Rick_Auricchio

Great idea with the set list trick!

Cool! I have to remember to record our next gig. In the heat of the moment I tend to forget to start the recording...

The last piece in the puzzle to try swapping is the guitar itself, which is common to both situations. I agree it's unlikely to be the problem, but you have to eliminate it to be completely sure. And you have signal showing on the fader for the guitar channel? It isn't muted? Troubleshooting over the 'net is almost impossible, but we can ask questions.

maxnew, it sounds like a good plan to test with some type of preamp and see how the bass works. Just be sure to listen for the speakers farting out at normal playing levels. If this happens, reduce the bottom end and/or the overall level. The Aguilar ToneHammer pedal is very nice; sounds much like the head itself.

Are you running this for guitar? If so, then it's an apples-and-oranges situation---skip to the next section of this post. Most of the loudness for bass depends on the efficiency of the speaker cabinet design. Perhaps your existing cabinets are inefficient. A 60w bass amp seems rather small given the typical efficiency of many commercial bass cabinets. The 1x12 DIY cabs I built are very efficient, producing more usable loudness than the TC Electronics 112 cabs they replaced. [Disclaimer: They aren't my design, so I'm not taking credit for that. They are, however, very loud, light and easy to build.] Commercial manufacturers use 3/4" plywood because it's cheaper than building a lighter cab from 1/2" ply with internal bracing. They only lift it once when it goes onto the truck---you lift it at every gig! This depends on where the sub is crossed over. Most bass guitar is way above subwoofer frequencies. Sure, you get some boom from a sub, but that isn't what you want onstage. (I'm not talking about a large house PA system, where the subs can be properly located and controlled.) Most of us tend to play varied venues with acoustics ranging from decent to downright miserable. Having a sub onstage is often a recipe for disaster. Remember that a 4-string electric bass has a lowest fundamental at about 41Hz; a 5-string will go down to 30Hz. Much of the sound of electric bass is in the harmonics, of which almost all are well above the subwoofer zone. And, since one of the original objectives was size and weight, I think that adding the 85lb L3s sub to a 40- or 57-pound L2 or L3 trends to make the situation worse. Seems to me that changing to a pair of 210 or 212 lightweight bass cabs is a better solution. They would be voiced appropriately for bass guitar and would have adequate xmax/xlim to deal with the heavy cone excursion required for bass.

I don't think you'd want to consider a single 2x10 speaker of any kind when she's using a 410 already. There's no way a 210 will keep up with a 410. She'd need at least two of the StageSource cabinets, which seems to not solve the problem of size/weight/price. (Now, if the 410 is overkill, that's a different story---perhaps a 2x12 or 210 will work for her.) And there's always the issue that the StageSource system isn't designed as a bass system. It's designed for clean and clear PA use, not musical-instrument use. The drivers are quite different. One solution is to switch to a pair of 210 cabinets, then only carry one to smaller gigs. Use both when needed. Switch to a lighter head---the Mesa heads are very nice but they are neither small nor light.

The only worry I would have is if the L3t could handle high levels without damaging the woofers. It all depends on how loud your band plays. If you begin to hear any "distress" in the woofers---the "farting out" distortion---then they risk damage. I suspect Abe Laboriel always plays with PA support, so his rig is just used for stage volume and not to fill the house with bass. What is your wife's current bass amp system? I use the Aguilar ToneHammer 500 (weighs four pounds) and one or two DIY 1x12 cabinets. These 17x17x15 cabs weigh 21 pounds each, and I often use only one for indoor gigs. I also have a pair of TC Electronic 1x12 cabinets, each of which weighs 31 pounds---but I prefer the smaller DIY ones. (Each of these DIY cabs gets very loud when it maxes out at about 235w.) An L3t is about the same size as my pair of stacked 1x12 cabinets, and it weighs 15 pounds more than the pair. And you have to lift and load all of that weight at once---it's easier to use two smaller cabinets. FYI: http://www.talkbass.com/threads/another-diy-cab-thread-loud-small-and-cheap-22-pounds-that-pounds.1095329/

If you play back a recording using the M20d---and have your faders set where they were during your performance---then I'd except a proper mix.

The signal going to the recorder is tapped after the input gain stage, but before the fader. So, let's say you have really hot input levels on the vocals, but you've pulled down the faders for the live performance because they'd be too loud in the live mix. The recording will still be made at the "input level" of the signal. See the attached portion of the block diagram.

The Neutrik NC3MX male XLR connector has an outside diameter of 19mm (0.748 inches). Note that it's just a tiny bit short of 3/4 inch. They're high-quality connectors; when I have a flaky XLR on a mic cable I replace it with a Neutrik.

Good point, Don. But we do have other amplifiers and powered monitors onstage, so for a generator-powered gig I'll use the regulator. Even though it's only a 1RU size, I'm not going to lug that 11-pound unit to gigs where we already know the power situation! And I will use the small Tripp-Lite UPS for the M20d and my keyboardist's Korg; gotta keep them digital units happy.

