Live Sound, Do You Use Subwoofer? I'm Tired Of Taking Ours

We have five piece band 2-guitar/bass/keyboard/drums. We play small clubs and parties, 50-100 people, some outdoors. At indoor gigs only vocals go through PA, but outdoors we will mic/mix everything, including using a subwoofer.

I'm starting to question the need for a sub. Our bass player is plenty loud without. The keyboard player has a nice amp so again sub may be overkill. That leaves the kick drum. When we play outdoors I can mix a little kick into the 15" mains.

When you play similar small gigs do you use a sub? What do you put through it? Has anyone stopped using a sub?

pic no. 1 wedding private party tent 5pc band
pic no2. smooth jazz at sunset on Lake Michigan(St. Joseph,Mich.)
pic no.3 Notre Dame football home game pep rally. The stage needs to fit all 100+ players and coaches. A band plays before and after.

so my answer is always.

8 JBL 728 subs for smooth jazz? i know what your thinking,but it had to cover a beach front and a few thousand people.

Notre Dame pep rally for the USC game had 20 thousand plus estimated.

I bring the sub for kick drum, and left hand bass when our keyboardist covers that.

RCF 905AS which I love. 15", 1000w Class D powered, fits in the back of a sedan. I can open a door with one hand and carry it in with the other... i'm scrawny as heck too.

so my answer is always.

I think you're operating on a little different scale than me :mrgreen:

I play in a bar band so no...we never use'em.

My last band used subs twice. The first time, the bass player brought his stack, and then demanded we run his bass into the subs as well... "so we can get that thumpty-thump, man!" .. didnt quite turn out that way. Turned out to be the bass sound from hell, finally I just killed the bass in the PA altogether and nobody missed it.

However it got worse. Then the drummer bitched that he couldnt "feel his kick" without the subs ONSTAGE. I put up with that just one gig and then I told him, OK, you want subs, you come pick them up, you set them up, and you take them home.

Suddenly it wasnt so much of a priority for him. He dropped the issue, we never used them again, and I was happier.

One band I know plays pretty quietly, for a rock band anyway, and they use these cute little subs, that work well for what they're trying to do. My bands always played loud enough that the bass player and the kick into the mains, was more than enough.

Never for gigs of the size you describe.

Once in the past 35 years. That was 2 months ago..Won't be doing it again.

Nope, not for bar gigs. The few places we've played where my bass amp wouldn't have been loud enough were places with house sound (including subs).

Tim

I've seen a few times where folks were using just two speakers on sticks and it didn't cut it. Other times (even the same band, even the same band outdoors) they added one decent size sub and that did nicely.

Depends on what kind of music you are doing and what you want to sound like. A "sub" can be simple as one 15" speaker. In fact, that is where I am heading with my sound system. 10" mains and one small, maybe even a 12" or even a couple of 10"s for subs. All very high quality.

Some types of music demand that feel it in your face big subs, but quality is often better than quantity.

Funny story, not at the time....I was playing bass, sound guys were just practically cursing me to turn the bass down, saying I was blowing everyone away, distorting the sound and ruining the show (about 700 people).....I took a quick listen to the speakers...told them they needed to turn the amps on to the mains...the only thing they had working was the subs. I don't think they appreciated the help.....

I don't right now, but I think I will be soon.

We just used a sub for the first time and it was in a small bar. Ran kick and bass through and turned up just enough that you feel it more than hear it. I questioned my sanity paying several hundred dollars and lugging around a heavy piece of equipment where people probably don't even consciously notice it, but I notice it and, while subtle, I really like it. Strangely enough, it seemed to help us keep our stage volume down (the bar manager even complemented us on our volume). Because our drummer could hear/feel his kick better he wasn't kicking and hitting as hard as he sometimes does.

I think it depends on the size of gig, indoors or outdoors , how many people and most of all the type of rig you allready have.
In all our youtube vids we are only using a pair of active RCF 10" speakers, and we are not a loud band. If I was using a pair of 15" tops then I wouldnt use a sub at all, as it doesn`t add enough to be worth it. I have used a sub on a couple of gigs. The RCF 15" 1000w already described above by Tjalla, great unit and works fantastic with the 10`s.
JCSouthpawtele, I know its a nice rig you have , but its hardly relevant to this post if you read it properly. :wink:

I think it depends on the size of gig, indoors or outdoors , how many people and most of all the type of rig you allready have.

Yes, other bands experience seems similar to where I'm at; when playing to 100 people in a backyard the sub just adds more PA complexity with very little improvement in sound.

A few months ago I actually donated mine to our church with the understanding I can use it anytime. So I've had the added stop there to pull it out and return after the gig so that's put me over the edge.

We just don't have room for any subs in our vehicles and manage fine without them for what we are doing at the moment - bars and functions of 100-ish people.

The bass is loud enough without them. Our drummer plays a small kit and she's not loud so we do put the drums through the mains (just 200W per side into two 12-inch Mackies) and we are always plenty loud enough.

So we do OK as it is, and we don't get paid enough to justify more gear and a vehicle upgrade for a minor improvement in sound quality.

We have always used them. With both the country or rock bands but it might depend on the style of music. I think it helps fill the room.

I don't right now, but I hope to in the future.
I have used them in the past, but they weren't mine.

When used correctly, they make the sound BIG without making it Loud.
The mains don't have to work nearly as hard when complemented with a good Sub.

Little bit of Kick-n-Bass goes a long way if everybody in the band is on the same page.

What String Tree said.

We used bigger subs in some clubs a few years back but as I downsized my bass rig it came down to one 15" powered sub for the bass and the kick in the smaller clubs. Bigger venues, outdoors, casino gigs were all played with subs supplementing the mains but in one band we hired that out and in another we had our own sound guy who setup and ran the FOH.