was split nine ways, with half of the ninth going to whoever brought the PA, and half going to whoever booked the gig - or something along those lines.

I've used two RCF HD 10-A mk4 next to each other, on the floor, in the place of traditional backline, and it was great with a five-string bass, and very loud. E.g. filled a hotel ballroom without PA support. But I wouldn't want them separated and on poles as the entire FOH PA for a whole band. Are you ever going to do bigger/louder gigs than what you currently do? Because (b) isn't scalable - you can't increase FOH volume without increasing the stage volume. You ideally want the two to operate independently. Also you can't put kick (or anything else which would normally go through subs) through the bass amp.

Is this it? https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1CXfTKtmrWT76uWg2DdIP3

I used to have a Big Baby 2 which I used with a 900W amp (it was 500W into 8 ohms), and it's a great combination. At some point however, I switched to powered speakers and had my best sound ever with an RCF 732-A. They put out a lot of volume across all frequencies - I often cut the bass EQ frequency as otherwise it was too much. They are £746 new vs £1,149 for a Big Baby 3 - plus with the Barefaced you have to buy a separate power amp on top; the RCF has 700W of power amp built in. So I would say a definite viable alternative. You should be able to try one in PMT or similar store.

Hi @Bill Fitzmaurice My understanding is that subs are omnidirectional. So everything under, say, 100Hz will be heard on stage from these huge subs. In that case, is there any point in any speaker on stage (backline or monitors) reproducing frequencies below 100Hz?

I've tried moises.ai. I don't currently have any actual need to separate tracks, but the AI tech is fascinating and just for that I'd recommend giving it a go. I think moises.ai and splitter.ai (and a few others) are based on the spleeter library - there's an overview here https://deezer.io/releasing-spleeter-deezer-r-d-source-separation-engine-2b88985e797e

I switched about five years ago. I've used RCF, QSC, and Yamaha powered speakers, which were all great, but have settled now on an FBT ProMaxx 112A. Like you say, the speaker itself is transparent and you get the tone from your pedalboard. I would never go back to a traditional head/cab.

I don't have mine in front of me right now, and in fact I moved my tuner to the FX loop - but yes I'm pretty sure mine also behaves like you have described.

I think this pretty much already exists - https://www.lemonrock.com/

Connect neck pickup hot to bridge pickup ground. That now functions as a single pickup - wire it like a P bass.

For an official Sandberg one, I got one via Alan at https://www.synergydistribution.co.uk/ [email protected] (It still takes a while to be imported from Germany - he'll wait until he's getting a batch of basses sent over anyway) To get one cut using your existing one as a template, https://tinytone.co.uk/custom-scratchplates/ (aka Jack's Instrument Services).

I had a Swiff Audio C10 for a while which worked well.

The marketplace does has a section for this: https://www.basschat.co.uk/forum/36-recycling/ The most straightforward way to contact a mod to request the thread is moved is by reporting your own post: click the three dots at the top right of your original post and there should be a 'Report' option.

Better, but still slightly wrong - "If you're not totally satisfied with your purchase, we'll refund the entire purchase price of the item (less transportation both ways)." They are meant to refund the outbound postage. "There maybe a 10% re-stocking fee if goods are not returned in their original condition or packaging." You don't have to return the original packaging. If the goods are not in their original condition, they should be charging you for the actual damage that you've caused (not just "10%"). Although I wonder if you completely destroyed the bass, they'd hold themselves to their own T&C and only charge you 10%...?

I can't answer your question quantitatively, but can share my experience. I recently had adjusters installed (https://www.mjbl.co.uk/double-bass-bridge-adjusters-for-sale) for a similar reason - wanted to try a lower string height. I didn't go down much at all, but I was surprised how noticeably it negatively affected the tone and volume. The tone had less attack, and I think the lower volume caused some amplification feedback issues as I had to add correspondingly more gain to be the same volume as previously. It's the only time I've had any feedback issues in many years. However I'm always playing in lots of different venues so I could not say for sure that the string height was the problem. Anyway I soon raised the adjusters back up to the original height. If I wanted to pursue this, I think I'd take it to a luthier as I'm not versed in upright setup and I wonder if there are other factors which can be adjusted.

Well... it's "1" better 😂 Sire themselves say that it's basically a renaming: "The Swamp Ash variant of the V7 will now be called V8." https://sire-usa.com/pages/v8

Ah great you play upright. I had a Headway (EDB-1) in the past but I found it a bit clunky, and it felt more suited for the studio than to put on a pedalboard. Even more reason to definitely consider the Stanley Clarke then!

And if you like the second channel of MicroBass 3 but not bothered about overdrive, there is the EBS Stanley Clarke. It doesn't have a tuner though. They market it as an 'Acoustic Preamp' due to the features like 10 Mohms input impedance, mic input, and notch filter, but it's good on electric too. It's my current preamp and I use my P bass through it.

I had a MicroBass 3 for a while and it's also really good. It's definitely handy that everything (tuner, DI, headphone amp) is contained in one unit. If you use a separate power supply, check it will be ok with the MicroBass 3's quite high current requirement of 750mA.

Oops - I meant https://www.basschat.co.uk/topic/474410-mxr-m81-bass-preamp and will fix my original link.

You say you want something small and you don't need overdrive but then you say you are looking at the SCR-DI, which is a large pedal (bigger than the MicroBass II) and kind of the point of it is that is has overdrive. If you're interested in Ampeg, they do another smaller preamp pedal 'Classic Analog' with their tonestack but without the 'Scrambler' (overdrive) section. For your setup, you'd use it in conjunction with a separate DI box. Or if you were happy with the MicroBass II, how about MXR M81, which is a good quality, transparent EQ preamp with DI. I had one for a while and thought it was really good. I saw that there's one for sale in the marketplace (no relation to seller).

It has a variable HPF on each channel, if you move the switch from Notch to HP.

Yes absolutely. I've been doing exactly that for a while: upright and bass guitar > EBS Stanley Clarke > powered speaker. I've used Yamaha, QSC, RCF, and FBT powered speakers. Best setup ever.

What make/model is your very loud backline? If it's loud enough to fill the venue but you can't hear it well yourself, the first advice is usually to tilt or raise it. The potential problem with your proposal to run backline and two monitors all at the same time in a small venue is that you'll have bass coming from three sources bouncing around all over the place and it will sound muddy/indistinct.