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Are the big amps history?

I will! I rule my gigs with an iron hand of doom!

Well, actually I don't...I just bring a bunch of outboard stuff that forces them to make the bass sound like what I want :D

I'm thinking of getting a speaker level DI, I have a tube distortion/DI I use now but it only sends the signal to the house when the distortion is on so I have to leave it on all the time although I can get a fairly clean sound out of it.
 
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Note that using any bridged amp with a speaker level DI carries a big risk in the event that the minus speaker terminal is ever connected to ground or pin 1.
Thank you. I always forget the rule on that. Not like there's much use of speaker DIing a SS or hybrid, but I've seen people talk about wanting to do it so it's good to know.
 
Still... The Cosmo's RIDER asks for the big Ampeg rig!

:help:

Edit:

The rig you use on-stage may not be the eq the house hears, but- the player will be pushed (at least I am) by what I am hearing and feeling right near me, from what I've chosen to plug into, as well as what is fed back thru the wedges. So, yeah I think the rig used on stage has quite a bit to do with the end result.
Absolutely..!
 
Who stands out in front the house system? Certainly not me, I use a big tube amp because I like them and they sound great, and i play better when my bass sounds the way I want it to sound, no other reason. The stage is my domain the house is the sound man's, don't tell me what to do on my stage and i won't tell you what to do for the house, that being said I am always cognizant of how sound engineers' feel about my stage volume, why? Because I ask them, how's it sound? How is my volume? A little courtesy goes a long way with band mates and engineers.
Absolutely...nothing worse than a wayy too loud bass onstage...I saw Tinsley Ellis in a small blues bar in Macon...the bass player with the 2 4x10s totally ruined it.
 
To everything, there is a season
And a time to every purpose under heaven
A time you may embrace
A time to refrain from embracing

Everything goes in cycles, that's nothing new. In the 60's people started shifting from tube to transistorized amps. It was a trend, people junked their tube gear only to find out that it wasn't what was being hyped by the companies pushing solid state.

Now, for various reasons, the trend is towards lighter compact amps and cabinets. No question that this isn't a passing fad, these musical instrument amps are well entrenched in the minds of generations of musicians, making gains since the 80's. For many musicians, this is all that they know.

But big heavy tube amps are also here to stay. They are entrenched in the hearts of musicians and aren't going anywhere either. I have a tube amp in a Hammond organ that dates back to the 1930's and it sounds amazing. Ampeg tube bass amps such as the B-15, V4B, and SVT have gone a long way in defining the classic sound of bass. The combination of my 1963 B-15N with a Precision bass never fails to lift the hairs on the back of my neck and send chills down my spine. The fact that a bass amp can be maintained and in service for well over 50 years says a lot about it. People hold on to these treasures.

It's a matter of finding what works best for you. Trying newer and older technologies. It often comes down to a combination of both.
 
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To everything, there is a season
And a time to every purpose under heaven
A time you may embrace
A time to refrain from embracing

Everything goes in cycles. In the 60's people started shifting from tube to transistorized amps. It was a trend, people junked their tube gear only to find out that it wasn't what was being hyped by the companies pushing solid state.

Now, for various reasons, the trend is towards lighter compact amps and cabinets. No question that this isn't a passing fad, these musical instrument amps are well entrenched in the minds of generations of musicians, making gains since the 80's. For many musicians, this is all that they know.

But big heavy tube amps are also here to stay. They are entrenched in the hearts of musicians and aren't going anywhere either. I have a tube amp in a Hammond organ that dates back to the 1930's and it sounds amazing. Ampeg tube bass amps such as the B-15, V4B, and SVT have gone a long way in defining the classic sound of bass. The combination of my 1963 B-15N with a Precision bass never fails to lift the hairs on the back of my neck and send chills down my spine. The fact that a bass amp can be maintained and in service for well over 50 years says a lot about it. People hold on to these treasures.

It's a matter of finding what works best for you. Trying newer and older technology. It often comes down to a combination of both.
WI_Respek1379041190.jpg

Too much agenda pushing on here, not enough understanding. Sometimes I'm guilty of that, too, but only because I want to make sure that my supply of rental SVT's when I go on the road isn't threatened :D

Play what you want, love what you play, and be grateful for it. There was a time none of it existed.
 
For me, truly huge amps never were a thing. I did use large cabinets for years, Goliath 410's. Sometimes two of them. Solid state amp of some kind. Did a 6 space pre/power rack for awhile. Downsized to one neo 410 and a couple of different class D heads. Then to two neo 15 cabs. Back to 410. Now back to an AB head. Now looking to reduce the 410 down to something smaller. Maybe I'll be back to a D head at some point. Never could do the big tube/810 thing, just because of portability hassles. Probably never will. But I'm not dead yet so you never know.
 

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