You'll need a step-down if you take the 69, but you can rewire the tranny in the Heritage. Good move. I'll ship it overnight.
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Are bass amps obsolete?
- Thread starter sanwin17
- Start date
Why do think I chose the Heritage? Send to
The bass player.
Scott Bass Antarctica.
Cheers much!
it better predict the future for 3000 dollars. Pass.Somebody buy a copy of: Invalid Link Removed
Then let us know if you break it down to a Yes/No answer ...
I very rarely use an amp. Sure it's fun to use one, but I consistently get a better mix and superior tone on stage without one. I use a Kemper, but there are many other options out there for going ampless. With a Kemper I'm not tied to the sound of a single amp and speaker combination during any given performance. Are amps obsolete now? No. Obstinance and inertia will keep folks using amps for personal monitoring for the foreseeable future. Personally, I prefer the convenience, selection and consistently better sound quality obtained from a device like a Kemper. YMMV.
Passinwind
I know nothing.
- Dec 3, 2003
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Most all of my groups gigs are in small venues with no audio support so my amp is necessary. We play one gig a year where I can go DI and don't even bring an amp. The engineer does a very good job.
Haven't you heard? The bass mic picks up the drums and guitars and pollutes the FOH beyond salvation. \sacasm.
nah you got it all wrong, reeeal professionals learn how to make their DI sound how they want the FOH to sound, well some do and the rest are luddites lugging amps around. One day that may be true.
Fellow latecomer, please define some data points, size of venue, stage, equipment in use that adds up to reasonable stage volume. So many variables and such a small window of reasonable in each situation. Our bugbear is so many going overboard with stage volume.
I would say no. I play in a band with the same situation as you. I personally do not play with a monitor due to everyone in the band having one and I can hear theirs. I do not like the sound of a bass out of a monitor as there are not enough lows IMO. I don't think bass amps will ever die.
To truly be satisfying, bass must be visceral, not just aural.
The first time you experience a superior sound reinforcement system with extended bass response, the sympathetic vibrations in your torso will take you by surprise. Perhaps they will be accompanied by a chill running up and down your spine. This is the sought after response, for both you and the audience.
This cannot occur with just IEMs, or floor wedges.
Transferring the primary duties to FOH, subs, or sidefills is not "obsoleting" the bass amp, those items have now become the bass amp. You may personally travel lighter by only bringing a pre amp/Di, in rack or pedal form, but someone has to bring the "racks and stacks" to push dat bass onstage and FOH.
We used to say "The bass ain't snappin' til your pant leg's flappin'", and used SVT's and Acoustic 370's to prove it. Thankfully reason has prevailed, and the trend now is to keep stage volume under control, but the thrill of experiencing "live" music is the physical reaction to gut shaking, spine tingling BASS.
This has an intoxicating effect on audience members of both sexes, perhaps affecting females more pronouncedly . It spurs them to dance, folds them into the music, "primes the pump" (if you will), and will never occur if the audience is just wearing earbuds.
No way.
Solid, deep, resonant, extended bass, and a shot of kick drum punch are what unceasingly drag them to the dance floor.
So, until we can remotely tap into the central nervous system, there will always be a need for an electro-acoustic transducer, and associated power supply, of sufficient effectiveness to reach that CNS through vibratory excitation.
And that, my friends, is the definition of a bass amp!
The first time you experience a superior sound reinforcement system with extended bass response, the sympathetic vibrations in your torso will take you by surprise. Perhaps they will be accompanied by a chill running up and down your spine. This is the sought after response, for both you and the audience.
This cannot occur with just IEMs, or floor wedges.
Transferring the primary duties to FOH, subs, or sidefills is not "obsoleting" the bass amp, those items have now become the bass amp. You may personally travel lighter by only bringing a pre amp/Di, in rack or pedal form, but someone has to bring the "racks and stacks" to push dat bass onstage and FOH.
We used to say "The bass ain't snappin' til your pant leg's flappin'", and used SVT's and Acoustic 370's to prove it. Thankfully reason has prevailed, and the trend now is to keep stage volume under control, but the thrill of experiencing "live" music is the physical reaction to gut shaking, spine tingling BASS.
This has an intoxicating effect on audience members of both sexes, perhaps affecting females more pronouncedly . It spurs them to dance, folds them into the music, "primes the pump" (if you will), and will never occur if the audience is just wearing earbuds.
No way.
Solid, deep, resonant, extended bass, and a shot of kick drum punch are what unceasingly drag them to the dance floor.
So, until we can remotely tap into the central nervous system, there will always be a need for an electro-acoustic transducer, and associated power supply, of sufficient effectiveness to reach that CNS through vibratory excitation.
And that, my friends, is the definition of a bass amp!
Kemper into monitor? Isn’t that a bass amp? Or IEM? Headphone bass amp? I’m confusing myself now!
Every now now and then I think it’d be awesome to go preamp into killer wedge (L’Acoustic or Meyer). But they’re so heavy and expensive! I guess I’ll just keep the QSC for little gigs and the cheap dinosaur amp for gigs with drums.
You are absolutely right that there is no reason to be loud just to be loud, but I for one relate to that 1000W or 2000W of power not as a means of playing stupid loud but as a means of projecting great tone throughout whatever space I am called upon to cover. In my particular situation I typically play small to medium rooms with zero FOH. I am a fanatic about sitting well in the mix and I have no problem dialing that volume knob down to whatever is appropriate.
All my big gigs are similar but sometimes they mic the drums and put me in PA also. The drummer could have written the book on dynamics so he plays accordingly.
We gave the last soundman a bit of an education. First off at sound check I am fighting to stay low enough with all the PA coming back. The lower I get the more he turns me up. I growl and MD backs me up. Soundcheck is over.
1st set goes great and I check in with soundguy. ''Man you guys are dynamic''. Yep, that's how we roll, cheers.
I love how they look and sound on a stage and I like to feel the air thumping behind me.A great sound on stage can really get you and the rest of the band in a good space..Drummers love it.Then ...(when the rhythm section is chuggin) the lead instruments catch fire too., Lit ( and working) amps on a stage just shout out " We're here live .. doing this now for you" and an empty stage always make me think.."pre-recorded"..even when that's not the case..I remember seeing Sabbath in '70 doing the first album.. a wall of lit humming Laneys.. I knew we were in for it...
I played an ampless gig in the mid 1990’s. I was called in to play for an otherwise acoustic act at A SXSW gig. I brought a Jazz Bass with emgs and a an emg two band eq and my Whirlwind IMP d.i. box. It sounded great. They had some serious foh and seriously good stage monitors.
I haven’t had that kind of quality sound reinforcement or mixing since then.
Lots of big name pros have been performing ampless for years though. That’s why Geddy started having old Maytag dryers on stage over a decade ago. He said that the stage just felt too empty without something back there.
I haven’t had that kind of quality sound reinforcement or mixing since then.
Lots of big name pros have been performing ampless for years though. That’s why Geddy started having old Maytag dryers on stage over a decade ago. He said that the stage just felt too empty without something back there.
My stage volume will always be equal to the drummers volume and guitar amp volume which has to be at a certain level. I like to hear myself behind me and only vocals through the monitor and post eq through the pa
I think he means people walking around blasting music through their personal earbuds.
