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Let's talk about weight

#141
FFTT said:
Without something to stop them, the ultra lights could simply vibrate off the top of the cab and take an ungraceful swan dive.
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Never had that, but I did yank them down accidentally before, and a soundman accidentally broke my PF350 a year and a half ago (believe it or not, I did a PCB repair on it and it's still holding up!). But never had one vibrate off a cab. Maybe that's because my cabs are good and don't vibrate ;)
 
#146
JimmyM said:
Never had that, but I did yank them down accidentally before, and a soundman accidentally broke my PF350 a year and a half ago (believe it or not, I did a PCB repair on it and it's still holding up!). But never had one vibrate off a cab. Maybe that's because my cabs are good and don't vibrate ;)
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When I was a kid, I yanked a big Peavey head off a stack of two large 15" Yamaha PA speakers. It kept on working. I've had my micro heads go flying on more than one occasion, but it's usually due to being on extremely cramped stages that seem typical of jazz gigs. The lighter gear tends to do less damage to itself and to other things. Nothing has ever broken. I once had to play through a song with my amp dangling by the speaker cable.

In a perfect world, I'd rather have a combo, but I like my DIY speakers and don't want to mess with a DIY combo amp.
 
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#147
FFTT said:
So the healthiest other physical task you do to stay in shape is ????
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That's a strange question. It may come as a surprise but there are lots of activities to stay in shape. I can't see how that's part of this discussion. I never bought gear to stay in shape. I bought gear out of need to meet my needs as a semi pro musician, not to build muscle mass.
 
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#148
corinpills said:
Anybody ever play at... What was the name if it, the Russian Lady? It was in Hartford in the late 90s and they used to make you sign a waiver before loading in UP THE FIRE ESCAPE! It was just metal steps, but technically it was the fire escape. 3 flights...
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External metal stairs have figured in gigs for me quite often. They are even more fun at night in the rain.
 
#149
corinpills said:
No, not your tummy, your bass amp. Inspired by hundreds of threads on talkbass about tube heads, I am often struck by how often the weight of an amp seems to be at the top of players' priorities when it comes to amps. As someone who loads in and out a hundred or more times a year, and has done so for 20+ years, I always just consider the weight of my gear part of the much bigger picture. It's not like you have to hold the amp up all night. You just put it on a cart and heft it into place and then do the reverse at the end of the night. Obviously, some people have back problems and I certainly sympathize with that, but without being judgemental at all, I ask: how can an amp's weight really matter? It has just always struck me as totally inconsequential. Explain it to me. I mean, if you wanted a lightweight gig, shouldn't you have become a lead singer instead?
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Really great post.

I think a lot of it depends on your circumstances. I dragged around an Acoustic 360 for many years. Played it in all kinds of Michigan venues and could not understand what the issue was. But, I also had a station wagon to tip it into, a large garage to store it in, and gigs mostly at places with sidewalks between the car and the stage. A move to PHX changed all that. Suddenly I had a more fuel efficient sedan for high miles, no where to store anything, and gigs out by the corral with parking lots that challenge a 4x4. Enter Neodymium drivers. You can get big rig behavior out of more portable cabs and amps; but it can be a lot more expensive. Still love the SVT and 360; but, out West here, it's portability all the way for me.
 
#150
Jim Carr said:
External metal stairs have figured in gigs for me quite often. They are even more fun at night in the rain.
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Try living in the snow & ice belt. ;) Way back when, we used to have a 3rd floor walk up in an old warehouse building with fire-escape access. It was particularly treacherous with my rig at that time which featured a Kustom 3x15 cabinet.
 
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#152
Chef said:
Oh good gawd; the only cab I hated moving more than Peavey 1820's.
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Even worse, they had those terrible handles that were metal with plastic inserts with long bolts. The plastic would break/disappear and you'd be left with these sharp handles with stigmata inducing metal pieces you couldn't get rid of. Terrible. I used to carry it up those 3 flights by myself.

And it sounded like a steaming pile.
 
#154
DWBass said:
I gigged an 75lb Peavey Combo amp for years. Can't imagine moving just a head that weighed that much. Can't do it. Running 30lb rack rigs these days.
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"Combo 300?" yeah. heavy.
Had one. It wouldn't die, even when I threw it down a flight of stairs one night because I was really tired of it and it wouldn't die.
I gave it away on CL; still working fine, many years after the stairs thing.
 
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#155
Chef said:
"Combo 300?" yeah. heavy.
Had one. It wouldn't die, even when I threw it down a flight of stairs one night because I was really tired of it and it wouldn't die.
I gave it away on CL; still working fine, many years after the stairs thing.
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Actually a TNT130 but I think they all weighed the same using the same chassis and transformer and speakers. I babied mine. Bought in the mid 80's and just sold it a few years ago for a buck 25!
 
#156
This 'tone is king' argument: Do you think anybody gigs a Class D head and a Neo cab thinking it sounds bad?

My rig has to do triple duty - bass guitar often with lots of effects, double bass and synth bass. My 2x12 + tweeter smokes any traditional bass cab at doing this, my Class D head can sound transparent or it can warm up nicely with the valve pre and it sounds great on all three instruments. I don't need a ton of volume from it but regardless I've got 600w on tap and the cab will handle all that and more and put out a deafening noise if I want one.

I'm really not missing out.
 
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#157
S-Bigbottom said:
I am sorry, I mean no disrespect just you keep using digital when referencing class D amps. Just to clear up some misinformation, class D power amps are analog. please read this Thread. All is answered in the first page.
Class D: Analog or Digital? How to tell? | TalkBass.com

Now Back On Topic.
Use what works for you.
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Actually, I wasn't EXACTLY doing that.
I in no way had mistaken class D for digital - though I was somewhat conflating them since we are talking here only about weight and both use switching power supplies and thus have the same weight advantages over CONVENTIONAL solid state amps.
Where I WAS mistaken was in the assumption that there was indeed digital amplification in at least some of the bass amps billing themselves as such when, it seems, this technology has not truly come to instrument amplification (on re-reflection, it seems for good reason in the case of any amp that is not already digitally processing the signal).
If you are saying all amplification is inherently analog since it ends in an inherently analog signal - that is kind of a myth since all music is ultimately analog and yet we have: CDs, MP3s (and all the other audio file types), standard notation, charts and even tab which are all non-analogs to the ultimate "music" - the first two being truly digital and an argument can be made for charts being "digital" as well as it is converting music into numbers and thus could be expressed (if we wanted to) in binary.
Anyway, I DID learn something from your post as I had been mistaken about digital amplification - just not quite in the way you thought I was, so thanks. :).
 
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#160
This image comes to mind.

4109.jpg


Fender Twins are mostly more awkward than anything.
Always bang into your ankles.
 
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