Double Bass Lightweight gear

[Doug R]

I'm lovin' my new bass amp system. Class D amps and neodymium speakers are wonderful, especially after 40-years of hauling around big bass amps.

Last weekend, when loading & unloading after a gig, my guitar player was suddenly struck by the fact that my bass system was lighter than his guitar amp. It ticked him off! I loved it!

Now he wants to find a similar lighter weight guitar amp & speakers, but we're not finding much available. I know this is off-topic for the bass forum, but does anyone have any advice or suggestions for good, lighter weight guitar amps or amp/speaker combinations for old guitar players, like my new stuff did for this old bass guy?

Maybe a combo amp or amp & speakers that come in under about 30 lbs.? Perhaps with 1-10, 1-12 or a couple 10s?

Looks like Fender was on the right track with their Jazzmaster Ultralight, but they are not available anymore. The lightweight amp and speaker guys - like Genz Benz, Gallien Krueger and Avatar - all seem to be focusing on bass gear, but not stuff for guitar. Any suggestions?

 

[AMJBASS]

Is he primarily a Jazz player? The new Roland Cubes get a lot of love around my area(and in Toronto). They are very light weight, and the clean tone is great. They are solid state. Clean is similar to a Jazz Chorus.

 

[Doug R]

We're doing mostly rockabilly. Pretty clean & twangy. Telecaster with reverb or slapback. Meduim-size venues with occasional larger or outdoor gigs.
DR

 

[dhsierra1]

would probably have to cobble it together.

I'd look at something like a modeler pedal (eg Boss Fender Bassman or Deluxe), run it into a simple tube preamp like an ART, go into one of the ElectroHarmonix Caliber amp pedals (.22 or .44 magnum). If he needs reverb Boss makes a nice Fender Reverb pedal. That's all on a small pedal board.

For a speaker, then just buy an empty 10 or 12 cab (eg, Weber) and load w/one of the lighter Eminence speakers.

Looking at doing something like this for myself just for grins.

Edit: just saw that Emi makes a neo guitar speaker called the Lil' Texs, 12", 125 watts, 8 and 16 ohm models, about US$150 at US Speakers.

 

[desert hardwood]

I play guitar and sing in a honky-tonk/rockabilly band (as well as play upright in two other bands).

On my pedal board I always carry a Tech21 Blonde pedal. It ws there "just in case" but about a month ago my '57 ProAmp decided to blow the fuse and make burning smells. I plugged the Blonde into a DI and played the rest of the night. I don't think anyone in the room (seeing the vintage amp behind me) would think I wasn't playing through it. I knew for sure!

Since I play upright and guitar in more than one band sometimes there is little room in my car for big amps (PA and upright) if I am playing both that night. I bring a vibro champ and mic it. It is small and light. A bar stool or hi-top table put it at a good monitor level. Turn that sucker up to 8 or 9 and go!

 

[Steve Freides]

Maybe a combo amp or amp & speakers that come in under about 30 lbs.? Perhaps with 1-10, 1-12 or a couple 10s? Any suggestions?

Acoustic Image combo of your choice plus the amp modeler of your choice, e.g.,

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Less than 20 lbs., 1 x 10, or

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Which is less than 30 lbs. and 2 x 10

-S-

 

[ksandvik]

Depends on the sound he wants. My Marshall JCM900 is 42lbs which is maybe the lightest 50W tube Marshall I know of and I could scale off some more pounds by changing the speaker if I want to. My Fender SuperChamp XD is 30lbs and it used to be 28lbs when I had the stock speakers. But it's good for jams and other smaller events where a 10"/15W amp is plenty. Otherwise what guitar players do is to use amp simulation like Pods hooked to the PA with monitoring...

 

[Sam Sherry]

My current "loud" guitar rig is a Real Tube RT-922 into a Invalid Link Removed power amp. Less than 20 pounds between the two, and if you bridge it's more wattage than a Twin. (I don't.)

Reverb? We don't need your stinking reverb!

 

[Doug R]

Okay, the deed is done. Thanks for the suggestions - I passed them on to my guitar player. He sold his big, heavy amp on Craigslist and bought a new Orange Crush CR35LDX.
It is 35-watts with a single 10" and weighs-in at under 25 lbs.
Features include clean, overdrive w/footswitch, reverbs, delays and other built-in effects, plus onboard tuner and a line-out jack so we can patch it through the PA when we need more volume.
With my new lightweight bass rig, his new guitar amp, and our lightweight Peavey PR-15-neo PA speakers, I think we'll be able to tour in aVW Beetle pretty soon.
The best news is that they all sound very good - as good or better than the older heavy equipment they replace.