Anyone else NOT into lightweight mini rigs?

[rtav]

Yeah... I’m not feeling the allure of micro gear, but I know a lot of ppl are. I just prefer to have the mass behind the motion, the muscle and torque needed to push tons of air. Size matters.

But then I don’t gig much (pfffffft don’t care to), play prog metal, and play with drummers who weaponize their massive kits by mic’ing everything they have... in the practice room.

Besides it’s fun to knock the shelves from the wall of our neighbors ... twice.

 

[2112]

Not knowingly or specifically, but they will appreciate a good bass tone as part of a band sound they like. They probably just don't know or care what is making it all sound good, and why should they?

I get a good bass tone out of my Class D/Neo rig. But it is a rare creature indeed who's going to appreciate the tiny, subtle improvement my big iron provides. That's not enough return on investment for breaking my back to load it in & out.

 

[Liam Wald]

Depends on the amp, and the cab. If you think a 29 pound cab is useless, try a Barefaced Big Baby 2. Now, with an "average" brand, a small cab would perhaps be a compromise in sound; not with the good stuff. And, my 5 pound GK MBF800 is also hardly useless. I do keep some heavy stuff at home that works fine there, but at 100 pounds for a 4x10 and average sound quality, it isn't going with me to the gig. Stationary, the implication of its gravitational attraction to the mass of the earth means little.

I think that you missed the attempt at humor. No worries it is still pretty early after all.

 

[Pterandactula]

Sounds like Peavey needs to resurrect the 3620 to remind us that all other rigs are lightweight.

 

[troy mcclure]

I used class D and Neo Speakers/Cab. Everyone compliments me on my sound. I take what is necessary for the gig.

 

[2112]

Have you taken polls? I see this comment on here all the time, yet nobody ever provides any proof of it. Honestly, if that's how I felt about it, I'd just quit playing. How sad it must be to regard what you do as useless.

Taken polls? No. But in all the shows I've played over the decades, I'm pretty sure total attendance is at least 10,000. Aside from fellow band members, I can count on the fingers of one hand missing four fingers how many drunken audience members ever cared enough about my tone to say anything or ask me about it. And that's including before and after I made the switch from big iron to Class D/Neo.

Interestingly, project I'm working on right now, last night at rehearsal our drummer (who's also a bassist) remarked about how much he liked my bass tone through my practice rig... which is an even smaller Class D/Neo setup.

 

[micahwc]

I used to have an SWR Goliath 410 and an SWR amp. The cabinet weighed 84 pounds, and the head was another 20. I currently own a Fender Rumble 500 head and two Fender Rumble 15" cabs. Both 15" cabs and the head combined weigh less than the single SWR 410. I have no complaints, and my back is very thankful.

 

[Stu_Bass]

Obviously, this guy's not into light weight mini rigs!

View attachment 2834833

Nor variety

 

[spiritbass]

I used to have an SWR Goliath 410 and an SWR amp. The cabinet weighed 84 pounds, and the head was another 20. I currently own a Fender Rumble 500 head and two Fender Rumble 15" cabs. Both 15" cabs and the head combined weigh less than the single SWR 410. I have no complaints, and my back is very thankful.

I hear nothing but good about Fender's Rumble amps. If I were going smaller/lighter, I would look at them and Mesa's Subway 800...

 

[LYNCHMAN]

i'm old school.....love those old heavy earthquake producing rigs....

 

[MultiScaleMale]

I like TVs with cathode ray tubes and phones that hang on walls, computers that take five minutes to boot up and use a modem. Bah!

 

[klejst]

To each their own and for their own reasons. In my personal experience though a smaller rig/setup has generally been a lot easier to load in and out and my back has been happy too however I am not yet afraid to bring the big rig either.

 

[Thumpin6string]

Is that a Carvin Red Line combo you dropped that EBS into? I have one just lying around but have been thinking about dropping my Genz Benz NeoPak 3.5 into it.

