Cabinet and/or Combo good for NYC!!

[hotrodjohn]

Does the Bitter End still have the Hartke 410 cabinet? When I used to play there about 15 years ago, I'd find a parking spot on the Lower East Side and walk over with a bass and the most portable head I had -- a GK 400RB -- in an Anvil rackcase. My arm would be ready to fall off when I got there. Today, I would bring my Trace Elliot Elf!
Anyway, that's not helpful, so I'll go away again.

Wow, the Bitter End, back in the 80’s this was my portable gear to play there, Hohner headless and GK 200MB

 

[Killing Floor]

Check out Boom Bass Cabinets. He builds a retractable handle on the back and good wheels so it rolls like a carry-on.

 

[Snarf]

Thank you for the insight! I do believe you're right about having a car, however my current financial circumstances prevent me from adding that sort of expense onto everything else.

Usually the gigs that require my own gear are cover-band electric gigs - where the venue either has no sound reinforcement OR they only have a PA for vocalists/horns - or Upright jazz gigs in and around the city. Some folks have already commented some great suggestions, especially the Markbass CMP 121P which I've played before and sounds great on both electric and upright.

You mention that you have the option for going direct and using in ears. Do you have a favorite DI box that you use, and do you have a favorite in-ears system? Does the rest of the band need in ears for your system to work, or are you running purely by yourself?

My signal chain passes through a few boxes until it hits the Sansamp Bass VT, which ends up getting distributed to a Rolls 2-channel headphone amp. That headphone amp takes a 1/4" for bass, and an XLR for the board mix. It's actually a bit more complicated than that, but those are the cliff notes. I use this same rig whether it's electric or upright. I do bypass the eq on the Sansamp for upright, though. My in-ears are like $150 Shures, but next season I'll be doing custom Westone molds.

That setup is really only appropriate for larger productions. Most gigs I do, there's 1-2 dedicated sound techs with arrays + subs, or at least tops + subs. The whole band is also on ears, so there's no real need for the amp on stage. Sometimes I break it out though, if it's an easy load-in and I want air moving past my feet. Or, if I'm working with a band that's not on ears and they use wedges, I'll have my amp going, but also use my ears just for the bass so I have something right up front and I'm not cranking the stage volume too much. My amp BTW consists of a Dr. Bass 112 cab with an optional 115 (I NEVER bring that thing, unless I'm specifically told there will be no subs, which is very rare), and a GK Backline 600 that I picked up used for $100 almost 10 years ago and was beat to hell when I got it. The rack that it's in cost almost double.

 

[SgtHulka]

I'd get a Ninja 500. It has by far, the smallest footprint of any cab capable enough of keeping up w a loud band. It's vertical design is much easier to carry and to squeeze into tight spaces like on the subway instead of wider and fatter units.

 

[57pbass]

I live in Queens and occasionally do shows in Manhattan..as mentioned earlier it’s so challenging these days to drive in the city.
I would purchase a Bag End powered 15 with their Neo driver which will be right around 40lbs. A good hand truck and you can use whatever Pre Amp you like. That cab will fill most of the rooms with quality sound and volume.
The new Ampeg 210 might be too large to haul around??
Good luck

 

[marchone]

Thank you for the insight! I do believe you're right about having a car, however my current financial circumstances prevent me from adding that sort of expense onto everything else.

I’m a life long New Yorker. Now I live in Manhattan. Private cars are being slowly squeezed out. The obvious question is why not use Uber or Lyft?

A bass, a Mesa D-800+ and a Subway 115 will fit in any just about any car and give you the juice you need.

Upright may require an SUV request.

Does the cost work for you?

 

[lbbc]

My recommendation is for a used Genz Benz 6.0 210T Shuttle Combo with a Tuki cover on a folding dolly...around 35 lbs and 375 watts. They are difficult to find but SO worth it. IMHO

 

[brianrost]

Just an anecdote...

Steve Rabe told me that when he designed the SWR Redhead combo one of the design constraints was it had to fit into the trunk of a BMW.

 

[Lo-E]

Does the Bitter End still have the Hartke 410 cabinet?

Last time I played there, maybe 3-4 years ago, it was still the house cab.

Steve Rabe told me that when he designed the SWR Redhead combo one of the design constraints was it had to fit into the trunk of a BMW.

The Redhead, in all it’s (heavy) glory, was a very portable rig in its day!!

After reading through all of the responses here it occurs to me that a read through the Mini Rigs of Doom thread (not a mini thread) that’s been going on for years would be pretty useful to the OP.

