The shame: I went ampless and I ... I ... kind of liked it

Richard Lindsey · #1 12-20-2010, 08:13 AM

I'll probably get drummed out of the bass corps for this, but what the heck. I had a gig last night of the 6-bands-in-one night type, the sort of gig I haven't done in over 20 years. I wouldn't have done this one, but it was a decent room.

We were trying to work out some gear sharing, but we didn't know the other bands. We finally got an e-mail from somebody or other saying it was OK to share the bass amp, so I thought, great, less for me to carry.

When we got to the venue for soundcheck, the band that owned the bass amp hadn't shown up, so I said I'd just go DI for the check. Somewhat to my surprise, in about 30 seconds the sound guy had dialed up a loud punchy bass sound, and then immediately fed it into the drummer's wedge at such healthy volumes that I could hear myself perfectly even when the band was playing at full volume. There was a bit missing in the lowest frequencies on stage, but basically it sounded good, and I was in shock at how well I could hear myself.

It was such a comfortable situation that even when the bass amp showed up later, I elected not to use it and instead stay ampless, figuring I didn't want to mess with what was already working. The onstage and offstage sound during the set were fine, and setup and breakdown were easier and quicker.

I haven't played without an amp onstage in over 20 years, and the last time I did, I absolutely hated it and swore I'd never do it again. Yet this time, going ampless turned out to be what worked. Who'd have thought it?

This doesn't mean I'd do this as a regular thing. But this time it was a good thing.

Anybody have a similar experience?

Mr. Pickles · #2 12-20-2010, 08:22 AM

I've been considering it. I may be leading my bar band in this direction (assuming we could get a decent mix with IEM's). We always provide our own PA support and I'm very happy with the performance of the subwoofer so I think I could make it work.

Less stage volume = win from a mixing perspective.

I'll never get the guitarists to go ampless, though.

steve_rolfeca · #3 12-20-2010, 08:29 AM

My Sunday morning church gig is in a movie theatre. Setup is crazy hurried, 'cause we have to pull sound and lighting equipment out of closets, and essentially build a small concert stage between 8am and the 10am start time.

They use nice QSC HPR powered speakers as monitor wedges, so after a while I went ampless for convenience' sake. Tone-wise, I had no problem with it.

I would have kept it up if they could have guaranteed a consistent monitor mix, but with a crowded stage and several sound guys of varying skill levels in rotation, I finally had to go back to an amp out of self-defense...

pgolliher · #4 12-20-2010, 08:30 AM

I was playing in a classic rock cover band for a while and since we always played gigs with a soundman, I would just show up with my Sansamp BD Di. It was really mostly out of laziness, but for that band I got a good sound. I am currently using a GK MB210, and I love the tone and it is so light weight, I would never leave it at home.

chokeslam512 · #5 12-20-2010, 08:31 AM

I've done it before. You really need to have a soundguy that knows his equipment and craft well.

jmeyers44 · #6 12-20-2010, 08:42 AM

Totally agree about having a good sound guy. I've been ampless for 6 months now and I love it. Certain places I play have great sound guys that really help and others don't. I play through an Avalon U5 and that gives me some flexability to tailor my sound for those places who lack experience in the sound department.

Richard Lindsey · #7 12-20-2010, 08:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chokeslam512

You really need to have a soundguy that knows his equipment and craft well.

Yeah, that's pretty much the key. This guy knew his system, his stage, and his room.

I've played on a number of good-to-great stages, with good systems and soundpeople, and as I look back it strikes me that I probably could have gotten a good-to-great ampless sound at a number of them. It just never occurred to me to go ampless without being forced to. Maybe I'll be a little more open to the idea now.

joshwilkesbooth · #8 12-20-2010, 08:49 AM

I do sound for a band every now and again that doesn't use any amps. It is a total joy to work with them.

fokof · #9 12-20-2010, 09:09 AM

I would do this only if I know the PA & the soundman or if we bring our own soundman.
I often bring my monitor , I leave it back stage and try without it , then if things don't work out , I'll use it.
Even if I brought it onstage and don't use it , the tear down will be faster.

