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Double Bass Good battery powered amp/pa for busking

jackotheclown

jackotheclown

Feb 22, 2006
99
67
37
New York City
www.jackredford.com
#1
Hey everybody, I'm going to start busking here in the parks of NYC and I wanna get myself a good little busking amp or PA speaker. It needs to be battery powered and small enough to fit in a backpack so I can take the bass and amp with me without too much trouble. Hopefully can still be heard over a drummer and not sound like crap too. Anyone have anything like that? Or know about such an thing that exists? All the best.
 
#3
jackotheclown said:
Hey everybody, I'm going to start busking here in the parks of NYC and I wanna get myself a good little busking amp or PA speaker. It needs to be battery powered and small enough to fit in a backpack so I can take the bass and amp with me without too much trouble. Hopefully can still be heard over a drummer and not sound like crap too. Anyone have anything like that? Or know about such a thing that exists? All the best.
Click to expand...
Be prepared to deal with the park rangers as using amplification in the parks is technically illegal. Some spots can be pretty strict with it
 
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#8
The Yorkville Mobile 8 is a very nice sounding and versatile 200w PA speaker. You will need to hunt around for a knapsack that’s square enough to fit.
It’s little brother the 70w EXM Mobile will fit in most knapsacks. The smaller one has a metal casing while the 8 is thermoplastic.
Worth a look if they’re in the budget.
 
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#11
My busking experience has primarily been street fairs and open markets, etc. At one time our band had its own complete AC powered sound system, powered speakers, mixer, the works... We even tried LDC mics for a walled stage environment. We used this system a few times and then decided it was dramatic overkill for busking and after that only used it for weddings when we were asked to provide a PA. I owned the system, and because we really didn't like schlepping it all and as such were not using it, in recent years I donated this system to a fire-stricken venue that we play at frequently.

Now for full band busking we have 3 Roland CUBE Street amps (2 channels each, 2x6" speakers) combined with 6 dynamic mics, and my Roland Micro CUBE Bass RX amp (1 channel, 4x4" speakers). All are AA battery powered for 15 to 20 hours.

I totally agree with Jeff about an ensemble balancing volume so everyone is heard... And coming from bluegrass I also prefer no amps, no mics, etc. for more casual performing and jams. But in a street fair or open market environment with normal crowd sounds and vendor generators, the ambient sound levels can be debilitating for acoustic bands. They need some sort of amplification.
 
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#12
I used to play outside regularly many years ago in St Nicholas , Marcus Garvey, Central park and Riverside with a trio and quartet. I started with a roland micro cube (near 2008????), which sounded better for electric and no so great for the upright. I then switched to the jackery type unit mentioned about around 2010 with my micromark 801 ( I think Ron Mclure turned me on to it). I think that the Roland was easier (batteries from china town in bulk). I did shed a lot of tunes outside and made the most cheese near the water pond with the mini boats in central park :)

Best of luck OP.
 
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#13
The smallest I would go is the Cube Street EX. It's about the biggest option I think is practical for walking and hand carrying. It weighs about 16lbs.
Roland - CUBE Street EX | Battery-Powered Stereo Amplifier

Cube Street EX has a pair of 8" woofers and claimed power is 25W x 2. In reality I think it performs about like about a 13W amp. Headroom is limited so some sort of battery powered multi-processor with built in compression and a HPF would be a good add on. I believe @brianrost uses a Zoom B3 rigged up with a battery or some sort of power pack.

You can run the Cube Street EX on Eneloop rechargeable batteries, however my understanding is it makes more power if you buy the pricey Roland power pack. Case and battery packs shown on this page:

Traynor makes a bigger and more powerful battery powered bass amp. It's about twice as heavy as the Cube Street EX at 32lbs, but has a 12" woofer and makes 80W on the built-in battery. I think this is a legit 80W.

BM12MOBILE Battery Powered Bass Amp | Traynor

Traynor BassMaster 12 Mobile: a full-sized, battery-powered bass amplifier with a 12 speaker. Offering over six hours of performance on a single charge, and weighing just 32 pounds.
traynoramps.com traynoramps.com

While I would appreciate the extra headroom of the Traynor, I think 32lbs is too big to carry. I would consider something this big if it made sense to put it on a cart.

Not that I will ever use it, but I went the power bank route and bought a Jackery 300 which weighs about 7lbs:
www.jackery.com

Jackery Explorer 300 Portable Power Station

The Jackery Explorer 300 is the ideal portable power station for short camping trips, off-grid living, and for powering small appliances when power outages.
www.jackery.com www.jackery.com

I have a GK 700RB/112 combo. This amp makes 225W into the internal 12" woofer. The amp is too big and heavy to carry, but it's a tilt back design and has a telescoping handle, so it rolls around like airport luggage. It would be easy enough to strap the Jackery to the top of the amp. The amp does make a low level hum on the Jackery, but I don't think it would be a problem for most busking situations. In regards to tone and headroom, I don't notice any difference between the amp on wall voltage or the Jackery.
 
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#15
3/4 of my R.E.M. cover outfit wants to busk (guitar/bass/vox), so I'm waiting for an inverter I ordered and plan to power with a couple of e-bike batteries. Figure my 1.7 kWh (52V) should get us around 3 hours of running the XR18 and a couple of 250W wedges at 75Db.
 
#19
I played a jazz trio gig last night for an outdoor house party. There was no available outlet so I used my (really) old Pignose Hog 30. It uses two camcorder batteries which tells you how old it is. It worked fine and sounded quite good- good tone and plenty of power for the entire three hours. It's rated at 20 watts continuous which was plenty for my purpose. I've used a few newer small amps over the years and the Hog was as good or better than any of them. I don't know that that type of battery is even still available but if it is I will make sure I keep this amp operational for future use.
 
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#20
Wasnex said:
Electro Voice makes a couple of battery powered options; Everse 8 and Everse 12. The Everse 8 weighs about 16 lbs.

EVERSE 8 | Electro-Voice

products.electrovoice.com products.electrovoice.com
Click to expand...

I have one of these (Everse 8) and it’s pretty good for the size/weight. I use it with electric bass and use my Helix Stomp as a preamp. The Stomp is also powerable through a USB power bank.

I picked it up secondhand for £400, so it was a good deal.

It does have a custom setting/EQ pre shape for electric bass. It sounds fantastic with any recorded music source, and pretty good with electric bass. It’s good for guitar too.

I have had it run out of steam when in an open space with no walls, though putting it on the ground does help a lot. This was with a portable drum kit and loud guitarist.

I have never found plastic cabs to sound great, though, with high volume bass. I think you need a well braced wooden cab for the best sound. And having an enclosure designed for bass is still best. The EV8 is just a bit light on the low end for me (-3dB @ 60Hz, -10 dB @ 50Hz).

As a result of my findings, I am investigating the Jackery 300/power bank route and looking at using a Warwick Gnome with a custom 10” or 8” bass cab. I might even use my existing Berg B-Amp (350W @ 8 ohms) as proof of concept first. We will see…
 
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