5 Tips for a Better Stage Sound | Bass Tone Tuesday 

Ivan after watching this video...I ran downstairs and immediately began rearranging my practice space. My drums, 4 mic stands for drums and DAW workstation occupy about 2/3 of the room....So I had my Bass, amplifier, music stand, laptop stand and pedal board squeezed into about 4 feet! For the last year I've had my amps next to and little behind me pointed back across the room towards the drums and DAW. Fortunately I had some long instrument cables and was able to place One amplifier under the DAW station pointed back at me and another amp off to the side.....I was amazing how much the tone opened up and sounded so full. Another benefit was I gain about 2 feet of Bass work space..now my headstock isn't banging into my crash cymbals! Next week it's time to start working on equalization - Thanks Ivan...like Lewis Mc Bass below I'm learning new things every week!

Great video Ivan, I had no idea about raising the amp off the floor definitely going to use that in the future. Please keep uploading dude, I’m learning new things every week in a way that’s easy to understand, it’s awesome!

Your suggestions have been eye opening for me. I can't wait to try them out! Thanks a bunch!

thanks man, love your way of explaining, its like im getting advice from someone who really understands BASS ,,,,, CHEERS

All good points, Ivan. :) When I'm stacking cabs, I will often aim them differently from one another, e.g., the top cab aimed toward me, and the bottom cab aimed across the stage toward my band mates as a pseudo side-fill. If my band mates are hearing only the omni-directional deep bass from my cab(s), turning one cab toward them makes it easier for them to hear more mids, enabling them to hear the pitches of the notes I am playing more clearly. If a stage is too boomy, in addition to using a variable high-pass filter, keeping the cabs away from corners can help a lot.

Hi Ivan! You're awesome 😎

Love this advice. great stuff

Very helpful, Thanks.

I agree that a high pass filter is very valuable. I find that is the most useful tool for balancing between clarity and “boom”. High volume, increase hpf. Low volume, decrease. Also use cabs with rubber feet so stage doesn’t become a massive subwoofer!! Thanks Ivan!

Great helpful video, thank you

Good stuff here. Thank you.

This is a great video!

Set all the tone knobs on the head to midway. Take the bass knob to 0. Play a note and take the knob back up until you can hear a difference. Do the same with the others, one at a time.

So helpful. Have my first show tonight

Brilliant advice, thank you! Now we just need to get guitarists to take some of this advice onboard... 😑

Hi Ivan great Vid again 💯💥 Special Tipp # 4 ist realy helpfull. Thx again 🤘 May ist can be cool top make a Vid how to Cut or Boost the EQ, may based in a P Bass...... Stay healthy Greets Dieter

the box stand riser. Both statements are true: less bottom but better hearing. I universally get my cones off the floor at least 14 inches , oddly, for a max richness and depth. Funny. Great show, much gratitude!

I didn't play live for ~5 years so I don't really have any tricks for stage sound. But tilting up your cab works really great anywhere: on stage, at home, etc.

Tip nr 5 is maybe the best tip. I notice that bassplayer a sometimes to loud, because they have a lot of low-end, but the miss ( for their monitoring) defenition, so instead of put it louder, put a bit more mid in it, to add definition.. I try to let the bassplayer keep their sound and give the mids ( maybe a bit more) via a floor monitor back.

Nice G&L. Great sounding instruments. My workhorse is an L-2500. SOLID ADVICE! As an audio engineer, I thank you for explaining one of the most difficult things I try to explain to players, but for some reason, they never listen to me, and just crank their amps and I have to battle the bass. Bass amps turned up cause all kinds of messed up phase cancellation when their energy reaches the sound coming out of the PA. Yes, it's important to feel good about your sound and create an inspired performance, but it's really easy to push too much air out of your amp. Always better to bring your low end down. Like if using a stack, disconnect the bottom cab. Obviously you want to run direct PRE-EQ, and let the sound engineer create your bass tone so that it works with the rest of the instruments in the mix in the room. It's also a good idea to talk with the house engineer before your show, and discuss what kind of tone you prefer for the audience. By the way, one of the best tools I've ever found , especially for folks using in-ear monitors is a device called The Bass Board. Basically you plug it into the output of bass amp, and then you stand on it, and you will feel the bass through your feet. Sounds crazy, but it works REALLY well. Made by EICH Amplification. Very much worth checking out.

This is a great video! For my stage sound, I got an EQ pedal with 2 outputs. One goes to the house board and the other goes to my amp. So my amp turns into a monitor instead of the thing providing sound to the board. There also might be affordable "line splitters" so you don't have to buy an EQ pedal, but I like the EQ pedal because I can send the frequencies to the sound person that I want. But I enjoyed the fact your video provided solutions that don't cost extra money. Cheers!

💯

I don't know, if someone already mentioned it, but you should understand, what all the knobs on your Amp do. I had a small practice Amp, which had a contour knob. Sometimes in the beginning, when playing with my first metal drummer, I would crank all the knobs, but also the contour, which would take mids away and ultimately made me quieter 😅

With EQ I usually start with everything in the middle then add or subtract as needed. Sometimes when theirs not enough treble it is not that I need more treble sometimes it turns out theirs too much bass.

Hello my friend, when you play on a stage where you're opening for a big band and they let you use the amp but you can't touch the equalisation, that's because the bassplayer has already done his sound test, what do you advise? a pre before, DI, Sansamp, NE-1 Yamaha is what i use and helps me a lot, but i would like to know your opinion?

BBE Sonic Stomp. oh yeah

BASE TONE TOOSDAY .

My current war goes agains a very loud drummer ,- he comes from heavyrock . Vi are Playing Countrymusik for the most part . I play and a 8/10 and tube amp. I play so loud that the PA is tuned down or completely gone . Så it´s only the 8/10 that makes the bass sound . That is nessesary for my to hear my self , do to the loud drummer . I know it´s a problem , but im loosing that war , and the drummer don´t think he can change anything .. What do i do - Shoot the drummer ?

I disagree with raising up a small amp, maybe tilt it back. When you raise it up you lose the “coupling” effect with the floor which makes your amp sound thin..

Los subtítulos para cuándo?

How do politely tell a bassy guitar player that may use 15 inch speakers that you are competing for low frequencies when he has no clue about sound engineering.

Keep the stage volume down🤣😂 tell that to drummers