Members freedlebeatle Posted September 28, 2011 Members Share Posted September 28, 2011 Hey guys, so without getting too far into my personal situation, basically my uncle and i were talking about compression units. he advised i buy the alesis 3630 and told me once i got it to call him and hed walk me through it. Well sounds good right, but he died last spring so i cant call him for help. Now keep in mind I JUST received my 3630 today and my rig is at my practice spot so i wont get it for at least another week or so, so I've plugged it in to make sure it powers on and thats it. I'm not really concerned with the controls much because ill be able to tell what i like as i mess around with it and learn the features. What i do need help with is how am I gonna wire the damn thing? This is my rig so far, from top to bottom:furman PC, behringer rackmount tuner, DOD x-over, Ampeg SVT-2 Pro and an SWR SM-400 (and a 2U drawer, but like the furman, who cares?). So the way I've been running it is in through the tuner, to the crossover, mids/highs to the svt and lows/low mids to the swr. The ampeg will be running into a 410/212 setup while the SWR will be running into a 115. SO, since I AM running a stereo rig, where does this 3630 fit in? Do i run cables from the heads fx loop out>3630>fx loop in? (for respective sides of 3630 and amp heads of course) Or is there a better/easier way to do it? Also there are 1/4" jacks for both channels that say "Side Chain Tip=Return, Ring=Send". What the heck are these for? My next piece of business is this: I am buying my uncles Eventide Harmonizor from my aunt. I cannot tell you EXACTLY which model it is, but through a bit of research i have found that theyre all relatively the same. I believe they all run on XLR cables, which means ill need a few 1/4" to XLR cables, but how would I go about wiring this bad boy in? I guess what I am asking is for someone to tell me how I should tie all my components in together, to make the most effective cable path that I can. The fewer cables the better, but I just need some suggestions or ideas on how to tie the 3630 and the Eventide into what I already have. I thank you all in advance for reading my lengthy post and helping me with my silly questions! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Rezrover Posted September 28, 2011 Members Share Posted September 28, 2011 Throw the 3630 in the garbage and get a compressor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members freedlebeatle Posted September 28, 2011 Author Members Share Posted September 28, 2011 Throw the 3630 in the garbage and get a compressor. ok, suggestions then, Mr. snarky? Any input on my actual question? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Marko Posted September 28, 2011 Members Share Posted September 28, 2011 That unit gets zero love from pro sound guys. I want to advise about the comp thing, but that whole rig setup is already such a cluster{censored} I don Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members freedlebeatle Posted September 28, 2011 Author Members Share Posted September 28, 2011 well ok, then im open to suggestions on a different unit and in the future (when I get a 'Real' job) and money isn't so tight i will be switching to power amps and preamps vs using all in heads as well. background: Im a 20 year old paramedic student with little to no money, so im really not looking to spend more than 100-200 on a compressor right now. BUT, for right now, I just wanna know how i should go about wiring the damn thing into what I have. Again, I dont have rest of my rig at my house, and wont for the next week or so, so I really cant just throw it in and {censored} around with it at the moment. Im just trying to get an idea of where to start. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members freedlebeatle Posted September 28, 2011 Author Members Share Posted September 28, 2011 also, @Rezrover, im not trying to be a dick, thats just my attempt at humor, i just want to get an idea of what i should get or how to work with what i have. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members perrydabassman Posted September 28, 2011 Members Share Posted September 28, 2011 I don't know much about compressors, but if it were me, I would place it before the crossover, that way you would be using the compressor over both amps. It does sound like you have too much in your rig though. Have you ever tried running the just the SVT-2 with the 410/212 stack? I would think if you need more ooph than that you should mic it into the PA system. I could only imagine your stage noise is horrendous with that rig. You could then sell the 115/SWR as a separate rig, and buy some proper bass related effects units. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Rezrover Posted September 28, 2011 Members Share Posted September 28, 2011 also, @Rezrover, im not trying to be a dick, thats just my attempt at humor, i just want to get an idea of what i should get or how to work with what i have. I'm with Marko on this, you kinda need to work backwards in researching how this is gonna work instead of just buy things and then figuring out if it will work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Marko Posted September 28, 2011 Members Share Posted September 28, 2011 http://www.alesis.com/stuff/contentmgr/files/0/3cc655bd8252b3248e88913d155a2bbd/file/3630_manual.pdf My personal opinion, and without getting into all the reasons, all I can suggest is picking one head and one cab, and forget about all the stereo and crossing over stuff for now. Sell the rest, and if you want more cab, get another one that matches the one you kept instead of mixing cabs, or try what perrydabassman said. Bass cabs are full-range, so splitting frequencies between them just gives you half the benefit from each. If I read correctly, you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Rezrover Posted September 28, 2011 Members Share Posted September 28, 2011 What's with wanting to run in stereo? How big of a stage are you getting to play all of this stuff on? Seems like overkill unless you're going on tour. