Trace Elliot Head & Markbass Cab

[tippbass]

I'm currently running a Trace Elliot AH500 Head through a Markbass 104HF 4ohm cab.......I've always liked and used Trace gear but a couple of years ago now I bought 104HF cab, basically sold on it by the fact that it weighs next to nothing ! but lately I've become a bit unhappy with the overall sound,we have a guy that helps out with the sound for the band and he basically cut all the lows below 120hz focusing totally on the low mids and highs,he says that now the sound really cuts through the mix and you can hear all the notes and now the bass isn't clashing with the Kick and the the other 2 lads at the front of stage agree......but the drummer and myself are not so sure,I use a Stingray HH5 and now to me I've lost the Stingray and Trace tone. I understand what there saying it probably does cut through the mix but I feel the bass and rig isn't sounding as it should .......mmm I think it sounds CRAP !
As I say I understand the eq setting ....would a 1x15 + 4x10 set up give a bit more 'balls' to the sound and still cut through ??? I've always felt I got a reasonably good live sound but I'd just welcome any advice or experiences you may have had ....... Cheers

[LukeFRC]

i've done a fair bit of PA in my time... .and cutting the bass like that is one way of doing it.... but it will give you a 'certain' bass sound, a sound that I for one could not stand.
If you are cutting the bottom end like that no change of cabs will help you.... you need to tell him to work a bit harder to come up with a solution that works.... it is possible to do a live mix with a scooped bass tone, you just have to do it differently to a more middy bass mix.... i aim to get everything balencing in the mix so nothing needs to 'cut through' bacause everything is ballenced.
playing with the guitar sounds (presuming you have electric guitar) is where i would start rather than emasculating the bass's bassyness

[icastle]

[quote name='LukeFRC' post='1091020' date='Jan 16 2011, 12:38 AM']i've done a fair bit of PA in my time... .and cutting the bass like that is one way of doing it.... but it will give you a 'certain' bass sound, a sound that I for one could not stand.
If you are cutting the bottom end like that no change of cabs will help you.... you need to tell him to work a bit harder to come up with a solution that works.... it is possible to do a live mix with a scooped bass tone, you just have to do it differently to a more middy bass mix.... i aim to get everything balencing in the mix so nothing needs to 'cut through' bacause everything is ballenced.
playing with the guitar sounds (presuming you have electric guitar) is where i would start rather than emasculating the bass's bassyness[/quote]

+1
I do a regular stint as the sole bass player at a plug and play night.
The guy on the desk there has a particular idea of how bass is supposed to sound that simply does not match mine (since when does an EUB sound 'right' with lows and mids cut and treble boosted?!? ).
Playing the same instrument in front of many of the same audience and in the same lineup sounds good at other P&P nights.
I got so sick of people coming up to me and saying "you sounded really funny tonight" that I mentioned it to the sound guy on numerous occasions and he paid no attention whatsoever.

My solution to it in the end was perhaps a little drastic - I now use my full rig and if the sound guy comes anywhere near it with an XLR cable I tell him to f*** off.
One of my mates gives me hand signals and I use those to control my volume levels and the "you sounded really funny tonight" comments then stopped.

Unfortunately, the sound guy has now started screwing around with the monitor mix to make things difficult... so I unplug my monitor before starting.