Genz Benz 3.0-8T

abraun · #1 09-28-2010, 10:55 AM

I have a question for those with any experience with this little combo. I am looking for a very,very.......lightweight combo as I have a L5-S1 herniated disc that acts up every once in a while. Maybe the Genz Benz combo with the 3.0 head(175 watts/8ohm) and cab with 8 inch speaker would fit my needs.

I currently have a lightweight rig with a Markbass Little Mark 3 amp and Markbass 121H cab. The 121h cab is only 35 pounds but this Sunday when lifting the cab out of the car I felt a shift in my back, and was off work for a few days with a flare up of back pain. I use a small dolly to move the cab but the problem is lifting it out of the car. There are also a few steps to lift the cab up into the choir area. The 121h cab is certainly not difficult to lift or carry but when you have a tricky back it just takes one awkward twist to set it off. We play contemporary praise music at a fairly large church(probably can hold over 1000). The church has a nice sound system less that one year old. We have played occasional outside gigs(twice a year) at festivals but always have PA support. I usually only need the rig for a monitor. Usually I use a di into the sound system. Our group consists of a drummer who is very loud but is now tamed down because we have a new electronic drum system-really sounds great. There is a grand piano mic'ed, and an acoustic guitar who uses di to the system. Piano player is quite loud and has been know to break piano strings from heavy hitting. Occasionally we have electric guitar but only rarely. There are 7 vocalist all with their own mic.

My question is whether the Genz 3.0-8T would be adequate just for a monitor and practice. Again this is not...... a real loud rock group. Our sound system has monitors but the bass just doesn't sound good to me and takes a lot of tweaking. I've also thought about the 3.0-10T though it is 18 pounds vs. the 13 pound 8 inch rig. When we practice in church we often times don't use the sound system and just go acoustic(drummer usually doesn't come to practices). It would be nice just bringing in a 13 pound rig to practice and not use any dolly. I am reluctant to leave any of my equipment in the church as there has been a recent forced break-in to the church. Maybe I could sell the Markbass rig if I was satisfied with the Genz 3.0-8T, or keep the 12 inch cab for an extension cab if the need ever came up. Any thoughts?

Andy

lomo · #2 09-28-2010, 11:04 AM

The only way to know for sure is to try, but IMO it will be fine. Is is surpisingly loud for its' size and AFAIK there's nothing remotely close in weight that competes.

froghat · #3 09-28-2010, 11:20 AM

I have the 3.0-8T and use it for rehearsals with a bluegrass band, playing an upright electric bass (Zeta Crossover) through it. It is capable of playing surprisingly loud for its size, with reasonable bass. With PA support it will be fine for an onstage monitor, especially if you put it on a stand angled upward.

JimmyM · #4 09-28-2010, 11:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by froghat

I have the 3.0-8T and use it for rehearsals with a bluegrass band, playing an upright electric bass (Zeta Crossover) through it. It is capable of playing surprisingly loud for its size, with reasonable bass. With PA support it will be fine for an onstage monitor, especially if you put it on a stand angled upward.

+1. i've only played it once, but i found it surprisingly ballsy.

chuck3 · #5 09-28-2010, 12:02 PM

I have amps and cabs of all sizes, but I've used the Shuttle 3.0-8T a *lot.* As a stand-alone, it is surprisingly ballsy for small gigs like restaurants. But the optimal use is to run the DI through the PA and use the 8" speaker as a monitor. I've played all kinds of gigs this way and it's always performed perfectly.

lpdeluxe · #6 09-28-2010, 12:03 PM

Slightly different, but I just bought a GB 3.0-T10 (the next size up) to avoid schlepping my Mesa/Boogie to small room gigs and I am amazed at the loudness and tone. It'll never replace my Walkabout Scout, but it sure beats hauling that beast into the local retirement center (with its rec center smaller than our rehearsal space!). Eighteen pounds -- my back loves it.

tallboybass · #7 09-28-2010, 12:18 PM

If you can possibly handle the extra weight, the 3.0-10T puts out a LOT more sound than the 8T. The listed weights aren't accurate either, 8T is 15-16 pounds, 10T is 20 pounds. Also, the 10T has a kick-back leg under it, the 8T doesn't.

OmeDunk · #8 09-28-2010, 01:26 PM

I own the 3.0-8T for almost 2.5 years.
Took it once for a gig with an acoustic drummer and used the DI for the PA. But the combo was not even loud enough for monitoring.
Since then I used the 3.0-8T with a SWR 2x10 or just the 3.0 with a EBS Classic 4x10.

I don't know if a 3.0-10T is any better.

Maybe you can think about the 3.0-8T or 3.0-10T and add a GB 10" cabinet? Maybe someone on TB has experience with that set-up?

SteveC · #9 09-28-2010, 01:47 PM

I would make the move to 3.0-10T. Much better sound, not much bigger, just a little more expensive.

The piano player breaks strings? Wow.

mikell128 · #10 09-28-2010, 03:26 PM

I've heard the 3.0-10t is really the sweet spot but I have no experience with that. However I had the 3.0-8t and was able to practice with an acoustic and a drummer no problem. It handled acoustic gigs fine, any gig with a drummer I would say it would need PA support but again, it is very loud for its size.