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members fretless Posted September 28, 2011 Members Share Posted September 28, 2011 I like to keep things simple , if it were my rig I would just go into either of those amps , keep the other for backup and cut out the rest . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members perrydabassman Posted September 28, 2011 Members Share Posted September 28, 2011 I sooo agree with this ^^^^ A while back I was in a southern rock band and we lost one of our guitards. We were three piece for a while. I ran a dual amp dual stack rig running an A/B/Y switch to where one stack was a distortion channel, and the other clean. It was THE BIGGEST PAIN IN THE ASS I ever experienced. It didn't take but three live gigs before that rig went out the window. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators ThudMaker Posted September 28, 2011 Moderators Share Posted September 28, 2011 I had a 3630 a decade ago. The lights worked. That's all I will say positive about that unit. If you want something that sounds good with a bass instrument and you can find it cheap, I would suggest looking for a long discontinued ART Levelar. It can be very mild or really clamp down on the stuff. Placed in the FX loop of an amp it will make the tone a lot thicker, IMHO. I got one for about $50 3-4 years ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members fretless Posted September 28, 2011 Members Share Posted September 28, 2011 oh the SWR has a limiter which should be a thousand times better than that Alesis , those amps sound excellent , I love the old SWR sound personally . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members lz4005 Posted September 28, 2011 Members Share Posted September 28, 2011 oh the SWR has a limiter which should be a thousand times better than that Alesis , those amps sound excellent , I love the old SWR sound personally . It has its own crossover too, if I recall correctly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members freedlebeatle Posted September 28, 2011 Author Members Share Posted September 28, 2011 Yeah to clear things up, I currently only have an ampeg SVT Classic 810. I have a cab currently being built by a company called Omega from Oho that is going to have a sealed 410 section, a sealed 212 section and a single ported 15. I wanted a ported 18 but without making the cab itself much larger, it wouldnt respond correctly with the already larger than normal dimensions of the cab. The cab is already wider than a standard door jamb so i have them sidemounting the handles and wheels. I upgraded to a brown maple cab shell as they told me it would drop 15-20 pounds of the standard plywood (not that itll matter bc itll still be {censored}ing heavy) and its being built into a roadcase. so when i say highs into 410/212 and lows into the 115, its all one cab, hust split into to inputs. Check out their website at omegaenclosres.com if you want. I do have a 118 cab without a speaker so maybe someday ill buck up and buy one. The SWR SM-400 DOES have a limiter and a built in crossover, but i bridged the blocks to run it as a single amp at 450watts instead of 2 amps at 200 a piece. The limiter built into this head is there, I have controls for it, but i dont think it does much, and even if it was the best in the world, how would i run my other head through it? As far as simplicity and this setup being overkill, well yeah, yeah it is. What I am looking to do is the textbook definition of overkill. When it all comes down to it, i could have 20u worht of rack gear and i could get my signals to do anything i want them too, but i could also plug into my svt2 and have a line go out the back to a cab and then its all an expensive looking show, but Ill have one of the most versatile rigs around, at least in my area. The ART Levelar vs the 3630-- I've heard bad things about ART. maybe its just the people ive been around but alesis generally had a better recomendation. and as as buying it before ive done any research... I did my research and bought this on recomendation. most of the people i know who run compressors run 3630's. Im not saying that im gonna throw it in my rack and its gonna stay there, but im gonna give it its shot. i already have the damn thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members lz4005 Posted September 28, 2011 Members Share Posted September 28, 2011 So you're a student with no money who's having a cabinet with 7 speakers and multiple inputs custom made because that's more versatile than separate cabs? Not to pile on, but WTF? