can someone give me a rundown on exactly what they are used for?
someone just mentioned to our bassist to use a DI box to run his bass through our pa. i notice there are passive and active DI's, so will both use up our PA's wattage? or just the active?
it was recommended before we performed live, to give the bass more sound i guess? bassist already has an acoustic 15inch cab, with a 200w head.
we have a behringer pmp2000 powered mixer, just have two mains right now, 8olm. but dont want to give away any power...if we dont have too..
check out our band's progress: Delta Mud http://www.youtube.com/user/DeltaMudBand
What exactly are you running through your mixer? It would help if you could provide details about your live sound setup and the type of gig you will be playing (room size, number of people, etc.)
In a live situation with a room bigger than a 3-car garage, it is nice to run ALL the instruments along with the vocals through the PA so that you can achieve a good mix for the audience. In a large room full of people, a 200W bass amp is really only good for the stage mix and those close to the stage...the mains need to have some bass running through them to get a full sound. And, yes...you will use up some of your powered mixer's juice to do it.
You should check the back of the bass amp for an XLR out...run a mic cable from the back of the amp to the mixer and you don't need a DI box. Or you just mic the bass amp.
- Huffheinz
I forgot to mention that I used to use a DI box even though my old bass amp had an XLR out. The problem was an incredible hum unless the bass amp was plugged into the same outlet as the mixer (which was not possible in some situations) and the DI box is much better than miking the bass amp.
- Huffheinz
right now the only thing running through the mixer is an acoustic guitar, and two mics. the most common place we'll play where we'll have to use our own equipment is small venues where they dont already have mains, monitors, amps, ect.....
so i dont know, we've not played any yet, and the first one we're doing, they already have a sound guy there with equipment ect....
but i can see us getting in to play places that might be about the size of a small bar, maybe 150?....hell i dont know, not enough experience to even guess.... most of the bigger bars around here already have stages and equipment already there... so all we'd need is amps, and instruments...
but i think your right, getting some bass to come through the PA would help with quality. i'll check to see if his amp has that xlr jack like your talking about.
check out our band's progress: Delta Mud http://www.youtube.com/user/DeltaMudBand
Do you have electric guitars and drums? If not, you're fine as is.
Personally, I'd keep the bass out of the PA until you really notice that you can't get loud enough, or you have a house sound man. A 200W Acoustic could be quite loud in a small-ish space. Do you have 15s in your mains? If not, the power won't go anywhere. Certainly keep the bass out of the monitors.
If you are sure that you need to put the bass into the PA, a DI box is a good way. Also, a line level output from the amp is good (XLR or 1/4), acknowledging the hum issue mentioned above.
yeah we have an electric guitar player, and two acoustics. one acoustic has his own amp/cab, im the only one going through the PA. we have drums too....if we get much louder they'll have to be miked as well. GAH it never ends, LOL.
man im kinda gettin side swiped by all these other considerations i had no idea even existed.....
yeah the two mains we got are 15's. we are planning on getting two more, it would ease the load on the PA, plus let all 350w go through each channel, at 4 olms.
we got two good monitors that are powered so we dont have to worry bout those at least....
im sure we can get more sound out of the PA, but we're still learning now to prevent feedback ect.... speaker layout, blah blah blah..... we're newbs for sure....we havent played our first gig, its in two weeks....but the sound is already taken care off, the main act has a sound guy setting everything up...so maybe we'll learn something from him, and get a few questions in...
also the shop we practice in, plays hell on acoustics, the videos we've taken kinda hide the speakers, so the mic on the camera doesnt pick up stuff comin through the pa that great, but i can already tell the bass and the drums are startin to get quieter and quieter the louder and louder we seem to get......used to we were governed by how loud we could get without feedback, but we've solved alot of that problem, but still....
check out our band's progress: Delta Mud http://www.youtube.com/user/DeltaMudBand
Every gig I ever played (probably close to a hundred by now), the soundman has plugged my bass into a DI box and my amp was relegated to more or less a stage monitor. It gives the soundman control over the volume.
--
Helgi Briem
hbriem AT gmail DOT com
Also, a line level output from the amp is good (XLR or 1/4), acknowledging the hum issue mentioned above.
Many bass amps with a direct (XLR) output will also have a ground lift switch to get rid of the hum. Many active DI boxes also have ground lift switches, for the same reason.
A follow-up consideration is whether you send the signal pre- or post- the amp's EQ. 8)
I have this guy: http://www.amazon.com/Behringer-V-tone-Bass-Amp-Modeler/dp/B000M58PJQ/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1246463076&sr=8-3
Does a great job and sounds really good through the PA. It is a copy of a much more expensive product, the Sansamp Tech 21. http://www.amazon.com/Tech-21-SansAmp-Bass-Driver/dp/B0002D0EN8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=musical-instruments&qid=1246463126&sr=8-1
And, like has been said, your amp may have an XLR out you can run straight to the PA with. Ah, just reread you first post....That acoustic 200w head has a DI out on the back of it already, you won't really need a separate DI box. I think it's got a ground lift switch as well.
I have this guy: http://www.amazon.com/Behringer-V-tone-Bass-Amp-Modeler/dp/B000M58PJQ/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1246463076&sr=8-3
Does a great job and sounds really good through the PA. It is a copy of a much more expensive product, the Sansamp Tech 21. http://www.amazon.com/Tech-21-SansAmp-Bass-Driver/dp/B0002D0EN8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=musical-instruments&qid=1246463126&sr=8-1
And, like has been said, your amp may have an XLR out you can run straight to the PA with. Ah, just reread you first post....That acoustic 200w head has a DI out on the back of it already, you won't really need a separate DI box. I think it's got a ground lift switch as well.
im gonna look tonite.....and see what its got..
check out our band's progress: Delta Mud http://www.youtube.com/user/DeltaMudBand
I have this guy: http://www.amazon.com/Behringer-V-tone-Bass-Amp-Modeler/dp/B000M58PJQ/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1246463076&sr=8-3
Does a great job and sounds really good through the PA. It is a copy of a much more expensive product, the Sansamp Tech 21.
I keep one of those Behringers in my gear bag as a back-up. It's gets a nice warm tube tone with a bit of grit; there was a comparison on talkbass between that and the Tech 21 BDDI, and it was pretty tough to tell the difference in the recordings.
8)