As much as possible , I will always go for the solution with the lowest sound stage.

HolmeBass · #10 12-20-2010, 09:33 AM

The last time I tried it I was not happy at all-- but all I had for monitor was a Mackie active 1x15 plus horn thing and it had to have bass plus one guitar and vocals in it. I think in a bigger venue (oddly enough...) where I'd get my own monitor and monitor mix and stage volume wasn't too loud it could work great.

SteveC · #11 12-20-2010, 10:05 AM

I would go ampless in a heartbeat if it would work for my gigs/venues. No shame.

walker rosewood · #12 12-20-2010, 11:25 AM

I run through a Sansamp pBDDI. If there's decent quality monitors then I don't bother turning up the amp at all. Most places take your bass through a DI before your amplifier anyway, which I have no problem with.

Of course, I'm still young and stupid enough to haul the 4x10 cabinet anyway just to look cool.

rockstarbassist · #13 12-20-2010, 03:14 PM

I used to go ampless when playing at church for a good long while. Didn't bother me at all. Hell if I had my own FOH engineer that I brought and paid for every show we played, I wouldn't mind doing it even in my loud rock band b/c I know what kind of results we'd be getting.

logicman69 · #14 12-20-2010, 03:29 PM

I played ampless for years. I ran from my bass to a Bass Pod to the soundboard. My band at the time was using QSC powered speakers and we had some Mackie SRM450s as monitors. I loved the tone and I loved walking into a gig with just a gigbag. Easy in, easy out.

seanm · #15 12-20-2010, 04:15 PM

I'm surprised at how many soundguys will run bass through the monitors. Generally, they won't at the places I play.

When we bring our own PA, I generally don't get (or need) a monitor so I have to use my amp. So to go ampless, I would have to bring a monitor.... kinda defeats the purpose. Plus the PA wouldn't really handle the bass anyway.

KingRazor · #16 12-20-2010, 04:32 PM

For me, ampless is always ideal.

MNAirHead · #17 12-20-2010, 04:53 PM

It takes a bit of reorienting listening.. once it's down very cool....

I had a very very good sound guy educate me that ANY sound on stage is another barrier to good FOH sound.

jmeyers44 · #18 12-21-2010, 05:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by seanm

I'm surprised at how many soundguys will run bass through the monitors. Generally, they won't at the places I play.

When we bring our own PA, I generally don't get (or need) a monitor so I have to use my amp. So to go ampless, I would have to bring a monitor.... kinda defeats the purpose. Plus the PA wouldn't really handle the bass anyway.

Where I play at we all use IEM. Depending on the venue I have total control over my bass via Aviom or the Rolls PM351. If I didn't have that control I probably would bring my own amp/cab to control that. However it's so easy now to have control with IEM that it's not necessary anymore. Like MNAirhead said the less you have on stage the better it will sound in FOH.

AverageWhiteBassist · #19 12-21-2010, 05:56 AM

I would strongly recommend going ampless when you can HOWEVER I would not rely solely on in ear monitors if you have the average guitar player who turns his amp up as the night wears on. If you have a dedicated soundman, do it and save your back. If you are in a band like the last one I was in, I would strongly suggest against going ampless. We ran sound for ourselves and the guitar player turned up his amp, not his channel on the board cause the IEM mix to go straight to hell. If he turned up the channel, it would not have effected the IEM mix. I would also suggest reading up on basics of a sound board, aux sends etc so you are familiar with the ideas of the board and run with it!

Medford Bassman · #20 12-21-2010, 08:16 AM

Right now, I run sound for the band and our guitarist uses IEM and no amp. He loves it. He says its' like working in a studio all night at the gig. Plus, his hearing isn't blown out but yet hears everything.
Our drummer and I use stage monitors plus I bring a 1-12 cab for my bass monitor.

Our fill in keys doesn't like IEM even though we have a spare set.

I'd like to use them but I am always going out to the crowd to check on the FOH level and mix. the IEMs we have really block out ambient noise.
I have to agree, getting the guitar amp off the stage was the best thing to happen to our FOH sound.