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Go big or go home

#122
This is about as big as I go these days.
However since my WT-800 blew up, I now use a Crest pro-lite>fdeck hpf2>Alembic F-1X>Alembic SF-2 with the F215 or my F212, if it's a small stage.



VL4.jpg
 
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#124
tshapiro said:
....This is some serious stuff my brothers. Regardless of your amp size, you should have controlled stage volume and use in ears. Rock on!
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While I largely agree with much of your OP, except the boys / men comment, this last comment gets to the heart of my concerns. My experience with the IEM / ampless setup is that it is more like a studio sound stage than a live sound stage.

What do I mean? Well, on a live sound stage, musicians are supposed to primarily listen to each other and play interactively to produce a MUSICAL ensemble performance. In the studio, your job is primarily to lay down a perfect track. Those are two quite different aspects. Playing on stage with isolated IEM channels, which are unrelated to the ensemble sound going out the mains, is much closer to a studio situation than a live situation. While I understand the appeal, I strongly object to the traditionally interactive aspects getting tossed in the process. I also object to the band not really knowing what the sound engineer is putting out for the audience to hear; and I’ve seen enough top tier shows where the sound engineer is putting their own inappropriate spin on the FOH mix to be certain that this is a not an uncommon problem. It happens. And that’s not a good thing.

One of the reasons we find ourselves in this situation is that players have been unable to control their own amplification levels with proper interactive dynamics, aka “volume wars.” The correct solution to that problem should have been to fire the offending musician. In orchestra, even though you don’t have amplifiers, it is entirely possible to play with inappropriate dynamics; and that will get you fired. The same should have been the case with amplified stages. Players need to be musicians, not muscle car drag racers. Playing is not a volume war. It is a musical interaction, which you can’t have if you aren’t listening to the rest of the ensemble.

I know that cats will quote this and flame me that IEM’s can be just as or more interactive. OK, but, it’s not at all the same; and the fact that you are unaware that the sound engineer is making you sound to your audience like your tracks are coming out of a ‘92 Honda Civic with a 1000W subwoofer should be unacceptable to any musician.

Still, it is what it is. We get hired to play gigs; and often have no say as to how the soundstage will be run, as @JimmyM correctly pointed out. So, we need to know how to operate in this new environment. But, that doesn’t mean it’s a good thing. It has a VERY dark side; and right now things are pressing ahead full speed in that direction irrespective of the significant issues.

Anyhow....play on.
 
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#133
I've got my original SVT as well as a marshall bass series all-tube amp sitting at home collecting dust while my 27lb gallien kreuger MB212 is tremendous (even without the expansion cab!!) I thought about buying the extra cab, but haven't had need for it at all.
I miss the SVT ability to rattle fillings out of your head, but don't miss the 90lbs just for the head (let alone a cab!..) I don't think my tone is suffering at all-I think it's exactly where i need it to be...
 
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#134
Done some ampless gigs but the only times it worked were mellow acoustic gigs with no drums. If there’s a kick on stage I need an amp along side of it, pumping out sounds in the same direction as the kick. And the drummer might share the same feeling especially if they sing. Never tried IEMs but with bass just through the wedges my stage sound lacked the focus of playing through an amp.
 
#135
DeepFriedBass said:
Yeah, Musicians are very overly emotional
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Are you referring to the criticism of the OP comment?

I suppose there are a couple of different responses to inconsiderate or disrespectful comments. One approach is to just ignore them. That’s ok; but, TB has a bit of community aspect to it. Being respectful should be an ok behavior; and I don’t think that is being “overly emotional.”


We are just discussing bass stuff here. No reason to get overly dramatic one way or the other. Nuff said.
 
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