Noise problem. is it my bass or DS-5 or Cable or something else?

[edwin]

Jazzyvee, this has been a great discussion about RTA's etc (and you can get a very good one to run on your iPhone with AudioTools by Andrew Smith that even includes a version of SMAART Live as one of the in app purchases. Very good for telling a sound man what's going on or even analyzing the performance of your own rig), but they depend on a sound person knowing what they are doing and spending the time to get it right before there's an audience in the room. No one wants to subject an audience to 110 DB of pink noise. SMAART Live and a few other systems (I have SpectraFoo by Metric Halo) will accomplish the same thing using music as a source and give you a real time output of the difference between the source and the actual sound in the room, along with myriad other information presented in a variety of visual forms.  
 
Lots of fun, but what does it mean for the gigging bass player?
Not much, because unless you have a sound person who knows what their doing, if you are telling them how to do their job at this level, it's already too late. If they know what they are doing, it wouldn't come to this. It sounds like you are suffering the slings and arrows of outrageously bad sound people.
 
For ground hum issues, I always include a mic splitter, an Ebtech Hum Eliminator and a three prong to two prong adapter for the mains (not useful in the UK and messing with the ground with the voltage you use over there is not recommend. Tasting 120V is one thing, but tasting 220V is entirely another).
 
Good luck!
Edwin

[jazzyvee]

Thanks for all the info guys. Understanding it is a bit of a challenge and taking a lot of re-reading but it seems like the issue was not a fault with my bass which is my main concern.  
 
Usually with Musical Youth we have our own FOH sound guy who is also superb at mixing reggae. He does loads of the big festivals, teaches sound at university degree level here and also is a bass player.  But this time it was an unknown person driving the desk and throughout the afternoon the sound was bad even when there was a guy doing a PA set with a backing track all you could hear was bottom end, extremely high top end and hardly anything in the mids at all so not much in the vocals either.
 
Well that gig is out of the way and hope to have our regular sound guy back for the next gig.

[jazzyvee]

Thanks for all the info guys. Understanding it is a bit of a challenge and taking a lot of re-reading but it seems like the issue was not a fault with my bass which is my main concern.  
 
Usually with Musical Youth we have our own FOH sound guy who is also superb at mixing reggae. He does loads of the big festivals, teaches sound at university degree level here and also is a bass player.  But this time it was an unknown person driving the desk and throughout the afternoon the sound was bad even when there was a guy doing a PA set with a backing track all you could hear was bottom end, extremely high top end and hardly anything in the mids at all so not much in the vocals either.
 
Well that gig is out of the way and hope to have our regular sound guy back for the next gig.

[ed_zeppelin]

I want to apologize for derailing this discussion.  
 
On March 29th I accidentally cut my right big toe off, and staring at the ceiling above my sofa for months has made me even more loopy than usual.
 
Plus, I'm a bassist. That factor alone should excuse a myriad of eccentricities.

[terryc]

ed zeppelin.....lawnmower accident ??

[growlypants]

No biggie.  (Ya' get it??!)  Ouch.  Hope you're OK.

[ed_zeppelin]

I tripped (as in stumbled, the distinction being important because IS Alembic, after all) down stairs.
 
My toe became lodged between the juncture of the tread and the bottom rail of the bannister, but my bulk continued falling - flailing madly - to the landing below, leaving my toe behind (to my surprise).
 
We're bassists, so I'm sure most of you want to see pics, right?
 
WARNING! Not for the squeamish!  
 
http://m.imgur.com/44DU2Ls
 
(Sorry about the dreadful foot hygiene, but I had just chased my Golden Retriever through the backyard, barefoot, so we could take a bath together - an event that still hasn't occurred, come to think of it)
 
The gods smiled upon me, though. I looked down, once, and decided not to do that again. I went to my happy place to avoid shock, and my toe and I went to the ER (I told the EMTs the ambulance was now a toe truck), where we were reunited by the state's leading orthopedic surgeon, who happened to be operating on another clumsy oaf at 8 A.M. on a Sunday morning.  
 
Within fifteen minutes I was off to wherever Michael Jackson went, while the surgeon stitched me back together.
 
His work is worthy of Michelangelo. The nerves grew back. I have 100% nerve function. The toenail grew back. The only sign of the injury is a tiny, barely visible scar and a very stiff joint (I mean toe-knuckle. There's that distinction again).

[sonicus]

(double post correction)
 
 
 
(Message edited by sonicus on July 29, 2015)

[sonicus]

Dear Sir ,  
               I am so sorry for your plight. Some years back  ago I had an accident with a hedge trimmer and the pinky on my left hand and it is still all there now after having been pealed back like a banana. I also lost the finger nail and it also grew back . Now it is all back to the way it was before the accident ,with just a small scar  .  
 
Wolf

[terryc]

Having been in the medical profession for longer than I can remember , that wasn't too bad as I have seen some extreme limb injuries that are caused by the most simplest of tasks performed by men and women.
Garden forks through feet, carving knives through hands usually with the vegetable or piece of meat they were cutting attached the hand, drill bits in knees, percussion nails which have nailed all four fingers together, oh yes , a plethora of ghoulish mental pictures although I have a very sedate job now (but miss that part of it at times!)