Need help P&W bassists

[bearclaw]

Recently, my church band acoustic guitarist switched from a regular rosewood dread to a Taylor 514CE, and I (bassist) have found it harder to cut through the band mix without boosting too much bass. We play the regular contemporary Christian songs with a couple of hymns occasionally. Prefer a more modern tone with a punchy low-end, not too much mids.

Any suggestions on how to tweak my eq settings or other ideas?

Band setup: keyboard, piano, drums, acoustic guitar & bass
Gear: 5-string ash/maple jazz bass, Fender USA pickups with Bartolini 18v pre-amp --> Aguilar ToneHammer --> Amp

 

[jbarks]

Try boosting your lower mids. That said, your onboard pre and Tone Hammer are probably working against each other right now, especially since the TH is essentially an onboard pre in a box—set one flat and tweak the other first.

 

[Morlock]

a good compressor can help you cut through the mix as well.

 

[alanchia]

EQ is just one part of the equation. you need to understand your church's acoustic characteristics and the front of house settings.

my church just upgraded to JBL's FOH with subs. Had problem getting punchy bass, end up need to work with fellow brother-in-christ at sound console to test bass on the new FOH for 30mins alone with different setting on my EQ and FOH settings (EQ/compressor/subs cross-over) to finally get things right.

i suggest you spend time doing this before the worship rehearsal/actual sunday.

 

[shinobi]

i'm not a P&W bassist but i'm still a bassist.

every situation is different, so i'll just throw in some points to consider.

during practice, many bassists like to cut the highs and high mids. this is to achieve the ideal tone. however, you will only ever achieve this when you are practicing alone, or probably during recording.

in a live situation, things change. whatever high frequencies you have not rolled off will be completely engulfed in the mix. the result of which is that you lose alot of presence and definition.

many people try to compensate by pumping the lows and low mids. this can seriously muck things up if done wrongly. i think you are already wary of this. you don't want to punch your audience in the face, you just want them to know that you're there.

it is a similar situation with some guitarists. when they are practicing at home, they crank up the bass in order to make their sound fuller. but when they do the same thing with the band, they end up overpowering everyone else.

you could give this a go, it could work.