Playing small gigs/bars etc... What do I need?

I’m a DI fan. Walk in with your bass, plug it into the PA, tune and play. Even for home. I practice with a di with aux in and headphone out. Blue tooth would be even better. Keep it simply. Spend your time playing instead of moving furniture and pumping iron…

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Bluetooth has too much latency.

But this is great:

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Ok I have a question. :slight_smile: I’m a bass player with neither a DI pedal nor a preamp pedal. I do have the DI on my Rumble 100 amp. Is the DI on the Rumble a good DI, or would I benefit from a DI on a pedal?

If so, would you recommend I get a preamp pedal with a DI, or separate DI and preamp pedals?

Thanks for taking the time to answer questions. :slight_smile:

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I think that on the last Rumble versions, the DI out is “after” the master volume, which is quite unhelpful, as every time you change the volume it affects the DI output. This usually isn’t the case, and often it is even before the amp EQ, or at least there is a switch.
If that’s the case, you cannot use the DI with the amp “off” or every time you adjust the volume the sound engineer (or whoever is in charge of the mix) must compensate for the gain on his board…
But I would wait for a Fender Rumble owner to confirm if that’s correct

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I bought my Rumble in 2018, if that makes a difference.

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What problem do you think these would solve, or what problem do you have that you’re hoping to solve?

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The answer is in the forum XLR output on Fender Rumble 40 - #5 by howard :smile:

It doesn’t mean it is not usable, in most cases it should work ok… just be aware it is not the perfect solution for all cases

And for the next question, that’s personal. For my taste, a graphic EQ pedal with DI out would be almost enough for everything (at least since https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-77UU4ZzG4c )… what would you like or need?

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I don’t really know how to read those diagrams, but if I’m interpreting it correctly, the DI out comes after Gain, Master volume, and EQ. Is that correct?

Regarding the problems with that setup (DI after Master volume), would the problem be mitigated if I didn’t touch the Master volume after the sound check?

Kind of a follow up: if you’re playing into the house PA, are you not allowed to adjust your volume knob on the bass? What about EQ, pickups etc? I always assumed you could–you’re not going to want the same volume for every song, even may want to change it for different parts of a song. But the DI coming after the Master volume on the amp being a problem makes me wonder. If you are allowed to adjust your instrument volume when going into a PA, how is adjusting the Master volume on the amp different? Obviously I don’t understand any of this. Not trying to be difficult. :slight_smile:

I don’t NEED anything right now. I’m not playing out currently, and the DI out on my amp has been fine for the little bit of recording I’ve done. I’m just thinking about when I do start playing out more and what I would want to have at that time. I tend to research things a lot before buying, even more so with big purchases, so for me there’s no such thing as starting to think about this stuff too soon. :slight_smile:

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I just want to have what I need when the time comes that I need to play through a house PA.

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So, let’s see if I can make it through all the points…

Yes, it’s the summary in posts 5 and 6, and if correct all Fender Rumble share the feature

Exactly. Once you’re aware of it, it’s not a big deal. Or if you don’t have the same issue as the person in the linked thread, who wanted to keep the amp silent while using the DI

Well, it depends. The short version is, go talk in advance to the sound guy, and ask/tell him what you may need or want. If he/she knows what to expect from you, there should be no problems. Generally speaking, the sound engineer will keep adjusting volumes (and a ton of other parameters) during the performance to take care of all possible issues the entire time. And maybe compensating for your choices or otherwise accentuating them…
That’s my rather basic approach - with a few exceptions: focus on playing while somebody else keeps fiddling with EQ, volumes, compression, etc
I keep the groove, they keep the balance in the mix :smile:

There is a lot of good info from knowledgeable guys in this forum, go take a look around (I’ve seen you have begun already…)

Luckily for bass you don’t really need much, you can start with bass plugged directly into an amp or the PA, and it will sound just fine for most genres. And start building toward the sound, artist, or bass tone you like.

