Basic PA question!

[JosephMartyn]

OK, I've been playing since the 90s but this is actually a first for me and something I feel I probably should know the answer too...but I don't and hope you can help!

 

I'm playing a small venue that is usually acoustic guitars and vocals straight into a PA.

I'll be playing bass (passive magnetic pickup)

How best can I get the signal into the PA so that the sound can be controlled by the sound guy?

...or do I just take a small amp and control it myself?!

[Downunderwonder]

Unless the PA has a subwoofer you are left with using an amp. Bass through vocal PA is highly unthrilling and liable to blow up the speakers. 

 

Playing along with vocal PA with acoustic guitars in it is what I have done all my life. People must have told tell me to turn up 100 times for every time I have been told I am too loud. Mostly nobody says anything.

 

Vocal PA with backline amps and a drum kit. The trick is to have everyone stay under the vocals.

 

This requires a drummer who can convey energy without bashing the living daylights of everything. It requires guitarists who aren't egotistical nitwits with stadium sized amp stacks.

 

No drums and just acoustic guitars = take your little amp and you should be fine.

 

 

[funkgod]

 

you could take your amp, and if the amp has a "DI OUT" send that to the desk if not get a DI box and plug into that.

this splits the signal from your bass into 2 paths, 1 to your amp and one to the pa desk using the right signal for the desk to manage, then you get the best of both worlds, if its a small pa you can just take some bass off the eq on the desk, then just add as much bass volume as you need to reinforce your amp sound.

here is a cheap DI box that will do the job..

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/334324451994?hash=item4dd74a4a9a:g:wk8AAOSwVCRiBPzS&amdata=enc%3AAQAIAAAA0P2bS%2FD0zpllnYm8k823rMxtqeot%2ByTlyCeUERJaGZ2k5JwmbC0uRwJPw%2BJFM0z503%2FW%2FNVeHPCLcm3XivffxbTwkZ8kGfjvMOp04wf4Ca2n64YzaW2lK4y3iRw15O%2BAS9WaS37lJnYKc7lrQz9s7azleOm9RClpP7snLqbChM12vkVbNYxrPPZEP%2BQGhV5GL7jB9B9hdeRNcOOqd3Qc%2BaJ%2BwAUh%2BYOgDUnVqC5TOeEqeGzuE8KCLh%2B9UcOvjUNE4tvSUy3zWY4HdhxerRbybvA%3D|tkp%3ABFBMxtDcp_9h

 

if you look at it there is an ..

input = thats where you plug you bass into.

thru = thats where you take your bass sound to your amp, so connect that to the input of your amp.

output= an xlr output that goes to your desk xlr mic input.

 

Job done. easy 🙂

keep the di box in your bass bag, every gigging bass player should have a di box, just incase, at least then if your amp packs in you can still play through the DI box 🙂

Edited May 8, 2023 by funkgod

[neepheid]

Small venue?  Your amp alone ought to be fine - what amp is it (speaker size, power)? 

 

Sometimes I take the DI out from the amp and put it through the PA, but it's at a low level and just for a bit of "width".  The majority of the bass comes from my amp.

[Dan Dare]

2 hours ago, neepheid said:

Small venue?  Your amp alone ought to be fine - what amp is it (speaker size, power)? 

 

Sometimes I take the DI out from the amp and put it through the PA, but it's at a low level and just for a bit of "width".  The majority of the bass comes from my amp.

 

This, but bear in mind that if you are playing with acoustic guitars and vocals, the musicians may find all they can hear on stage is your bass amp if you aim to fill the venue from backline alone. Small venues often don't have any monitoring to speak of. So you may want to do as suggested and take a Di from your amp (or use a DI box if it doesn't have one), so you can play at more reasonable levels on stage.

[Owen]

1 hour ago, Dan Dare said:

 

This, but bear in mind that if you are playing with acoustic guitars and vocals, the musicians may find all they can hear on stage is your bass amp

This is my favourite thing

[casapete]

When playing small venues with my acoustic duo, I just plug my acoustic electric bass 

straight into the jack input on the mixer amp channel, taking care to set the input

gain control correctly. Never had any problems, and have once used my passive 

electric bass this way too.

A DI box or a DI from an amp is better as you can use the XLR input ( which is

sometimes all a mixer may have, and does give a better sound.) With care there

is no harm in trying both methods to see what suits you best.