My band has a gig in March at a large winemaker dinner. The event is in a large tent in a vineyard; they'll have a big generator. The winery has done this for years, so their generator setup is probably fine. But I have a Furman AR-117 (now called the AR-1215) power regulator left over from my studio days. We'll use that unit for power distribution to the band equipment---just for protection. This unit doesn't merely suppress power surges: it accepts 90-140v and produces a clean 117VAC to its eight outlets. I recall in my old house, when the central air conditioning kicked in, I'd see a momentary 104v dip on the unit, but none of the studio gear ever saw that dip. At several hundred dollars, these units aren't cheap, but since I have it handy I'll use it. I doubt I'd buy one now for the band.

"...you really can't tell at the retail level when a particular unit rolled off the assembly line, unless that info is embedded in the serial number." One would think manufacturing-date is implicit in the serial number: generally, lower numbers were manufactured before higher numbers. Most engineering change documentation includes and effective date of a part change, and often an exact serial number at which the change took place. Some companies even change a letter or number within the number to indicate changes, e.g. A00001 vs B00001 or 800001 vs 700001, things like that. But certainly the retailer and user wouldn't have this info.

I presume you didn't save the configuration change (it would be a Setup) before the power outage? So the M20d simply reloaded the original Setup. I bought a Tripp-Lite ECO350VA UPS; I haven't yet used it (but I carry it!) so it's time I started doing so. It weighs five pounds which is very nice. http://www.tripplite.com/energy-saving-ups-system-desktop-350va-120v-usb-port~ECO350UPS/ Cost under $50 at Amazon.

This is true; 110-ohm AES/EBU cable will be fine for a microphone signal. But it's best to avoid using the same cable for both purposes at different times. Mic cables tend to get stepped on, which eventually compromises the integrity of the cable. It's likely that the cable would become unreliable for digital data long before it fails with a microphone signal. To avoid interchanging them, buy different color raw cable or mark the connectors for the intended use. Just good practice.

If the data stream is interrupted, the speaker can either "skip" a few seconds or stop working altogether till you reboot it or the mixer. There's no such thing as a "digital mic cable." What you need are AES/EBU cables, which are designed specifically for digital audio streams. There is a difference. Here's an example: http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/EBU030 DMX lighting cables are basically the same as AES/EBU, since they also transfer digital data. Remember that the maximum length of each cable recommended by Line6 is 50 feet (15 meters).

As for pedals, just a simple on/off switch works fine. I had an old one around and it works perfectly for muting global FX.

Ah, your use of Euro currency implies you're not in the US (it helps to put your location in your profile). The Bahringer BDI21 DI has some decent modeling; it sells for about US$30. http://www.behringer.com/EN/Products/BDI21.aspx

The most important thing is to keep the bottom end cut back so you don't damage the L2T drivers by pushing them to over-excursion. You don't need lots of boom for your stage monitor; it's the upper harmonics you need to hear. Bass is only an octave lower than standard guitar, so as long as that bottom end is rolled back you should be fine. And keep the volume reasonable---you're not going to try to fill the house with bass, so that should be feasible. As for buying a bass amp head, just get a DI and call it a day. No sense carrying extra equipment when you can fit a DI in your pocket! There are several brands of DI that include amplifier modeling to get a good tone. If necessary, try not to cut the upper midrange---the fret noises and snappiness---because this lets you hear the note articulation. I assume you've got FOH PA support; that's where they'll EQ a nice tone for the house.

It should be easy to spot the tweeters thru the grill with a flashlight (sorry, I mean a torch for our UK friends)!

+1. Tweeters are basically what people hear.

The sax player---who is our keyboardist---has been experimenting with a couple of mikes, since he's only been using the sax on one or two songs. He's used an SM5 and a Shure wireless system (which I think has a 58 capsule). I'd already sold my EV RE-20, which is great for sax. I just use the standard miked-sax preset on the M20d. I may try an EV RE15 dynamic next time out. It's fun when we open a set with Huey Lewis' "Heart of Rock 'n' Roll." Ron plays keys and sings the song, then picks up the sax for the solo. At the end of the song he can play the two-note harmony riff on both the sax and keyboard. He's formally trained on bassoon, sax, and keyboards, also was a choir teacher. And, as the only band member who reads music, he's handy to help with vocal harmonies and fancy guitar chords.

My keyboardist just bought an SM87A after we all liked how it sounded on his thin voice. i've always been fine with a plain SM58 or even a Shure 55 (the "Elvis mike") if it was the right look for the band.

With compression, it's always good to try for a little bit just to tame the peaks and smooth out things, especially on the main mix. I ran a quick recording of the mix, then experimented with the 4Comp in my little home studio. We run four vocals and sax through the PA, so the other instruments (drums, bass, and guitar) only show up in the vocal mike leakage. As a result, there isn't a lot of bottom end in the main PA output.

My M20d is working fine, but I like your analysis of the problem and a good solution to it.