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Best rig for no PA support??

#21
Depends on where you plan to use it...venue size, etc. I've used a 2x12av cab with a 100 watt V4b for almost a year
for everything from outdoor patio tavern gigs to indoor restaurant/grill settings and it has covered all the bases so far with no challenge.
i've also used my MB LM3 with 1x15 & 2x10 for the same situations and it's way more than enough.
 
#22
JBL, Nexo, Meyer Sound, Electrovoice and others all make bass amps that will be appropriate to your situation. The best things about these amps is that you can run many things into them as well as bass including the vocals, the guitars, the keyboards and others. :-)

On a slightly more serious note (although the suggestion to invest in a good pa is serious) I second the suggestion for clever, new fangled, pa-like cabs. IME too much is made of dispersion, frequency range, etc is made in the bass world but in your situation you could probably really benefit from a cab that is designed for a wide, even dispersion and high spl. Everything from the JBL 2x15" (that are actually pa cabs) through Greenboy, Barefaced, Bill Fitzmaurice, there are a few about now.
 
#24
Phenomoron said:
Cheers for the replies lads,small to medium sized gigs would be the norm with a once in a blue moon bigger gig,pubs mainly.I used the pf500 with those two cabs and it had loads but I'm looking for a good compact set up that I can bring in a car to a gig.
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I'm probably misunderstanding, but are you saying that you can't fit a pair of 210AV's and a PF500 in a car?

Because if that is the case most of these suggestions aren't going to work being that they're bigger...and you have a really small car :)
 
#25
I am going to assume that since you are planning for zero PA support, you are playing smaller places. With that in mind, and without knowing more about how loud you play, a good rule of thumb is a head putting out 300-500 watts (yes, I know wattage doesn't equal volume, but that puts OP in the right spectrum of heads). You say you are playing "acoustic", but that can mean a lot of things.

As to cabs, your minimum safe speakers is a pair of 2x10s, 1x12s or 1x15s. This also gives you the option of having one cab at home for practicing, and the other where you rehearse, so you only have to carry your head and bass to rehearsal. Quieter gigs you may be able to get away with just one cab.
 
#28
Dave W said:
I'm probably misunderstanding, but are you saying that you can't fit a pair of 210AV's and a PF500 in a car?

Because if that is the case most of these suggestions aren't going to work being that they're bigger...and you have a really small car :)
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Ha ha,no buddy they fit alright and flight cased.I thought I had enough with that setup but I was told 2x10s are for stage sound and don't project sound like 15s do.
 
#31
If two 2x10 are too much to carry, look at some 2x12s. For the price, you can beat GK Neos - nice and light. Their two x12 is $599. A pair of their 1x12s would be even better (easier to carry around) , but more expensive ($449 each).

Revsound make a 38 pound 2x12 which is just a touch larger than a 2x10, but I'm not sure it would be worth it having to ship it overseas.
 
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#34
Downunderwonder said:
Tens in vertical stack is as good as it gets for carrying your own sound, unless you go DIY Fearful / BFM. You could spend up big on compact boutique cab and a bigger amp.

For the typical pub gig your 210av stack is ideal. Maybe it doesn't have the big bottom you wanted?
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It sounded great to be honest but I've seen those small genz Benz cabs and heard a couple with a fender rumble head and they were amazing.Also there's a guy close to me selling a promethean ibanez 2x10 500watt setup?
 
#35
Well, some of these suggestions are really overkill for what you are doing. I am not familiar with the PF500, but it says it is 500 watts, so you should have no problem whatsoever with 2 2x10's and this amp. For those of us that have passed the age of 50 and are still lugging around bass cabinets, we have a pretty good idea how much horsepower we need as we don't want to carry anymore than we have to...
 
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#36
I have used one or two 210av's with my medium volume oldies band with horns and without PA and it works very well for me, but just know that they are medium duty cabs and you can't push them as hard as you could two PF210he's or a 410he. With an acoustic act, I really don't foresee a problem using them.
 
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#37
My only concern for you is the reputation that early PF500 models earned for poor reliability / quality problems. I haven't heard of problems with recent production models, but it sounds like Ampeg / LOUD had some serious problems getting the PF500 quality where it should be when they first brought the models out.

I would think that by now, unless you snag an early production that is still NIB, any out there should be burned in well enough that any reliability problems would have presented long ago...

Specs wise, the PF500 with the 2 2x10 AV cabs is similiar to my Rumble 500 210 combo + 210 cab rig, 500 watts @ 4ohms, 4 10s stacked vertically. Awesome sound that I think you'd be hard to beat without breaking budgets or backs...
 
#39
Phenomoron said:
Cheers for the replies lads,small to medium sized gigs would be the norm with a once in a blue moon bigger gig,pubs mainly.I used the pf500 with those two cabs and it had loads but I'm looking for a good compact set up that I can bring in a car to a gig.
Click to expand...

I’ve use that exact rig (PF500 & 210av x 2) in a three piece rock band, a four piece and a five piece band. No worries hearing myself most of the time, and no complaints from the room. Acoustic blues in a small room, you could probably get away with one cab. I moved to the TH500, because its even smaller and has no reliabilty concerns. The PF was just a little bit too big to fit in my gig bag. Im thinking moving to a CN212, becuase I'm also sick of carrying two cabs to every gig (and my grandma left me some cash that's burning a hole in my pocket)

I go to a (politely volumed) jam where one of the bassists plays through a sinlge 10" Ibanez combo. It's pretty impressive noise from a tiny machine.
 
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#40
For years, I ran two high-quality 2x10's - one cab for small/medium gigs, two for bigger gigs (those epifani cabs really push air); These days I'm running two Berg CN112's in the same arrangment. Two really fill a room nicely.

For a big-outdoor gig - (I don't mean nightclub big - I mean *big*) there better be an FoH because I have ZERO interset in schlepping a big-old cab just because the venue is cheap!
 
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