SimonK

Missed this thread previously - fretted & fretless - my main two basses for the last twenty years!

...was just thinking about why it's more a problem with a traditional piano sound, and listening again to the opening recording I think the attack on the piano sound is much shorter than for the bass (and guitars for that matter) meaning that although they are in time with each other, you hear the piano first on the chords and hence lose the distinctiveness of the bass. It might be that a compressor with a softer/slower attack on the piano could help a bit as well.

Yes a problem I've also had over the years especially playing in church/gospel bands where the lineup changes weekly. Keyboardists who play a lot on their own get used to playing all the basslines with their left hand so stopping them doing this in a band situation is a challenge. I generally position myself so I can see their left hand, and notice that the "better" keyboardists still do use their left hand but generally only playing root notes on the chord changes (often as octaves with pinky & thumb). Thus said the issue is most acute when they use a traditional piano sound (as in the OP recording). If they use a Fender Rhodes or Hammond or strings patch it's not so bad.

I've definitely switched the cheap DI box with my own once the sound engineer is too far away to notice, and then back again when the set finishes 🤫 !

I'm tempted to put a TE cab in the raffle just in the hope that whoever wins it came by public transport... 🙂

Just to manage expectations - as I am getting excited about this already - is there any reason why I can't pack my car with cabs and other random bass kit I have collected over the years, and then just comment on the day that I am open to offers should anyone else want to buy any of it from me? Note I am not a business, just someone whose bass collection has got a little bit out of control and this could be a good opportunity to pass some bits of it on to others without faffing with ebay/postage?

Get the bass that makes you smile when you look at it, not the one that makes you wish you got the other! ...or do what the rest of us do and buy both 🙂 (borrowing money if necessary), accepting that it's a disease with no cure!

...at this point I can't help but post my "practicing at home rig" which only cost me £150 (granted the amp was broken but it was only a single transistor that needed replacing) and now it works fine. The crazy thing is if you go second hand there is no need to think small!

...at which point I would smile sweetly, crank my Trace Elliot stack, and tell the sound engineer(?) that the bass needed to be heard front of house and I would happily turn down when he took my post-DI signal...

I do wonder whether the request by the sound guy that kicked off this side-track may have been more a practical one in the sense that perhaps there wasn't room on the stage for three bass players to bring their amps, so it was just a plea to bring your own preamp/DI or he was offering to provide a Sansamp (which is a damn site better than some of teh £20 Behringer DIs that I often get offered)!

My hero 💖 !

As mentioned the Magellan preamp's volume doesn't affect the DI signal see: https://genzleramplification.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Magellan-PRE-Owners-Manual-1-1-2025-_web_version_.pdf Having since looked at a few others it does, however, seem that for a lot of them the "pre" isn't affected but the "post" is which may well be as expected.

Not sure what is contentious about this - I can't remember the last time I didn't DI for a gig... although I'm guessing if the DI is built into the amp it's just a case of accepting the amp will be there and asking for the stage volume to be low as well?

That's definitely something I would want to do in similar circumstances but I would get much better pictures made - those just look totally fake.

At risk of getting distracted on a related topic - why on earth would anyone design a preamp pedal where the output/master volume affects the DI signal level? Of course for the input/gain, but from a sound engineers perspective the last thing you want is someone fiddling with their overall level? On the Magellan I have the output (volume) only affects the preamp out and headphone out so you can adjust your own stage level without intefering with the FoH signal.