Bridgehouse Posted November 18, 2017 Share Posted November 18, 2017 I've fancied an FRFR for my Helix for some time. Always had my eye on a Yamaha DXR10 - for both guitar and bass duties. Mostly I'd DI Helix to front of house so the FRFR became a monitor - and it's useful at home too. In the local music shop today I decided to have a look at a DXR10. Yeah. It's quite nice. Over pops the assistant. I explain the setup and my need. "I wouldn't have the DXR10 personally. I'd have the QSC K10.2 instead. It's a bit more but..." The what now? Ok, I think. Prove it to me. Let's hear them side by side. So he did. Set them up for me. The QSC was louder. A lot louder. A lot lot lot louder. And it was a more natural reproduction of what you hear through headphones on Helix - much less coloured. "It's on the default flat DSP setting." He said. "Here, try the bass amp DSP setting" Uh? Well, not only was it interesting as a setting, but I plugged the bass in directly. There's 3 channel input - two have combi XLR/jack and one small 3.5 stereo. Channel A can be set as line or mic, but B can be set as line or instrument. So jack into B with inst straight from a passive bass and it does a pretty damned good impression of a decent bass amp - there's even eq on it to tweak it. Crikey. So I bought one. Got it home and tried my mini pedalboard straight in. Signal chain is smoothhound - tuner - Ampeg SCR-DI - QSC k10.2 I would say realistically it's about as loud as a 500w head into my BF Compact. Possibly a bit more, and with slightly less heft but a bit more top. But, it's 14 kilos and really very compact. And it's one less thing to drag to a gig. It's also a wedge so I can angle it and use it as a proper bass monitor with DI out to FOH. So this is my live rig (to be trialled!) Now I'm wondering whether it's worth bothering with another power amp for use with the BF cab for the board, when it looks like the FRFR I bought for the Helix can pretty much do both. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Musashimonkey Posted November 19, 2017 Share Posted November 19, 2017 Interesting... does the unit have a DI out, or are you running that from your board? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bridgehouse Posted November 19, 2017 Author Share Posted November 19, 2017 5 minutes ago, Musashimonkey said: Interesting... does the unit have a DI out, or are you running that from your board? There are separate DI through connections for each channel to connect to FOH with no colouring by the amp, and a summed post-eq DI connection giving the output for all channels for running to another powered speaker/mixer etc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Musashimonkey Posted November 19, 2017 Share Posted November 19, 2017 Wow, sounds great. I’m definitely interested how this goes on a gig. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MGBrown Posted November 19, 2017 Share Posted November 19, 2017 Very interesting set up there! Keep us updated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LukeFRC Posted November 20, 2017 Share Posted November 20, 2017 Nice wee setup there Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stingrayPete1977 Posted November 20, 2017 Share Posted November 20, 2017 Once the dinosaurs and their "I need my sound out front blasted from an 8x10 in the corner of the room regardless of the size of the venue" have died out I think setups like this will be common place, looks great. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EBS_freak Posted November 21, 2017 Share Posted November 21, 2017 Winning rig. People seem to forget that the drivers that are used in PA speakers are generally superior to those found in even boutique bass cabs... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bridgehouse Posted November 21, 2017 Author Share Posted November 21, 2017 I now find myself looking at lots of different Preamp DI pedals and thinking "wonder what that one would sound like?" 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Krow Posted November 21, 2017 Share Posted November 21, 2017 4 hours ago, Bridgehouse said: I now find myself looking at lots of different Preamp DI pedals and thinking "wonder what that one would sound like?" My turn to return the favour and chip in then! Here's a 'best of' list preamp DI pedals, in no particular order, put together by me, @dannybuoy and @Lozz196 on another thread recently Dave Hall's new DHA VT1-Pro (there's a whole thread on this; the first one has appeared in the FS section and it kinda does everything (including making the tea)) Tech 21 Q\Strip (looks amazing, but yet to find any BCer who's actually forked out £315 for one of these yet?) Tech21 VTDI Tech 21 Paradriver V2 (Lozz has two of these, he likest them so much!) Ampeg SCR DI (you own - really nice EQ, but IMHO the dirt doesn't come anywhere close to something like the Two Notes?) Mesa Subway DI (why haven't they released a Mesa Carbine M DI? Now that would be a pedal...) Two Notes Le Bass (I have this. Excellent dirt / drive and decent clean EQ but with limited mids tone shaping - need to dial back the bass and treble on the clean Channel A to effectively boost the mids. Only complaint from folk seems to be a lack of aux in. Aside: the Zoom B3n doesn't have a DI out, which its predecessor the B3 had, but does have an aux in! So put together they're fine!) Aguilar Tonehammer (the fabled Aggie sound in a pedal). Several of these (e.g. VT1-Pro and Ampeg SCR) also have aux in and headphones out so can double up as a quality portable headphone practice amp, which is a nice additional feature. