OK, just took some pics of the new rig for some other folk. Also is an experience I had this past weekend at a outdoor show:
The whole rig consisted of:
1xKorg DTR-1 Tuner into ->
1xAguilar DB659 Pre with Telefunken Tubes into ->
1xIP112 into ->
1xEX112
My Axe:
-Sadowsky RV5 JJ 440 Tuning
Their Axes:
-Ken Smith Designs - Burner Deluxe 4 String (tuned half step down)
-Hundog P bass, single pickup Passive 440 tuning (No joke, it's called a Prejism, instead of Precision).
Saturday night was the standard lineup for Blue Onion. On the Aguilar Pre I had the Gain at about 50%, Treble at 1 O'clock, Mid at 3-4 O'clock, and bass at 12 O'clock and the Master at 50-60%. I had the horn on the IP112 at zero, or normal and the gain at 100%. Depending on the song, I had the pickup blend from 50/50 to 65/35 favoring the neck. Bass and Treble were boosted from 0-20% depending on the song and whether I was fingering or slapping.
At first, I really tried to open it up. I knew this was going to be my last bigger outside gig. We have been on the main stage for the last three years as the opening act for the weekend. Great sound, but there just aren’t that many people out there just yet. Friday afternoon at 2:00 just doesn’t lend itself to a large crowd. This year we were on the second stage. We had a 4:00 and a 7:00 slot on Saturday. Much better time slot and even though it was the second stage without the BIG full production sound, the crowd was much much better. The entire Stage and FOH was Mackie. The volume wasn’t gut wrenching, but it was definitely louder than I needed to be and certainly more than I have ever played it before. Towards the end of our first set, the FOH engineer asked if I could turn down. I didn’t touch the Preamp, but rolled the volume back about 10-15%. It didn’t hug me like it did when I was up at the mic, but if I got back to the amp, the love was there again. At first it sounded thin, just because the volume was turned down. After about three songs later I got used to the lower volume and sat really well with the stage mix. This also allowed the FOH to put me into the mix to spread the love around. There were a couple of bands that had seen us before as well as other bands on that stage and they all commented how well the mix sounded compared to the other bands. Got a lot of compliments on how punchy and solid the bass was. The slap tone was described as just right, wasn’t too shrill or piercing, but just sweet tonal bliss. Keeping in mind that the horn hits at about lower waist, I was careful not to boost the highs to compensate and certainly standing twenty feet away up at the mic, the tweeters heights was no longer an issue. I couldn’t have asked for a better sound coming from my bass. The prior three years I had played this same gig with my SM-900 and Goliath III 4 ohm bridged mono and well…..the Berg setup just worked. On a more sober note, during our brake while the main stage was going, the wind picked up and my Sadowsky took a face plant. Just a little flesh scuff marks not fret damage and played just fine the second set. ****note to self, get rid of that guitar stand.****
The next day was my buddies gig. This was with the Ken Smith bass. Really had to max the treble on the pre amp, activated the bright switch, he backed off the mids about 15%, and maxed out the bass but left the low boost off. I also turned up the tweeter to +2 on the IP112. It was a very solid tone, with plenty of mids and lows, and the highs were there but not over powering which surprised me for how much treble we requested from the rig. At the FOH mixer, the engineer was complaining about a low end wobble. Upon listening to it, I heard it as well. He said it didn’t do that with my bass the day before. The tone was still sweet though and busted through the mix with punchy lows, and low mid growl with present but not over powering highs. It was full sounding. I also made a believer out of him as well. We got him to turn down as well so we could turn up the bass channel on the FOH board. He gave him some monitor out of the two 15” powered Mackie monitors and he was happy. He did 5 songs then switch over to guitar, where Ken, my guitarist from Blue Onion hopped on bass with is Hungdog P Bass. This was a passive pass so into the passive input with him. This caused some serious concern for the sound because the output of the Aguilar is a LOT hotter when plugged into the passive input then that of the Active input. It farted out the monitors (might have blown some tweeters out of both the FOH and Monitor, and this is why sound engineers should check levels when ever there is a different player/instrument/rig…..not sure what he was thinking…..). I set it where the low end was present and growly, with plently of low mid attack, and plenty of punch. High end clarity was there but not harsh. He asked so I boosted the highs way too much for my taste. Think of maple body, maple neck, neck pickup with the treble maxed….that was the tone he was going for. I think all those years of playing guitar that there are some high frequency hearing loss. His tone wasn’t as good. He used a felt pick but dug into each note way to hard causing his bass to bark every note. I will say that when he backed off and attacked it easier, that the tone was much, much better. They still did a great job. After their hour was up, I got back up on bass, informed the FOH engineer that I was switch back to the active input and that signal would be lower. This was a all out jam session. I was on bass, thee guitar players. Next to me on the right was a Soldano Hot Rod 50, behind me three congas, to the left was the Drums, A Marshal Half stack, and two Dr Z 18w cabs. That Soldano just about took my head off he was cranking it so loud. He was squeezing every last drip of tone out of it, but my bass rig just kept right on with it. I tried to stay at the lower volume I was at from the night before, but I had to do what I had to do. I still wasn’t opened up, but I could hear every note clearly with plenty of punch and fullness!
That being said, I think I may have found the right tool for the right job. Certainly this won’t be for everyone, but I heard full Marshall Bass stacks, Full Mesa Boogie stacks, Peavey stacks…….and this from the FOH, this Berg mini stack sound by far the very best out of all of them. Completely blown away.
Well Mike, wish you could have been there. These few words was just my experience with some dialog taken from others experience from the weekend as well. Something I thought as I was going home was what kind of gig was tombowlus doing that required the IP212+IP310 stack? My gawd! The thought of that makes me a little pukey. I suppose if you are doing stadium gigs, or even main stage acts you would probably want more than what the IP112+EX112 would give you…but then again, maybe not. Between stage monitors, side fills, and the mini-stack behind you, you could honestly do a Main Stage act without fear of being under powered or lacking anything IMHO, you might look a little silly though without that Ampeg fridge or twin fridges. (:
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Piece of ****.
