My setup - suggestions / advice?

[Jesso]

Hey folks,

Looking for some ideas about where to go from here.

I'm in a wedding band playing 2 - 3 times every week. The venues vary wildly from really tiny, to huge hotel function rooms with 500 guests.
We have a decent 2k Dynacord P.A, but in the larger rooms it can be pushed quite hard, so I like to get most of my volume from my amp, as I feel it does a better job of reproducing the tone I am looking for.

At the moment I have a LM2, and 2 x GS112 cabs, loaded with deltalight 2 speakers.
I am pretty happy with this set up in most situations, but sometimes I find it doesn't pust quite enough air.... especially in the big rooms.

Sometimes, in bigger rooms, I split the cabs, so that I have one cab for monitoring myself, and 1 cab close to the dancefloor.
Some of the stages are far from the dancefloor, so I find my amp so far away from the action, that it almost feels as if there is a time-lag by the time the sound travels from my speakers to the action. In this situation I would usually put a touch of myself through the P.A. too.

I totally LOVE the light weight of the cabs, and the tiny lightweight markbass amp which I can fit into a suitcase with all my cables and bits and bobs.
So.... I'd kind of like to keep thing portable, but flexible too.... but push more air!!!! I want my cake and to eat it.

One option I've been thinking about is to buy another GS112, so I have the option of a 3 high stack, which should be quite a bit louder than just two of the little buggers.
Obviously, I know my LM2 wont handle the lower impedance. What are my options if I want to go this route? I know I'd need to buy a new head, but are there any small heads that can do this?

Another option would be just to get a bigger cab... but then I'd loose some of my portability.
It would have to be quite light, sound amazing, have a reasonably small footprint, and ideally be quite tall... I like to get the speakers up past my knees (I'm a tall guy!)

I've owned a couple of Markbass 102HF cabs, which were good, but I prefer the sound of the aggies. I think I prefer 12s.
The TC stuff looks interesting.... any experience with their 2 x 12 cabs stacked up?

I've been looking at a couple of heavier options, but after the terrible access to the venue last night, I know a heavy cab or amp would break my heart. As much as I love the idea the DB750 or mesa boogie buster I've been looking at.... I think I'm gunna have to keep it lightweight.


Any ideas?
Eh?

Thanks!
Jesse

[Mr. Foxen]

Barefaced Compact or two.

[JMT3781]

the TC rh450 can handle 3 x 8ohm cabs cant it? if you wanted 3 12's... careful though, i may have dreamt that

[fatback]

+1 on the barefaced.

I think the EA iAmp 800 can go to 2 ohms. I know the micro and doubler can.

[Ian Savage]

It's a bit left-field, but could you add an active PA subwoofer from a line-out?

[thinman]

I assume you must be doing quite large halls if a 2k PA is having trouble.

You have to be careful having your bass through the PA and at a reasonable level from your amp as you can get constructive and destructive interference, i.e. loud spots and dead spots, out front. I'd say that for big venues you need to boost your PA and use your cab more quietly for monitoring and for smaller venues use your backline alone.

On another matter, does your PA have subs? If so do you plave them together or apart? Together works far better for the reasons given above.

[franzbassist]

Why not chop in one of the cabs for a GS212? That way you'll still have the sound you like, but a bit of extra heft for those bigger gigs?

[Jesso]

[quote name='walbassist' post='925270' date='Aug 15 2010, 12:06 AM']Why not chop in one of the cabs for a GS212? That way you'll still have the sound you like, but a bit of extra heft for those bigger gigs?[/quote]
A gs212.... Hadn't thought of that.... Wouldn't have to buy a new amp then! (assuming it's an 8 ohm cab?)
Good idea.
Yep we have subs, but they have to go left and right of the stage, cos the tops sit on them for stability.

Thanks for all the advice so far.

[franzbassist]

[quote name='Jesso' post='925311' date='Aug 15 2010, 02:41 AM']assuming it's an 8 ohm cab?[/quote]

Yep, you can get them as 4 or 8 ohms.