Tankdave · #11 09-28-2010, 03:36 PM

I got the 10" combo & love it, I prefered it to the 12" one as I like a bright tone. I did not try the 8" though, but after hearing the 10 I don't need to hear more amps, it's spot on for me and it goes pretty loud and surprisingly deep for its miniscule size.

Make the effort to go try them both, one of them will jump in your lap.

powerbass · #12 09-28-2010, 03:40 PM

I use my 3.0-8t with my upright and fretless electric, it is super light and plenty loud in my jazz ensemble. I would like to add the 8" extension cab for larger gigs but that's it

abraun · #13 09-29-2010, 07:34 PM

Thanks everyone for your help. Sounds like I could probably get by with the 8 inch combo for a monitor most times, unless it got really loud. The 10 inch isn't that much heavier and has the tilt back so I'm leaning toward that.... though I may think about it for a while.

lpdeluxe · #14 09-29-2010, 08:49 PM

I played a recording session with my 3.0-10T this evening. Great sound, but a little anemic with a live loud drummer in the room. I expect a second 1-10 will take care of that. Finally: a quality small and lightweight bass amp!

vbsurfer3001 · #15 09-29-2010, 08:50 PM

I have the 3.0 8T and at rehearsal with a full acoustic drum kit it holds it's own just fine. I recently bought a Hartke Hydrive 1-12 to use as an extension with the rig to get the full 300 out of the head and am very happy with the 8 - 12 stack. maybe you could leave an ext cabinet at the church?

ashtray · #16 09-29-2010, 09:28 PM

I have the 3.0-8T "combo"... it works best on the ground, near a wall (behind it) - maybe 2' away from one. It's extremely light weight, which is great - and the head is powerful enough to power an 8x10 cab should you ever need. (also the DI is extremely handy to have)

Not sure it's going to be loud enough with a live drummer... it's surprisingly loud for being so tiny, and it's got a nice tone to it - but for full band use I'd hesitate. If you can swing it, you could pick up a matching 1x10 extension cab - those are the tiny ones from the same series that you'd get with the 3.0-10T combo - so the extra cab would probably weigh 15 pounds instead of 35 from your 1x12. With the stock 8" and the 10" extension, it would get you a bunch more volume. You'd have to make an extra trip to the car for the extra cab, but it wouldn't hurt your back. The cost of the 1x10 extension cabs aren't cheap though.

can you find a store that carries the combos? that's your best bet to see if it would be loud enough for you. Also, I noticed mine clips the power section around noon if I have my preamp hot (hot, but not clipping the pre, generally flat eq) - so if you try one play it as loud as it will go right before clipping, so you can see the full volume it will get. If you turn it to noon and it's "ok" and think it will get a bunch louder b/c there's room to turn it up, you might be let down when it clips "early" on you.

(it's not a bad volume design - it's just that running the pre "hot" and then adding any boost in the eq section will be sending a hot signal to the power section, and you won't be able to turn up the volume knob all the way. run a cooler pre with no boost in the eq, and you'll have more room in the volume knob. overall max volume won't change though.)

SteveC · #17 09-29-2010, 09:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by abraun

Thanks everyone for your help. Sounds like I could probably get by with the 8 inch combo for a monitor most times, unless it got really loud. The 10 inch isn't that much heavier and has the tilt back so I'm leaning toward that.... though I may think about it for a while.

Get the 10. You won't regret it.

rok51 · #18 09-30-2010, 06:23 PM

I have-and love-the 3.0 10T. I got it primarily for bedroom practice and small acoustic gigs. It's very impressive for its size. I have done some low key practices with three guitars and drums...it was fine, but didn't have a whole lot in reserve. Now this was rock n' roll...so please take that into consideration when I mentioned 'low key'...The little rig actually did quite well. I purchased the matching 10T extension cab...and what a HUGE difference that made. The extension cab is very light. I put the combo on top and use the kick back legs on the combo and leave the extension cab flat on the floor...it seems to provide good coupling and the combo is aimed at my ear so I don't struggle to hear. In a practice with a hard hitting drummer and a slash guitarist through a JCM 800 Marshall rig...I gave no ground...in fact, no one there had seen such a tiny bass rig crank out the volume and depth of the Shuttle 3.0 10t plus 10t setup. While I have a rep for on stage overkill...I honestly say that the 3.0 10T with the 10T extension cab...will cover far more gigging situations than one would expect. I have found that when convenience beats on stage 'visual effect'...my little Shuttle setup rules.

Kim

DynaFlow · #19 09-30-2010, 07:19 PM

I got a 3.0 8T recently and so far am very happy with it. Mind you, I'm mostly an at-home player these days, and for practice, shedding, and jam-a-longs to your favorite CDs, it's great. For its size it is very punchy and the 8 actually projects very well. The really nice thing about it for my purposes is that it has a really warm, full-bodied tone even at low volumes. I use a passive J and a P, and the true voice of each bass, as well as the unique character, really comes through. For being as tiny as it is, it is quite loud, but yes there are headroom issues further up the volume range, especially with the P, no surprise there, the laws of physics still apply. Eventually I'll add an extension cab, probably a 1-12, and tapping into the full 300 watts I'm sure it'll more than handle the few gigs I still do occasionally.