Help needed! Clacking sound over certain amps and PAs

Jack-Flash-Jr

This is more than slightly driving me nuts...
When I play though my 300w Ashdown or our practice PA there is no noise, bass comes through smoothly, no fretting noise or buzzing. HOWEVER, when I play through certain rigs and PA's there is a very distinctive clacking sound when I play fretted notes (fingerstyle), particularly as my index or second finger come to rest/damp on a string. The last was a Ampeg amp, Peavey stack but they varied. I think it doesn't happen when there's 15" speakers involved but since most pro cabs are 4x12 or whatever what gives?
First I played with EQ at various gigs, no luck. Then I thought it was poor technique so I finessed my plucking to gentle caressing with the barest of touches, change angle of attack etc.
Over the weekend we played at a big stage festival and not only me but the two bassists before had the same problem (and at least one of them is a seasoned player). It was more noticable through the monitoring (which was basically the bass stack) but I could hear it in the audience as well.
Do we all play badly? Is the action too low on ALL the basses so the string clacks against the next fret? Is it a PUP issue (the guy before me had actives, mine are regular J's). I played with eq, brought highs and mids up down, sideways etc. etc. Whispered my fingers and still got the noise.
People only seem to hear it when I point it out but it ruins the experience for me... I want to hear myself sound good not clicking all over the place.

AlanRatcliffe

I hate 4 X 10s for that exact reason - especially the cabs that also have a tweeter built into them (although most tweeter-equipped bass cabs have a defeat switch for them). The 4 x 10s are great for the slap and pop crowd, but for those of us who think the electric bass shouldn't twang like a Tele, they can be annoying.

A 1 x 15" has a lower cutoff point than a 4 x 10", so rolls off more of the high frequencies - pretty much like a lowpass filter (rather than just a shelving EQ) and it also has a greater inertia, so the edge is taken off any percussive sounds and the low end is rounder.

Often even with a 15" cab, when you DI from your amp, the DI output is full range and doesn't have any speaker emulation, so you don't get an accurate impression of your amp going to the desk. A good engineer knows this and will slap on a lowpass filter to tame the highs (but you'll still come through FOH with a punchier attack).

Best solutions? Mic your 15" amp or get a Tech 21 VT Bass or Bass Driver to DI to the PA (and if it's one of the models that have it, use the parallel output into your amp).

Jack-Flash-Jr

Thanks Alan - I've got a post EQ DI from the amp but you're right, it doesn't work that well unless the sound desk helps... At Jolly Roger he sorted it out for me but the festival guys were oblivious.
There's also more likely to be a backline for bassists, blessing and curse because I run into this problem with pre-setup rigs mostly, especially the aluminium cone cabs (which I forgot to mention).
Is there a reason so many bass setups have these foil cones?

AlanRatcliffe

Jack Flash Jr wrote: Is there a reason so many bass setups have these foil cones?

Hartke started that - basically brighter, tighter, more percussive tones. Some guys like that kind of thing - usually the same guys that like 6-strings and the "weedly-wee" thing of legend. ? Personally, I think bass belongs down in the low end and should fill out the sound the Reggae and dub bassists have the right idea, IMO. ?

Michael-Oberholzer

Great thread! I've learn't a lot from it. Thanks.

singemonkey

Alan Ratcliffe wrote: get a Tech 21 VT Bass

This. These things are raved about. You can get your '60s motown sound through the PA, and the kewl sideline is that you can use it as a guitar DI too to get your Ya Ya's out since the Stones used Ampeg amps on their guitars on that show and sounded awesome.

Jack-Flash-Jr

singemonkey wrote:
Alan Ratcliffe wrote: get a Tech 21 VT Bass
This. These things are raved about. You can get your '60s motown sound through the PA, and the kewl sideline is that you can use it as a guitar DI too to get your Ya Ya's out since the Stones used Ampeg amps on their guitars on that show and sounded awesome.

You GAS causing b@%tards.

singemonkey

Jack Flash Jr wrote:
singemonkey wrote:
Alan Ratcliffe wrote: get a Tech 21 VT Bass
This. These things are raved about. You can get your '60s motown sound through the PA, and the kewl sideline is that you can use it as a guitar DI too to get your Ya Ya's out since the Stones used Ampeg amps on their guitars on that show and sounded awesome.
You GAS causing b@%tards.

Marshall has the dealership ?

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