Interesting FRFR story..

[SumOne]

42 minutes ago, JoeEvans said:

I feel.like the ideal solution here long-term is going to be to beef up the PA, get yourself the IEMs and don't use a bass-specific amp or cab on stage at all. Does the PA already have a decent sub?

 

Yes, I think that would be good, the current PA doesn't have a sub so that's probably best option for the band.

 

Although potentially I'd like to personally get something like a RCF 932 that I could also use like a Bass cab when I dep for other bands (and I play keys, so it could work for that). As far as I can tell, I think it could possibly work well to cover Bass duities for the band (possibly not as good as a dedicated PA sub, or Bass Amp/Cab, but  it'd probably do well enough for our usual pub/small hall type gigs), I'll have to look into the band mixer and outputs but I'm assuming we could keep the rest of the PA as it is, I get rid of my Amp/cab and go direct to the mixer but the Bass output (or a certain cutoff frequency) mostly goes to something like an RCF 932 that acts like a Bass Cab (but out front as part of the PA), then everyone has IEMs from the mixer so no need for any stage monitors.

 

.........I'm not sure though, that sems quite complicated and I do quite like standing in front of a Cab with it flapping my trousers!

[jezzaboy]

I fancied getting a bass amp again so picked up a nice Ashdown ABM 500 15" combo. Took it down to the studio along with my RCF 715 and a/b them. And the RCF gave the ABM a damm good spanking. Whilst the ABM was well cranked, the RCF was barely running at halfway.

 

We played MacSorley`s in Glasgow last Friday and I just used the RCF and it filled the room easily against a Marshall and Peavey valve amps . Just shows you, sometimes you shouldn`t go back!

[gafbass02]

I also bought a small bass rig, used it once and won’t bother again, I just prefer the sound of my Headrush speakers now. 

[Jack]

10 hours ago, SumOne said:

Are any of you using a FRFR as your Bass Cab and a mix of the rest of the band's output as a monitor? 

 

I'm in a band that mostly uses in-ears and a mixer to PA, apart from me (and the drummer), I use a Amp/Cab and no IEM or monitor speaker. Often I'm stood behind the PA speakers, next to the drummer and in front of my cab - so I can hear Drums and Bass but not everyone else. I'm looking at getting IEMs, or a monitor wedge, but would changing my Amp/Cab for a FRFR work - can they easily be fed a mix of mostly Bass but also some of the rest of the band for a bit of monitoring? 

Apart from a few rare exceptions I have only used my cabs as traditional wedges. It gets all the bass we need as well as the other things that I need to hear. 

[Jack]

5 hours ago, SumOne said:

 

Yes, I think that would be good, the current PA doesn't have a sub so that's probably best option for the band.

 

Although potentially I'd like to personally get something like a RCF 932 that I could also use like a Bass cab when I dep for other bands (and I play keys, so it could work for that). As far as I can tell, I think it could possibly work well to cover Bass duities for the band (possibly not as good as a dedicated PA sub, or Bass Amp/Cab, but  it'd probably do well enough for our usual pub/small hall type gigs), I'll have to look into the band mixer and outputs but I'm assuming we could keep the rest of the PA as it is, I get rid of my Amp/cab and go direct to the mixer but the Bass output (or a certain cutoff frequency) mostly goes to something like an RCF 932 that acts like a Bass Cab (but out front as part of the PA), then everyone has IEMs from the mixer so no need for any stage monitors.

 

.........I'm not sure though, that sems quite complicated and I do quite like standing in front of a Cab with it flapping my trousers!

It's not complicated at all, what you're describing is just a monitor. 

[Greg Edwards69]

22 hours ago, SumOne said:

Thanks @warwickhunt and @Greg Edwards69. 

 

One slight issue is that the current PA is a bit weedy/overworked to also have the Bass going through it (it's dealing with 3x horns, guitar, vocals, and doesn't have a great Bass response) so that would need some sort of upgrade if I ran the Bass through it and just used IEMs/monitor wedge. 

 

I hadn't considered the feedback issue, and I think it would be an issue as we have a lot of mics for vocals and horns so already need to be careful where people are in relation to the PA (partly why they all use IEMs instead of monitor wedges).

 

I think perhaps the simplest and cheapest solution for the time being will be to stick with my Amp/Cab and get some IEMs running from the mixer like most of the rest of the band do. ( I have kind of been looking for an excuse to get a FRFR though!). 

Before we got a sub for our PA last year, I was still using my FRFR speaker to support the low end as well as going direct to the PA and using IEMs. I'd highly recommend using an FRFR speaker as your backline instead of a bass amp/cab if you're going to use an IEM feed with bass from the mixer. This way you'll have more consistency with your tone.

[SumOne]

10 hours ago, Jack said:

It's not complicated at all, what you're describing is just a monitor. 

 

A bit different to that though as I'd use IEMs to monitor, I'd either use the FRFR to beef up the PA (which is currently a bit weedy to also do Bass duties), or in place of a traditional backline Cab.

 

[Jack]

14 minutes ago, SumOne said:

 

A bit different to that though as I'd use IEMs to monitor, I'd either use the FRFR to beef up the PA (which is currently a bit weedy to also do Bass duties), or in place of a traditional backline Cab.

 

Well in terms of intended use case it might be a little different, but practically you've got a pa cab that you're sending a lot of bass guitar to and bits of other things. All the same rules, best practices and limitations still apply as if it was a monitor.