jazzyvee Posted October 5, 2014 Share Posted October 5, 2014 Have you found the sweet spot on stage to stand relative to where your bass rig is located? When I was playing guitar live I tried to have my guitar cab about 6 to 8 ft behind me raised up if possible so that I could hear a more accurate sound rather than have it blowing my trousers and the rig could be lower in volume too. However I've yet to find the sweet spot for a bass rig. Sometimes I have the space to locate it about 6 to 8 feet behind and i can hear it's sound better. Almost All of my gigs these days are on big stages and this sometimes causes a problem as I stand with the keyboard player on my left and drummer on the right and the stage guys are worried about the bass spilling into the drum mics due to my rig being in line with where the drummer is sitting on his riser and the keyboard players vocal mic. So usually it's pushed slightly forward of the the snare drum. On a gig this Friday I tried DI only and not using a bass rig at all and getting the bass through the monitors which is good however it was a big stage and the bass on stage wasn't ideal for me. One solution I've seen is when I watched Steel Pulse in concert this year at a festival we also played and the bass player's rig was on the far corner of his riser but facing him. On face value I think this seems good as rear facing rig would mean the volume could also be lower and with it pointing towards the back of the stage there would be less pickup on other microphones but I wonder how well the bass is felt on stage by the rest of the band. We were also on the same stage and used the same rig but in the regular 2ft behind the bass player mode . Do you have you had this situation and how do you deal with it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cosmo Valdemar Posted October 5, 2014 Share Posted October 5, 2014 I find there are too many variables from venue to venue to have a definite answer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jezzaboy Posted October 5, 2014 Share Posted October 5, 2014 (edited) The last gig I played, the bass amp was around 6 inches behind my legs, just in front of the bench seats. So in the fine old tradition... "Sweet spot, my a#se!" Edited October 5, 2014 by jezzaboy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xilddx Posted October 5, 2014 Share Posted October 5, 2014 (edited) How long is a piece of string? It all depends on the room, the stage, your stage volume, the monitoring, how far away the other musicians are, which song you're playing ... It will probably change throughout the set too. Edited October 6, 2014 by xilddx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bertbass Posted October 5, 2014 Share Posted October 5, 2014 Interestingly, I asked myself this very same question at last night's gig. After strolling about a bit, I also found it to be about 6 - 8 feet. My cab ALWAYS goes at the back of the stage and depending on the size of the stage, this is either behind or in line with the drummer. It will never be in front of the drums. Same with the guitar amp. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JTUK Posted October 6, 2014 Share Posted October 6, 2014 What are you using..?? There is a reason why people have big stacks on bigger stages. I tend to ask about the stage size and we have a min size if people have to build/ship them in. The smallest is 24ft by 16ft and then it depends on the size of the room/marquee and the spec of the monitoring. Altho a stage rider is one thing, you have to be reasonable about who and how they comply. Basically I reserach the gig as to waht rig I take along...I find I am better servered looking after my end rather than trusting to luck. My aim is to fill the stage so the band can hear me and I can hear them from our own kit.. and then on stage monitoring can fill the rest. This upscales and downscales most gigs, IME. My sweet spot will be about 2mtr away but I am hearing it as far as my 6mtr lead will take me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lojo Posted October 8, 2014 Share Posted October 8, 2014 I've made the mistake of wondering to far forward and being disappointed with the out front bass sound, so as long as I can hear tone of my rig and pretend the world is ok , I'm happy Great question , just when I thought every conceivable live bass one had been asked on here Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blue Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 Position or placement of my amp doesn't matter. I rarely hear my amp, I make sure I have a strong signal coming through the stage monitors in front of me. If you are relying on your amp to hear yourself and are not using stage monitors there are to many variables from venue to venue. Blue Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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