Church worship bass rig

Few questions:
What size church?
On you the only bassist or is there a rotation of bassists?
Quality of the FOH system?
Budget?

 

250 people is a fairly small space. Having an amp on stage in that size space will likely be problematic. If you go in ear only, and have a good PA and sound person, You'll be better off.

A couple of the churches I play at have Reddis. Nobody complains about them. Of course, a Radial J48 works just fine for a bunch less. I would be happy with either.

 

As JLY mentioned above, there's many factors to take into consideration but this is my criteria:
1. You're most likely playing for free at your church so you don't want to pay up for fixing equipment or risking your own, get reliable gear from reputed manufacturers and with a good warranty plan.
2. DO NOT GET A TUBE HEAD!!! They are expensive to fix.
3. Get enough power , 400w or more @ 4 ohms....NOT LESS!!
4. a 2X10 Combo Amp is a perfect fit for worshipers.
5. Get a 15' extended cab to get the Israel Houghton low end.
6. First thing to buy is a .......
Tech 21 SansAmp Para Driver V2 DI !!!!!!!
..this bad boy will make you sound like Jesus himself is your sound guy!!!

A few amps suggestions :

Markbass CMD 102p : Professional combo for less than us$1.000

Ampeg BA210v2 : Plenty of features, Ampeg tone...'nuff said..

Hope this help.

 

They are no more expensive to fix than a solid state amp, and in many cases, less, because in a tube amp, it's generally a single tube that goes out, and anyone can replace a tube for $15-20, whereas a problem with a solid state amp pretty much guarantees a trip to the tech.

Nonsense. I do gigs all the time with amps that do 50w or less, with an 8-pc band with horns. Plus, the dude has in ear monitors, which means you really don't even need an amp.

So I have both a REDDI and a PF-50T. I absolutely love them both, I love the people who make both products, and I believe their DI's to be equal in quality, and when you set the PF-50T to knobs at noon and ultra switches off, they sound pretty much the same to me. Both have their advantages...the REDDI's advantage is that it's smaller and it's plug-and-play. The PF-50T's advantages is that it will power a cab, and if the sound you're hearing in the PA or IEM's isn't to your liking, you can change it, whereas you would need to put a preamp in front of the REDDI to do that. It also doesn't need to have a cab plugged in to use it, so you could also use it with IEM's and keep a silent stage, although I'm like you and I prefer to hear my sound come out of a cab. Plus if you're a fan of distortion, you can crank it and get some righteous power tube breakup, although I would recommend cutting highs past 5 khz if you do that, whereas the REDDI is always clean.

So it's a real tough decision to make, one that I'm grateful that I'm not in the position to have to decide between them Don't know what I'd do if I did. But either way you go, you will be getting top notch sound out of your setup, so it's all good.

 

I know you keep saying 50 watts will work, but it wouldn't for me and it won't work without PA support. I wouldn't play a gig without 300 (SS) watts minimum at the amp, but these days I usually have 700 to 800.

 

We use IEM's but I also get to have my rig on the platform - YEA! My usual first step is dial in the IEM's and then take one out and set the volume on the bass amp.

I used a Glock Blue Soul into an Accugroove Tri-115 yesterday but have been using the amazing Darkglass M900 most of the time lately. LOTS of positive comments with either head. FYI- the bass rig supplements the house system and allows more bass for the vocal team. The room seats about 1250 normally but they can add a few more seats if needed. As usual in So Cal, the first service is pretty packed and the second is about half full.

I also am in the 400 watts and a good cab mindset. LOTS of good stuff out there and I am not an Ampeg fan as you can tell from my rig choices.

Dan

 

Good thinking. A good DI/preamp plus in ear is the way to go. We have much less trouble with live sound since we use in ear systems in our church. I myself run my bass through the Ampeg SCR-DI and both the FOH tech and me are happy with teh sound.

There's a solution for this:



EICH Amplification - BassBoard M : The wait is over, the time is now.

 

First of all, ASSuming you're new to the IEM thing, I recommend going ampless for a month or so to give yourself time to get used to it. There is a difference, obvioiusly, between using IEM's and using amps. You're not doing yourself, or your church's money, any good if you don't give using the IEM's "solo" a chance. My two cents.

Secondly, tons'o'choices on DI's and rigs. Since you asked for opinions, I love my Tone Hammer DI with the AGS engaged and the Gain set very low (about 7:00 - 7:30). I do like the ability to have an EQ attached to a DI.

 

But he's got PA support and IEM's!

 

SVT with a fridge. Even if you never take it off Standby it will look like a pillar reaching to heaven.

