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Ampeg Micro VR issues poll with new video

If you own the Micro VR with TWO 210AV cabs do you:

  • Have zero issues with clipping or distortion.

    Votes: 47 32.2%

  • Experience the issues with clipping, distortion, or crackle.

    Votes: 30 20.5%

  • Have tried the head or cabs with other setups and they work fine.

    Votes: 23 15.8%

  • Have already swapped out gear with Ampeg for a fix and it didn't fix the issue.

    Votes: 8 5.5%

  • I have Micro Carrots

    Votes: 52 35.6%
  • Total voters
    146
#241
BulbousMoses said:
Then what is the upside of running a 1500 watt rig that weighs 200 pounds? I guess if you don't or can't use an IEM and PA support...can't think of any other reason.
Click to expand...

Truthfully most of the large bands now use large bass amps on stage for rehearsal/sound check then turn them off.

Garry Tallent and the E Street Band run his cab during sound check only, then for the show they take the head direct wirelessly and pump that out.

The larger amps are becoming more and more popular but are used in larger venues less and less.

I play a club called the Saint in Asbury Park which is a small club and still have to fight with the sound guy to not take me in the board at all! My 500 W from the stage would more then fill the room, but he wants it all on the floor.

I go to warped tour every year and I still wonder why they bother with most of the amps. In order to control bleed and sound they pump all out through boards to pa systems. On the stage itself they have a ton of large amps but I have never heard much noise coming out of the amps themselves.

I think we all have been going lighter when possible thanks to technology.

If there was a way to get a good floor monitor sound for bass from the board I'd never bring and amp to most shows. Unfortunately the guys don't know how to do that well, at least at many of the places I play now. So the amp on stage is my monitor, and nothing else. 500W for that is a waste.
 
#242
TRichardsbass said:
Truthfully most of the large bands now use large bass amps on stage for rehearsal/sound check then turn them off.

Garry Tallent and the E Street Band run his cab during sound check only, then for the show they take the head direct wirelessly and pump that out.

The larger amps are becoming more and more popular but are used in larger venues less and less.

I play a club called the Saint in Asbury Park which is a small club and still have to fight with the sound guy to not take me in the board at all! My 500 W from the stage would more then fill the room, but he wants it all on the floor.

I go to warped tour every year and I still wonder why they bother with most of the amps. In order to control bleed and sound they pump all out through boards to pa systems. On the stage itself they have a ton of large amps but I have never heard much noise coming out of the amps themselves.

I think we all have been going lighter when possible thanks to technology.

If there was a way to get a good floor monitor sound for bass from the board I'd never bring and amp to most shows. Unfortunately the guys don't know how to do that well, at least at many of the places I play now. So the amp on stage is my monitor, and nothing else. 500W for that is a waste.
Click to expand...

My rationale for buying the Micro VR was partially to do with weight considerations and the type of gigs I play (small coffee house acoustic shows) where I don't need huge output. And if I do need "more" from the amp I can run it out to the PA. Sometimes I seriously wonder if the "Huge Rig" mentality is just a testosterone fueled mine-is-bigger-than-yours pi**ing match meant to impress the audience visually rather than aurally.
 
#243
The two bands I'm in must still be from the dark ages...one is a classic rock band, the other a light lounge/standards band. Neither use the PA for anything but vocals & acoustic guitar, we do our own sound, don't have a soundman. So my amp is for not only stage sound, but house sound. The Micro-VR cuts it for the smaller band, I generally use a bigger amp for the classic rock band.
But I love the Micro, it's kick-ass!
 
#245
TRichardsbass said:
But yes, in today's stadium concert sound, with all the players having IEMs, you can use an original B-15 mic'd and with the stadium PA get thought of as booming.
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Hello. I have done so many times, although I refuse to listen to bass out of IEM's or monitors and would never dream of keeping my beautiful 64 B-15N offstage...unless it paid and I was ordered to do so or not get paid. Al Berry was doing the B-15 offstage/IEM thing for a while with Avril Lavigne, too, before they went back to amps onstage.