[JTUK]

Man up the PA. What you have should be fine for the stage and if you are on big stages, you don't have to set-up that far apart.
But I agree, your PA is underpowered to be doing the job it is supposed to do, IMV

[Jesso]

[quote name='JTUK' post='925411' date='Aug 15 2010, 10:44 AM']Man up the PA. What you have should be fine for the stage and if you are on big stages, you don't have to set-up that far apart.
But I agree, your PA is underpowered to be doing the job it is supposed to do, IMV[/quote]

Yeah I think we should really have a 4 k rig.
For all you p.a nerds out there, it's a dynacord dlite115 system with a matching sub. I've been told not to clip the amp, so I don't. Unfortunately, in big rooms, whenever I get the kick/bass where I want them, it's invariably clipping the amp a bit. Not a lot, but even though dynacord stuff is built like a tank, I don't want to fry the amp.

[thinman]

[quote name='Jesso' post='925311' date='Aug 15 2010, 02:41 AM']Yep we have subs, but they have to go left and right of the stage, cos the tops sit on them for stability.[/quote]


Some decent stands could sort that out. Honest - subs should be placed together. And, proper placement using walls and corners etc for the subs can give you another 3 or 6 dB for no extra power input. It's worth reading up on the theory of this stuff - it can help in practice and avoid the need to chuck power at a problem.

[Jesso]

[quote name='thinman' post='925917' date='Aug 15 2010, 10:10 PM']Some decent stands could sort that out. Honest - subs should be placed together. And, proper placement using walls and corners etc for the subs can give you another 3 or 6 dB for no extra power input. It's worth reading up on the theory of this stuff - it can help in practice and avoid the need to chuck power at a problem.[/quote]

I know your right.... and it's something I must try. Thing is, where the hell do you put the subs??
Cant put them in the middle of the stage... we're often just standing on the floor. That'd just look plain weird. Could I put them both to one side of the stage? Wouldn't that just make one side of the room very bass heavy?
The other reason we bought a second sub in the first place (we used to just have one) was so that the speaker is very securely planted.... we get a lot of drunk people bashing into stuff, so it's nice to know that they cant knock our speakers over!
I'm looking into the option of adding a 2nd power amp to run sub number 2. Needs to be lightweight, and preferably 1 rack unit.

[Mr. Foxen]

[quote name='Jesso' post='926023' date='Aug 16 2010, 12:27 AM']I know your right.... and it's something I must try. Thing is, where the hell do you put the subs??
Cant put them in the middle of the stage... we're often just standing on the floor. That'd just look plain weird. Could I put them both to one side of the stage? Wouldn't that just make one side of the room very bass heavy?
The other reason we bought a second sub in the first place (we used to just have one) was so that the speaker is very securely planted.... we get a lot of drunk people bashing into stuff, so it's nice to know that they cant knock our speakers over!
I'm looking into the option of adding a 2nd power amp to run sub number 2. Needs to be lightweight, and preferably 1 rack unit.[/quote]

PA isn't about for looks. I think both at one side of the room is fairly happy, bass isn't very directional in the absence of higher frequencies.

You can get so much more choice in power amps with 2u. If that is ok, then lightness is pretty much proportional to cost, loads of power it pretty cheap.

[Jesso]

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' post='926096' date='Aug 16 2010, 07:34 AM']PA isn't about for looks. I think both at one side of the room is fairly happy, bass isn't very directional in the absence of higher frequencies.

You can get so much more choice in power amps with 2u. If that is ok, then lightness is pretty much proportional to cost, loads of power it pretty cheap.[/quote]


I'll try putting both to one side of the stage soon, to see how much of a difference it makes.
Thanks for all the advice so far!

[thinman]

[quote name='Jesso' post='926174' date='Aug 16 2010, 09:37 AM']I'll try putting both to one side of the stage soon, to see how much of a difference it makes.
Thanks for all the advice so far![/quote]

As Mr Foxen said - both on one side works OK for us. Bass is very strange - ever had that thing where you can't hear yourself standing next to your can but someone 20ft away says you're too loud?

A bit of compression on the bass and kick drum or the whole signal going to the subs can also help.