• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Do you keep a backup amp?

sonicvi

sonicvi

Jun 10, 2005
1,557
11
51
Houston, TX
www.myspace.com
#1
I just got an early 70's V-4B to take the place of my SVT 3 Pro and I'd like to sell the Pro 3 but I'm wondering if it's a better idea to keep it as a backup amp in case the V4B has troubles, or just get a SansAmp and go direct in that enventuality. How many of you all always take a backup to gigs?
 
#2
I have a "backup" kinda. It's my big rig, actually. I have a big 1100 watt rack rig, and it kind of acts as my alternate, and/or backup. My GK 1001RB is usually my main rig, because it's relatively light and very loud.
 
#3
I own a SABDDI. I bought it thinking "just in case". I find myself using it more frequently however. Even though the tone isn't my cup'o tea, it is just too damned convenient to bring a pedal pre instead of a rig to many shows. Of course, I still have a power amp also. So I guess that I could piece together a sort of pre/power rig if need be. I can't see the logic in owning two heads unless you really want different signature sounds from them for differing applications.
 
#4
I think its a good idea to have a back up rig . Besides, you have an American made Ampeg which we all know is now a thing of the past.
I have a rig at my practice space, and a rig at home for the gigs. All I have to bring to practice is my bass. Plus you never know when your main rig is going to take a crap on you. If I was you I would keep the SVT3.
 
#8
Here is why you need a back up amp. My GK 1001RB-II is less than a month old. At practice tonite it lost power and was making my cabinets sound like they were blown. Luckily I had not gotten rid of my 700RB. So I switched out the heads. This ruled out the speaker cables, basses and cabinets as being the problem. We carried on with our practice and its back to the shop with the new 1001RB. Back ups are a good thing.
 
#9
Trevorus said:
I have a "backup" kinda. It's my big rig, actually. I have a big 1100 watt rack rig, and it kind of acts as my alternate, and/or backup. My GK 1001RB is usually my main rig, because it's relatively light and very loud.
Click to expand...

I'll fess up. I kept a Demeter/QSC in a heavy anvil case as the backup to my GK while on tour. Sacrilege, I know, but it had more power than I ever needed...and notice I said "heavy".

Actually, the QSC 2402 came out of the rack and saved a gig after one side of the Crown in the PA quit. It actually handled the big JBLs better.
 
#12
I always carry two amps on gigs because as soon as I don't, even though I've never had an amp failure on a gig, I just know what'll happen. The best man at a wedding will bark on it or small children will mistake it for a VCR and shove a PB+J sandwich in it or the pyro display will go horizontal or it'll turn out that the outdoor stage is set up on tribal burial grounds or a plague of locusts will be attracted to the fan...

it's always something... and unless it happens TWICE, I'm cool.
:hmm:
 
#14
I have my best amp as a backup amp nowadays, the big stack of ampeg SVT-VR+8x10, I use more my little Hartke 1415 because I don't play enough on big places and its eassier to move around, I'm trying to switch to a decent ampeg or mesa boogie combo, but still works just fine.

Plus, I bought the cab thinking of a long therm life, I mean, for teh future, to have a decent amp to do recording stuff, big gigs, and just for the pleasure of having it.
 
#15
I've 2 amps a Fender 300pro & a Markbass LMII, but I just take the SABDDI21 as b/up. Now that I got the LMII & it's SO light & small I MAY take it sometimes, but I've NEVER had an amp go on me- apart from a fuse-from a venue's bad electrics. So I have the S.A. Bass DI incase of emergencies & sometimes I use it coz I like it better than most soungguy's D.I.'s.
 
#16
I used to use a QSC RMX2450 for power with a Pod pro for a preamp. Now I use the Pod into a GK 700RB-II. We take the QSC to gigs just in case ANY amp desides to leave this earth, and I can also go direct to the PA with the Pod. I only use the Pod for some signal buffering and compression, but I feel better knowing it's there just in case. I say keep both amps and know that in a pinch you're covered.
 
#17
I keep an old Yorkville 250 Mono Block in my car just in case. 25 years and still going strong, loud as hell but not much tone. The guitar player's amp fried one gig, and he plugged the Yorkville into the speaker jack of his Fender Super and loved it.
 
#19
This is certainly a big interest to me, too.

I picked up an SVT3-pro when my B2R took a crap and now that the B2R has been repaired I contemplate selling it. My repair guy gave me the lowdown on Ampeg being bought by the LOUD group and how he's struggling with them on warranty issues and parts and such. Just about anything prior to this take over should be considered the last of it's kind, or so he says.

Do I keep it as a back-up or dump it for new gear?

So much gear, so little time.
 
#20
My rack rig can still work if any 1 component fails - it's a sansamp RBI, a Trace pre, a crossover, and a crown macro tech biamping 2 cabs.

I run the sansamp as an "overdrive" into the trace - it can be bypassed with a footswitch, but if either pre fails, I can just run the other. If the crossover fais, I can run the same signal to each cab and tweak the EQ a little. If 1 speaker cab fails, I can tweak the EQ a little and use the other. If the power amp fails, I run a line into the PA.
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back