Is tone that important live?

[strummer]

I generally run it PRE in order to give the sound guy some room to tweak for FOH sound.

PRE here too. Giving the sound guy a POST signal isn't a good way to make friends

 

[NoFrets80]

pre

I send a pre-EQ/compressed(if the FOH guy wants it) signal to the board. It is comforting to know we have on-board EQ if we can tell he's going heavy on the bass out front, as most sound guys tend to do. It saved my butt one time... so much bass was out front that it was a sea of mud... cut the bass onboard, boost it on the amp for stage purposes, problem solved.

 

[boomer074]

I send two singals to our sound guy he runs me through a passive DI and then also mic's my cab and mixes the two. For me it is the best of both worlds the sound man get's the pure tone of the Bongo uneffected by preamps and effects and things, and then with the cabinet mic'd our sound man get's the colored tone of my effects the amp's preamp. I was leary of doing this at first until after the first set we used this particular sound man and got loads of compliments from people from how well we sounded. I was sold from that point on. I slipped the guy an extra $20 that night.

 

[Lazybite]

I send to DI post amp eq... as I have configured my eq to fit with my guitarists eq....

 

[bovinehost]

I send mine post office.

I am so glad that I'm not the only one around here.

 

[tkarter]

The less people that do what I do is great by me. Means ya ain't stealing my gigs.
You don't want to sound like I do no way no how.


tk

 

[phatduckk]

interesting topic. i half way agree with everyone. as long as i can hear myself well and the onstage mix is fine then its all good with me.

i actually play a lot of crapholes, being in a punk band n all... so for me/us the most important thing is putting on an engergetic show that represents the music we play. most people in the audience dont care about tone really.. as long as they dont gear a big pile of fuzz theyre happy. but more than that they wanna see us rock out and get into it.

with all that said. i would have to say that for me personally i have to have a good on stage mix volume-wise. we dont usually have the luxury of monitors or sound check or anything like that. but as long as i can hear everyone in the band, including myself, then i can play w/o worry and put on as good of a show as i can w/o mental distrations like "hmm, i cant really hear shane, is he gonna stretch out the solo longer this time or play it short like on the cd?"

so i guess, for me, hearing everyone in the band distinctly is way more important than my basses tone. sounds a bit strange since i have sought out "my tone/sound" for so long. in a perfect world id always have that tone at the right level in the mix. i love it and thats why i play the gear i play... but when it comes down to it id rather see a bunch of kids moshing, boucing around and having fun than have people walk up later and say "nice tone"... but it would be badass to have both

 

[Big Poppa]

I saend my sound guy a six pack and a sweatshirt

 

[AnthonyD]

I send the signal with the POST switch engaged.

Me too... No sound guy - basically run flat through the PA mixer and control my tone from my gear.

Tone -> very important, though I will admit to be easier pleased than some people. So long as it's crisp and out front I am a happy camper.

 

[jamesattard]

i'm a tone maniac. i programmed everything on my sansamp DI box, and tell the soundman to get the DI from this box and keep most of the mix flat. my tone sounds better on the house speakers than on stage (on stage you have the monitors which aren't really tuned for the low notes...so i end up hearing lots of buzzing and 'bass feedback'). i learned to groove and play even on a crappy sound, or no sound at all. You'll notice that many times when you play live, the stage sound sucks, but don't let this hinder you from playing well...learn to play in a worst case scenario

 

[screaminhugger]

I play once a month in a situation where it is a very large auditorium, the sound tech. refuses to mic my cabinet, so I run direct. We use those Aviom in-ear montitors. I take my 4X10, even to rehearsals. the other guys in the band laugh at me for dragging out a 90lb cabinet, to run direct with in-ears, but if I can't here "my tone" regardless of what is happening in the front house, I can't play well. to me tone is EVERYTHING. I also enjoy feeling the air pushing past my legs...but that is a power trip thing I guess. I take the left ear thing out and listen to the mix in the the right ear, and ME in the left. I hate the Aviom in-ears, no bass response, even with the upgrade ear piece.

james.

 

[AnthonyD]

...I also enjoy feeling the air pushing past my legs...but that is a power trip thing I guess...

+1!

 

[spencer]

does a non ported cab actually push air the same way a ported cab does?

 

[screaminhugger]

does a non ported cab actually push air the same way a ported cab does?

my ported mesa def. pushes more than my non-ported ampeg, but the ampeg still pushes air. I am still waiting for the rig that will actually knock me over though!, that would be GREAT! (my neighbors hate me already though...)

james

 

[spencer]

when I first got into bass I went to guitar center and found a mesa 6x10 and like a 700 head and THAT thing had PUNCH like in your chest it hurt...

 

[brooklynfall]

Having my Acme cab on stage with me makes a BIG difference in terms of how well I play and all that stuff. Having good tone is so important to playing well, at least for me. If my bass is just loud fuzz on stage, I just can't get excited.