I play bass in an Electronic/Ambient improv band, tired of dragging my amp around. We play venues with fairly sophisticated sound systems and talented sound persons, and I would like to set my tired old back free!! Limited effects pedals, six-string basses. Suggestions from players who have been doing ampless with success appreciated.
I do this, but I rarely do I go "ampless" unless there are extenuating circumstances. As a hedge, I carry stage amplification (in my case, full range PA-type cabinets) in case the stage monitors crap out or for other on-the-fly stage tweaks as the night progresses. I'd only rely on stage wedges if I knew 100% of the time that they could keep up. I find this to not be the case most of the time. Unless very compressed, bass guitar can be very demanding on your average vocal-oriented stage wedge, which has almost no use for frequencies below 120hz.
You have some choices here with respect to your "bass sound" via direct feed. Some players like the pure, unadulterated tone of their bass and use their instrument's controls to tailor their sounds. Clean, Clean, Clean! Other players require something that either lo-pass filters the tone or has some sort of cabinet emulation to tame high frequencies. This is the case especially if you have fuzz or overdrive in your tone. There are many choices for this in DI boxes or cabinet emulators, or, you could kill a few birds with one stone and roll the dice on a multi-fx pedal with amp/cab simulation. (This is what I do, and it has made setup and teardown quick and painless to carry.)
Speaking for myself as someone who has only gone direct feed to PA for many years now, I'm no worse for the wear having ditched my SVT 8x10 cabinet (among other things) in favor of amp modeling with multi-fx, and using smaller, lighter, full range PA-type cabinets for my stage rig (size and number on an as-needed basis). Sometimes, for quiet restaurant and pub gigs, I'm totally ampless. Works fine. Most shows I'm performing in some sort of rock genre (everything from R&B to Metal), and I'm usually carrying one or two cabinets. I find the tone I'm getting to work fine for me vs. a traditional bass rig. Either can have their up or down sides. (I will throw in the disclaimer that I've spent many years mixing FOH for bands, and thus carry that mindset with me as a bassist on stage. In other words, I've got a full appreciation for what is happening with the bass tone in the PA as well as on stage, and I've adjusted to how bass guitar sounds different coming from a PA system vs. a traditional stage cabinet....and they ARE different animals.)
One thing I've come to really appreciate is that most bass frequencies below 80hz really contribute nothing good to the stage when you have a worthy (loud) FOH rig and complimentary stage monitors that can keep up. I'll commonly place a speaker on a tripod stand up close to head level, which means I'll hear it very clearly at low/moderate volume levels. This has the benefit of reducing low end sonic clutter on stage (singers love this), and because I'm not turning up too loud to hear myself, the entire stage mix is more articulate in general. Much of the time, frequencies from the PA subwoofers will provide enough radiation of sub-low end to fill in the gaps, so to speak. Nobody I play with on stage seems to miss it. Actually, to the contrary. On the flip side, I find myself much more at the mercy of the FOH engineer to properly place me in the mix, both in terms of tone and volume.
Good luck!
