Radial Engineering Ltd.
Bassbone OD™
True to the Music
®
12
THE BALANCED XLR DI OUTPUT
Whether you are recording or playing live, capturing a direct feed before the
sound hits a ‘live bass amp’ can be very benefi cial. For starters, each and
every room sounds different as the acoustic space is different. This means
that when using a mic in front of a speaker cabinet, the audio engineer
must equalize the tone to compensate both for the room acoustics and the
position of the mic relative to the speaker. Another problem is resonance.
Some stages are hollow which can cause phase cancellation issues
depending on how the bass amp couples to the fl oor. And because you
have a live mic, sounds from other instruments such as drums can fi nd
their way into the bass amp microphone, making it more diffi cult to deliver
a clean bass sound to the PA or recording system.
All of these problems go away when using the Bassbone OD’s built-in direct
box to connect to the PA or recording system. Because the direct signal is
always consistent, doing sound checks can take minutes instead of hours.
The direct out also enables the FOH engineer to mix the Bassbone OD
with the sound of the mic’d stage amp should this be preferred.
PA
SYSTEM
The PRE/POST recessed switch allows you to capture the signal before
(PRE) or after (POST) the effects loop to send a ‘wet’ or ‘dry’ signal to the
PA or recording system. When set to the outward ‘PRE’ position, only the
‘dry’ instrument sound is routed to the balanced XLR direct out. This is often
preferred by the sound engineer as it gives them the ability to optimize the
tone for the house sound system. When set to the inward ‘POST’ position,
the effects loop and distortion are routed to the balanced XLR output.
A recessed 180° polarity reverse switch inverts the pins-2 and 3 on the
XLR . This is often used to phase-match the PA system to the stage amp in
smaller venues where these two audio sources can sometimes compete.
It can also be used to electronically change a resonant peak to a phase
cancelled null to help alleviate resonant feedback when using an acoustic
instrument such as an upright bass on stage.
