monitor bass guitar

[Dreadpoet]

Is it safe to run bass guitar through my ev sx400 stage monitors? My musical director wants the bass line to be heard (I usually just put main keys through...but I aim to please). I have no intention of running it through if ithe answer is no.

 

[Footer]

If the wedges have proper crossovers on them and your not sending them a signal they can't handle you should be just fine. I can't find any info on that exact box, so just make sure you have proper speaker management and you should be golden.

 

[standup]

I couldn't find any information on that particular speaker either. Assuming that what you have is in the SX line (did you mean the sx300e?), It should work just fine. The specs say that it won't get all the way to the low end of the bass guitar's frequency range. Be careful with the low end and you should be fine.

 

[museav]

I can find data for various Sx80, Sx100, SxA100, SxA180, Sx200, Sx250, Sx300, SxA360 and Sx500 models as well as the little S-40, but nothing on a Sx400. However, I believe the question is really if you can get the level and sound quality desired and that all depends on what they expect. You may also want to think about the fact that you will be adding content in a range where the floor monitors may have rather limited directionality so you may add some low end 'mud' to what is heard in the house. Only way to know for sure is to try it, gradually increasing the bass content and stopping if you hear the speakers stressing or it starts to negatively affect the sound in the house.

 

[TimmyP1955]

It would be a good idea to put a high-pass filter in the signal path, so you aren't sending stuff to the monitor that it can't handle well.

 

[bishopthomas]

Yes, I agree with Timmy. A lot of outboard graphic EQ's (if you're using one) have this feature, but you can also use your graphic to cut a lot (not all) of the super low frequencies. In other words, grab that 20 Hz slider and push it all the way down. Then take a little less out of each other frequency, making a smooth curve up to around 80 or 100 Hz. You're not going to get great response out of those frequencies in that box so you might as well just remove them as all they will do is muddy up the mix at best or blow your speaker at worst. If you don't have a graphic maybe you have parametrics on your console's outputs, or some other way to cut out those low frequencies. Of course, a crossover is a great way to accomplish this as well.