 

Welcome to Talk Bass! Great looking family.

Edit to add: Completely disregard the ridiculous demo videos of this bass head. It will do clean very nicely. Most videos show off an awful overdrive from this amp that I will never understand.

Here's what I use in church. Our sound guy LOVES it. Ashdown LB30 into an EA VL-210 cab. I run this rig for the very reasons you mentioned. Good sound to the board, no need for huge volume, but I control the tone (to the extent that I don't just let him tell me what he wants). I put mine on a mixer stand to decouple it from the floor somewhat. It also gets the rig up where I "feel" it on my back a little while listening through the IEMs.

 

If I had a hefty church budget

Jule Amp Monique 700
Monique Bass Preamp DI EQ

Fearless F112
greenboy.us speaker enclosures

You can run it as a standard backline amp and DI. You can go DI from Monique and use the F112 as a monitor wedge or just use Monique and IEMs.

For me that would be ideal. On a smaller budget the Reddi and a small combo amp would be very nice...

 

I was just about to start a thread about my church experience from yesterday, but maybe this is a good place to post it. I play in a newer church that meets in a very old (by Oklahoma standards) building built in the early 1900's. It is a typical oldschool church setup with lower section and U-shaped balcony wrapping around to the edge of the stage. I believe it seats in the neighborhood of 600 people when full.

Our stage is small, and we run a somewhat small PA setup that sits on the floor on either side of the stage. We run wedges up front for the singers and use IEM's for drums, bass, electric guitar, and keys.

The last couple of services, I've brought my GK MB212 combo up there with me to add some feel to the stage (I hate how sterile IEMs are). What a difference it makes!

My setup yesterday was:
Lakland DJ5 --> Volume ---> Line6 M13 ---> GK MB212 ---> Direct out from amp (pre EQ) to house

I tweaked my IEM mix - which included bringing my level down and cutting a lot of low and mids and boosting the treble a bit. I then cut some sub-bass in the cab to keep the stage from booming. Basically, lows came from the house subs, mids came from my cab, and highs went straight to my ear in the IEM. The result was magnificant! First off - I could feel the bass again - a HUGE improvement. Secondly, the overall mix to the house was enhanced. I had 5 or 6 people come oup afterwards and say things like, "Man, what bass were you playing? It sounded awesome!" or "The bass was way better than normal. What happened?"

I think church systems/sound folks tend to EQ, chop up, compress, then crossover the bass signal to the house and all you get is the noise from the subs. My solution with the cab on stage with bumped mids added JUST enough definition that it was noticeable, but the sound guy and people on stage were pleased with the results. I plan to play this way every time going forward. The results were just too good, and I think its THE way to go in a lot of cases.

 

SansAmp BDDI into house with 1/4" line out to a Peavey TKO 15" Combo facing back at me for personal stage monitoring. The guitar players all have in ears. Drummer and bass do not. Always been a work in progress per what we can afford.

 

We try to keep a silent stage. We previously had an Ampeg 8x10 massage box on stage. I hated to see it go, but I have to admit I like current set up best. We have not used a bass amp and cabinet on stage for almost 10 years. Bass guitar goes thru tuner- compressor- Sansamp preamp DI- to monitors and house. Everyone on stage has stereo IEMs and a personal mix. No wedges are needed. Low frequency transducers/buttkickers are given to drummer and bass player. We hear, and feel, everything very well. It's very nice to feel the kick drum, easier to lock in, using buttkickers. With this set up you get your own mix and personal volume, without any interference to FOH. Nor does FOH interfere with you.

 

Our Church has a nice setup. This is what (I'm pretty sure) they have. Two power amps one for foh and a second that runs floor monts. It works pretty well. Everything DIs back to the mixing board. It's efficient and didn't break the bank to set up. If you do go the item direction, be kind to your bassist. We need a little better iem than others in order to hear all the tones in our chosen instruments range.

Hope this helps!!

 

I say buy minimal, buy quality, buy once.

The reddi is a great idea- not possible to upgrade, sounds beautiful, impossible to stuff up.

Use in ears.

Then buy YOURSELF a preamp to shape YOUR tone.

Focus on ensuring your choice of strings, bass, preamp work perfectly for the style of worship music. Which you haven't really described here. Fir example, I've shifted to an active bass and eden gear to get closer to an urban gospel/ funk feel, away from a Hillsong / Redman feel.

In church. Be fussy about your own tone that you are sending to the front, then be gracious about how that sound is delivered to you or the front.

 

Get a REDDI and look into a ButtKicker system or the Eichs Bass Board. You won't miss having an amp on stage, i promise.