The Watering Hole

(Where "SQ" stands for Stoopid Questions!  ;) )

I think I know some of these answers, but I'll just ask them straight up anyway.

Most of the time I see the bass going direct to the board with a DI box (and a prior question of mine confirmed that I should probably do the same).  That brings up the following questions:

So why even have a bass amp and stack?  Is it just for the satisfaction of the bass player?  (Yes, I know Geddy Lee didn't need one on his live DVD's and used clothes dryers behind him instead).

If so, how does that work since I've read you don't really get the full effect of the bass unless you're 22 feet away?

Along the same topic:  It seems intuitive that you need a larger speaker for the lower notes, so why do I see so many bass stacks (including mine) with 10" speakers?  Some even use only 8x10 cabs...

Next - If so many basses are going direct, doesn't that make them all sort-of sound the same?  Yes, I have a GT-6 that I can use before sending the bass to the board, but I'm talking about any coloration you'd get by using a different make of bass amp.  If you don't use a separate amp (my iAmp 800 can shape the tone and be used as a DI) then what is normally used to adjust the tone of the bass (other than compression and EQ)?

Needless to say, I'm trying to convince myself that I can safely sell my bass amp and cabs.  Recording is one aspect, but if I'm just playing direct then that means my powered PA speakers will have to amplify the bass as well as everything else in the mix and bass can eat up a LOT of power.

heh alot of questions...

yes Direct, you need a bass amp if you choose to mic the amp to blend along with the DI.

Is it necessary, IMHO no it isn't, Direct is fine.

on speaker size, 4 tens cover more area the 2 15" and can cover very similar low end.  but moreover, depends on the music style, rock through metal you tend to see alot more 10s. In jazz & blues, I tend to see more 15"s or a mix of 15" and tens even a horn tweet in there...  That said I prefer the tens as it gives a bit more midrange bite and to me they tend to project better, solely my opinion here, and like assholes everyone's got one.

Well each bass is gonna have its own character I have 4 basses none of them sound the same, but the primary tools for setting bass tone is eq and compression. Chorus, overdrive etc. are all matter of preference and can be handled during mixdown after tracking, I am still a firm believer in track everything as fucking dry as possible, then salt and pepper to taste in post. but that is only my approach.

Truthfully unless you are gonna be gigging as a bassist in big ass clubs 4 10s is fucking overkill, my 2 10" 300 watt combo easily holds its ground in most stages in gigging situations if it doesn't its gonna be DI'd to the console anyways so you can send some of it to the monitor feed.  Not like the rest of the band wants to hear the bass anyways, if you listen to most drummers and gtrist talk...(joke there)

My vote is you kick it off the island, but mine is only one of many opinions

Rumor has it Geddy uses a Sansamp.  Not sure which one...

You'd be surprised how much sound comes out of a little cab these days.  I know quite a few bassists who use cab with a 10" or a 10 and a 12" speaker... my studio buddy has one that has a 12", plus a mid and a tweeter?  It's loud enough to overpower the drums.

As for DI-- no, all bass players don't sound the same through them.  A DI is not always just that passive box, for one thing. In our studio we use a UA LA-610 for the DI, which is a tube-based preamp with eq and compression.  It doesn't sound anything like plugging in a bass through a straight DI box.  However, even if we did that, I could sit down and play with three other bass players on the same bass through the same DI and we would all sound different.  Add to that different basses--for example my current bass player plays a sweet old Rickenbacker... way different sounding than a J or a P or one of those Ibanez SRs.

Yes, you can and should get rid of your rigs, and get something newer and smaller.  Bass players have really benefited from the move to smaller heads... the new solid state heads can put out 600 watts, while weighing 3-5 pounds (for example, check out the Genz Benz shuttle 6, we have one in the studio).  And run that into a small cab like an Eden--loud enough for anything you would likely need.

Cool.  The cheapest I can find that iAmp 800's are going for is $1,119 so maybe if I offer it up for a good bit less I can pay some bills and get some space back in my storage area (since the bass cabs will go as well).

Thanks for the answers.

KrankZilla — Mar 05, 2009Rumor has it Geddy uses a Sansamp.  Not sure which one...

Kenmore?