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Double Bass amplification for reasonable price ?

B

b-flat

Dec 5, 2002
31
0
Lisbon, Portugal
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#1
Hey!

I have $500-700 to spend on a DB combo but no idea from what is really good.

I'm now using a Underwood ( with preamp) through a Trace Elliot but the sound is terribly bad... to electric...

I've been doing some reading on this forum (also newbie links ;) ) but i can't seem to decide...

I wanted something around 150/200 watts and looked at the GK 150 mbe but from the reviews I think it has this "enclosed" sound due to its size...

Acoustic Image is a bit to expensive but can you give some ideas? Pros and cons for this price range?
A amp which combines electric and acoustic would be great! :D

Tks

mad
 
#2
If you have a preamp, I would HIGHLY recommend the Schertler Pub 2/280 speaker. It is a 280 watt bi-amped full range 8" speaker that will sound better with upright than any bass amp, with lots of power to spare.

I generally use it with my Schertler preamp, and I have used everything from microphones to piezo pickups to the Schertler Dyn B with it, and it sounds great.

Little testomonial from last night:

Got a call to play with the world's loudest sax player (I wish I were kidding). Normally at this club, I just run a mic on a stand into the small club PA. I knew that wasn't going to work at this volume leve, and my other plan would normally be to use the Schertler Dyn B. Unfortunately, when pushed too loud, the Dyn B isn't as microphonic, so I pulled out the Schertler Stat B, which sounds better at high volumes. I keep one for big band gigs, etc.

My plan was to run the Stat B into the Pub Speaker fairly loud, with a litte of the Dyn B into the house to fill out the sound. I went there yesterday afternoon to set up, and left the levels right where I wanted it.

At the beginning of the gig, I asked the sax player if it was loud enough, and he asked me to turn up some more, so I turned the speaker up a little more and he was happy. Played the 4 hours, and was really happy with the sound, as was the band. At the end of the night when tearing down, I went to the PA channel to turn the Dyn B down before unplugging it and discovered it was off!! I guess a bartender, trying to adjust the muzak before we got there, had turned down the wrong channel, and I never bothered to check,as it has never happened before.

So, that little 8" speaker was supplying a lot of bass to a big noisy club with a sax player who plays everything sfz....

Downsides are it is heavy for such a small box at 44 lbs. You can check it out Invalid Link Removed . It is JUST a powered speaker, so you need a preamp to control gain and tone. All it has is a volume knob and a ground lift switch.

I like it so much I'm getting another so I don't have to depend on crappy speakers at clubs. I'll use a small mixer and with the 2 speakers, it will serve as our PA system for small casuals and such, running bass, keys, and vocals.

Price retail is $740, but you may be able to get someone to deal a little to keep it to your $700 ceiling.

Scott Reed who is around the list occasionally uses 1-2 Pubs on his gigs with a Fishman Full Circle and really likes it as well.

Monte
 
#3
Man after reading Montes post above it's got me itching to try one of those Schertler Pubs. But I just recently picked up a used iamp 600 that I am liking alot right now, so the pub will have to wait for another day. What I would suggest to b-flat is picking up a 1x12 or 2x10 cab and a head. There are a number of heads that can be found in the 200 watt area for roughly a couple hundred bucks. Gk 400rb useually go for about that on ebay. Some folks like those. I've had pretty good luck with some older swr heads. The 220 and the redfaced 350. I'm sure there are others. Whith the seperate cab & head set up you can upgrade or try different combinations without replacing everything at once. And if you look around you can do it easily for under $700

Kevinlee
 
#4
I just got a FBT Maxx2A--it's a powered speaker-200W lows + 50W hi. I paid $525 it has a 10 and a nice horn. it his xlr and 1/4 inputs, gain and master volume and low, mid, hi eq. i like it much better than my mb150e--it has less eq options and no speaker out- but you can put it on a pole or upright or tilt it like a floor monitor. I use it with a fishman platinum preamp. it's really light too. look at: Invalid Link Removed
 

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