plugging bass into pa system

[jupzones]

hi everyone, my band is gonna get a pa system soon but my bass player is too poor to afford a proper bass amp!

what i wanna know is if plugging his bass into the mixer to be used throug the loudspeakers will damage anythng, thanks

also will a di box be needed , i'm not too sure what it does

 

[shinobi]

i'm not an expert on sound, but if you wanna plug into the pa you need to go through a d.i. box, so that the instrument will be at mic level. something to do with impedance and other jargon that i know nuts about. thankfully, with wikipedia anyone can sound like a champion

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DI_unit

back in my jc days we tried to do something like that but the av club wet blankets were all like "NO NO YOU WILL FRY THE MIXER" (which happened before, but because of their own stupidity)

but wait i dont quite understand are u guys gonna use the p.a. for gigs or to record

 

[jupzones]

well we're getting a pa for vocals, but our bass player doesn't have an amp loud enough to play, so we're wondering if plugging the bass into the pa will work,

in a nutshell, help!

 

[Z3r0_G]

u can, but u will lose the highs. DIs balance out the sound properly.

in a nutshell, if you want to use the mixer, run the instruments through a DI before going into the mixer.

 

[shinobi]

i suggest your bass player use a preamp, so he can at least shape his tone a little. something like the MXR-M80 or sansamp. both act as di boxes

 

[soft]

which PA are you using? Brand/model?

if the pa is not power enough, adding the bass guitar to it will just knock out the vocals.

if for a small jam room, any $200 - $300 bass amp should do the job.

 

[amateur_bassist]

wanna ask one thing bout di boxes.. does each instrument need its own di box? kinda blur with the usage of di boxes... wana use it for school stuff.. teach me someone!

 

[litford]

instrument straight to mixer, unbalanced signal. (1/4" to 11/4")

get a DI box to get a balanced signal (instrument 1/4" -> DI BOX -> output XLR [balanced] -> mixer)

not too sure, something to do with signal strength as well.. i can't remember, but it's always better, take care of your PA.

but seriously, if you're gonna pop 200 - 300 for a decent DI box, you might as well get a 30W amp to play in a small room. might set you back 300 - 500?

 

[warwickw]

Uhm shouldn't there be a power amp to amplifly signals from the mixer to the speakers?

DIs are only meant to convert instrument 1/4" -> DI BOX -> output XLR [balanced] -> mixer. DIs with preamps do amplify the signal to mixer, but I don't think it's powerful enough when passed on to the speakers (depending on the speakers rating as well)...

 

[litford]

hahaha, that's part of the PA system then.. for the power amplifiers that is.

 

[heymrbassman]

wanna ask one thing bout di boxes.. does each instrument need its own di box? kinda blur with the usage of di boxes... wana use it for school stuff.. teach me someone!

Every instrument should get a DI to the mixer unless they do a mic up or they have their own am[s. Search the forum for more stuff on DIs.

 

[Colarndo]

If you really want to hear the bass better on the PA system, get a sub woofer, but than again the price of a sub woofer can get you an amp.

 

[renquan]

For a period of time, I plugged my bass to my hostel jam room's mixer and it worked fine. It wont sound as bassy as when u plug to a bass amp, but overall i still feel its alright. The mixer I was using had 1/4" jacks, so I just plugged direct w/o DI. Only prob I faced was the power amp maxed out when I played too loud/my vocalist sang too loud, and the system clipped for a few seconds.

Anyway advice would be to look out for a 2nd hand bass amp, probably cost $60-80.

 

[exin]

usually for portable PA systems they are optimized with a power amp inside.

power amps usually used for larger venues where you really need to amplify the sound LOUD.

i think the bass-into-mixer will work just fine. Yeap, do get a DI box, something cheap will work fine if it's just for jamming. Most contempoary mixers these days have line level input for instruments so if you do not want to raise the budget with extra peripherals then bass into line input will work just fine. just watch the levels you'll be okay.

=)