Bass in the system.

[Stevie Nature]

I'd like to know how many of you run you bass through the system and if you'd suggest it for my church. We are running a Yamaha EMX5000-20. The speakers are S115V 15" Club Series V speakers. To be honest, I'm not really sure what that means. The impetus for my asking is that our bass amp is about to go and there's no worship budget for a while. I can afford to run by the music store and drop $50 on a direct box, but I can't afford to drop $500 on a new amp.

[milepost13]

what does your space (room) look like?

Nate

[Stevie Nature]

It's kind of narrow and long and seats 298 max capacity. Not the best set up for sound in general. I wasn't extremely thrilled when I saw the set up. We're working on somethings to help that as well.

[worshiptrench]

You will still want a bass "amp" even if it is a modeler to color the tone. A bass straight direct box is YUCKY sounding (unless you get an Aguilar direct with a tube or somesuch). The subs you have on your PA if they are bi-amped properly will work fine on bass. The only question then becomes what is your bass player going to reference off of (headphones, in-ears, a wedge,)

[Stevie Nature]

Well here's the issue again, we're dealing with a limited system and budget. There's no budget for a modeler. I know the bass won't sound great, but I just want it to be heard enough to fill out the low end. We're going to have have only two monitor mixes...wedges and a couple of hot spots. That's another issue. I'm not sure how we'll make sure he hears himself without muddying up the mix for everyone else.

[amprodirect]

For most of our services we run the bass direct, sometimes the bass player will have a pedal but mostly just goes straight into a Radial active DI. He also uses an IEM and the house is equipped with subs. Everyone is happy, perhaps some less than thrilled but happy. It is my experience as soon as you make one thrilled you have made someone else unhappy. Oh well, it seems to be a world of compromises.

The bottom line is that it can work with the right setup but it sounds like with the system you are running the best bet is to see if you can get the amp repaired. Often times the repair is minor.

David Cherry
Shoreline
Austin

[stephen_can_man]

Do any of the bassists have an amp? Is there another church in your area that might be able to loan an amp? If someone has a guitar amp, it doesn't sound great, but it could get your through until later...

[dtpuga]

I agree with Amprodirect...
I think the best option for you is repairing the bass amp. (Or pray that it doesn't 'go.')

Obviously you can run bass through the mains, most setups would have that anyway. If you don't have subs and maybe some processing, you will be disappointed. In my limited understanding of your situation, I would recommend having something on stage for your bass player to monitor what is being played. (That could be a monitor send with good low end, a bass amp, or good in ears.) If it is run direct the player will have a VERY hard time being aware of what is truly being played without some decent feedback.

Try making your need known. Does our bass player have gear they could loan to the church, or bring with them on Sundays?

Hope this helps,
-Travis

[Stevie Nature]

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm going to try to fix it tomorrow. I'm usually pretty good with that sort of thing. I fixed it once about nine months ago and it broke again, though. Of course we were setting up and tearing down every Sunday so the amp got a lot of abuse. Now we're in a new facility so hopefully if I can fix it, it will stay fixed. We'll see.

As far as my bass player volunteering his own equipment, all the equipment he uses is mine. He is fifteen and was learning guitar when I recruited him for bass. He's been using my bass and amp ever since. His parents don't have any money to put into instruments so he'll be using my stuff indefinitely.