Gary - Actually, the setup is dirt simple. The instruments go into whatever pedal effects I use (generally a chorus, phase shifter and/or overdrive). From there into their respective preamps. From the preamps, they go into a primitive line-level unity-gain mixer. Any line level devices (delay, spectrum analyzer, secondary EQ, etc.), follow the mixer, which also provides DI outs to the PA guys. That stereo signal hits the crossover, which splits 3-ways for the power and speakers. Essentially, it's a small PA setup, with optimized front-ends for instruments. Since it's primarily a bass rig, it's LF-heavy, by intent. In fact, when set up the way I like it, the mid-range 12s are almost inaudible. (And, in fact, for smaller gigs I'd leave them out entirely and go two-way with 5s and 15s, leaving that nice midrange hole in the response.
Gare - Yup. I hand-built them when I worked for Jimmy; they're serial numbers 14 and 15, off the initial pre-production manufacturing run. One of these days I really should upgrade them and swap out the RC4558s for LF353s, but I've been lazy. Realistically, I should be running them in an effects loop or post-mixer, but I like the way they sound as front-end preamps.
John - Tube amps have _even-order_ harmonic distortion, and you're absolutely right about the resulting tone. Mac 3500s always sounded better when overdriven than their 2300 solid-state (odd-order harmonics) brethren did, but the old Dead system was generally run so far below overdrive that they were sonically identical. Btw., FETs also exhibit even-order harmonics.
Gary (again) - If I had the money and was building a bass only setup from scratch today, I'd run an FX-1 with an SF-1 in the effects loop. From the Xover outs from the FX-1, it'd be straight into some decent lightweight power amps and the basic 3-way speaker rig I mentioned above (5s, 12s, 15s). If I was running a series bass into that, I _might_ add some EV T350 piezos (talk about old school!) paralleled off the 5s for some extreme top-end bite. The upper Xover point would be around 4500-5k, so the top of the instrument's filters could hit the tweeter array cleanly, and let the T350s go all ultrasonic with the rolloff curve for the ultimate click on the string attack. (I play with a pick; finger-players and slappers may not find the T350s all that helpful.)
For effects, I'd find a decent line-level DSP setup and patch it into the FX-1's loop, in front of the Superfilter. Then I'd try to design a wireless controller for the DSP box...
Of course, with a Series bass, it'd be tempting to run it dead flat, straight into the crossover without any other shaping. Voice the speaker array to fit the instrument, then let the bass handle all supplemental shaping without any intermediate processing. Certainly, the Series electronics can drive a crossover's line-level input directly.
That'd also be about the cheapest way to go, and would also ensure the least amount of signal path noise. With the pure Series tone as good as it is, why f*ck with it with intermediate tone processors?
Or, strip _everything_ out of the way and go direct-drive. If you've got a decent 2 or 3-way cabinet (passive Xover or self-powered), just run the bass straight into the power amp inputs. You may need to crank the instrument's gain all the way up, but it'll put out well over 1 volt, which is enough to drive most power amps directly.
nic
(Message edited by sf-nic on June 29, 2005)
