I may be cracking on my "don't need an amp" stance

[SteveC]

So, I always say I'd love a DI only gig situation, even though my amp is a small combo. Well, this weekend we had an outdoor gig with PA provided, subs, 4 monitor mixes, should be great, right? Well, the monitors sucked, so on the2nd day I brought my combo and extension cab to use on stage and didn't use their monitor. Wow, what a difference. Everyone noticed. My bass sounded fantastic.

Then we went to a little freebie and set up out side again z- no PA - but it was at a little store in a strip mall so it was kind of a "flash band" deal. Really cool actually and we playoed like crazy to about 5 peole. Again, the little mini stack (Genz Benz Shuttle 3.0-10T and 110 extension cab) sounded awesome.

I was debating a bigger head and cab but this worked so well I think I'll stick with it a while.

I'm sure that if I were in a situation where it was the bands PA and monitors it might be different, but for now I am leaning to the stage amp is a significant contributing factor to my sound camp. I still don't think you need as much as some do, but I'll give in and say that something is practical.

 

[BartmanPDX]

When the monitors provided are good ones, going ampless is easy and fun.

But sometimes the monitors we were provided with were pretty sorry. On those gigs, I was always happy I'd brought my amp. Additionally, I like to have myself relatively loud in the mix. Having an amp right near me (raised) on small gigs has let me have that "loud" feel without getting too loud in the mix or on stage.

We have an IEM system and I have great earbuds, but it's a wired system and I don't like using it on bigger outdoor gigs. It's fine on bar gigs and is fantastic for crappy rooms, but when I'm on a big stage I like to ditch the IEMs.