Using a PA speaker as a bass cab - it's awful!

[itsmedunc]

If it sounds good to you - use it. If it doesn't then don't. Same scenario with any gear really. Personally, I've used Peavey gear quite a lot, mostly in the early 90's. Bass gear and PA's. Sounded great then. A while ago, I did a PA and the bassist had an old Peavey TNT combo, it sounded  really great. He had bought it a couple of weeks before For £70.

In many ways it's all a personal preference. There's also the fact that the cab you used could have been old but really tired? Personally, I wouldn't hesitate to use a PA cab if needs be.

 

[kwmlondon]

10 hours ago, MartinB said:

Maybe your bass sounds awful through your amp, but your GK cab's voicing compensates to make it sound good. If that was the case,  the Peavey cab is just being "honest". It's a shame there's no headphone out on the amp to test it. Have you tried running the amp's line out into an interface/desk?

I've got one bass that sounds great through a DI box. I've got another that needs plenty of EQ from an amp and/or cab to sound great. Neither is better or worse than the other - just different ways to achieve a good sound.

Very, very good points. My MuiscMan Stingray is generally pretty okay - it records really well DI'd straight into a desk, done it plenty of times. However... I've recently put LaBelles on it and they sound a bit odd to my ears. Not good, not bad, just different to the cheap flats I had on before. Sort of "sticky" but I suspect they will bed in over time. Maybe it's the combination of strings, bass, amp and cab that's not working. It really doesn't matter, frankly, it's perfectly fine for my needs as in I just need to be able to hear it loud enough to practise, but it's not often I've been so surprised at how much I DON'T like a cab. I'm not usually that bothered!

[kwmlondon]

7 hours ago, itsmedunc said:

If it sounds good to you - use it. If it doesn't then don't. Same scenario with any gear really. Personally, I've used Peavey gear quite a lot, mostly in the early 90's. Bass gear and PA's. Sounded great then. A while ago, I did a PA and the bassist had an old Peavey TNT combo, it sounded  really great. He had bought it a couple of weeks before For £70.

In many ways it's all a personal preference. There's also the fact that the cab you used could have been old but really tired? Personally, I wouldn't hesitate to use a PA cab if needs be.

 

Yes, this is all true and... in fact... with a bit of eq tweaking I can get the sound better. I just normally don't use the EQ much at all, I find I never need it really. 

[Baloney Balderdash]

I once tried to play a crappy violin, it sounded like crap, from that we can conclude that all violins sounds like crap. 

Actually my, even relatively budget priced, The Box 502, 15" woofer + 1,7" tweeter horn, full range PA speaker, works well a a s bass cab, in certain contexts sometimes even better than my SWR Triad I, 15" + 10" + tweeter horn, full range bass cab, though in other contexts it will be the other way around.

Some PA speakers will work extremely badly others will work for extremely well for bass, as well as the context matters, as in what you feed it with and what your personal preferences are tone wise, if you prefer the sound of a 15" cab without a tweeter naturally no full range PA speaker will be what you are looking for tone wise, but if you like the sound of a full range bass cab the right PA speaker that has a good bass response potentially could be just as good a choice for you, perhaps even better, depending on the specific setup you use.

Just as there are bass cabs that sounds like crap and bass cabs the sounds amazing, likewise are there PA speakers that sounds like crap and some that sounds amazing.

It really all depends on the context, the point of the OP makes as much sense as concluding that all food objectively tastes like crap because you tried haggis once and didn't like it.

 

 

Edited October 2, 2020 by Baloney Balderdash

[Beedster]

On 01/10/2020 at 16:51, kwmlondon said:

And yet some people get really good results out of PA speakers - there's a lot of love for the RCF 732-A in this thread. 

Exactly, but that point's been made already, you were indicating surprise that two cabs made for different purposes by different manufacturers using different technology and materials sound different when played in the same context. I was simply pointing out that there was no need to be surprised.

But as others have said, different isn't a statement of quality or of appropriateness. This thread, like so many others, comes down to one thing and one thing only; gear that sounds great in one context often doesn't in another, and the key defining factor is more often the characteristics of the context - bass, strings, desired tone, style of play, type of music, volume, room, crowd, and don't forget psychoacoustic - as opposed to any mechanical and/or technical characteristics of the gear itself. 

It's one very good reason why trying audio gear in a shop can be a bloody nightmare, it's not unusual to hear people say "I didn't like the Mesa Boogie I tried in store, it seemed a little underpowered" or "I couldn't believe how great that Carlsbro' sounded against the most expensive", and often they're right to a degree because that's what their ears were telling them in that context. Put both rigs on stage with a loud drummer and a rowdy crowd and suddenly the rig that sounded underpowered or crap in a shop was the one that was needed.

This is why I will never own another PJB rig, sounds lovely in the living room, disappears on stage

[Beedster]

54 minutes ago, Baloney Balderdash said:

I once tried to play a crappy violin, it sounded like crap, from that we can conclude that all violins sounds like crap. 

True of banjos perhaps though?

[Baloney Balderdash]

4 minutes ago, Beedster said:

True of banjos perhaps though?

Not to me.

Though they definitely wont fit in in all music and automatically sound good regardless of build quality and how you play them. 

Edited October 2, 2020 by Baloney Balderdash

[Beedster]

2 minutes ago, Baloney Balderdash said:

Not to me.

Though they definitely wont fit in in all music and automatically sound good regardless of how you play them. 

I actually quite like a well played banjo, but wow there's a lot out there that aren't

[Dad3353]

... and haggis can be enjoyed, in the right circumstances. 

[stingrayPete1977]

On 01/10/2020 at 10:34, jrixn1 said:

My RCF 732-A (a £600 powered PA speaker) is better than and cost half as much as the Barefaced & Genz Benz rig it replaced 😊

I've got two 735s , the actual high end bass rig got sold about three months after they arrived!

[kwmlondon]

5 hours ago, Dad3353 said:

... and haggis can be enjoyed, in the right circumstances. 

Um... after quite a lot of whiskey when you'd eat anything? Joke!

[stingrayPete1977]

On 01/10/2020 at 16:51, kwmlondon said:

And yet some people get really good results out of PA speakers - there's a lot of love for the RCF 732-A in this thread. 

That's because the decent PA speakers are able to do both rather than either or.

Come to one of our gigs and unless it comes out of the PA cabs you won't hear it, bass amp went a while ago, monitor wedges about a year later, guitar amp went the end of last year. 

The guitarist spent thousands on acoustic guitar amps and various special di boxes, during lockdown he tried his acoustic guitar through his Helix pedal board and a 1x10 powered cab, turned out to be the best sound he's ever had! 

[Beedster]

40 minutes ago, stingrayPete1977 said:

That's because the decent PA speakers are able to do both rather than either or.

Yep

[dave_bass5]

On 01/10/2020 at 04:22, EBS_freak said:

Man plugs into 30 year Peavey Hisys and finds it terrible shocker.

I thought it was only rehearsal studios that had these ‘premium’ speakers these days lol.

We gave our away (along with a desk) when we upgraded our PA a few years ago. Couldn't believe the difference they made. I do have to suffer them at rehearsals though.