markdavid Posted September 2, 2019 Share Posted September 2, 2019 Have never really understood the point of subs and even discouraged our rather overzealous lead singer from buying a subwoofer for our band, mainly because pretty much every gig seems to have them cranked to the hilt at the expense of pretty much any definition, my bass tone has always favoured clarity over boom and thump. Anyhow this weekend I played a gig with a decent sound engineer with 3 other bands on the bill (was a rock night at a local music venue), the setup was a peavey bass head through an Ampeg 8x10" cab, the amp head was going out to the PA with the 8x10" still active and with the usual pa speakers setup and a couple of subwoofers. Now I admit being on stage with the sound of the drums, the guitar amp and the 8x10" for the bass I have no idea how we sounded out front but every band I heard that night the bass was spot on , the 8x10" paired with the subs meant the bass could be heard clearly and distinctly but the bass sounded absolutely huge, absolutely monstrous low end, in fact hearing one of the bands I started to question why I had not got my self a 5 string bass. I think I understand now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redbandit599 Posted September 2, 2019 Share Posted September 2, 2019 I think the trick with subs is to use them sparingly and have them crossed over fairly low. We tend to get a good kick drum chest thump going and bass rumble, then back them off volume wise so they just fatten stuff up. Cranked sub live sound is annoyingly common with many big live venues imho. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steantval Posted September 2, 2019 Share Posted September 2, 2019 Can’t beat a bit of decent sub, so much more bottom end especially with the kick drum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Dare Posted September 2, 2019 Share Posted September 2, 2019 The key words are "decent sound engineer". 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crawford13 Posted September 3, 2019 Share Posted September 3, 2019 On 02/09/2019 at 17:24, redbandit599 said: I think the trick with subs is to use them sparingly and have them crossed over fairly low. We tend to get a good kick drum chest thump going and bass rumble, then back them off volume wise so they just fatten stuff up. Cranked sub live sound is annoyingly common with many big live venues imho. What frequency do you set your crossover at? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redbandit599 Posted September 3, 2019 Share Posted September 3, 2019 From memory it's a choice between 80hz or 120hz. We found 80 best. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skidder652003 Posted September 4, 2019 Share Posted September 4, 2019 moderation is the key word here Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maude Posted September 4, 2019 Share Posted September 4, 2019 3 hours ago, skidder652003 said: moderation is the key word here Totally. It's all to easy to get some subs and suddenly have this amazing bottom end and get carried away. I'm sure the trend for too much bottom end (that bass drum overpowering everything) is because it was always the thing everyone chased and is now relatively easily attainable. In home hi-fi, car stereo, personal walkmans 😉, band equipment, etc the cheap stuff always had plenty of mid and high frequencies but the bass was always the stuff of expensive equipment, but not any more. I think this has lead to systems suddenly having all this bass available and over using it. Reign it in and subs are amazing, overdo it and they'll ruin your sound completely. 1 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.