Author Topic: Mixing 2 or more basses on stage ? (Read 327 times)

Jan R · « **on:** December 01, 2003, 05:41:24 AM »

Who uses more than 1 bass on stage? Well I do, mostly I am accompanied with 2 of my babies. So, I was thinking about a more flexible way of switching basses live instead switching cables between 2 songs. I know that I can buy A/B boxes, but I prefer to make the connection in my rack to keeps things simple. The main purpose in my case is to switch between a Series II (stereo cable) and signature basses (mono cables). The series II gets its mono output from the DS5-R.

So, I was thinking about mixing the thing together with something like the Behringer ULTRALINK PRO MX882 or EURORACK PRO RX1602

I don't have any experience with Behringer, so I don't know anything about the quality. Does anyone have suggestions for high-end quality 19-inch (1UNIT) rack mixers for this purpose?

DI's and other fancy stuff is not needed, mixing is the main thing I need.
I am curious if anyone has the same needs or suggestions ?

Thx
Jan

Manfred · « **Reply #1 on:** December 01, 2003, 06:26:45 AM »

Jan,

Beautiful bass by the way.
Have a look at raven-labs.com, maybe the PMB-II or MDB-I is a solution for you.

Manfred

mattheus · « **Reply #2 on:** December 01, 2003, 06:55:02 AM »

Hi Jan and Manfred,
I would certainly not go for Behringer products. In the past my keyboardplayer used a behringer mixer for his keyboards, but the sound was not OK. Later on he purchased a Mackie mixer, that was a lot better! In your case I would look for a Rane mixer, my guitarplayer has one to mix a few guitars. It works very well, it has no tone controls and it is only 1HE.
And yes, what a great bass. Although maple is not my favourite, this certainly looks ....... well what can I say/write.

Mattheus

Jan R · « **Reply #3 on:** December 01, 2003, 07:21:49 AM »

Good afternoon to my Dutch colleagues Manfred and Mattheus. Thanks for the compliments about my new baby, I you ever are in the neighbourhood of Brussels: always welcome to visit the growing family :-)

Raven and Rane seems to be good choices. I have indeed heard different stories about Behringer, so I was not sure about them. Raven seems to be very good, but I prefer 1U rack boxes and I am not sure that the Raven boxes can be rack mounted easily. Rane has even more choices, so I'll have a look at the possible choices on their website.

Other suggestions and experiences are more than welcome of course.

Thx
Jan

dean_m · « **Reply #4 on:** December 01, 2003, 08:18:29 AM »

Hey Jan,

I used to use a small Behringer mixer as well for my two Alembics. BIG MISTAKE!!!!!
I was in turn, sending my signal into a far inferior preamp section on the Behringer, and then trying to correct it with the preamp on my Ampeg gear. It really sounded awful. You want to find a mixer that doesn't interfere with your gain stage or your preamp. The Raven Labs seemed to be the solution, plus it has a stereo input section specifically for stereo basses it seems.
I just mute my signal with my tuner, unplug and switch basses in between songs now. One less cable, to worry about. One less unit to carry in and set up as well.
Just my two cents.

Peace,
Dino

bigredbass · « **Reply #5 on:** December 01, 2003, 08:19:06 AM »

JR

Echoing the Raven suggestion, Steve Rabe is now making a 1-space, rack mount stereo preamp that also is useable as a '2-channel-mono' preamp with full eq for both channels. You can see this at www.raven-labs.com.

Steven W. Rabe was the S. W. R. behind SWR, and a guiding light to the old Acoustic bass amps. Raven was formed, I'm sure, behind a no-compete clause when he sold SWR (before the current owners recently sold it to Fender). I use the PHA-1 headphone amp, and am real pleased with it.

As far as mixers, while it's not a one-spacer, it's hard to beat the Mackies. Quiet and built like a tank.

J o e y

Manfred · « **Reply #6 on:** December 02, 2003, 04:17:04 AM »

I emailed Raven yesterday to see if the PMB and the MDB are available in one space height. The answer was, sorry, only if you are using a hammer , I think the 1,5 space unit is the answer. The other units are 2.6. Maybe if you remove the rubber feet it will fit in a one space place in the top of your case, if you have some space left.

Manfred

bassplaynmatt · « **Reply #7 on:** December 02, 2003, 01:33:49 PM »

Hey Jan,
I use two basses pretty much all the time, my fretted Elan and my fretless Roscoe. I am using a Mesa-Boogie Basis 2000 head which has two separate preamp sides. One is a tube pre the other is MOSFET. The head has a foot switch that allows me to switch between either side, combine both, engage/disengage graphic EQ, and mute. It really cranks too, 600-watts RMS at 8omhs/peaks at 2000-watts, and it weighs way less than the 400+ head that Mesa makes. I really love it because its like having two amps in one and makes balancing the two basses very easy. The only draw back is the fact that Mesa doesn't make that amp anymore, also it was fairly expensive when i bought it new ($1,795) not including the 4x10in and 1x18in cabs that I use. If you can find one I would suggest trying it out.

Later, Matt

(Message edited by bassplaynmatt on December 02, 2003)

(Message edited by bassplaynmatt on December 02, 2003)