However: the Zoom B1 Four is a common suggestion for a cheap but reliable multi-fx to figure out what you like. The newer B2 Four is more expensive but has a DI out, which could make it really a one-pedal rig.
I used the B1 connected to a second-hand Fuzz pedal (didn’t like the fuzz in the multi-fx) with a DI out and it was good enough… or at least nobody complained :wink:

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Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my (many) questions @paolo.pfm I really appreciate it! And you did a great job answering them. Makes a lot more sense to me know.

My perspective is probably off because I’ve played trumpet for decades, which is an instrument where you are always making volume decisions moment to moment while playing. I imagine it will take some adjusting to get used to handing that over to an engineer, but it’s also two very different types of music and setups at a venue.

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If you have a passive DI, at sound check never give the house engineer your full volume. You want an insurance I give him no more than 60-70% in the middle of a set if I can’t here my bass on my IEM, I’d turn mine up. That’s why I like my Wampler Cory Wong, it also has boost, my second insurance, he knows if he kept dropping my signal, he’ll get a face full of beer. :rofl:

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That’s great advice! That’s actually standard procedure for me, even when practicing at home. I like having the option to go louder or softer at the bass. If the bass ever gets to full volume, I back it off and turn up the amp a bit. :grin:

I would, without worry, use the amp DI until you come across a situation where you think an extra DI would help. There are too many variables till you know what kind of places you’ll be playing and what their requirements are. Some places require you to use the DI boxes they provide.

This true of many of the, including the Rumble 100. The Rumble Studio amps come with two DI’s (one before the preamp and one after the preamp). The Rumble 800 (head and combo) have a pre/post switch so you can choose where the signal is being taken.

You’re all good. The current model, Rumble v3, came out in July 2014.

This is important to note. There are very few perfect solutions, and it all depends on your particular setup.

If you want to be prepared for anything, you will quickly move into overkill and have a bunch of gear to carry around and setup that you won’t need.

For example, you could spend a few hundred on a parallel switcher, to preserve your tone, and spend a few hundred more on two excellent DI boxes. One at the beginning of your signal chain and one at the end, before the amp. As awesome as that setup may be, it’s unlikely anyone in the audience would notice a difference.

Yes.

Yes. That would probably frustrate the sound engineer. Optimally, you would set your stage volume first and let the sound engineer adjust for that on their end during sound check.

It all depends. The typical answer is probably, No.

You want two things. You want a good bass sound, and you want to be heard in the mix. With all the variables that go in to live music, if you can get those two things, don’t touch any more knobs.

It’s not. With that setup, if you adjust the volume, you get louder, and the sound engineer has to compensate.

I think you’re understanding quite well, and I don’t take any of it as being difficult.

The only problem with a post EQ DI is if you need to increase the stage volume (i.e., if the drummer can’t hear the bass well enough) is it means the audio engineer has to mess with your sound again. If you already like how you sound, you probably don’t want them to touch anything.

If you’re worried about this becoming an issue, you can get a DI box to put before the amp. Then you can adjust the amp for stage volume without effecting the signal going to the PA.

Consider though, how big of a show are you going to be playing before something like this becomes a consideration and you would need to spend money on it. I’m all for not spending money I don’t need to spend.

I’m with you. It’s highly unlikely I’ll ever play out, but I think about and research this stuff all the time.

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Nowadays any good engineer would have an IEM mixer and a good software to run them. They are not expensive and they are very good when dealing with divas on stage. My mix, I would hear what I want to hear, typically more bass, but I need to hear others well enough to jam.

It’s when they get lazy and send everyone the same mix that’s when we have problems. My Keyboard player is an excellent engineer and he has everything down to close to perfection, on the Sequenced songs we would here the count-in and announce “Intro”, “Verse”, “Chorus” or whatever custom words in our ears. Some tricky break, it also counts. I have not a clue how to do it but I love it.

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Drums, I find that I struggle more when either theres a part of the song without them, or the guitars are washing them out. I need to hear the drum beat or I’m prone to getting off time. That’s probably as important to me as hearing my bass.

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Thank you for all the information @eric.kiser You’re awesome! :pray:

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As always.

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