Five words I thought I'd NEVER utter

[dhagler]

I attended a concert last night in a small gymnasium.  Most of the groups were quartet-style, great bassists each and every one.  But......

"The bass was too loud."

They were playing through a 4x10 cab with a 700 watt head (I know this because the guy who owned the setup told me).  Everything seems to just run together and there was no clarity in the notes.  Add to this the fact that you couldn't hear the vocals, the guitar, or the drums very well.

Now I play through a 100-watt Fender combo that's plugged into my church's sound system, which may make my ears not know when I am hearing something good.  Any input is appreciated.

[BigFoot_BigThumb]

First problem....it was in a gymnasium.  You can never get a good sound in a gym. 

[bassthumpa]

First problem....it was in a gymnasium.  You can never get a good sound in a gym. 

That was my first thought.  I'm sure that the acoustics were awful, and probably could make a decent rig sound boomy.

[jeremyr]

was the rig on th floor?  Putting it on some milk crates would've helped the boomy problem a great deal.

[Steelpulz]

Cutting the bass frequencies and boosting the midrange and treble a little bit would also help. I have found that in that situation, If I make my bass a little more trebly than normal (and more than I like it), by the time the sound gets in the middle of the house it sounds pretty good.

[carlmack7183]

was the rig on th floor?  Putting it on some milk crates would've helped the boomy problem a great deal.

Yeah I agree with jeremy. This will keep those low tones from running through the floor. I personally love playing close to the neck pick-up, but in a situation where I find there is bad acoustics, I tend to play as close to the bridge as possible. It helps with clarity issues.