{"id":7402,"date":"2012-05-23T11:50:45","date_gmt":"2012-05-23T11:50:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/?p=7402"},"modified":"2019-07-31T09:20:56","modified_gmt":"2019-07-31T09:20:56","slug":"ask-the-expert-tips-for-getting-the-best-sound-for-a-bass-guitar-on-stage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/ask-the-expert-tips-for-getting-the-best-sound-for-a-bass-guitar-on-stage\/","title":{"rendered":"Ask the Expert \u2013 Tips for getting the best sound for a bass guitar on stage"},"content":{"rendered":"

Great bass guitar sounds<\/h2>\n

At our live Ask the Expert session Daniel Fiott asked:<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s the best sound you can get from bass on stage?\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Geoff Boswell, Audioplan:<\/strong><\/p>\n

I can only add this from being a bass player as well as earning my living from sound …. so here we go.<\/p>\n

At first getting the best sound \u2018on stage\u2019 may be very different from the best sound Front of House [FOH] but let\u2019s start with the best sound on stage bit. I want a clear sound on stage so that I can hear my bass well. As a low frequency instrument it has to be somewhat louder so that the bassist can hear the low notes clearly. Using an amp stand to get my amp higher, nearer to me and off the floor. This helps my sound become clearer to me and also means that I don\u2019t have to run the amp so high.<\/p>\n

To get a good sound on stage depends on what sort of bass sound you want in the first place. I like a rounded deep sustained bass sound as a starter. Then my sound can change depending on my style finger strokes, pick, nearer bridge or nearer end of neck, all this makes a massive difference but you at least start off with a good rounded sound. After all bass is meant primarily to sound bassy !! [sorry Shirley]. \u00a0I take the output of my Eden pre into the RETURN of a Gallien Kruger 2 x 10 wedge combo. It\u2019s a great sound for me and the rest of the band but it\u2019s not necessarily good for the poor FOH guy as its often too loud. If this is the case then I have to just simply turn down a little.<\/p>\n

Regarding DI use if you have the FOH channels then you have the choice of DI of the bass clean [ie the instrument output paralleled at the DI and then on to the amp], DI from the amps DI output or mic in front of the bass cabinet. All are OK and it just depends on what works for you. If the bass player is using a pre-amp then most probably a pre-amp output is a good starting point. Works for me and the sound guys at church.<\/p>\n

Regarding on stage sound again choice of pre-amp or input stage is the most important closely followed by the headroom in the amp\/speakers. A decent input stage allows the guitars character to come out. My Music Man sounds good plugged direct into the amp but it does need some EQ to get a solid warm sound. Putting it through the valve pre-amp makes it sound SO much better.<\/p>\n

One final thought. I bought my pre amp and my amp from a well know internet auction site. I bought my Fender frontman bass combo [which I use for smaller stuff and practice also on E**Y. \u00a0All were second hand. I am not suggesting that music shops should not be explored but the second hand proven route works well for me.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Do check out our DVD and online training resources for bass players.<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Other posts you might like:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Why DI?<\/a><\/p>\n

