What was the best Non-Traditional Amp System That You Have Played Through?

[BrentSimons]

Hey Guys,
Pods, DI Pedals, Amp/Cab simulators, DI Boxes, In Ear Monitors? What have you played though that made you think "Hmmm well I guess I could have left the amp a home after all..."
Just curious
Take Care,
Brent

[CL400Peavey]

Aguilar ToneHammer DI -> ART Pro Channel II -> Crest ProLite 3.0 -> fEARful 1515/66/1.

[chuck3]

in my secondary band, the bandleader got Mackie Thump powered 15" speakers for the PA. He also has a nice Yamaha mixer. For practice and smaller gigs, I plug my bass into my EBS ValveDrive preamp and run it straight into the PA - no bass amp at all. It sounds fine.

[Passinwind]

Originally Posted by BrentSimons

What have you played though that made you think "Hmmm well I guess I could have left the amp a home after all..."

A really nice carved double bass, of course.

[johnpbass]

Another vote for the Tonehammer DI. I've used it by itself in the studio, by itself direct to a small PA, and also through a power amp into bass cabs.

[elgecko]

I once played a coffee house gig through a Walter Woods and one of these pointed into a corner. It worked surprisingly well.

[rtslinger]

Di to Bose L1 and Two B1 subs that is every gig now

[Biggbass]

I've used a Bass Pod a few times, DI'd into the PA. Worked fine.

[D.M.N.]

I've run my bass into my M-Audio fast track (I think it's a fast track, whatever, one of their USB interfaces), and then run the headphone out from the M-Audio into the Aux channel on my home stereo. Actually sounds surprisingly good. Very clear and defined (as long as I don't over drive the M-Audio's input).

[zfunkman]

Line 6 Bass Pod Pro w/ Mackie M1400. Sounded ok but was really heavy and probably too many watts for my Bag End 15's.

[sincity]

My Peavey Classic 50 2x12 guitar combo.

Absolutely the best bass tone I have ever heard or had. A touch of reverb sounded so good.

50 watts was not enough in a live band context, but wow, I would not hesitate to mic the speaker for recording or for small jams.

[Mark Reccord]

Summit channel strip into 2x Meyer 650 subs and 2x Meyer MSL2 via a rack of Macrotech 3600s and 1200s. It was ridiculous. Ridiculously good!

[JimmyM]

REDDI into the PA at Mohegan Sun Arena.

[two fingers]

Played an outdoor show several years ago and the "backline" was pretty much a graphic EQ into a power amp, which then fed into some sort of amazing 2-10 wedge monitor. It sounded HUGE on stage. So I bought it. It's in my bonus room and I take it to the rare rehearsal that I agree to do. For the life of me I can't remember the name of it. But I paid the sound company $350 cash for it that day. And according to a friend who knows such things I got it at about 75% off. Not a bad deal.

One of these days I need to take my Mesa Walkabout head and that cab to a show and point it at my head.

[will33]

Leave the amp at home?....not much.

There was an outdoor thing we did with big folded horn Vega subs and line arrays and stuff I didn't use my rig, but that was almost exclusively due do some big 215+horn sidefill spittin' distance to my right with a good, bass heavy mix in it. We still DI'd off my amp though and I gave my rig to my drummer and gave him free reign as his monitor wasn't near as fat as that sidefill. It was cranked up to provide a full mix washed to center stage and I could literally reach and touch the thing if I took 2 steps to the right from where my mic was. Can't remember what it was, poasibly JBL but I can't remember. It would've made an awesome bass cab.

[bmc]

I am now using this for my smaller gigs instead of the Roland CB100. 150 watts, 1-8 inch speaker plus horn, 6 channel mixer. I run my Sadowsky throught it, my six string and vocals. My duo partner has one as well and it sounds very very good. It is made by Schertler, a manufacturer of high end acoustic amps. This thing is built for keyboards as well. It sounds better and deeper than the Roland. Less compressed. Lighter and easier to carry.

[Russell L]

Had to play through the spare PA head once when I forgot to bring my LMIII. Sounded pretty good, actually.

[punkjazzben]

Apart from going ampless and using only my Eden WTDI, which is not traditional but certainly not uncommon, I've played through the PA using an acoustic guitar preamp/DI unit. It really wasn't bad at all. To be honest, the best live mixes I've been in have usually involved my WTDI. Less stage volume is definitely the way to go.

I've also used an older Acoustic B-something guitar combo, which wasn't too bad at a low volume.

As a kid I used to plug into the mic input of my dad's stereo - it had a better sound than my little practice amp at the time. But you could only hear anything when you had a tape in and were recording. I also used his little ring modulator unit (I think he used it with a little ancient Korg synth), and that was pretty cool.

I've seen someone use a little Vox headphone amp to play his guitar through both a TV and a car stereo.

The best would be my WTDI.

[Vince Klortho]

I used to play through my drummer's PA using a Countryman DI. It had two Bag End 4x18 subs for the low end and custom built boxes for the high end and it sounded really good. Room shaking, pant flapping good. Fun times.

[fokof]

Non traditional bass amp ?

I always played through PA stuff and recently got my hand on an L'Acoustic 108P. Yep , that same company that brought you your V-DOSC.

Very non-traditional bass amp , best sounding box I ever owned !!!