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Janky-A Rigs of Doom

#581
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Quinn Roberts, that is an interesting-looking rig and a great thread revival photo. I love the KB amp being on its side. Now...

!!!Jank update!!! Since my last photo upload, I've acquired an AudioKinesis Birdhaus 48 bass cab (many thanks to Duke LeJeune; it's a great big improvement in sound and portability), which is kind of anti-jank...and the new SKB 3U shallow case is a pretty anti-jank birthday present.

But driving an old Peavey M-3000 mono power amp ($40 and a road trip most of the way across central Illinois, in a rusty '01 Hyundai Accent with the overdrive ratio crapped out on the auto trans--4,000 rpm at 65 mph--to buy some CL-advertised audio gear from a church that was updating its system) with a used $50 Zoom B2 preamp...that's pretty janky. The "aesthetic blight of visual overhang," a term I stole from a poster on the AudioKinesis thread, is pretty janky. My $50 Squier P-bass is simple and functional but at least kind of ratty, and I used a Transformers quilt as a photo backdrop fachrissake.

Reading the many pages AudioKinesis thread has convinced me that I am probably the jankhammer of that group; no one over there is posting about cranking a Squier P-bass through a digital Marshall Superbass emulation in a bonehead rock trio, while using an AudioKinesis cabinet. But they have been nice and tolerant of my input, Duke included.

This rig also serves as my guitar amp these days and I'm seriously considering selling the rest of my mostly guitar-specific gear. The past-generation Zoom does a pretty good guitar clean sound using the Hartke 3500 model, and some pretty good Marshally rawk using the Superbass (plexi-ish) and Boss ODB-3 (JCM-ish) models. The tweeterless AudioKinesis cab has some pretty flexible, wide-ranging drivers in it and can put those kinds of sounds across without needing radical EQ. I haven't played it live yet, because we're not ready to gig...but it keeps up at loud band practices just fine with the 210-watt/4 ohm power amp.

(How I came to have a Transformers quilt to use as a photo backdrop is kind of a jank tale in its own right, but I'll save that for the Janky-A Photo Backdrops of Doom thread.)
 
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#582
mexicanyella said:
View attachment 2851310 Quinn Roberts, that is an interesting-looking rig and a great thread revival photo. I love the KB amp being on its side. Now...

!!!Jank update!!! Since my last photo upload, I've acquired an AudioKinesis Birdhaus 48 bass cab (many thanks to Duke LeJeune; it's a great big improvement in sound and portability), which is kind of anti-jank...and the new SKB 3U shallow case is a pretty anti-jank birthday present.

But driving an old Peavey M-3000 mono power amp ($40 and a road trip most of the way across central Illinois, in a rusty '01 Hyundai Accent with the overdrive ratio crapped out on the auto trans--4,000 rpm at 65 mph--to buy some CL-advertised audio gear from a church that was updating its system) with a used $50 Zoom B2 preamp...that's pretty janky. The "aesthetic blight of visual overhang," a term I stole from a poster on the AudioKinesis thread, is pretty janky. My $50 Squier P-bass is simple and functional but at least kind of ratty, and I used a Transformers quilt as a photo backdrop fachrissake.

Reading the many pages AudioKinesis thread has convinced me that I am probably the jankhammer of that group; no one over there is posting about cranking a Squier P-bass through a digital Marshall Superbass emulation in a bonehead rock trio, while using an AudioKinesis cabinet. But they have been nice and tolerant of my input, Duke included.

This rig also serves as my guitar amp these days and I'm seriously considering selling the rest of my mostly guitar-specific gear. The past-generation Zoom does a pretty good guitar clean sound using the Hartke 3500 model, and some pretty good Marshally rawk using the Superbass (plexi-ish) and Boss ODB-3 (JCM-ish) models. The tweeterless AudioKinesis cab has some pretty flexible, wide-ranging drivers in it and can put those kinds of sounds across without needing radical EQ. I haven't played it live yet, because we're not ready to gig...but it keeps up at loud band practices just fine with the 210-watt/4 ohm power amp.

(How I came to have a Transformers quilt to use as a photo backdrop is kind of a jank tale in its own right, but I'll save that for the Janky-A Photo Backdrops of Doom thread.)
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LOL on the backdrop. As for your janky rig, it's got to rank pretty high as one of the most bad@ss rigs of Jank. Sort of Mack Semi Truck Janky. Very cool, and like your Squire P bass too! :thumbsup:
 
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#586
I've had three janky rigs in my life- No pics of any of them.
My first- My friend built a 100W. 4 channel p.a. head from a kit. I put it on top of a Kustom tuck and roll 2x15. It was terrible, but got me thru lots of gigs.
2ND.- I was playing guitar for a while, and didn't have a rig. I got an emergency call for a bassist 'right now'. I disconnected the 5" speakers from a Fostex monitor, and stuck that on 2 15" p.a. cabs. I wasn't the worst rig I've ever heard.
3RD.- After retiring from live music for 5 years I bought a Rickerbacker 4003 on a whim. I searched around for my old rig, found a 4x10 cab, but I think my head was stolen along the way. I put a little 2ch. mixer from my desk with a QSC power amp into the 4x10. Lots of guts, but not much tone shaping. After a week I went and bought a new head.
 
