Bass wedge IEM etc

Stuart christie

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May 19, 2020
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Hi

I’m a noob bass man that’s getting my skills together and some gear.
My guitar is ok and so is my rig.

I’m confused why I’m getting told I’ll need a stage wedge/monitor.
I get sound from my rig and I don’t understand the purpose of the extra speaker.

sorry to start a whole thread for this.
 
Hi

I’m a noob bass man that’s getting my skills together and some gear.
My guitar is ok and so is my rig.

I’m confused why I’m getting told I’ll need a stage wedge/monitor.
I get sound from my rig and I don’t understand the purpose of the extra speaker.

sorry to start a whole thread for this.
The purpose of a stage monitor - often just for the singer in a small band - is usually to hear other members, not oneself. If you can hear what you need of the rest of the band ok over your backline, or don't need (or want!) to hear them, you don't need one, so save your money for strings/beer/other bassy things! Discuss with the other band members if they think you need a monitor, and why - it might be useful to get their reasoning, if it's them suggesting it.

(I have perhaps been a little presumptuous in that you are not playing stadium gigs where personal monitoring becomes standard to all band members; apologies if you are in the midst of planning such a gig, in which case I'm way out of my depth...).
 
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You need a monitor to compensate for 2 things: distance (time) and enabling you to hear other instruments or singers to stay together.

Speed of sound through air is about 1 millisecond per foot of distance (for our illustration purposes)... so if you're depending on hearing the snare drum to sync up your bass playing... you need to be close to the drummer. If you're 20 feet away and depending hearing the snare to play, EVEN IF YOU COULD INSTANTLY PLUCK YOUR BASS you're starting out behind the drummer. If you get a touch of snare drum in your wedge, it's 5 ms from your ears, not 20 ms.

And if you can't hear the lead guitar player on the other side of the stage, you might find it helpful to have a bit of his signal in your wedge. If you sing back up, you'll need a monitor.

Now, my last bit of advice - if you can't hear everything in a rehearsal, y'all are playing too loud. Seriously. It's not about how loud a band can play, it's how well.
 
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The purpose of a stage monitor - often just for the singer in a small band - is usually to hear other members, not oneself. If you can hear what you need of the rest of the band ok over your backline, or don't need (or want!) to hear them, you don't need one, so save your money for strings/beer/other bassy things! Discuss with the other band members if they think you need a monitor, and why - it might be useful to get their reasoning, if it's them suggesting it.

(I have perhaps been a little presumptuous in that you are not playing stadium gigs where personal monitoring becomes standard to all band members; apologies if you are in the midst of planning such a gig, in which case I'm way out of my depth...).
No, you are 100% right. Say if I get to the bigger stadium gigs, do I bring my own monitor? If so, how many watts?
 
You need a monitor to compensate for 2 things: distance (time) and enabling you to hear other instruments or singers to stay together.

Speed of sound through air is about 1 millisecond per foot of distance (for our illustration purposes)... so if you're depending on hearing the snare drum to sync up your bass playing... you need to be close to the drummer. If you're 20 feet away and depending hearing the snare to play, EVEN IF YOU COULD INSTANTLY PLUCK YOUR BASS you're starting out behind the drummer. If you get a touch of snare drum in your wedge, it's 5 ms from your ears, not 20 ms.

And if you can't hear the lead guitar player on the other side of the stage, you might find it helpful to have a bit of his signal in your wedge. If you sing back up, you'll need a monitor.

Now, my last bit of advice - if you can't hear everything in a rehearsal, y'all are playing too loud. Seriously. It's not about how loud a band can play, it's how well.

thank you very much Tim.

They don’t talk about any of this in the bass forums, it’s all talk about best players, biggest rigs, 4 or 5 string debates, and who’s got more and bettter gear.

I’m glad I thought to click on this.
 
I guess I don’t need a DI box either then, right?

Most likely not but then again sometimes it can still be better to put a DI inline between the bass and the
amp and take the signal to the PA from that point. Sometimes amp direct out can be noisy, not working, ect.
I would hope an Eden has a decent direct out.

DI wise active or passive the generally if you have an active bass a passive DI is fine, if you have passive bass
look at active DI's.
 
Hi
Me again!

I’ve got settings on my amp
On the front

semi parametric EQ
LEVEL -15 to +15
Frequency 40 - 10k
Switch on/off (when I turn it on: the levels go up)

I don’t have a manual
Can anyone interpret this?
im Assuming it’s helpful to my sound and if that’s so, I’d like to make use of it.


Google didn’t help.
 

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Hi
Me again!

I’ve got settings on my amp
On the front

semi parametric EQ
LEVEL -15 to +15
Frequency 40 - 10k
Switch on/off (when I turn it on: the levels go up)

I don’t have a manual
Can anyone interpret this?
im Assuming it’s helpful to my sound and if that’s so, I’d like to make use of it.


Google didn’t help.
Just got to look a little:


"Semi-Parametric Equalizer – Allows you to dial in a specific frequency to enhance or cut. This feature is especially useful for upright and acoustic bass guitars that have a resonant frequency. Because we've included a bypass switch, you can also use it to create a second tone that is available instantaneously. (You're welcome.) The frequency is adjustable from 40Hz to 10KHz. The level can be adjusted +/- 15 dB. The control is FLAT when the level control is at 12:00 position (straight up). ON/OFF Indicator"

Stuart,

David (Eden) Nordschow, the writer of your amp manual and I go way back to the 1970s, we collaborated on some PA designs, he later found the Bass Guitar amp market to be a good place for leveraging all that "sound information" into profitability.

You should read the whole manual, but here is a little more "propellerhead" stuff than David put in the manual:

Frequencies are measured in cycles per second, abbreviated Hz, named after Heinrich Rudolf Hertz, the first person to provide conclusive proof of the existence of electromagnetic waves.
In terms of notes- the low E on a bass guitar is about 40 Hz (41.2 to be exact), an octave up would be the low E on a 6 string guitar, double that frequency, 80 Hz. Each octave higher is a doubling of the fundamental frequency.
Each note consists of the fundamental frequency, and harmonics that are multiples of the fundamental frequency- the low E second harmonic is 80 Hz, third 120 Hz, fourth, 160, etc.
On most basses, the output of the harmonics are actually louder than the fundamental, but the spacing of the harmonics will always be that of the fundamental frequency- for that reason you can still detect "bass notes" even through a speaker that has little bass response.

Our hearing works on a logarithmic scale, the audio industry adopted the deci- Bell (dB) after Alexander Graham Bell's work in the invention of the telephone. At 1000 Hz, a change in level of 10dB sounds about twice or half as loud. However, in terms of power, 3dB is a doubling of power, 10dB is ten times the power- your amp/speakers can probably hit around 100 dB SPL (sound pressure level) at one watt, to sound twice as loud (110 dB) requires 10 watts, then another 10 dB (120dB) 100 watts, another 3 dB is 200 watts (123 dB) another 3dB uses 400 watts (126dB) and now your amp, and ears, are about out of headroom..

Art
 
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