[TheGreek]

I read the thread title during the break in HIGNFY and automatically assumed PA meant Personal Assistant 😅 🙃 

[Downunderwonder]

Never had a problem doing small venues with guitars and vocals. They always put the speakers at the back to the sides so it's monitor and PA in one. My bass amp goes just inboard or just outboard at one side. Have a look at some of the gig photos in the weekend gig rundown thread. You will see it's pretty standard.

[JosephMartyn]

23 hours ago, funkgod said:

 

you could take your amp, and if the amp has a "DI OUT" send that to the desk if not get a DI box and plug into that.

this splits the signal from your bass into 2 paths, 1 to your amp and one to the pa desk using the right signal for the desk to manage, then you get the best of both worlds, if its a small pa you can just take some bass off the eq on the desk, then just add as much bass volume as you need to reinforce your amp sound.

here is a cheap DI box that will do the job..

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/334324451994?hash=item4dd74a4a9a:g:wk8AAOSwVCRiBPzS&amdata=enc%3AAQAIAAAA0P2bS%2FD0zpllnYm8k823rMxtqeot%2ByTlyCeUERJaGZ2k5JwmbC0uRwJPw%2BJFM0z503%2FW%2FNVeHPCLcm3XivffxbTwkZ8kGfjvMOp04wf4Ca2n64YzaW2lK4y3iRw15O%2BAS9WaS37lJnYKc7lrQz9s7azleOm9RClpP7snLqbChM12vkVbNYxrPPZEP%2BQGhV5GL7jB9B9hdeRNcOOqd3Qc%2BaJ%2BwAUh%2BYOgDUnVqC5TOeEqeGzuE8KCLh%2B9UcOvjUNE4tvSUy3zWY4HdhxerRbybvA%3D|tkp%3ABFBMxtDcp_9h

 

if you look at it there is an ..

input = thats where you plug you bass into.

thru = thats where you take your bass sound to your amp, so connect that to the input of your amp.

output= an xlr output that goes to your desk xlr mic input.

 

Job done. easy 🙂

keep the di box in your bass bag, every gigging bass player should have a di box, just incase, at least then if your amp packs in you can still play through the DI box 🙂

I'm going shopping! Thankyou! 👍👍

[JosephMartyn]

23 hours ago, neepheid said:

Small venue?  Your amp alone ought to be fine - what amp is it (speaker size, power)? 

 

Sometimes I take the DI out from the amp and put it through the PA, but it's at a low level and just for a bit of "width".  The majority of the bass comes from my amp.

Thankyou! The venue is approx 200 peo0le capacity and my little amp (usually just home use) is a Fender Rumble 100. I'm keen to use it as it is light and easy to carry! Compared to my Trace E 🤣

[JosephMartyn]

Thanks again for all the advice!

Here is the back of my Rumble...can the xlr line out go direct to PA then?! 🤞

[neepheid]

1 minute ago, JosephMartyn said:

Thanks again for all the advice!

Here is the back of my Rumble...can the xlr line out go direct to PA then?! 🤞

 

 

Yes, it can.  Might be quite a hot/loud signal - the DI out from my amp needs to be padded at the mixer.  Assume it's hot and work your way up rather than the other way round.

[casapete]

26 minutes ago, JosephMartyn said:

Thanks again for all the advice!

Here is the back of my Rumble...can the xlr line out go direct to PA then?! 🤞

I have the same Rumble combo, and use the XLR line out regularly with no problems. Great amp!

[Downunderwonder]

1 hour ago, JosephMartyn said:

Thanks again for all the advice!

Here is the back of my Rumble...can the xlr line out go direct to PA then?! 🤞

I used one of those that was supplied jazz festival backline, or so I assumed. When it was my turn I was shocked to find it was filling the whole room all by itself. You can certainly send PA the DI and it will almost certainly not get used.

[JosephMartyn]

Thanks again for all the advice! 

I was prepared to try the xlr out...but just used the Rumble in the end, worked great! 😁👍👍

(I'm very glad it's such a light amp as well!! Bit of a walk from the car with amp, double bass and bass guitar!!! 🤣)

[funkgod]

On 08/05/2023 at 21:13, TheGreek said:

I read the thread title during the break in HIGNFY and automatically assumed PA meant Personal Assistant 😅 🙃 

And "Personal Assistant" is just another way of saying, Personal Attention, which is another way of saying Physical Affair,

which is just another way of saying, Practicing adultry, which just another way of saying, perverted acts in a private apartment by party animals using pharmaceutical aides with a .... "Personal Assistant" 

🙂

Edited May 15, 2023 by funkgod