Over the last few years, Tech Bench has
looked at amps, preamps, pickups, hardware, electronics, and
many other links in the chain of devices that ends with your bass
going boom. Yes, it’s still “all in the hands,” but understanding
the technology helps you determine what you need (and want),
and implement your gear with more effective results. The bad
news is: Even with the right gear and a great set of hands, you
can still go to a gig and get crappy tone.
Every performance space presents a new sonic challenge, and
no one faces this challenge more severely than the bass player.
Bass frequencies are tricky to work with, the waveforms are big,
they generate a lot of energy in an environment, and they’re
often unregulated—you have the musical equivalent of a runaway
bulldozer destroying all in its path. Sometimes the problem
is a bad room, a hollow stage, the PA, or the “guy running
sound,” but it could also be your fault—amp placement, EQ settings,
volume, even your choice of instrument can potentially
wreak havoc if not effectively interfaced with the environment.
Once you start playing in public, knowing how to match your
output to the performance situation is as important as knowing
how to play.
For this next series of articles, we’ll examine some of the sonic
challenges and ever-changing circumstances of gig life. Sometimes
we have to “play the room” with just our amp, while other
times, our rig is simply a stage monitor while the house PA does
the heavy lifting. In some instances, you may not have a rig at
all—you’ll plug directly into the system and will hear yourself
through onstage or in-ear monitors. Your success starts with recognizing
the specifics of the circumstance and working toward
the goal of blending with the band onstage, and in the room.
First, let’s examine the culprit: bass wavelengths.
High frequencies have short wavelengths, while
bass frequencies have long ones. This explains why
you can stand next to a cranked-up 900-watt amp
pushing an 8x10 cab and still “not hear yourself.”
The frequency of your open E string is 41.2Hz, and
the wavelength at that frequency is a whopping 27
feet. So while you’re feeling nothing but a stiff breeze
as you pummel out “Paranoid,” a guy 30 feet away
just lost sphincter control. Bass frequencies tend to
“mask” or bury other frequency ranges, so if the low
end gets unruly, it takes over. While low end is our
raison d’être, we must balance our desire to crank it
with the musical needs of the moment. We’ll examine
specific situations in the coming months, but for
now, here are some general ideas to keep in mind.
Volume or Low End—Take
In a perfect bass-world, you could play as loud as you
want with tons of low end, and it would be great.
I’m sorry to say, this is rarely if ever the case. Boosting
volume and low end can overdrive your preamp,
strain your power amp, tax your speakers, and sound
like crap. Have you ever wondered if you could blow
a 600-watt-rated cab with a 200-watt amp? Sure you
can—crank the volume with lots of lows and mids,
and kiss your cab goodbye. Boosting EQ adds gain.
Take that into account when adjusting your sound.
Cut the Subs
Everyone loves their low end, but the corpulent
sub-low frequency range is fraught with problems.
If your goal is to flush a besieged despotic Latin-
American dictator from his safe haven, pumping the
subs will eventually drive him out—but if your goal
is to hear what you play, they can work against you.
First of all, most bass rigs are not able to reproduce
this range; you are simply wasting power resources
and creating a thick mess that interacts negatively
in the room (especially if “sound guy” has subwoofers
to play with). A variable highpass filter (HPF)
comes in very handy, as it lets you tune the low-frequency
rolloff point to what works best. Rolling
off the sub-low range can actually make your sound
seem fuller and more clear as the amp and speakers
work more efficiently. Many small combo amps
have a fixed HPF built in, while other amps include
a variable HPF to help take out the offending sublows.
Many outboard preamps designed for piezo
pickups have this feature as well.
Mids Are Your Friend
Many players don’t understand how mids can help
or hurt tone, but they’re quick to adopt the “smiley
face” EQ curve that de-emphasizes mids, because
they’ve read about it online. While over-emphasizing
the lows can create one set of problems, scraping
away too much from the midrange can cause a
lack of attack and presence. The specific midrange
frequencies you’ll want to work with depends on
your setup and the room (among other things)—
but in general, if you want more punch, instead of
cranking the lows, first see what you can accomplish
with low-mids. The 120Hz–250Hz range has impact
and minimizes the “spill over” into the sub-range.
The wavelength at 220Hz is about five feet, which
means you will feel it, not the guy 30 feet away. Dialing
in high mids can add clarity and presence to a
dark tone without making it seem trebly. For example,
sometimes I add a small peak at 1.2kHz to my
passive P-Bass to bring out fingerstyle attack and
detail, but on a particular J-Bass, I bring out a little
600Hz for the same purpose; the different pickup
configuration changes which frequency accomplishes
the same goal. But don’t take this too literally. Even
two basses of the same exact make and model can
require totally different treatment.
No, you can still meet that special someone at the
gig. “Coupling” refers to the relationship between
your speaker cabinet and whatever it’s resting on.
Whether it’s the floor or an elevated stage, when
your cab sits on it, the vibrations are directly transferred
into that surface and can exacerbate low-frequency
issues in the room. Put your cab on milk
crates, a chair, or something like the G.R.A.M.M.A.
Isolation Riser from Auralex. You will hear yourself
better and cause less mayhem. However, there
are circumstances where you can use cab/floor coupling
to your advantage, such as when you have to
“cover the room” without PA assistance and your
amp is too small.
Even these simple ideas can have a profound effect
on your live sound, but never assume that what
works in one room will work in another—pay attention
to what you hear first, and then work toward
what you want to hear. When you start thinking
“big picture,” the answers to your sound problems
are often obvious.