It was, but now it has Deltalite neos, an upgraded crossover and an EBS HD350 in it. Sounds amazing. The horn (tweeter) will soon be change to a JBL Super tweeter. So basically the cab is a Carvin. I'd like to strip off the rat fur and bedliner it, but don't currently have the time. The Carvin cabs are pretty solid and no particle board. You should go for it.

 

[Mantis Tobaggan]

People who say things like 99.9% of the audience doesn’t care about bass tone really don’t get it.

 

[Sixgunn]

I have a 2400 watt rack setup that I was running into a 2X10 and an 18 but for virtually ALL of the gigs I play, it was too much so I was using an 800RB and the 2X10 only and it has been quite adequate but I wanted a bit more head room so I got a Quilter BB (800 watts and 4ish lbs.) I just used it in a large room and it was LOUD and clean before FOH was even plugged in! I once had an SVT with two 8X10 cabs and it was dirty, ugly and muddy. Oh and HEAVY! It got stolen and I replaced it with the 800RB and LOVED it. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.

 

[Sixgunn]

Frank77 ans Axstar - if you feel personally insulted by my thread you could as well move on to another. You seem to like small rigs a lot. I don't like them. I feel we could as well coexist but you get all angry and personal and aggressive. What's wrong with you? It's not a very important topic and there's no need to behave so rude.

I think he was being tongue in cheek.

 

[I am Soma]

Ummmm, maybe you are not aware that the US was (and maybe still is) the world leader in miniaturization, specifically in medical, aerospace and semiconductors?

logic has no place on talkbass

 

[BurningSkies]

How about a large class D neo/lightweight rig. All the size, more power and ability than either micro ankle biters or old school back breakers.

2500w RMS class D, high voltage Tube preamp, two cabs, neither more than about 45 pounds.

 

[kartiste]

For several years, when I was younger, I had 2 basses, a SVT w/810 cab, guitarist had 3 guitars, Marshall Stack w/monstrous sized pedalboard, keyboardist had a Hammond B3 w/Leslie and a Yamaha electric baby grand, drummer had a kit that took up most of the stage and our PA was big enough for any outdoor or indoor venue. We also had a 24 par can light system w/trusses. It took 2 vans and a pickup with a 16' enclosed trailer to get our gear to the gig and then at least 2-1/2 hours to set up.

Today, I have 1 bass w/Radial Tonebone Bassbone direct to PA, guitarist has Takamine Acoustic/Electric Guitar w/small pedalboard direct to PA, female singer w/ shaker egg and a Bose L1 Model 2 w/B2 bass module and Tonematch mixer. We have a 4-L.E.D. light system and can transport all gear in the back of my pickup w/cap. We fit in the corner of the room if necessary and it takes 20 minutes to set up. I have a Genz Benz 6.0 12T shuttle for rehearsal. Things, with times and age, change.

Somehow, this makes me sad (seriously). I feel like my crops have withered and my livestock are dead (not so seriously).

 

[Sixgunn]

The output volume has little to do with the amp’s design. What Class D brings to the equation is cost savings - not quality. You can pack a huge amount of wattage for relatively few dollars and pounds compared to an AB design. And you can design a crappy sounding AB amp just as easily as you can design a decent sounding Class D amp.

What’s really important isn’t so much the underlying design as it is the rest of the amp. Because you have a preamp stage, an EQ section, possibly some modulation effects, a power stage, a power supply, etc. It’s a system - not a single thing. Each part contributes to the sound you hear coming out of a specific amp. And that’s not even getting into the cab design and speaker selection.

I prefer old style AB designs. I personally think they sound warmer and smoother than the new digital amps. And I prefer an all tube amp over solid-state seven days out of seven for their musical distortion and natural soft compression plus the difference in their overal response and how they handle fast transients. But that’s my preference because it’s what I know best and grew up with. And it’s become what “sounds right” to me. Not because I’m convinced they’re superior to modern amp designs. It’s just what I prefer to listen to.

That's awesome! Different preferences are what make the world go around I'm opposite and I've had MANY different rigs and have discovered that I like an absolutely crystal clean, loud, punchy tone that I can't get with tubes so for me, it'd class D all the way. Embrace diversity!!!