AI Coda R

[candyman]

Good morning,
I am thinking of buying one of the new AI combos. I was wondering if the new Coda R with it's increase in power has enough volume to be heard on stage as a monitor. I play bluegrass and use an RE 20 to mic. up my bass. We don't use floor monitors so the guitar player would like to hear more bass ( I stand behind the rest of the band). I am wondering what other users of this amp have found in their situations.
Thanks,
Candyman

[Ric Vice]

Originally Posted by candyman

Good morning,
I am thinking of buying one of the new AI combos. I was wondering if the new Coda R with it's increase in power has enough volume to be heard on stage as a monitor. I play bluegrass and use an RE 20 to mic. up my bass. We don't use floor monitors so the guitar player would like to hear more bass ( I stand behind the rest of the band). I am wondering what other users of this amp have found in their situations.
Thanks,
Candyman

Candyman,
Although others find that down firing 10 to their liking it doesn't work with my bass and pickup combination. AI heads on the other hand seem to work very well for a lot of players on TB. You can't beat the flexibility of their heads with the combo jacks, notch/lo cut filters, and neutrix speaker connections. So I'd get a Clarius or Focus Head and match it with a different cabinet.

Ric

[bolo]

candyman, I think for bluegrass this could work maybe. No drums, no other amps on stage (like guitar or keys) I am guessing.

You might could try posting your question over in the Bluegrass forum too. And maybe send a PM to Bob Knebel too. He's got a Coda I think.

Have you run a mic into your amp on stage before? I would be concerned about the mic squealing w/ feedback, depending on how high you want it to go, and where you (and the mic) are positioned relative to the amp.

[Pat Harris]

I'm all about my AI SIII Contra, but as a "monitor" the AI combos probably are what you would want. The AI sounds great as stand alone amp, and it will put your sound OUT into a room. The stage volume, or percieved volume from the AI on stage is different than what the audience is going to get. I would reccomend an AI head with a front firing cab, possibly a 10" or 12" if you're looking for a monitor.

[bolo]

Another thought. Maybe one of the powered PA cabs, like a Mackie or a JBL. More multi-purpose.

[bass dan]

i play in a similar cituation as yours. i play in a 3 piece and a 4 piece bluegrass band. i use a AI contra combo series 2 which does not have as much power as the series 3. i use mine as a stage monitor for myself and also run a line out for foh sound and in the stage monitor for the rest of the band.

i play with acoustic muscians so the stage volume is usually pretty low. the combo works really well for me and the band. i would not use this setup without running a direct to the mixer for foh. we usually play pretty close together on stage so we can hear the instruments acoustically. the downfiring speaker in the combo works really well for this.

i also have a wizzy m-line i use as a extension speaker. the wizzy puts out about all the sound when used as a extention and the downfiring speaker kinda disappears. the combo with the extention is usually way more volume that i care to have on stage. this is with the series 2 which i believe is 250 at 4ohms and 350 with a 4ohm extension. the series 3 is about double that.

the contra does not have the mic channel on it so i cant speak to that. i tried it with a xlr connector to 1/4 converter and put it in the contra. it sucked. it was feeding back really before you could get enough volume to be useable. if i use a mic i usually run that straight to the mixer.

getting just the head and combining it with a different cab is a great idea too. i love the sound of the contra head with the wizzy-mline, and if i was not getting most my volume out of the pa i would get a more powerfull AI head and play it through my wizzy.

just thought i would share my experiece playing in a similar situation as you are. good luck finding what works for you. i am useing a rev.II pickup so this may not be a option if your just doing mic.

[Mark Perna]

I use a Focus with an AI downfiring cabinet and I love it. I can get substantially more volume before feedback with the downfiring cab than I can with a Wizzy 10. I also think the fidelty of the AI cabinet is noticeably higher than the Wizzy. I haven't tried any other front firing cabs.

The only thing I'd be concerned with is the built-in AI mic preamp isn't very powerful. I have an RE-20 that I occasionally use and I need to use an additional preamp if I want to use it with the AI. The maximum volume of the RE-20 plugged directly into the Focus is quite low. I've been using the preamp that comes with the Schertler Dyn-B and it boosts the signal nicely.

mark

[bolo]

Originally Posted by bass dan

i play in a similar cituation as yours. i play in a 3 piece and a 4 piece bluegrass band. i use a AI contra combo series 2 which does not have as much power as the series 3. i use mine as a stage monitor for myself and also run a line out for foh sound and in the stage monitor for the rest of the band.

i play with acoustic muscians so the stage volume is usually pretty low. the combo works really well for me and the band. i would not use this setup without running a direct to the mixer for foh. we usually play pretty close together on stage so we can hear the instruments acoustically. the downfiring speaker in the combo works really well for this.

Good info. Kind of what I was thinking in post #3.