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bridgehouse Posted November 21, 2017 Author Share Posted November 21, 2017 @Al Krow - spot on with the Ampeg. Great clean tones - lovely Preamp. Drive is a shambles. Really want to try the VTDI and really liking the look of the Dave Hall one too. Have tried the subway DI - I liked it. I might try one. I want to try the EBS microbass too.. Great list tho Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dood Posted November 22, 2017 Share Posted November 22, 2017 I’d definitely like to trial the QSC K12 or more so K12.2. Very intrigued! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danuman Posted November 22, 2017 Share Posted November 22, 2017 Luckily I already have a great semi-light-weight setup, but this is definitely in my future. Brilliant! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bridgehouse Posted November 22, 2017 Author Share Posted November 22, 2017 It should be getting a rehearsal outing soon, so I shall report back.. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LukeFRC Posted November 23, 2017 Share Posted November 23, 2017 I've just taken my broken amp into the repair man to see if it's econmical to fix. if it's not I might end up going to something like this and a preamp instead. Fingers crossed its fixable though cos I don't have the money for a new rig at the moment! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Posted November 24, 2017 Share Posted November 24, 2017 Totally the way to go these days. I'm GK Plex>Barefaced FR800 myself but it's all different flavours of good. I love having my sound from the board and then it doesn't matter whether it's the FRFR cab, our band PA, my own PA or a house PA, it always sounds spot on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NJE Posted November 25, 2017 Share Posted November 25, 2017 This is really interesting and I am so pleased to hear it has been working for you. About 18 months ago I was looking to do almost exactly the same thing, but I found very few examples where anyone had done it and anyone I mentioned it to seemed to think it wasn’t a good idea. For a long time I have thought that great quality PA speakers would work better for bass, but my main reason for it was wanting a wedge pointing back at me at gigs, as I am always going through the PA via DI from my Tonehammer amp. I gave up on the idea after I found a very reasonably priced cab and it was easier to keep my amp and not change my whole rig. After seeing this I am definitely going to look into when I next fancy a change, very inspiring. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pea Turgh Posted November 25, 2017 Share Posted November 25, 2017 Excuse my ignorance, but what is an FRFR? And Helix? Sounds like a fast car and a cat, but that doesn’t make sense in the context of the thread. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bridgehouse Posted November 25, 2017 Author Share Posted November 25, 2017 Full range flat response - means it isn't coloured like a guitar or bass cabinet. Most are powered (with a power amp) and allow you to amplify a source which already has modelling or treatment for a signal which has pre and post amp and speaker cab emulated Line 6 Helix is a guitar and bass multi effect processor with a full range of amplifier and cabinet modelling capability Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JapanAxe Posted November 25, 2017 Share Posted November 25, 2017 Neat setup! When will you get a chance to try it live? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bridgehouse Posted November 25, 2017 Author Share Posted November 25, 2017 3 minutes ago, JapanAxe said: Neat setup! When will you get a chance to try it live? Not sure yet - we are recording and so on at the mo - I suspect in December Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pea Turgh Posted November 25, 2017 Share Posted November 25, 2017 1 hour ago, Bridgehouse said: Full range flat response - means it isn't coloured like a guitar or bass cabinet. Most are powered (with a power amp) and allow you to amplify a source which already has modelling or treatment for a signal which has pre and post amp and speaker cab emulated Line 6 Helix is a guitar and bass multi effect processor with a full range of amplifier and cabinet modelling capability Thanks for the explanation! Interesting approach. In one of my first bands 20 yrs ago I often just went straight in to the PA from my Zoom multiFX without an amp of my own. Just seemed easier! With in-ears and really good PAs (slowly) becoming the norm maybe amps/cabs/combos will be gone in 20 yrs? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bridgehouse Posted November 25, 2017 Author Share Posted November 25, 2017 5 minutes ago, Pea Turgh said: Thanks for the explanation! Interesting approach. In one of my first bands 20 yrs ago I often just went straight in to the PA from my Zoom multiFX without an amp of my own. Just seemed easier! With in-ears and really good PAs (slowly) becoming the norm maybe amps/cabs/combos will be gone in 20 yrs? You'd be surprised at just how many big name touring artists have no amps or cabs... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stingrayPete1977 Posted November 26, 2017 Share Posted November 26, 2017 The trouble is people still buy big backline based on who is using it live, most of it on big stages is nothing more than stage dressing and advertising. The smaller the gig the bigger the amp appears the norm now! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dood Posted November 26, 2017 Share Posted November 26, 2017 24 minutes ago, stingrayPete1977 said: The trouble is people still buy big backline based on who is using it live, most of it on big stages is nothing more than stage dressing and advertising. The smaller the gig the bigger the amp appears the norm now! It'd be different if Jaco only used FRFR.. lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.