 

[HardNHeavy]

Does the Bitter End still have the Hartke 410 cabinet? When I used to play there about 15 years ago, I'd find a parking spot on the Lower East Side and walk over with a bass and the most portable head I had -- a GK 400RB -- in an Anvil rackcase. My arm would be ready to fall off when I got there. Today, I would bring my Trace Elliot Elf!
Anyway, that's not helpful, so I'll go away again.

funny u mention the bitter end.......memory flashback alert!...played there once in the early 90's and a 4x10 hartke is what i used, but it was mine not the venue's...always got confused with the "bottom line" a few blocks away and another decent venue. i guess hartke's were popular then. I lugged that thing all over the city (in my car) thankfully, and with a handtruck/cart.
These days i too wouldn't do that grind again without a mini head and some 15" or 2x10" or 12" combo. Most venues are med to small in nyc.

 

[Bill Murray]

If your going Combo, MarkBass all the way for volume to size to weight ratio. I’d definitely get a dolly too though if your taking the subway.

For separate pieces I think Mesa offers the best volume to size to weight ratio. Id still get a dolly or something as well though. It’ll get old fast carrying an amp around and you cant utilize casters through the city haha.

there are a number of custom cabs such as Barefaced, GreenBoy, RevSound, etc that are crazy loud and easy to transport but they’re designed to be neutral so there is no identifiable tonal characteristic to the cabinet, just pure squeaky clean sound.

I wouldn’t go Ampeg Rocket, Fender Rumble, Phil Jones, or GR. If your going without a PA you want something that has plenty of headroom that can really spread out the sound. (Something Mesa and the custom cabs above also excel at).

 

[SLPimp]

Trave Elliot ELF 110 is a 12" cube that can handle 300w at 8ohms. I own. Pair but haven't needed 2 yet. 17lbs.

 

[Snarf]

I’m a life long New Yorker. Now I live in Manhattan. Private cars are being slowly squeezed out.

And for no reason. What's happening in NYC is criminal. Roads are being closed or lanes are being re-purposed. It has me thinking that starting next season, I will probably decline ALL jobs in the city. I just don't want the hassle (there are secondary hassles as well, but mentioning them will get me banned).

 

[Microbass]

I'd struggle to see past the Trace Elliot Elf system in your case - it's 200W RMS at 4 Ohm, but with efficient speakers (and the amp itself) should be enough for the venues that don't have FOH support.

The cabs at least can handle more power even if you chose a different amp.

 

[Plain Old Barry]

What kinds of gigs? What kinds of venues? Makes a big difference.

It's not like NYC has any variability on those things...

 

[Runlikegregg]

I too live in NYC.
And for many, many years I only had a big cab and heavy head that lived in our studio space. Thankfully I almost never needed to take it anywhere.
My guess is you will mostly just need a head. Almost everywhere I've played has a backline so you usually don't even need that.

Anyhoo. I just basically got rid of everything and bought some stuff and I think I've hit on the best combo: total weight 20 lbs.

Schroeder mini 12+L (18 lbs)
Warwick Gnome (2 lbs)

Honestly, probably any little lightweight class D head will do: Elf or Peavey MiniMax or whatever.
But that Schroeder cab is so amazingly light. And you can always get 2 of them so you have a lot of extra volume and headroom and flexibility.
The Mesa Subway cabs are also very light and sound amazing. They were just out of my budget.

 

[BobDeRosa]

To this I would add right now is probably the worst time in the history of cars from a price/value perspective to buy a car.

I was looking at a particular car/model/spec about two years ago, and waiting for the price to come down a little more. Depending on miles they had slipped to $28k which is $30k+ by the time you add tax, and associated gingerbread.

Those cars today (granted not a real common model like say a Camry or Accord) are running $35k to $40k, it's absolutely insane.

Analogeezer

A car might be ideal, but I agree with @Analogeezer that it's definitely not the most cost-effective one. You can take years of subway rides for the cost of the car itself, insurance, gas, maintenance, and NYC parking (if you can even find parking in NYC). If the great NYC jazz bassist Marco Panascia (and probably many others), who doesn't even own a car, can take upright, electric, and sometimes an amp on subways to gigs, I think you can find a workable solution.

 

[LostJohnny]

I agree that pretty much every place around here has a backline BUT every now and then you find some exception. You may find things easier with a separate head and cabinet, just because it gives you a little more flexibility. I've got an Ampeg SVT-210AV, which is pretty small and light, although the power handling is somewhat limited in stock form.

 

[REV]

I've been using a Euphonic Audio Wizzy 10 for almost 15 years. It is amazing how loud it can get. The head I mostly use with it is a Markbass LMII but I'm sure some of the even smaller heads like the Elf or one of the Phil Jones heads would work just as well. I originally bought the Wizzy to use with my upright bass but these days I probably use it more for electric bass and I'm really happy with it.

 

[JakobT]

There are a few combo options out there from Fender, Ampeg and GK.

Fender Rumble 2x10 (500W, 250W internal with internal speaker only)
Ampeg RocketBass 2x10 (500W, 250W internal with internal speaker only)
GK has 2x10, 1x15 and 2x12 (800w, not sure about wattage with internal speaker(s))

All would be great sounding on gigs and light (weighing ~35-40lbs).

For the Rumble 500, it’s actually 350 watts with internal speaker only.