this post was submitted on 20 Nov 2023
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How amps connect to concert sound systems? (mander.xyz)
submitted 11 months ago by acockworkorange@mander.xyz to c/guitars@lemmy.world
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Hi there! I'm trying to find a gift for my resident bassist. He's got a 15W 10" bass amp which for bass is only enough for rehearsals. He started gigging and I want to gift him a new amp. Something that can be connected to a concert setup as the band is about get their hands on loaned equipment.

I know in pro set-ups there's an amp head connected to some speakers. And somehow that is connected to overall concert sound system. How is that connected? Is that "output direct connect" I see in some combo amps?

Where can I read about it? All I've found online was useless. I guess my lack of basic knowledge prevents me from asking Google the right questions.

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[–] reallyzen@lemmy.ml 17 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

There are different ways, and the personal preference of the bassist / of their sound person matters. If they like their current amp (for their sound qualities), a lot of sound engineers will just put a microphone in front of it to pickup "their" acoustic sound ; if the amp itself is decent, it's going to feature a line output on the amp itself, that they can use to plug into the sound system and get the amp feed up to it. And, lastly, inserting a DI box between the instrument and the amp allows for a split output of one line towards the sound system and another towards the amp, so they can still hear "their" sound while the sound engineer has full control of how it will sound on the system (DI's are usually provided by the stage, rarely by the musician, and using them is a lot of time the choice of the engineer).

In a cool setup, sound engineers like to have both a microphone in front of the cabinet and from the amp output or a DI, allowing them to mix between both.

In a modern (bigger) system, the amp is entirely removed, replaced by a DI, or the cabinet is out backstage to avoid noise pollution on stage, and the musicians only hear themselves through the monitors.

Am I answering your question? No I'm not!

Talk to your friend. They may like their current amp to the death, they may very well know what they would like to buy next, or not.

Why not finding a pretext to go to a music shop and try several "just to have fun / just to have a look"? If an obvious preference arises, you just pop your credit card and Bob's their uncle!

[–] acockworkorange@mander.xyz 7 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

Thank you! My friend is my son, and I want to keep it a surprise. He maintains a wishlist and there's a Peavey max 100 there, which is quite different from the used Acoustic B15 we got him to start playing the bass. So likely not enamored with the current amp. It'll probably be a good idea to take him to test a few models though, I don't think he has actually did any of that to select the Peavey.

That Peavey has both a DI output and an FX loop. From what I gather from your comment, the DI output could be tied to larger setup where the amp would serve as monitor, depending on whether the venue will take it.

I'm guessing the FX loop isn't meant to be used for the same function. I'm assuming it expects a return to the power amp so if I take the signal to a concert system and don't have a feedback the speaker won't play anything, so no monitor.

[–] pelotron@midwest.social 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

You are correct about both the DI and FX loop.