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Motorcycle Bass Rig

#24
homsar said:
I know it's not for you, but I just can't shake the visual of mounting the Ampeg 8x10 on a sidecar subframe and riding the whole rig onstage at the beginning of the gig. It would definitely attract some attention. Sounds like a great schtick for a psychobilly band.
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Ha! Is that ridiculous show still on Discovery? . . . they'll build the damned thing right outta the 8x10 cab. It'll be like Jessie James, Paul Teuttle, Russel Mitchel, Marco de Vergilis and Jeff Genzler doing the celebrity build! :eek::p
 
#25
Rando McNally said:
When I was first cutting my teeth I lived in Bermuda and played in a band. I don't know if you've been there, but gas has been outrageously expensive there for decades. In 1996 we were shelling out like $7 a gallon there.

Anyway, we rode scooters everywhere, which means we were a bunch of rolling Jenga (TM) games, with ridiculous amounts of equipment piled on our laps and seats and our heads peering our from the side to see where we were going.

To say some of the gear got a road rash would be, eh, fair.

Anyway, Now I'm 13 years older, and I have a LOT of gear, and a truck, but I ALSO have a motorcycle, and just got laid off. So I've got some free time, and am working on rationalizing a purchase so that I can roll to gigs on my bike, just like back in the day.

BUT, for the life of me, if I wanted to load up the bike and head to a gig I couldn't, unless it was just me, my bass and my sansamp BDDI.

The closest I have that will cut the mustard tone.volume wise is my SWR workingmans 12 (love this amp!), but it's a little big. I also have a SWEET Laney 35w amp (10"speaker) that sounds just great, but puts out about 1/2 the SPLs needed for even a modest stage monitor. It DOES mic well.

So, I'm looking for something that outputs like my SWR (or better) with the size/weight of my Laney.

With a bass on my back, the amp would have about 9"x14" to sit on. It can hang over the side a bit, and it's weight balance is important (ie. the side hanging off the left of the bike can't weigh a lot more than the side hanging off the right. Extra stable handles (to be used as tie-downs) are a MUST.

I've already gotten the ball rolling here with the obvious:

1. PJB Breifcase



Throw 'em at me!
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i bet it wouldnt take much to rig up a removable saddlebag/frame affair that would hold the bass securely on one side and a small combo on the other......i know custom bike fabricator guy here that could do it without getting out of bed
 
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#26
I can see a lot of police cars with flashing lights in your future. Back in the day my buddy had a Vespa. He had crashed it and broken the steering column cover. He wedged a spanner in the gap to keep it still. Bass and guitar cases behind our legs. We travelled miles and miles like that. How we didn't kill ourselves I'll never know.

Paul
 
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#27
Easily done. Either use Markbass cmd121P or a shuttle/LMII in the outer pocket of your bass case and strap down a 30LB cab on the back of your bike. One of those schroeder 15Ls would work fine too.

I've ridden my vespa/ scooter many times with bass on my back and LMII amp in the outer pocket.
 
#29
Rick Auricchio said:
The risk of injury seems so great that it isn't worth using the motorcycle to carry cargo.
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You must not have a bike.

Rick Auricchio said:
But on the way to the hospital, perhaps they'll have room in the ambulance for your gear.
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If it's small enough, they should! I mean if I can pack it on my bike I could probably get it under my hospital bed if I tilt the back of it up just a little.

Seriously though guys. This is great. I have a Bag End 1x12 that I think might be just the thing, I already tried strapping it on the bike and it kinda fit. Then a little tiny head, and BAM! We're good to go.

I don't think I'm gonna go the whole custom case route. I'm looking to go a little spartan.

I play parties in the summer, show up early to set up the gear, then I always feel like getting outta there. I figured if I ride to the gig, then unload and set up I can get a late eve's riding in, rock all night, sleep in the yard and be up and rolling in the am. Well, maybe not quite that rustic, but that's the general idea. Summer fun. Doing things a little differently, you know? Hands dirty kinda stuff?

Anyway, keep the ideas coming. I'm fresh from gig now, so I'll go through and compile the list in the am, but I'm LOVING the idea of a bike fabricated out of an SVT and an 810.

This might just become an epic thread!
 
#31
Even the tiny GK micro combo (which I own and use and love) seems ungainly for the purposes we're proposing. It's just not the sort of thing I'd want to just bungee on the back (and I do enjoy motorcycle camping).

I was thinking about fabricating a custom system to fix a gig bag & amp to the luggage rack. For me it would have to be like that because most of my gigs involve some highway. IMHO any type of awkward, insecure load is absolutely unacceptable at 55+ mph.

Then coming home from a mountain resort gig one night, I clipped a deer @50 mph. Got lucky and was in the truck - just took out a mirror - $15 at Pep Boys. But I saw how quickly it happens, how impossible they are to dodge at speed and heard how loud the impact is. (We're talking serious: WHACK!!!) I just know if I'd been using the bike like I'd been thinking about, I would have been so. completely. f-ed.

So you might say project Bass Rig On Motorcycle is on the back burner now. (Besides, I like my heavy bulky Aguilar 1x12 and play upright as often as not.) To save gas, I carpool. YMMV.
 
#34
Rick Auricchio said:
You're right, Rando, I've not ridden a motorcycle. But I still think carrying cargo is risky. Riding is dangerous enough with all of us other drivers out there...

A small head is the easy part; it's the cab that gets difficult.
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as long as things are secured well, you have good center of gravity, and you don't go over the weight limit the bike is designed for there should be no problems.
 
#39
That acoustic image combo wont work for electric bass... too small.

Another idea that I was going to pursue when I was seriously thinking of what you are, is to build a platform on which to attach your cab. I was going to use some plywood and attach it with brackets onto the frame of my Honda Ruckus. Once you have the platform then get some heavy duty hook/loop thingies to run your tie-down cables thru.

Its hard to explain on the interenet but the way the ruckus is built, it definitely would have worked.

In the end I decided against the idea. Its too much to deal with all the raingear and crap as well as bass gear when I have a gig to think about.

Certainly NOT convenient in the least.
 

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