how to eliminate the boomy sound

J

JohnBee

Inspired
When I run my ultra through the house PA I sometimes get a boomy bass response on some notes on high gain presets. It's a nasty sound that is felt and heard but only when certain frequencies are played (notes I guess). I tried adjusting the equalization and removing the delay but to no avail. It's not on every PA but on some. Any suggestions?
 
Every venue has its own set of frequencies that will cause feedback and boominess - some notes will cause the room or venue to create that. You can avoid a lot of it with a low cut tho, a noise gate might also help when you're not playing with high gain. Chop off everything below 120 hz or so, you'll solve a lot of problems
 
dude,
you can also use a multiband compressor at the end of the signal chain. That way, you don't need to compromise too much beefiness in your patch. For example:
-set freq1 to 200hz
-raise threshold of bands 2 and 3 to zero dB (i.e. no compression in these bands)
-set threshold of band 1 to an appropriate level to stop the boomy sound

increase the level to +6dB to maintain your original preset level.
 
You could have a PEQ in the chain that shelves or blocks low freq and then you can dial it in according to the PA and you can have it bypassed if you don't need it.
120 hz is not a bad idea I think.

Jens
 
Change the cab / mic you are using. If that dosent work for you try shaping out the trouble frequency using Filters, PEQ, or GEQ
 
JohnBee said:
When I run my ultra through the house PA I sometimes get a boomy bass response on some notes on high gain presets. It's a nasty sound that is felt and heard but only when certain frequencies are played (notes I guess). I tried adjusting the equalization and removing the delay but to no avail. It's not on every PA but on some. Any suggestions?
Click to expand...

sounds like an issue of certain venues, not the Axe.

a half-decent sound guy should be able to handle this and don't forget that the boominess of an empty room can virtually disappear once enough 'meat' is there.
 
1.) Are you using a compressor block in the patch?
2.) What notes?
3.) Does it occur off and on at the same venue with the same sound guy and the same PA?

Sometimes you can over-compress the low end in a patch which makes palm muted notes in the middle of the fret board really jump out. If you're getting boom on frets 5-9, but not on your lowest open string, back off on your compression. It could very well be the venue and as Don pointed out, any sound guy worth his salt should know how to handle it. Unless you play at crazy dive bars (our most frequented bar is so bad that people are scared to go there), the sound guy should have the tools he needs.
 
You can correct It yourself - if you know where the boomy notes are, let them boom, boost sweep with parametric eq and find where they boom the most, and turn that boost into a cut. Problem solved. If you do a low cut, you likely will not have much boom in the first place tho.....
 
IME a large portion of the problem isn't due to the venue, it is that a lot of sound guys tend to optimize the PA for the kick drum & bass. I often see rigs with 4 2x18 subs and 1 or 2 tops per side, and the majority of sound check is spent getting the kick drum as loud as possible without feedback. They'll use the FOH EQ to boost the low end and cut the rumble feedback. I've found that mic'ng a PA/cab rig is simpler and generally sounds better, with less hassle, in these situations.

I'd prefer to run DI and FRFR, with higher end rigs and skilled operators who use RTA, run aux-fed subs etc it's easy and sounds great.
 
this is the best way I have found.

example: drive-amp-cab-peq-peq

block peq somewhere between 77hz and 125hz but also put a shelving eq around 200 or 220 hz and lower the db until you don't hear the boom. The only other thing I do at hone whe. Playing through my monitors us tur. Off the depth On my 5150 patch and raise the damp. You get a much more realistic tone. When I play out the only things I change are
1 presence which I have up higher at home at lower volumes. Two turn up depth if I feel it's to thin at a high volume. Three turn damp down if the sound is two hard and tight. Four I will change the shelving filter it it's sounds like I gave cut things to much. My settings seem to be more extreme at home going through monitors at a decent but not extreme volume. My worst enemy at home is the depth on certain amps. Damp seeming to low. And that 200-250hz mud zone. Follow that and as long as you eq and master is set correctly you should be fine. Using the graphic eq and lowering 125 and 250 works to.
 
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