Was this until last Saturday:
Except for the neck of the Ibanez GSRM20 Mikro Bass, which is my main, having been transplanted to a GSRM20B Mikro Bass body in Weathered Black finish, and just having a single EMG Geezert Butler P pickup installed in it, wired directly to the output jack socket, making the bass look like this (except for the pickup not being a DiMarzio Model P but an EMG Geezer Butler P) :
But only having cheked out the tone of my SWR Triad I cab at home in my apartment at relatively low volume levels, where it sounded amazing, I discovered at the first rehearsal with the bass/vocals and drums/vocals duo I just started with a drummer friend of mine (first band I've been in for years), which I've been working for bass parts for for some time now, that it didn't really sound great at higher volume levels, like generic and boring in a somewhat anemic and sort of weak, thin and lifeless way, seriously lacking punch, snap and sparkle, and that my much cheaper The Box PA 502, full range PA speaker, sounded much fuller and livelier, and overall just a lot better, with more depth, punch and snap to it's tone, despite having cost me just what equals about 210$ from new, which would put it in the budget price range of PA speakers, and even make it cheaper than the Triad I cab costed me used, and considerably less than what the Triad I cab would have costed from new.
The Box PA 502 is a 300W RMS (1200W Peak) 1x15" (300W) + 1.7" tweeter horn (100W) full range PA speaker in a plastic housing, and unlike the SWR Triad I, which is a 4 Ohm cab, this PA speaker runs at 8 Ohm, meaning that my 160W @ 4 Ohm Peavey amp at maximum capacity according to the manual is only able to push the speaker with about 100W, it is however still plenty of loud enough at far from the Peavey's max capacity, as it is just me and the drummer, and that he is not the most hard hitting drummer either, and actually, despite being on the cheaper side, it was one of the PA speakers I could find which frequency response go lowest, rated to 35Hz - 20kHz (-10dB) and 45Hz - 18kHz (-3dB), which is actually lower than some dedicated bass cabs are rated to, and since I tune my bass in F# standard tuning, 2 half steps above regular 4 string E standard tuning, meaning my lowest note is at about 46Hz, it reproduce the bottom end of my signal perfectly well, and is actually more bassy and tight in the low end than the SWR, sounding very close to what I hear in my headphones, a pair of proper quality, near flat response, studio, Senheiser HD 380 Pro, at home with my ampless setup, which is also what I use with the Peavey combo, untilizing its Effects Return poweramp input, and having a faux EQ based cab sim before it, basically just rolling off the upper treble frequencies, as well as using a 40Hz HPF.
I haven't got a picture of how my setup looks now, but I have the Peavey Solo Special 112, modded with a speaker out jack socket, and the build in 12" speaker unit disconnected, standing on the ground, and then the The Box PA 502 PA speaker connected to it, standing on top of the SWR Triad I cab, which currently basically just functions as a glorified speaker stand.