But I can't do the monitor/IEM thing with bass. Would give IEM's a shot, but I hate monitors and nobody else in the band wants to do IEM's, and Bowzer flat out refuses, so I do the next best thing and just run loud enough to hear myself make a flub.
 
#246
Bassflute said:
From my first post:

" I used one for a practice amp at the Canadian Rockies Bass Bash, just me and a drummer. It was BARELY loud enough. You could do quiet gigs, but I was hitting the limit all the time. "

How on EARTH can you take something that looks like THIS seriously?

bobwithmicro.jpg
Click to expand...
Hey man, don't sell yourself short. Yeah, nobody's going to mistake you for Johnny Depp, but it looks like you lost some serious weight and are getting in good shape. I'll bet I could fix you up with my mother in law.

:D

Cameron, I hate to break it to you, but as talented as you are, you are far from the last word on all things bass. Had you not come into this nice happy thread like you were the total authority on all things bass, maybe you wouldn't have gotten such a negative reaction. Your whole attitude was one of derision, and you did everything except out and out call people who use them "morons." Then you have the balls to get mad at us for getting mad at you? Sheesh!

Also, while I wouldn't exactly want to play an arena with an un-mic'ed B-15 or Micro VR, I've done fairly large gigs with an un-mic'ed B-15 or Micro VR and a medium volume band, and it's been great. Fortunately, though, modern PA systems make it quite possible to use them on everything unless you need big stage volume. I don't...I turn up to the point where I have a good mix with everyone else onstage and let the PA do the work. And if I need more than that, I do have a couple larger cabs. But rare are the times I need more than that.

So you see how that works, bro? People have different needs and likes, and their tastes don't always line up with yours, but it's OK. Once you get over the initial shock of realizing that you're not the center of the universe and people can actually think for themselves and do just fine without doing things your way, it's actually kind of freeing.
 
#253
Okay folks. After a few modifications of my setup I got to AB the two heads. The modded one that isn't supposed to snap crackle and pop, and the old head.

With the exact same settings the modded head seems a little less loud and I can't clip the gain (not that I wanted to anyway). Not sure if part of the fix was to tame the gain circuit or what they did to make this "test" unit work.

However, I can TURN IT UP to be as loud as the other amp (non modded farty one) as get loud, warm, fuzzy Ampeg tone for days WITHOUT the Rice Krispies. :bassist:

I know the mod they did, but I am not sure how it makes it sound ever more tubey with the second cab but I will take it and it isn't my ears playing tricks. AB'ing the two heads while the non modded head seems to have a little more headroom before the tube emulations kicks in, the new head sounds right.

Well I am happy, but not celebrating yet. I have a 4 hour gig tonight and I am going to put it through the paces. So far, so good.
 
#257
Johno Dunn said:
Hey Fenderhutz, can you A/B the 2 heads with just 1 cab? Just want to see if the "fix" has any effect on the tone that way.

Thanks for all you've done!

Johno!
Click to expand...

Well I did and yes and no. What they had to do was "compress" in a sense the initial hit on the soft clip circuit (aka fake tube tone) when it is getting pushed hard. They made that change and I can't say it affects tone in a bad way. You lose a little (and I mean TINY) bit of inital attack but honestly it sounds more like a tube amp than what it did before to my ears. More like natural tube compression.

Now, I just talked to Ampeg and they want me to beat it up this weekend. I will just say after my conversation with them things are looking good for those that have the issue going forward :cool:
 
#260
fenderhutz said:
Well I did and yes and no. What they had to do was "compress" in a sense the initial hit on the soft clip circuit (aka fake tube tone) when it is getting pushed hard. They made that change and I can't say it affects tone in a bad way. You lose a little (and I mean TINY) bit of inital attack but honestly it sounds more like a tube amp than what it did before to my ears. More like natural tube compression.

Now, I just talked to Ampeg and they want me to beat it up this weekend. I will just say after my conversation with them things are looking good for those that have the issue going forward :cool:
Click to expand...

Thanks again for you due diligence. You've done a great thing for the Micro VR's of the world

J!
 

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