Bass through PA *and* AMP/Cabs?

[lowdowner]

There seems to be a lot of discussion between gigging bass players about whether to feed the bass through the band's PA or through an independent amp/cab stack. 

What do you folks do when gigging? What's your preference, and do many people feed the bass through *both* the PA and their own stack, and why?

Also, if you use a pedal board do you always put a DI box on the end of the chain if you're going to feed to the PA?

just curious!

[EBS_freak]

All depends upon the gig

Preference - silent stage, IEMs, everything goes FOH via PA

For the PA and stack route, two things can be achieved this way - FOH is providing the majority of the sound and the stack on stage is just for monitoring.... or the PA is not good enough so you need to bolster it with a bit of beans from the bass amp.... or the PA is just barely good enough for vocals... and everything is provided by amps on stage, generally leaking into the vocal mics and making everything sound awful out front.

As for the pedal board - DI yes. But DIs can be quite flashy - like a modeller, or a speaker emulation box... or an DI that colours your sound...  (eg valve) or even has an EQ on it.

Many, many ways to skin a cat. But doesn't mean that all will get good results.

[tonyf]

My only gig is a wedding/functions band. We go out with our own PA 99% of the time and I never take an amp as my pedal board runs a DI straight into the PA. We all IEM from the desk so there's just no need for me to be dragging any form of back line. It's just an extra heavy box to load into the car that I wouldn't hear anyway once the IEMs are in my lug holes.

VERY occasionally, we'll do larger festival shows where there's a PA provided. Only then will I take my smaller amp (EBS Reidmar with a Classic 1x12 rather than the EBS HD350 plus Berg HD212) for monitoring but I'll generally not care that much about what I sound like onstage as I know my DI will sound good out front.

[Monkey Steve]

again, depends on the gig

small pub/club where everything is coming out of a backline - take my rig (Ampeg SVT 2 Pro, Marshall 1 x 15 and Warwick 2 x 10) and play through that, nothing going to the PA

Anything bigger where the whole band will be going through the PA then I'm happy to DI (using a Sansamp VT Bass pedal, and ideally an Ampeg SCR-DI, which between them do a pretty good impression of the Ampeg amp and eq) leave the amp at home and just have the bass through a monitor.  I don't have a dedicated DI box, although there is one on the SCR-DI, but in my experience the venue will have a DI box labelled "bass" just waiting for me when I arrive

Next month it will be somewhere between the two - a couple of small/medium sized venues where we're providing backline for the other bands to share (the promoters have booked four bands, so it'll make change overs much easier if we share as much gear as possible), but everything will go through the PA.  While I don't care and am happy not to use the amp, as i understand it (the band has played these venues before, but I haven't and am just helping them out for these gigs) the in house sound guys will prefer to take a line out of the back of the amp, which allows the amp to be used as an on stage monitor.  Fine, whatever..  I'm not actually taking my rig - the band has a Hughes & Kettner QT 600 stack (I think 1 x 15 and 4 x 10 cabs)

I'm not very precious about my on stage sound anyway - if i can hear enough to know whether I'm in tune then I'm happy to trust that it's all fine out front. Happy to leave the endless tweaking of knobs that makes no discernible difference to the off stage sound to the guitarists who seem to really care about what they sound like on stage - I'll bring a book to pass the rest of the soundcheck once my two minutes have been concluded.

[lazzer]

I always take a bass rig or combo which basically acts as a monitor for me & DI out into the FOH PA........ the only  time I don't go through the PA is if it's a tiny room & the PA is just being used for vocals. I usually try & get out front at soundcheck to see how the bass & drums sound. 

[casapete]

My main band in theatres - everything in the PA / my usual GK amp and cab / everyone on IEM's except me!

My country/rock band in pubs - Just vocals / acoustic guitars in the PA, although if a large venue we will stick a little of everything else in there.

My acoustic duo - vocals, acoustic guitar and bass all in the PA, no other amps. Positioning the speakers is crucial!

Depping in pubs with rock bands - Usually just vocals in the PA and bring a loud enough rig to keep up.

Edited November 8, 2018 by casapete

[Lozz196]

Virtually all my gigs are through FOH, in theory I could gig with just my D.I. pedal but I just prefer to have an amp on stage that I can hear. It doesn’t have to be loud either, I prefer a quiet amp on stage to a loud monitor mix.

[bassjim]

My personal  preference is to use my own rig  regardless of what the deal is with the PA. I can turn it up or down accordingly. I know where I am with it and it makes me happy.

 

[Dad3353]

Our bass goes directly into the Hiwatt head, then to an HH cab, for rehearsals or gigs, whatever the venue. If the size of venue requires it, the bass will go either through a DI box, or the cab will be miced; occasionally both. We use no Fx at all, and our bass is not turned up loud (t'would crack concrete if we did..!), so, to us, we hear no difference between rehearsing at home or playing a festival. The FOH will be in proportion to its needs, if one is needed. S'not an issue, ever.
(We play covers, such as Radiohead, AC/DC, Soundgarden, Muse, RHCP, REM, Noir Désir, Bashung, dEUS and much more...)

Edited November 8, 2018 by Dad3353

[lowdowner]

Some great comments there - thanks for that! It looks like either way is fine (or even mixed, especially using your own amp/cabs as monitor). 

 

[LewisK1975]

38 minutes ago, lowdowner said:

Some great comments there - thanks for that! It looks like either way is fine (or even mixed, especially using your own amp/cabs as monitor). 

 

Indeed, I've done gigs which are IEM only, stage wedges only, backline only, Backline DI'd into PA etc etc

[casapete]

My problem with relying on the house monitor system is just getting my bass to sound okay for me - often not possible to eq the bass separately in the wedges without it affecting anything else ( vocals / drums etc) . Also not a fan of horns for bass, which most wedges seem to have in abundance. That's why even with a good house PA I do prefer to have my own rig, however small, so that I can hear me sounding like me. If the FOH engineer thinks my onstage sound is rubbish then he can usually adjust to suit ( and I'll probably never know anyway...)

[Dood]

One of the things that can often make these choices more difficult is whether or not the other musicians you are working with understand good stage (and FOH) sound practices. If you do not have the luxury of IEMs and your band mates are offensively loud (or should I say, their instrument volume is offensively loud. Though I knew a drummer who fell in to that former category...) then you may be having to attempt to negotiate with them or have to bring enough gear to hear yourself. 

To answer the OP, I have, like some of you above, a predominately IEM based rig for the gigs I am doing the most often. I do have a backline for the "other" occasions though. It's a modular set up that will sound superb and do anything from 'fridge rig' sized gigs down to the much quieter 'cafe gig'.

[ead]

We put everything through FOH and use backline as monitoring only.  Personally I don't think you can adjust your sound from your rig for the venue adequately from your position on stage.  I run my signal through a DI box to the desk and also take a parallel output to my backline.  This way the FOH sound can be sorted for the audience and I can then adjust what I hear to suit me.

I would like to go full IEM but the rest of the band are on the fence a bit atm.