• 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.

I forgot my amp at home today

cultrvultr

cultrvultr

Supporting Member
Jun 16, 2008
1,320
657
Oakland, California
www.cultrvultr.com
#1
I always bring my genzler combo for onstage monitoring and let the PA handle front of house. Today was an outdoor gig at big beer garden, lots of dancers needing bass.

I forgot the amp at home! I had the amp out of its cradle and forgot to put it in before the gig.

Went into the storage room at the venue and found a beat up old 8" behringer powered monitor with a blown tweeter. Fed it a signal from my preamp and started the gig.

You know what? I didn't hate it! It sounded pretty decent with my pedals and IR as long as I kept the treble down to keep from hitting the blown tweeter too hard.

I've used nicer, larger monitors for ampless stages before, but never would have expected that something like this would have worked out too.

My bass+fingers+pedalboard is my sound now. I love the genzler gear, but this has me rethinking what I need at most gigs. Anybody else just play through the monitors?
 
  • Like
Reactions: JRA, james condino, salmon256 and 5 others
#2
I can do with very little monitoring when I have front of house support, but I prefer to control bass monitor myself.
I'm considering finding a small 8" - 10" PA speaker with High-Z in input for situations with FOH. Then I'll point it at my head and be happy.
 
  • Like
Reactions: DJ Bebop
#4
I have an EV ZX-1 monitor with an 8" woofer than I use sometimes for stage monitoring (i.e. my bass only). It actually sounds pretty great, so good that I considered adding a sub of some kind to make it a full-range system. What killed the idea was that it wasn't conducive to setting an amp on top of, even the new small ones.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

Pedulla Club #45 Unique Arrangements of Hymns, P&W Standards, and Original Tunes
Administrator, Official Tobias Club #133
Administrator, Fretless Club #943
Big Cabs Club #23
My Basses
My Rig: Stage and FOH Friendly
Pedulla Club #45
 
  • Like
Reactions: DJ Bebop
#5
Once you go IEM, you won't care what's behind you on stage because all you're ever going to hear again is whatever feed ends up in your IEMs. Fortunately my new tiny combo has a great XLR out DI.
Saturday night I played the hell PA of all PAs and didn't have an opportunity to use my DI so I skipped the IEMs all together. Turns out my EBMM Bongo needed neck relief and I didn't have my wheel tool so all I heard all night was low end or clank.
I guess I should always check neck relief before heading to a show...
 
  • Like
Reactions: rok51, mdogs and InhumanResource
#6
Lance Bunyon said:
Saturday night I played the hell PA of all PAs and didn't have an opportunity to use my DI so I skipped the IEMs all together. Turns out my EBMM Bongo needed neck relief and I didn't have my wheel tool so all I heard all night was low end or clank.
I guess I should always check neck relief before heading to a show...
Click to expand...

Nobody had a screwdriver anywhere:) Just keep one in Glove department
 
  • Like
Reactions: danielnorris
#8
Of course there are a lot of people who don't need an amp and do gigs where a monitor is provided. It's very common, maybe it's the norm. i think the issue is a wash. In the current band I'm in, there is no FOH or sound person, my cab carries whatever bass their is and that works great as well.

If a backline or FOH with a sound person is provided, great. But for most gigs, if I forget my amp we're in trouble. I always bring a backup.
 
  • Like
Reactions: WRM and james condino
#9
Had simple wedge monitor instead of bass amp + cab couple of times, mostly because of unforeseen circumstances. But if the music is well rehearsed and band is tight, it's no problem.
For last couple of years, I just use preamp and go direct to mixer. For monitoring I use IEM and like them very much.
 
  • Like
Reactions: newfuture
#11
Raenil said:
I can do with very little monitoring when I have front of house support, but I prefer to control bass monitor myself.
I'm considering finding a small 8" - 10" PA speaker with High-Z in input for situations with FOH. Then I'll point it at my head and be happy.
Click to expand...
Consider an Elf 1-10 combo.
That's what I've been using for pit work that has great FOH.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Al Kraft
#12
cultrvultr said:
I always bring my genzler combo for onstage monitoring and let the PA handle front of house. Today was an outdoor gig at big beer garden, lots of dancers needing bass.

I forgot the amp at home! I had the amp out of its cradle and forgot to put it in before the gig.

Went into the storage room at the venue and found a beat up old 8" behringer powered monitor with a blown tweeter. Fed it a signal from my preamp and started the gig.

You know what? I didn't hate it! It sounded pretty decent with my pedals and IR as long as I kept the treble down to keep from hitting the blown tweeter too hard.

I've used nicer, larger monitors for ampless stages before, but never would have expected that something like this would have worked out too.

My bass+fingers+pedalboard is my sound now. I love the genzler gear, but this has me rethinking what I need at most gigs. Anybody else just play through the monitors?
Click to expand...

I once drove 5 1/2 hours to a gig and a half hour before sound check, I discovered I left my bass was at home. Fortunately the was a music store bout 10 minutes away from the gig that rented one to to me. And I got there about 2 minutes before the closed for the weekend. Our singer had to return it the following Monday.
 
  • Like
Reactions: WRM
#13
I once had to play bass using a nylon guitar with a preamp. The bass player did not arrive and I was only there to play horn. Band leader knew I played bass. The amp was luckily an Ashdown MAG with the builtin octave down. I tuned the nylon to Dbecause a fretted E and A have more pop Stuck some foam on the bridge and EQ'ed it so it did not feedback. 3rd set, somebody from the guitarist home brought a real bass Ibanez SDGR.

It did work and I played really simple
 
  • Like
Reactions: anderbass and mikeswals
#15
logdrum said:
I once had to play bass using a nylon guitar with a preamp. The bass player did not arrive and I was only there to play horn. Band leader knew I played bass. The amp was luckily an Ashdown MAG with the builtin octave down. I tuned the nylon to Dbecause a fretted E and A have more pop Stuck some foam on the bridge and EQ'ed it so it did not feedback. 3rd set, somebody from the guitarist home brought a real bass Ibanez SDGR.

It did work and I played really simple
Click to expand...
the real question is....did the audience even notice!
 
  • Like
Reactions: logdrum
#17
If you're talking about gigs where you have solid FOH support and subs, and monitors on stage? Oh yeah. Eventually - once you spend enough time with your basses - you can get a sound that works well direct and roll with it and you don't miss having to lug an amp around. It often makes onstage sound issues far less of a hassle. Also, depending on how things are being run on stage, sometimes your rig is rendered redundant or unusable, and it was pointless to bring it anyway - especially if the subs are in a weird spot on/near the stage and you're getting nothing but backwash from them. When I was playing a lot of festival gigs, or shows on big stages with tight turnarounds (and no provided backline), my direct setup was my bass into an Aguilar Tone Hammer or Tech 21 VT Bass, into a Countryman Type 85 (if I was using the VT Bass), then to the house. That's it. Thick, easy, solid, no frills. Made my life so much easier.
 
#18
I did this for many years with a powered monitor and a tech 21 pedal....then I went back to using tube amps just because I prefer the way they sound.... I do many ampless casino gigs where I have to use a pedal and in ears but I always miss my small tube amp.
 
#20
cultrvultr said:
Anybody else just play through the monitors?
Click to expand...
TBH, i can play through anything. i like my own stuff better than other stuff (i'm used to it), but anything that lets me hear a note/pitch is fine by me --- i understand that what i'm hearing isn't the same as what everyone else hears (including the band). what i want to hear isn't the same as what everyone else hears (including the band). if i can hear what i'm playing = it's all good. :D
 
  • Like
Reactions: bassicmike

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back