Getting a Great Bass Sound- Anywhere
by Glenn Letsch
reprinted by permission
Electronic Musician Magazine

Wouldn't it be great if you could pack up the acoustics from your favorite little nightclub and take them with you? Then you'd never have to deal with the reality that your bass sounds different from gig to gig. But face it, that is the reality. One night you're at a sweaty little nightclub, and the next night you're working the homecoming dance in a school gymnasium. Saturday, you're performing at an outdoor arena. If you gig at a variety of venues, you've probably played shows where you just couldn't get a handle on your sound at all. Let's discuss what can be done to bring that good, old-fashioned, drivin' bass to most any venue you'll play. The deader the better. In general, the deader the room, the better your bass will sound. Bass frequencies thrive in carpeted rooms filled with drapes, tables, and most importantly, people. When you take those things away, the bass sounds murky. Ironically, what bassists love, drummers hate. In a dead room, the bassist is groovin' because he can be heard! The drummer, however, is bummed because a dead room sucks the life out of the drum tone. At the other end of the acoustical spectrum is the live room. In live rooms, the bass frequencies bounce around like superballs and the sound gets lost. But if your band was performing in a gymnasium, the drummer would be in heaven. Now he's John Bonham and you're Mushman. Dead beats. Because a live room is hostile to bassists, I cringe whenever I show up for a gig and see concrete floors and walls, or a lot of glass and high ceilings. But fear not, there are plenty of ways you can fight these acoustical enemies. Here are the essential components for getting that "dead room" sound wherever you gig. Bass. The electronics of most basses deliver enough low end, but make sure your bass can produce plenty of midrange and high frequencies, too. The "livelier" the room you play, the more you will need to accentuate the mids and highs. Strings. Use round wounds; they sound good everywhere. And as you encounter more difficult environments, the bass tones these strings produce will have less of a tendency to "swim" and get away from you. Preamp. There are a lot of great preamps available. Solid state or tube models both work very well. Some preamps offer both so that you can blend the sound. Graphic EQs are nice but are not essential. A solid 3- or 4-band EQ should work fine. Amp. One word: headroom. Always, always bring more horsepower than you think you'll need. The more power you have available, the better defined your notes will be, because your amplifier doesn't have to work so hard to produce that marvelous tone. If you are underpowered, your bass will sound weak because the amp is straining. If you use a fraction of your amp's power, it will breathe easy and your bass will sound strong. Speakers. Use cabinets loaded with 10-inch speakers-ideally in a 4 x 10 configuration-and the more speakers the merrier. The tens will help keep the bass sounding tight in live rooms. Also, more speakers mean less speaker strain. Let's call it "speaker headroom." Effects. The fewer effects the better, and it's best if you employ none. If you have to use effects, do so sparingly. They can "soften" your sound, you'll find yourself in mush city if you pump up the effects in a live room. Taming the Venue. Now let's explore how to dial a great bass sound in less-than-ideal settings. The high school gym. Start by rolling off the bass frequencies on your preamp. You may have to boost the mids and highs proportionately. Don't just start turning knobs haphazardly. Listen, and then adjust the EQ-slightly-until the desired effect is achieved. If you jump from the two o'clock position down to the eight o'clock position, chances are you will blow right past the ideal setting. You still might end up at eight o'clock anyway, but it's better to ease your way into it. Trust me, this method works. Muting is a favorite trick of seasoned vets. If you play fingerstyle, shove a trimmed, foam-rubber wedge under your strings between the bridge pickup and the bridge. If you play with a pick, rest the side of your palm against the strings right at the bridge. These two muting techniques will bring amazing amounts of percussive attack back into your playing, regardless of the venue. The outdoor concert. There are no walls here. Consequently, your bass becomes the Energizer bunny: it just keeps going and goingÉaway. You will need more cabinets (at least two 4 x 10 cabinets). Try kicking up the low end on the preamp (remember, a little at a time). This is the gig where amp headroom is crucial. If the rest of the band thinks you have too much gear, tell them that bass frequencies need three times the amp power to produce the same volume levels as the guitars, keyboards, and other amplified instruments. (They can look it up in a physics book.) The church. All of the above problems can exist here. The bass swims like it would in a gym, and the sound keeps going like it would outdoors. The big problem is that you are in church, so you can't turn up to compensate. Here are some ideas: use the foam mute, roll off some low end, and turn down. Get a floor wedge and place it facing you. You'll hear yourself as if you were wearing cans, and the congregation won't be blown away by massive volume.