Rackmount Studio Gear for Live Rig - Fantasy

[jtrom]

So over the last 6 years I've been working a lot in Logic doing production and mixing. Whenever I track bass 99/100 I just go DI, do a little bit of EQ/Compression and parallel compression and Bob's your uncle. Sounds great! Sometimes I'll blend in an SVT plugin with the DI sound.

Over the last four years or so I have been working with Universal Audio plugins quite a bit and have found that the Helios Type 69 Legacy EQ is amazing on bass. I mean, it really works well IMO. I usually follow this with the Teletronix LA2A (classic) compressor. Works well on every track and every bass - brings out the character/tone of the bass with its own coloration.

This got me thinking - I've been looking to upgrade my live rig for quite some time and how cool would it be to have a Helios EQ clone + Teletronix LA2A compressor as the "head" of the bass. I suppose I would need a power amp. I have no idea how to make that a reality in the live world but I think that it would be a killer "amp".

Anways, if you've ever used studio rack gear for live performance let me know about your experience! What worked? What didn't?

 

[fast slapper]

Could definitely work. The law of diminishing returns will always come into play. It would work best with a high quality well tuned PA system and monitors(IEM's would be preferable for sound quality).

You will lose a lot of nuances through a typical bass cab. Modern prosumer powered cabs like the QSC K.2 series are pretty decent. A 8" top with a 15" sub would be a satisfying turn-key solution. Add an Ipad + small interface to frontend and enjoy.

 

[DigitalMan]

Works fine. Gear is gear. It doesn't care how the sheet metal surrounding it is folded.

Every bass at a live show goes through three majors steps - preamplification / amplification / speakers. What you use for each is up to you. Signal processing lives in/around the preamplification stage and can be broadly defined/optional.