Loudest Rig?

[A9X]

I just brought an Intersound IVP preamp, then dragged a spare Adamson 3x18" subwoofer & the matching 3-way hi-pack box onstage, along with a Crest 10001 power amp. 5,000 watts rms per channel feeding a trapezoidal stack almost 10' tall; >118dB SPL at 10 meters from the front of the stage, from 20Hz to 18kHz.

Sweet. And people were making fun of me recently when I mentioned using a single 18 (+coax 15). Peasants.

But the look on the drummer's face was worth it.

 

[Rattman]

Randy Holden's rig in Population II:

That's sixteen 8x10 Sunn cabs.

Thats a beautiful stage shot.. however you gotta ask yourself about something so obviously over-the-top like that: "how many of the power amps are simply on 'stand-by' and how many of those cabs are merely empty stage props?"

 

[bongomania]

While you're absolutely right that many bands in the arena-rock era used walls of dummy cabs, Population II did have the "loudest band in the world" reputation for a short while, so they were using "enough" of those cabs for real.

 

[JimmyM]

Slightly bigger than a 100 seat bar, but...

I used to work as a live audio engineer for the sound company that got the annual contract for all the Christmas parties at the World Trade Center Boston. So every year right after Thanksgiving they'd convert their 20,000sq.ft. exhibit floor into a party space, & we'd load in a fairly substantial flown PA system...plus a few spare cabinets in case of emergencies. Then for the next 30 nights I or one of the other staff engineers would mix a different cover band for a different corporate office holiday party.

One year I got called to sub on bass for a band that was booked for one of these parties. Since I had access to all the PA gear we had on site, instead of bringing my bass amp I just brought an Intersound IVP preamp, then dragged a spare Adamson 3x18" subwoofer & the matching 3-way hi-pack box onstage, along with a Crest 10001 power amp. 5,000 watts rms per channel feeding a trapezoidal stack almost 10' tall; >118dB SPL at 10 meters from the front of the stage, from 20Hz to 18kHz.

And then I had to play "Celebrate" and "Jingle Bell Rock" and a ton of other crap.

But the look on the drummer's face was worth it.

LOL! That's crazy! And I'd do it too if I had the chance. But only once. Man, I thought I was something with my mini-dream rig that has a Fender Super Reverb, a B-15N and a Markbass LM II. I got nothing on that Randy Holden guy. Or you for that matter. I should take my piddly ass outta here!

 

[chadds]

I'm sure someone will be along soon to claim that a Markbass is the loudest amp

But it is...isn't it?

 

[JimmyM]

Don't be ridiculous...it's not the loudest...only the best-sounding SS amp.

 

[colorblindbass]

Hah, Loud?
theres two kinds of loud

1: the kind your talking about, which will be argued about for a while,

2: this kind, which cannot be Disputed.

 

[Nikoubis]

Hah, Loud?
theres two kinds of loud

1: the kind your talking about, which will be argued about for a while,

2: this kind, which cannot be Disputed.

Lemmy pwns Markbass...

 

[JimmyM]

LOL...yeah, if I was playing with Lemmy, I'd bring a tube amp or 4 and leave the LM II at home.

 

[One Drop]

i've been to plenty of reggae shows where the bass was pumping through rows and rows of 18" bins, driven by many scores of thousands of watts. fortunately it's pleasant, if rather emotional, rather than deafening due to the way the bass is played and EQ'ed.

I've also had the pleasure of hearing reggae Sound Systems with over 20,000 watts of KT-88 tube power, probably the most orgasmically perfect mix of power and warmth in bass reproduction I've experienced to date, run a close second by hearing Family Man through his Eden rig, mic'ed and direct, through a Meyer line array PA.

Anyway, PAs usually take the place of those insane rigs of yore nowadays, so it's a bit of a moot point. Why go deaf by putting it all behind you?