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Bass + PA ?

TamDBTamDB Frets: 6
in Bass
Hi all, i`m new to this site but was on the Music Radar site for a few years, but it was only today i found out it appears to be no more :(
Can anyone on here help me with a little problem, (no, not that one) I play a bit of bass through a Roland Cube 100 which has a balanced line out and would like to know if it would be OK to put this through a Small PA system (400w), the speakers for this are rated at 1000w each and 30 to 20k hertz.
I realise it would probably be OK putting guitar amps through it in this way , i`m just a bit unsure about the bass though, any opinions on this matter would be greatly appricotted, cheers, Tam.
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Comments

  • RamirezRamirez Frets: 11
    It'll be fine up to a certain point. Bear in mind though that low frequencies take much more power to reproduce than higher frequencies, so you might find the PA running out of steam a bit too early for the vocals etc. It might very well be fine for some slight reinforcement and better spread of the bass sound, but keep it well away from distorting, and try to steer clear of any bass boosting EQ - you most probably aren't going earth-shattering sub bass. Unless you've got ample power in reserve when running vocals or whatever else you have through the PA, I wouldn't expect too much from it.

    Then again, it might be just fine. I've mic's a kick drum through a tiny Yamaha Stagepas before and it was fine for what I wanted.

    Thanks for the apricotation.

    Aled
    Not the model boy of the village
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  • Andyjr1515Andyjr1515 Frets: 3127
    I agree with Aled - worth a try and might be OK. It will probably depend as much on the speakers as the amp. We used to run the bands bass through a Stagepas 500 (i think they have 10 " speakers) and it was just Ok although the bass did distort the overall sound from time to time (we put everything except the drums through the PA). We upgraded to a 600x600 pa amp through 15" speakers and those cope fine.
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  • TamDBTamDB Frets: 6
    edited October 2013
    Thanks for the replies guys, it would only be me and a mate trying to play old style pop / country rock type stuff, and it would be mainly guitars, vocals and backing tracks, with the occasional bit of bass or mandola thrown in (and i emphasize thrown :) ) I do have an extension speaker for the bass amp, and i wouldn`t be getting silly with effects, so maybe just spreading the sound out a bit might help ?  
    The only other idea i`ve got is to put the bass through it`s own channel and keep the amp turned up, and the PA channel turned down a bit, quite possibly ALL wrong, but it makes vague sense to me.
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  • RamirezRamirez Frets: 11
    I'm sure that would work fine provided you didn't need loads of volume. You could mess with the amp/PA levels depending on the venue - often the amp may be enough by itself, and sometimes the extra spread from the PA speakers can definitely help.

    Try it, you probably won't break anything if you're being sensible (and keep an eye and an ear out for any clipping/distortion!)
    Not the model boy of the village
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  • TamDBTamDB Frets: 6
    Me!!, Sensible!!, Doesn`t really compute, I`m seriously old enough to know MUCH better, and even that hasn`t helped, but thanks for the advice anyway.
    We`re not even close to doing any of this in public yet, so we`ve got plenty of time to follow said advice and maybe even get some of this stuff right,so thanks again, T.
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  • RamirezRamirez Frets: 11
    No problem, let us know how it goes!
    Not the model boy of the village
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  • maltingsaudiomaltingsaudio Frets: 3130
    Take the top end off the bass will give the vocals an easior time, and also depending on the amount of Eq you have cut out the very low bits, trying to amplify anything from 0-80 Hz will drain the power from the PA amp whilst not producing anything really audible as you are using full range speakers not subs 
    www.maltingsaudio.co.uk
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  • TamDBTamDB Frets: 6
    Another good point Mr Audio, running this bass through the PA seems to be more work than i thought it would be. I might just cheat and get me a cheapish slave amp of some sort and whack that into the ext speaker i have and leave the PA to do what it`s designed for :).
    Anyway, thanks again guys.
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