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#587
mexicanyella said:
Whoah. Please tell me that rig still gets some regular play. That looks like a monolith of doom, like some of the earlier entries in this thread.

Is that lower cab a Peavey 1820 with a Fenderized grille? Is the upper one a Peavey 1516? What's the one under the Sunn head, etc. This photo requires explanation.
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Oh yes, this is my every day rig, in one configuration or another.

The head is a Sunn Coliseum Bass, on top of it's matching Sunn 118M cabinet.

On the left is a Peavey 1820 cab and Fender BXR Spectrum cab, each loaded with 2×10" Scorpions and 1×18" Black Widow.

At the moment, I've really been digging the sound of just the two BWs.
 
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#589
Paulabass said:
I've had three janky rigs in my life- No pics of any of them.
My first- My friend built a 100W. 4 channel p.a. head from a kit. I put it on top of a Kustom tuck and roll 2x15. It was terrible, but got me thru lots of gigs.
2ND.- I was playing guitar for a while, and didn't have a rig. I got an emergency call for a bassist 'right now'. I disconnected the 5" speakers from a Fostex monitor, and stuck that on 2 15" p.a. cabs. I wasn't the worst rig I've ever heard.
3RD.- After retiring from live music for 5 years I bought a Rickerbacker 4003 on a whim. I searched around for my old rig, found a 4x10 cab, but I think my head was stolen along the way. I put a little 2ch. mixer from my desk with a QSC power amp into the 4x10. Lots of guts, but not much tone shaping. After a week I went and bought a new head.
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Early on I tried using my little Behringer 4-ch mixer as a preamp, into my rack power amp, and yeah...plenty strong line level signal, but that EQ pretty much sucked for bass guitar tone-shaping. I wish you had a photo of the powered spot monitor driving the PA cabs though.

Earlier in this thread I posted a photo of the chassis out of a little Dean Markley guitar practice amp driving my power amp into a Peavey PA cab. I still use the Dean Markey instead of my Zoom sometimes at home. It's got a 15W/4 ohm speaker output and sounds pretty good driving that 4-ohm Birdhaus cab directly, even. I am still trying to think of a sanitary way to rehouse it, or mount it on a little pedalboard...it sounds good enough, and has enough jank appeal, that I can't quite let go of that idea. But the Zoom is easy to carry and set up and I haven't come up with a slick idea for the Dean Markley that appeals to me enough to do anything yet.
 
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#592
pie_man_25 said:
That thing must be huge, and heavy. You could probably also post in the conventional doom thread. I dig it :)
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Yep it was a cheap construction. Nasty sound. And I could even hide behind it on stage LOL. But when I was a 16 or 17 year old kid, it was a smoking rig. Especially with a Hofner plugged in. That was back in '69 thru '72 or '73... But hauled it to a few homecoming gigs, clubs, and event gigs. And usually got the usual "Can y'all turn down??" remarks from the chaperons. Oh well, just goes to show, things never change.
 
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#593
Eddie LeBlanc said:
Yep it was a cheap construction. Nasty sound. And I could even hide behind it on stage LOL. But when I was a 16 or 17 year old kid, it was a smoking rig. Especially with a Hofner plugged in. That was back in '69 thru '72 or '73... But hauled it to a few homecoming gigs, clubs, and event gigs. And usually got the usual "Can y'all turn down??" remarks from the chaperons. Oh well, just goes to show, things never change.
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The sound good be mediocre, I'd still rock it. 15s, six of them - imagine.
 
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#594
Eddie LeBlanc said:
Couldn't resist posting a pics of my old bemoth Silvertone 250XL. six 15"s and some cheap transistor 250 watts.
View attachment 2863169
View attachment 2863170
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A cabinet taller than an Ampeg 8x10 and wider than a Marshall 4x12. I approve. It makes me want to plug a low wattage tube head into it and dime it just looking at it. The overdrive would cover the sounds of the cabinet splintering apart perfectly.
 
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#598
In my book the Wildman2 rig qualifies in an understated, tall kind of way. I would suggest turning the TNT combo on its side, for slight added visual jank, a sideways logo, and easier access to the knobs and input/speaker jacks. You can experiment if you like the tweeter positioned higher or lower that way by flipping it on one side or the other.

Will the TNT stack well if it's on its side in the middle of the stack? Then you don't have to bend over or reach up. Put that thing on its side and all of a sudden you have new decisions to make: top? middle? bottom?
 

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