DI boxes for acoustic guitars<\/a><\/p>\n

Top 10 Do\u2019s and Don\u2019ts \u2013 Soundmen\/women<\/a><\/p>\n

50 tips series \u2013 \u00a0worship bass players<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Great bass guitar sounds At our live Ask the Expert session Daniel Fiott asked: \u201cWhat\u2019s the best sound you can get from bass on stage?\u201d Geoff Boswell, Audioplan: I can only add this from being a bass player as well as earning my living from sound …. so here we go. At first getting the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":22138,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10,131],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAsk the Expert \u2013 Tips for getting the best sound for a bass guitar on stage<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Start by using a standard passive DI between the bass guitar and the amp. So you are getting just the clean bass sound. After that it's down to the guitar sound\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/ask-the-expert-tips-for-getting-the-best-sound-for-a-bass-guitar-on-stage\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ask the Expert \u2013 Tips for getting the best sound for a bass guitar on stage\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Start by using a standard passive DI between the bass guitar and the amp. So you are getting just the clean bass sound. After that it's down to the guitar sound\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/ask-the-expert-tips-for-getting-the-best-sound-for-a-bass-guitar-on-stage\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Musicademy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Musicademy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-05-23T11:50:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-07-31T09:20:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/drc0fhsrp02et.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/31091953\/Best-sound-for-bass-guitar-e1564564811114.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1113\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"750\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Marie@Musicademy\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@musicademy\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@musicademy\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Marie@Musicademy\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/ask-the-expert-tips-for-getting-the-best-sound-for-a-bass-guitar-on-stage\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/ask-the-expert-tips-for-getting-the-best-sound-for-a-bass-guitar-on-stage\/\",\"name\":\"Ask the Expert \u2013 Tips for getting the best sound for a bass guitar on stage\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-05-23T11:50:45+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-07-31T09:20:56+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/f250bacb3de5aa97fa822e06e84a706c\"},\"description\":\"Start by using a standard passive DI between the bass guitar and the amp. So you are getting just the clean bass sound. After that it's down to the guitar sound\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/ask-the-expert-tips-for-getting-the-best-sound-for-a-bass-guitar-on-stage\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Musicademy\",\"description\":\"Award-winning training resources for church based musicians\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/f250bacb3de5aa97fa822e06e84a706c\",\"name\":\"Marie@Musicademy\",\"description\":\"Marie is a Director of Musicademy and works as the Business Manager and E-Commerce specialist. Prior to setting up Musicademy with Andy, Marie worked as a marketing consultant. She is also a qualified teacher and continues to lecture in Business and Marketing for various professional organisations and universities. Marie co-leads an \\\"emerging\\\" church\/housegroup and is married with two teenage children. She takes great delight in answering Musicademy emails at all times of the day and night \u2013 some people would suggest that she needs to get a life.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/musicademy.com\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Ask the Expert \u2013 Tips for getting the best sound for a bass guitar on stage","description":"Start by using a standard passive DI between the bass guitar and the amp. So you are getting just the clean bass sound. After that it's down to the guitar sound","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/ask-the-expert-tips-for-getting-the-best-sound-for-a-bass-guitar-on-stage\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Ask the Expert \u2013 Tips for getting the best sound for a bass guitar on stage","og_description":"Start by using a standard passive DI between the bass guitar and the amp. So you are getting just the clean bass sound. After that it's down to the guitar sound","og_url":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/ask-the-expert-tips-for-getting-the-best-sound-for-a-bass-guitar-on-stage\/","og_site_name":"Musicademy","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Musicademy","article_published_time":"2012-05-23T11:50:45+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-07-31T09:20:56+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1113,"height":750,"url":"https:\/\/drc0fhsrp02et.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/31091953\/Best-sound-for-bass-guitar-e1564564811114.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Marie@Musicademy","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@musicademy","twitter_site":"@musicademy","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Marie@Musicademy","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/ask-the-expert-tips-for-getting-the-best-sound-for-a-bass-guitar-on-stage\/","url":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/ask-the-expert-tips-for-getting-the-best-sound-for-a-bass-guitar-on-stage\/","name":"Ask the Expert \u2013 Tips for getting the best sound for a bass guitar on stage","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-05-23T11:50:45+00:00","dateModified":"2019-07-31T09:20:56+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/f250bacb3de5aa97fa822e06e84a706c"},"description":"Start by using a standard passive DI between the bass guitar and the amp. So you are getting just the clean bass sound. After that it's down to the guitar sound","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/ask-the-expert-tips-for-getting-the-best-sound-for-a-bass-guitar-on-stage\/"]}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/","name":"Musicademy","description":"Award-winning training resources for church based musicians","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/f250bacb3de5aa97fa822e06e84a706c","name":"Marie@Musicademy","description":"Marie is a Director of Musicademy and works as the Business Manager and E-Commerce specialist. Prior to setting up Musicademy with Andy, Marie worked as a marketing consultant. She is also a qualified teacher and continues to lecture in Business and Marketing for various professional organisations and universities. Marie co-leads an \"emerging\" church\/housegroup and is married with two teenage children. She takes great delight in answering Musicademy emails at all times of the day and night \u2013 some people would suggest that she needs to get a life.","sameAs":["http:\/\/musicademy.com"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7402"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7402"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7402\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22140,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7402\/revisions\/22140"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22138"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}