Use provided backline or supplement or replace?

[ninepoundjammer]

Bit of a dilemma here. Playing a "festival" of sorts that a friend puts on every year out on his parent's land out in a rural area. Should be lots of fun and an opportunity for our band to develop its audience. Just found out they're providing an Ampeg V4-BH and some sort of Ampeg 4x10 cab. I doubt the PA is worth running the bass rig through and I'm concerned that the 100 watt V4 isn't going to cut it outdoors (though I'm looking forward to checking it out). We're the "headlining" band, so it'd be fun to kick the bass up a notch for our set and melt some faces. We play a fairly rocking style of honky tonk and I usually go for a pretty full Fender J sound.

Will the V4 cut it? I've recently been collecting a lot of amp gear, and could very easily bring along something to supplement or replace the ampeg rig:

Bergantino HT210, HT310
Eden CX-210 (much lighter than the Berg stuff)
EA Doubler (550 watt)
SWR SM-400s (250x2 watt stereo, has crossover)
Morley A/B/Y switcher

Possibilities:

1) Just play the ampeg rig and stop whining.

2) Doubler through the ampeg speakers. Don't use the V4.

3) Stack the ampeg 4x10 on my Berg 2x10 and drive with the Doubler.

4) Run some sort of two amp rig using my stuff for volume but adding some tube tone with the ampeg rig. Probably not a good idea with two full range cabinets, I suppose.

5) Just bring my usual Bergantino Stack and Doubler and forget about the Ampeg rig.

A good question is, however, do I want to be "that guy" who thinks he's too good to use the amp provided? That pretty much rules out #5. The 2.8 pound Doubler fits in my case with my pedal board and cables, so #2 is exceedingly easy. #3 doesn't seem to bad either.

What would you do?

[IvanMike]

find out if the pa will support it see if you can call and talk to the soundman and talk about his setup and express your concerns. get a list of his setup and run it by folk here or a soundman you trust

100 watts outside sounds dicey.

normally i would say use the backline and save yourself greif but this particular situation might end up being the band with no bass player. (or course, if the PA kicks butt, no worries)

you can always bring your crap and see how the other bands sound first. suboptimal i know, but if you cant get confirmation first might be a good idea

of course if you get specs on the ampeg cab and its up to snuff bring your good head and play it thru the peg, and/or bring one of your cabs if the peg cab is 8 ohms and then play thru it and your 210 (if 8 ohms) If your good head will do 4 ohms per side or 2 ohms min and the peg is a 4 ohm cab you could use it and your 310

in some big outside gigs with no pa support i have used all 4 of my cabs. granted they are two 1x12 and two 1x15 but i sent 1500 watts into em.

[ninepoundjammer]

Note the quotes around "festival" -- should be fun, but it's not going to be a soundman with a big PA sort of thing. I could ask exactly what they have, but I pretty much know the answer already.

Nice thing is the EA Doubler is really tiny, and I'd likely need to have it in my case just to keep other things from jiggling around .

So, just a question of whether I drag the Berg 2x10 along or not.

Really not a big deal anyways, I just have all these new toys I want to play with. After all, I come here to enable bad gear habits, don't you know?

Joe

[JimmyM]

if you're headlining, do what you want. btw, 100w from a v4b into a 410 is not especially quiet, however, if you're really loud you may struggle.

[will33]

Ya, I would bring enough rig to cover the gig even if 1/2 of it stays in the car. You can always turn down but if everything's cranked up and you have no more power available, no more speakers to add you have nowhere to go. I'd pack the SM400S ( I play one regularly, nice amp) and whatever cab(s)/cables are needed to bridge it into whatever equals the most speakers at 4ohms. Who know's? Maybe the guy has a good PA and knows how to use it, that would be a bonus. May sound good out front but I'd still bring enough rig to cover at least the stage and maybe the first few feet of audience if need be.

Sorry man, I'm one of those guys who comes over-prepared with extra mics, cables, stands, maybe a small guitar amp if there's room or throw a poweramp and some more cables in there.

Talking with the guy and finding out what he has/what he needs can go a long way in making it easier for both of ya and ending up with a better impression in the end.

[will33]

PS, I'd do what I could with the V4 first unless it just plain couldn't cut it. Depends on what music you're playing though. Nice warm bouncy tubey likely happens at a lower volume than is needed. If you like grit or have a good handle on finger/playing style dynamics, turn it up and check that out before you plug in your stuff.

[JimmyM]

Originally Posted by will33

Sorry man, I'm one of those guys who comes over-prepared with extra mics, cables, stands, maybe a small guitar amp if there's room or throw a poweramp and some more cables in there.

not me...i bring one bass, one amp, and a handful of pedals. i have a spare cable and set of strings, though. and i've played lots of huge gigs with a b-15n. rock!

[will33]

Originally Posted by JimmyM

not me...i bring one bass, one amp, and a handful of pedals. i have a spare cable and set of strings, though. and i've played lots of huge gigs with a b-15n. rock!

I wish I could, man. I gotta make sure schitz gonna work and anything impromtu is covered. I know the B15 can cover some decent space. Stuff I thought I needed a strong stack for I can play with 150 watts into a 210 and sound good...I still have extra this's and that's though...just in case. I do only bring one bass and the last few gigs have gone fine without a back up bass amp...It's all the other stuff I worry about, my stuff works fine.

[JimmyM]

i should say i don't recommend it for everyone. works for me