sell amps, just use pa?

coldfoot_luke · #1 10-25-2010, 07:34 PM

Right now, I'm not playing in a steady band, just jamming with friends occasionally at my house, and I'm trying to decide what to do with extra gear, and what to get rid of. Right now I have:

Practice amp: carvin 100w 15" combo

Main rig: Carvin 500w head with 15" cab and 2x10" cab. The 15" cab is an old GK combo with the electronics pulled out (kept shorting out, not worth the price of repair) and the 15" speaker is relatively new.

PA: 8 channel, two 15" + horn PA speakers

I have my drumset at my house also, and people always come over to my place too jam, so I'm not moving gear around.

Does anyone just play through a PA for practice? If I go somewhere else to play, it takes the less amount of effort to move the PA mixer and one speaker as it does to move head, 15" cab, and 2x10" cab. I've thought about replacing one of the PA speakers with the 15" speaker from my cab to have a bass-specific speaker in it.

Anyone have any thoughts on disadvantages to this?

coldfoot_luke · #2 10-25-2010, 07:36 PM

BTW, I am planning on getting a DI/Preamp/EQ soon, for tone control going into the PA.

1954bassman · #3 10-25-2010, 07:51 PM

I play Di through a PA 90% of the time. Using IEMs. guessing the deciding factor would be how loud you need to get, and if your PA can handle the bass.

mwbassace · #4 10-25-2010, 07:53 PM

I play thru our practice P.A. at rehearsal. And yes I have a SABDDI & a Line 6 pod so it's no different than when my band plays out, my rig is more or less a monitor. Most of the time for practice your in a small space & only the vocals are in the P.A. so running the bass won't be a problem, especially if the cabs are 15/horn. Even smaller cabs should be ok. & I'm W/bassman, going to try going rigless using IEM's on our next few gigs.

BigOldHarry · #5 10-25-2010, 07:55 PM

Lose the combo, keep the rest of the gear. You will ALWAYS need an amp for small gigs.

Stick_Player · #6 10-25-2010, 07:57 PM

A laptop and Guitar Rig.

Oh, and two cables.

Psycho · #7 10-25-2010, 07:59 PM

Seems somewhat un needed for practice, but it might be helpful for gigs. Saves time, effort, and space.

And with all that free space, use a washing machine instead.

Or a fridge.

coldfoot_luke · #8 10-25-2010, 08:13 PM

Thanks for the quick replies-

Right now I use my PA for vocals (when I have a vocalist over), drum machine (through my computer, when I don't have a drummer over), acoustic guitar, and stereo. I like the idea of having everything in one unit, instead of having stereo, guitar amp, bass amp, pa, etc... It's like a musical swiss army knife.

jbravo · #9 10-25-2010, 08:22 PM

My practice amp ( an old peavey mk VI) died at practice last week, and I ran a jazz bass through my VT Bass into the PA, and it sounded really good. So good in fact, that when we play next weekend, My rig is staying home, and the VT is going into the PA there too. That said, even if it sounds great I'll be keeping a head and a couple of cabinets around in case circumstances change.

Jake Morris · #10 10-25-2010, 08:28 PM

As a bassist, I prefer having a bass amp and cabinet, because then I can tweak my tone and stuff. In the end ur most likely going to be going into the pa system so that the sound man can mix the band. But I would only run into the pa with a preamp or direct out. Still never getting rid of an amp. On that note, I'm looking into a new rig. Head and cab. I need help... markbass or genz benz. Just looking for an overall good amp.