Amp and DI live sound brainwave.

Chickenwheels

Chickenwheels

Aug 4, 2018
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Sydney Australia
#1
I tried something new on Saturday’s wedding gig (6 piece band, loud)...

For a while now, I’ve been dissatisfied with the amount of top end in my bass tone in the FOH and monitors (full QSC rig). I’ve asked the sound tech to LPF at times, but it doesn’t always happen (time, other dramas). Also, it’s often too much hassle to get a bit of Bass in my wedge (which I like) so I can adjust my preamp to suit.

Then I had a brain wave: DI out to my amp into my own personal QSC K8, then daisy out of it into FOH mix. I still have the acoustic energy and punch of my amp/cab to lock in with the drums, but I also can blend in the monitor for extra clarity/volume and the ability to get It sounding nice, too (especially with OD).

Well, it worked perfect. And as a bonus, it made for a very portable and potent rig! I only needed one 15, and had a one trip load in including the tiny K8.

I thought I’d share this as there has been a lot of amp vs. DI conjecture of late.

Why not have both?
 
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#2
not sure what the issue is here; why aren't you sending the FOH a signal that sounds good as it is?

is it that EQ'ing your stage amp to suit your stage bass cab leaves you sending a DI sound that's too bright?

if you don't want to just send a "pre" DI signal that's unaffected by amp EQ, sounds like you need a different cab, one that's more reflective of the actual sound, i.e., brighter and clearer. that way the tone it creates sounds closer to the same as what's going out front.

you say it's a 15, what kind? does it have a horn? what's the actual amp?
 
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#5
Signal chain: GK800rb, EV TL606 with EVM 15L. DI out of GK into QSC K8, then out of that into FOH mix.
By using the QSC K8 I can hear my DI tone onstage and adjust my amp eq to take some of the harshness out of the tweeter, especially for overdriven sounds. This is helping me send a more LPF type tone that requires less tweaking at the mixer (which hasn’t been happening). It is also giving me some extra volume on stage so I don’t have to turn my amp up too loud.
I don’t use tweeters in my cabs, and when I did they were turned off. If I still had tweeters I guess I could turn them up and then eq out the harsh top end using them as reference.
My prefered tone is the sound of the Ampeg 810 or EV 15s I’m using. Round, full and no wild extended highs or lows (boom and sizzle). My preferred tone isn’t happening out front because of the PA setup and lack of experience, care of time by the operator.
When I have managed to get an engineer to use their LPF it has sounded awesome out front, much smoother and punchier. Unfortunately, a lot of times they just don’t care or have time. So I will be ordering a HPF/LPF soon, I think.
I hope I haven’t bored anyone to death with all this, I’m just learning and bouncing ideas about. I appreciate any input/education I can get. Thanks!
 
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#6
I am glad you found a solution which works for you. LPF will help you achieve your tonal goals for FOH. Just be aware, having two sources of bass sound on stage (TL606 and K8) might create problems sometimes (phase, etc.). There are others more knowledgeable in this forum who can explain properly...
 
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