The The Box PA 502 looks like this though (picture taken from Thomann's web page) :
Currently making my "Janky-A Rig of Doom" look like this in written form :
(*pedals listed in
[ red/bold/underline text ] are "always on" effects*
)
4 string 28,6" scale Ibanez GSRM20 neck + GSRM20B body Mikro Bass (equipped with an EMG Geezer Butler P pickup, wired directly to the output jack socket, and strung with gauge .95 - .75 - .55 - .40
D'Addario XL nickle roundwound steel core strings, tuned in F# standard tuning, 2 half steps above regular 4 string bass E standard tuning) ->>
TC Electronic SpectraComp (always on compressor) ->> TC Electronic Sub'N'Up Mini (always on digital polyphonic octaver, used as an 1 octave up effect mixed with clean bass signal, giving an effect similar to that of an 8 string "octave" bass, with pairs of respectively bass and octave strings) ->> Boss LS-2 [A+B Mix <-> Bypass] (always on, parallel effect loops mixer/switch) ={ [Loop A Send] ->> Joyo Orange Juice (always on low gain overdrive, really primarily used to enhance harmonic content, [Tone] set at about 11 o'clock, [Voice] set to boost a wide curve around a 800Hz center frequency about +3dB pre gain stage, always mixed with the clean {bass+octave up} signal from parallel effects [Loop B])) ->> [Loop A Return] ->||<- [Loop B Send] ->> (empty effects loop used as clean {bass+octave up} signal blend for the Orange Juice overdrive in parallel effects loop [Loop A]) ->> [Loop B Return] ([Loop A] + [Loop B] mixed at an about 55/45 ratio)
}=>> Boss LS-2 [A+B Mix <-> Bypass] (parallel effect loops mixer/switch) ={ [Loop A Send] ->> Joyo Orange Juice (low gain overdrive, always either used to boost the Behringer phaser in front of it and make it a bit brighter or stacked into the Metal Zone in front of it) ->> Boss MT-2 Metal Zone (distortion, always used with the Orange Juice overdrive behind it stacked into it, and always used mixed with the Rat distortion in parallel effects [Loop B]) ->> Behringer VP1 Vintage Phaser (EHX Small Stone clone, used in the high feedback and deep sweep mode, always used boosted by the Orange Juice stacked into it, and almost always used mixed with flanger in parallel effects [Loop B]) ->> [Loop A Return] ->||<- [Loop B Send] ->> Monarch MFL-22 (flanger, most often used mixed with phaser in parallel effects [Loop A]) ->> Mosky Black Rat (RAT clone, in original classic RAT [Vintage] mode, quite raunchy, fuzz-esque, high gain distortion, always used mixed with the Metal Zone distortion in parallel effects [Loop A]) ->> [Loop B Return] ([Loop A] + [Loop B] mixed at an about 50/50 ratio)
}=>> Artec SE-EQ8 Graphic EQ (always on) ->> Zoom G1Xon (Used for an always on 2 band parametric equalizer, and additionally used for 3 patches (all including the EQ at the end of the chain), which respectively are as follows: Tremolo+VintageCE (Boss CE-1 emulation), chorus patch :-: Plate Reverb+HD Hall Reverb+Tape Delay, prominent reverb patch :-: Plate Reverb+HD Hall Reverb+Tape Delay, extremely thick lush reverb patch, used as a reverb pad effect with volume swells) ->> NUX Tape Core Deluxe (Roland Space Echo tape delay emulation) ->> Zoom B1 Four (always on 2 band parametric EQ, subtle spring reverb, and faux, EQ based, cab sim, consisting of a 2 band parametric EQ set as follows: [Freq=10kHz Q=1 Cut=-18dB] ; [Freq=20kHz Q=0.5 Cut=-20dB], plus a lush Church reverb model with a line selector behind, making it switchable on/off)
->> EHX Black Finger (always on tube driven optical compressor, dialed in to a quite subtle compression, primarily functioning as a tube preamp stage) ->> Art Tube MP Project Series (tube preamp, with HPF at 40Hz) ->> [Effects Return] (poweramp input) of Peavey Solo Special 112 (160W, solid state guitar combo, with the build in 4 Ohm 12" speaker unit disconnected and instead hooked up to a The Box PA 502 PA speaker) ->> The Box PA 502 (full range PA speaker with 1x 15" + 1.7" high frequency tweeter horn)
However, even if I do like the tone the Peavey's poweramp delivers, I suspect soon to probably ditch the Peavey combo as the amplifier used for this setup for a poweramp (likely to be a Class D one) that will allow me to take full advantage of the The Box PA 502 PA speaker's 300W capacity, as said currently only being able to run it at max about 100W with the Peavey, since the speaker out impedance of the Peavey is 4 Ohm and the PA speaker is 8 Ohm, plus it will make it easier to transport, the The Box PA speaker also being a good deal lighter than the Triad I cab.
