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Double Bass Drew Gress Rider

R

RShew

Mar 11, 2004
272
4
Los Angeles
#1
A good friend of mine just hired the Claudia Quintet (amust listen to if you haven't heard them yet) and this was Drew's rider:


DREW GRESS Equipment Rider

Contrary to Drew's previous requirements, he no longer travels with his
own amplifier head; consequently, he now needs a self-contained amplifer,
OR an amplifier head and speaker combination.

1st choice: Ampeg SVT line of amplifiers
2nd choice: Polytone Brute (NOT the Mini-Brute)
3rd choice: Eden, SWR or Mesa-Boogie
or any professional quality amplifier with EQ possibilities... except
Gallien-Kruger amps, which I can not use.

For the speakers, specifically:
A cabinet containing JBL, Hartke, Eden, Bose or Electro-Voice speakers is
preferred. A cabinet w/ 2 12" speakers is ideal, but any cabinet is
acceptable as long as it does not have 15" speakers within...these are too
large for the acoustic bass.
 
#4
Especially for DB, I think somebody's in for a wild ride if they cast too wide a net in a rider. Amps designed for electric bass can be all over the place in their response curves. The GK has a "scooped" response curve. Maybe the others are flatter, who knows?

If it were me, I would specify a small handful of generic amps, including GK and Ampeg, and go in with my own preamp through the FX return.
 
#5
Scott Colley played around here a few years ago and he used my GK 800RB that I had stored in my closet. It was his preferred amp. I didn't get it. I A-B'd it with my other amps and it had as much depth as a piece of paper in comparison. He wanted it though. It went back into the closet after that.

Drew wants an SVT with a 2 12 cab?!? Geez. He's such a great player. Why would he want a rock and roll rig?

mark
 
#6
Contrary to popular Talkbass belief, alot of upright bassists use "regular" bass amps and get a good sound.

In the Roots music world, the GK800RBs (and GKs in general) have been consistantly popular.

IMO, when using piezo pickups, the last thing I want is a totally "uncolored" sound from my bass amp.
 
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#7
You're right but the unstated context here is for jazz where most guys want their amplified bass to sound as much as possible like their bass only louder. We should have specified the context. There are so many great amps designed for acoustic bass that we are kind of wondering why a top flight player would want to use what is clearly an electric bass rig ostensibly to play jazz on.

mark
 
#8
The girlfriend's dad is also a bass player (teaches at one of the Universities up north) and he was telling me a story about how he got to meet Charlie Haden awhile back because he wasn't feeling the amp that was supplied for the gig
Her dad went home and grabbed his Roland and they Charlie had a seat in the front row saved for when he got back
 
#9
calivox said:
Drew wants an SVT with a 2 12 cab?!? Geez. He's such a great player. Why would he want a rock and roll rig?

mark
Click to expand...

The SVT amp head is a great piece of equipment. Lots of headroom and very flexible eq. Totally impractical for every day joe guy gigging, because of it's size, weight (90lbs), and maintenance issues. Very expensive.

I remember hearing Richard Davis play through one in concert with some kind of 2 12 Fender cab in the 70's. Great amplified tone.

I speak from experience, as I used to own/use one with a 2 10 cab.

If Drew likes them, and he can manage to get someone to cart a good sounding one for him, then he is on the right end of the business arrangement.
 
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#10
I am perfectly happy with my GK Backline 600 head, though it is obviously marketed to the electric bass crowd and if I have to guess, heavy metal in particular. Excellent bang for the buck, and more than enough juice for DB. If it has appropriate input impedance and / or you can EQ it to your tastes, then you're pretty much good to go. I figured out how to dial the BL600 flat, and used that for my starting point.

Then I got a micro head, which was more of a splurge than a dire necessity, but now I'm addicted to the portability.
 
#11
Come to think of it, I think the input impedance on the SVT and other similar tube based Ampegs is something like 3 meg, very piezo pickup friendly.

Of course, the cooling fan isn't so welcome noise wise.....maybe Drew is playing on large enough stages where this wouldn't be too much of an issue.
 
#12
the point of a rider is to make some vain attempt at getting some gear that a) is reasonably widely available and b) reasonably flexible and reliable. there's a good chance that drew didn't say specify anything to his management beyond "no GK stuff", which it seems he's had a past problem with ... you can pretty much bet that he'll show up and find a GK sitting on the stage for him. such is the life.

jeff.
 
#16
Gearhead43 said:
Contrary to popular Talkbass belief, alot of upright bassists use "regular" bass amps and get a good sound.

In the Roots music world, the GK800RBs (and GKs in general) have been consistantly popular.

IMO, when using piezo pickups, the last thing I want is a totally "uncolored" sound from my bass amp.
Click to expand...

This is exacty my opinion. I think these so called acoustic bass amps sound good on everything, except an acoustic bass. The Mark Acoustic is the case too, as I just learned. For bass we need a bass amp. The frequency range and the specific voicing of this range is more important than the fact whether it's an acoustic or electric bass. Just my experience.
 
#17
Before I started using the EA stuff, I used to bring a preamp (Intersound) with me. On my rider I specified a GK 800rb and a Hartke 410. Keep in mind that I've always been aware that this stuff sounds like crap, but I'd bypass the preamp section of the 800 and knew how to eq to consistantly get my sound. The reason I spec'd these were because EVERY backline company in the world had them or could get them. On the road, it's much better to know your evils. Even though I HATE Hartke cabs, I knew how to eq them. I learned my lesson once when there was a choice between a Hartke and an Aguilar cab. I thought---this is a no-brainer---Aguilar is great gear. I spent the whole gig twirling knobs and still couldn't get it right. Even though I love the EA gear, I still have a Fishman Dual Parametric EQ in the bag with my Doubler. There is nothing like 2 parametric bands to tame those nasty resonances in big halls.
 
#18
With some admittedly ulterior motives, I have been analyzing the classic SVT design using circuit modeling software. One thing about the SVT is that if you don't have to transport it, and are operating it below its overload threshold, then it is a flat and high fidelity amp. It's about 3x more elaborate than it would need to be if its designer didn't care about fidelity.
 
#19
fdeck said:
With some admittedly ulterior motives, I have been analyzing the classic SVT design using circuit modeling software. One thing about the SVT is that if you don't have to transport it, and are operating it below its overload threshold, then it is a flat and high fidelity amp. It's about 3x more elaborate than it would need to be if its designer didn't care about fidelity.
Click to expand...
I drug around SVT's for my slabs for decades. Perfect sound for me on P bass. I tried it on DB a bunch. Never got it sounding as good as the Walter Woods or the AI Focus which I kept. SVT's are all gone for the purchase of the AQ.
 
#20
I've had the opportunity to use the SVT's (classic 90lb'er) many times on the road. Never liked tubes for DB. Not enough damping and control. Which is why I used the Intersound preamp. Solid state but tubey sound. Which is why I like the new EA stuff. Tubey kind of envelope but solid state control. I've tried bunches of tube stuff on the road like Aguilar and nice Euro amps like EBS. Always liked the warmth and complexity of the sound but when I started walking----didn't cut it. My favorite tube amp story was when I played a big fest in Israel. They had tons of amps to choose from. But they had a Marshall bass stack. Big 200 watt (I think) head. Two 4x12 bass cabs. Had to try it.Sounded horrendous but boy did I dig standing in front of it!
 

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