Playing Bass Loud with Band

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ZoSo58LP

ZoSo58LP

rock guy
Ok, so as a bassist, i've always been a tone freak. i love my midrange tone, so i keep a lot treble up and mids boosted, and usually have contour set flat. i just love thatsound, and i love a distinct bass sound. i HATE HATE just having bass be some muddy low, tone at 1 noise where you can barely tell the difference between notes.

that being said, when i've been playing with my band recently, i've noticed that in order to hear myself and my notes distinctly over the guitar, i have to run an OD pedal in front of the amp just so i can hear those mids etc. i use my G&L L2000 (with active pups) through my Gallien Krueger Backline 600 head (solid state, 300 watts) and run that through my friends Fender 4x10 cab. it sounds really cool, but i reallllly have to push that head to get out the sound i want. if i don't use an OD pedal, even with treble up and mids up, i can't hear those frequencies really, and if i play too hard, i definitley hear random popping/cracking of the speakers so i stop. instead, i'll push my boss sd-1 OD pedal with the tone set around 3:00, level btwn 12 and 3 somewhere, and gain only slightly on. then i can really hear myself.

is this what i'm gonna have to do live? i love the clean sound of that G&L but it seems that the only way for the bass to really break through is to use an OD over it. we haven't played live yet, but so far I have no idea how i'm going to set it all up! the songs have some fun basslines that really make the song (it's just a 3 piece band) so i REALLY want to be heard. any advice for just jamming, or playing live? thanks!
 
Definitely as the volume goes up what ever was subtle about both our tone and playing nuance go out the window. That is the nature of it. The down side of high density and masking.
My wife insists on her second cab (a two ten over her four ten) even when it isn't needed for the head room, to hear it. I keep my guitar amp up as well for that matter.
For bass raising it up you'll likely lose a little low end floor coupling response but try it. Getting it up nearer your ear may work, plus we're supposed to be doing a stage blend -as opposed getting over what ever right? There's that to put in the consideration.
 
i've noticed that in order to hear myself and my notes distinctly over the guitar

When you're playing an instrument by itself, you can get whatever tone you want and play whatever notes you want to.

But with a band, it's a different situation...

I'm primarily a drummer, and when I've worked with bands, I've always analyzed where in the musical spectrum each instrument used by the band lies.

Then, I tune my drums to fit in the "holes" in the musical spectrum, places that aren't occupied by other instruments.

When I play, I don't have to beat the hell out of my drums trying to be heard over other instruments, because I don't have to be heard over anything.

You need to look at how your tone coordinates with the guitarists tone, and both of you may need to make some adjustments.

Then look at your arrangements; the notes you are playing. You may need to change your arrangements to coordinate with those of the guitar player.

And there's a second advantage to playing in the "holes"; in addition to allowing your instrument to be heard you are also "thickening" your sound.

Hope this helps...
 
It sounds like you are looking for a "punchy" tone with lots of mids.
Your GK backline should be able to do that pretty well, you might want to try throwing a 16 channel graphic EQ in the mix, you can pick one up pretty cheap off of craigslist (unless you live in BFE). The more eq / tonal control options you have, the more you can tweak it just the way you want. You might also try throwing a compressor in the mix.
I find that my trace elliot head does not give me a wide variety of tonal control options with its 10 band eq, and it is hard to make my cab do exactly what I want without a better eq solution. This might be the same issue, no matter how much you jack with the amp, the cab never sounds quite the way you want it.

If you hear the speakers distorting, stop playing and turn it down. You will blow them up. Go pick up an 8x10 cab, you will be able to hear yourself.
 
thanks for the advice. the GK sounds pretty good without compression....i HATE compression. my friends also got an eden traveler head at his house that sounds awesome, but it's got built in compression that YOU CAN'T TURN OFF! what a STUPID invention. i play VERY hard, i'm not a soft hitter..i slam those strings. so everytime i do, it compresses the shit out of it and nobody can hear me....so i started to bring my GK head bc of this. so yeah compression, to me, is way out of the picture here lol....but the EQ idea is good; that's practically what i use my OD pedal for. i use it to boost the level/mids and a bit of gain, via the 3 knobs on it. that pedal itself drops a lot of muddy low end once you shift it on and boosts your mids/highs, so that's why i'm able to hear myself so well with it
 
Depending on the volume level and what the other players are using you may need more power and more speakers. For my current 'loud' situation I am using a GK MB500 head with a 2x15 & 2x12 to keep pace with the gtr players twin and boogie set up. It may seem like a lot but anything less is almost pointless.
 
i'll have to try to jam with them with my 4x15 cab. that things a beast, except there's no horns in it :\ it's just 4 woofers in a gigantic cab. so the midrange is there but not nearly as honky
 
With bass, volume is not the issue. It's MOVING AIR. I have heard bass rigs set pretty low that still rattled my rib cage.

Each bass/amp combo reacts differently.
Also,fighting 100 watt tube amps gums up the works.
Bass should not be this huge overpowering instrument. Maybe you should just stand right in front of your amp.
 
Check out the Warwick forum, there's tons of stuff on there about cutting through. Friendly place too, you don't have to play a Warwick to join.
 
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