osakasuperrescue Posted July 8 Share Posted July 8 Okay, so here's the thing - I've been gigging with a new band since the start of the year, running a few different setups but have settled on a board (compressor, distortion, chorus) into the front of a Laney Digbeth 500w head, then DI out the back of that (pre or post EQ, whatever FoH ask for). Currently don't have a cab of my own, maybe in the near future, have used backline cab once or twice for stage volume only. Issue I'm finding is that we play low, Drop A# on a 5-string, and I'm getting some nasty, muddy frequencies coming in for any riffs that spends a lot of time on the bottom string. I know that a better clean blend and/or distorting the highs more than the lows will help with that, so I'm investigating bringing the DSM Bass Station back onto my board to use that as a clean signal router, but I'm also confusing myself about the cab sim option the Bass Station offers. If I run my board out through the Bass Station into the front of the Laney and add the cab sim to that, am I confusing the DI output? Should any cab sim be going after the DI but before it reaches the desk? I'm asking because I think blending in some cab sim may also hep tame some of the nastier distortion frequencies (for reference, not a fan of the modern Darkglass 'clank', much more an old school Ampeg growl kind of guy), but I'm not clear on how to work that into my current rig. So I am open to being schooled on how to apply cab sims into DIs in a live setting - any and all suggestions are welcome! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Fitzmaurice Posted July 8 Share Posted July 8 Amps and cabs have a built in tone. The purpose of an emulator is to duplicate that tone playing straight through a power amp and FRFR speaker. Playing one through a bass amp and cab isn't what they're made for. OTOH a PA with the EQ set flat is the same as going direct through a power amp and FRFR speaker. If I was to use one I'd send it's output to a power amp and FRFR cab for me to hear and to the PA for the audience to hear. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Blank Posted July 8 Share Posted July 8 ☝☝☝ This. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Downunderwonder Posted July 10 Share Posted July 10 Perfect is the enemy of good. Piling up preamps can wind up hell muddy because they are processing all the previous dirt and mud as if it was clean. Drop A with low A string is likely to flub and flail even before it leaves the pickups. Putting a regular distortion on that is going to be mud city. If your cab sim is the usual low pass filter kind it shouldn't cause and issues. Focus on cleaning up the mud. I am a fan of crossover separation of low end rather than clean blend. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
osakasuperrescue Posted July 15 Author Share Posted July 15 Cheers all - currently investigating some alternate distortion options and chain placement to help with that. Also found that over a quick set at the weekend, rolling off some bass and low mids on the preamp pedal seemed to help a lot, so I'll keep running some experiments Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassmanPaul Posted July 20 Share Posted July 20 (edited) Why would you even think about trying o play a gig without a speaker cabinet? This would be akin to trying to race a car without tyres!! Edited July 20 by BassmanPaul Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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