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Rowka Posted September 29, 2011 Members Share Posted September 29, 2011 Ignore the naysayers. I've used a 3630 live for years with great success. Here is some good info on setting up a dual channel comp for bass. http://acapella.harmony-central.com/showthread.php?268958-Compressor-Settings Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members freedlebeatle Posted September 29, 2011 Author Members Share Posted September 29, 2011 thanks @Rowka. Ok, well its been my understanding that the bigger the speaker, the better it is for lows. It seems ive been misinformed. Keep in mind the only cabs I have ever had have all been 819's so i have no personal experience with anything else. the whole idea of posting here, as you can see i havent posted much here, mostly just in classifieds, is so i can get help and input on what i should be doing. If any of you have any helpful suggestions im more than open to listening. I've put out there what i have, and what im getting. how should i be running my equipment to get the most out of it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members freedlebeatle Posted September 29, 2011 Author Members Share Posted September 29, 2011 when i say 819's, of course i mean 810's Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Rezrover Posted September 29, 2011 Members Share Posted September 29, 2011 The DBX 166 is a good comp that you can find at a comparable price used, basically same layout. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members lz4005 Posted September 29, 2011 Members Share Posted September 29, 2011 how should i be running my equipment to get the most out of it? That depends on what you want it to sound like. Is there a song or player that sounds similar to what you're going for? I'd go back and question whether each piece you're wanting to use is helping or hurting you in terms of getting the sound you want. Play with and without each piece to see if it really sounds better, or if you just think it is supposed to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members freedlebeatle Posted September 29, 2011 Author Members Share Posted September 29, 2011 That depends on what you want it to sound like. Is there a song or player that sounds similar to what you're going for? I'd go back and question whether each piece you're wanting to use is helping or hurting you in terms of getting the sound you want. Play with and without each piece to see if it really sounds better, or if you just think it is supposed to. lol @ the giant balls remark, that is sig bound after this post. That's probabally the best advice anyone has ever given me. Once I get my rig back at my house I will do just that. As far as a particular artist or particular player... no, i dont have anyone in mind. I guess what i'm trying to do, and call me a martyr, is try to create my own 'sgnature' setup and sound. as far as the other comp suggestion, i appreciate it, but since i have the 3630 sitting here im going to play around with that first before i decide whether or not to sell it and look for a different unit. I think I've come to understand through all of this, that since im using all in one heads at the moment, i should be running all my extraneous {censored} {censored} fx loops or before the heads themselves. does this sound right. i.e. bass>tuner>comp> frequency x-over>my two seperate heads accordingly, and then once i get it, run the eventide through my mid/high amp head's fx loop? i suppose theres no reason to not run the eventide through both heads though? Back to the playing with and without each individual component, since ive already asked enough stupid questions, If I just simply turn that piece of gear off will the signal run through it? Like if i have my signal going through tuner to comp to x-over to heads, if i just simply turn off the comp will the signal still pass? This seems like common sense, and I mildly regret even asking it, but again, I dont have my rig here to try it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members freedlebeatle Posted September 29, 2011 Author Members Share Posted September 29, 2011 and to address the different size speakers handling certain frequencies, the speakers going into my monster cab are all run of the mill emmenance speakers which i feel are middle to mid/high quality and should be able to handle low frequencies as well as high freqs in the smaller speakers. I've proven to be wrong before though so im not entirely sure i suppose Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members lz4005 Posted September 29, 2011 Members Share Posted September 29, 2011 l i suppose theres no reason to not run the eventide through both heads though? Effects like chorus or distortion usually sound better on just the high side of a crossover. Running them full range can kill your low end. Effects like octave or auto-wah work better on the full range signal. If you have an idea of what you want to sound like before you start, it'll be a lot easier to get a good tone. If I just simply turn that piece of gear off will the signal run through it? If you turn the power off no signal will go through. If you have it on but in bypass mode it will still color your sound. If you have a stereo compressor with separate controls for both sides, in theory you could benefit from having it after the crossover because you might not want the same compression ratio on the highs and lows. But again, that's sort of a studio trick for getting bass to sit well in a mix that probably won't matter in a live situation. If I was setting up this rig...well, I'd sell of all of it except the SWR head, get a 2x12 cab and call it a day...but if I had to try to set up all the stuff you're going to have, I'd do it this way: bass>tuner>crossover>lows>svt>compressor L in the effects loop>15. highs>evantide>mixer to recombine the high and low signalscompressor R in effects loop>10's and 12's. That way you'd have the full range signal going where it'll do the most good, effects only on the high end, the svt and 15 become a giant low boost eq, and it only adds one more piece to the rack. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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