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New rig question...

L

leftyjay

Mar 3, 2012
28
1
Folkestone, Kent, UK
#1
hi people!

I've been asked last week to work with a country/pop group and wanted to see what you guys thought about a possible rig I'm putting together for it.

currently I play in quite a full-on rock band and my current gigging rig is an 80's Trace Stack (4x10 & 1x18) which is awesome but not suitable for the new gig.

I was looking around online for something more compact and lighter in weight as i'm no longer gonna be setting my levels to a drummer that really smacks 'em, and I figured I could get away with a combo in the 60-150 watt range with a DI into the house rig, with the combo for my own monitoring. Thing is, all these combos are quite expensive - looking at half decent stuff from Hartke etc.

Anyway, my question is this. I was looking around my flat the other day and realised I have an old pair of Spirit Absolute Zero studio monitors and a Samson Servo 170 power amp that haven't been doing anything for years. I stacked the speakers up in a wannabe TC electronic cab arrangement and hooked everything up, running out of a Markbass copy preamp patch on my Zoom B3, and the tone is real nice and transparent and the levels surprised me, at home at least. I just wondered if anyone else has ever run a rig like this, the speakers have a 95W handling each, the amp runs at 85W per channel (it's running in stereo). The speakers only have 6.5" drivers plus HF tweeters, but I figure lots of amp companies have been experimenting with smaller drivers lately.

I know it's all about what works for you, but i'm curious if anyone has any experience with a rig like this, or just chime in on your thoughts on what might work, or might go terribly wrong with something like this.

I should have a chance to try it out in full rehearsal next week so will feed back with my results!

Any thoughts are welcome!

Cheers all!

J
 
#3
cool man. yeah, I figured it would be fine, but it's a little overkill and the drummer of this other band is gonna be playing with hot rods rather than sticks.

I can just picture me turning up with even the 4x10 cab and it being the biggest bit of kit out of the whole band! not that it's much of a bother.

anyway, all this other stuff is just laying around for me to use and wondered if anyone had tried a similar rig with a stereo power amp and some small studio-type speakers and how they got on with it... :)
 
#6
I would not expect your studio monitor/power amp rig to fair too well for use as a bass rig. I would expect those drivers to be blown very quickly once they have a loud bass signal pumping through them.

I'd go with the Trace and the 4X10 as well.
 
#9
Try it at a rehearsal first. If that is not an option, take both rigs to the first gig. Try your home brew rig on stage, and when (I mean if?) it doesn't work out, you can grab the big rig and do the job. I would imagine that most stages would swallow up the sound of those tiny speakers unless you had them strapped to your head. And while that mental image is a lot of fun to think about, it would probably be frowned upon by whomever hired you for this particular gig.
 
#11
Why not drive the 4x10 with the Zoom/power amp combo and see if you like that tonality? If it's just a volume thing, give the small setup a shot. It's generally not fun if you get to a gig and don't have enough. It's a lot easier to turn down than cranking something too small and damaging drivers.
 
#13
Barisaxman said:
Why not drive the 4x10 with the Zoom/power amp combo and see if you like that tonality? If it's just a volume thing, give the small setup a shot. It's generally not fun if you get to a gig and don't have enough. It's a lot easier to turn down than cranking something too small and damaging drivers.
Click to expand...

+1

...playing in your bedroom through studio monitors is far different than playing in a band setting or a gig setting, not matter what the "perceived" volume levels are. You can always turn down to 0...you can't turn up past explosion. If you find that lugging around the 4x10 is still too much. Look into a 1x or 2x10 or something. Studio speakers are not made to play live music.
 
#14
I'd advise you to heed the warnings. Studio monitors are not meant for the SPL's that a live gig will require. You will go from having stuff lying around NOT being used to having stuff lying around that CAN'T be used...

You've already got a nice bass rig. Use half of it and figure out an EQ setting that will give you what you want.

OR try your studio monitors, they are yours to blow up as you see fit.;)
 
#15
No. Please stop.

Find a simple 50 to 200 watt combo, even if used, and be done.

Showing up to a new band with cobbled together questionable rig that may not even make it through the first gig is not going to end well.

A used Ampeg BA115 can be had for $150 or so, even better a used Peavey TNT could be found probably even cheaper and be all the rig you'd ever need for such a gig although they can be a bit heavy.

And Peaveys are pretty respected in country circles, they're sorta the go to brand for many steel guitar players, so don't sweat any brand stigma with Peavey.

Good luck.
 
#18
well thanks for your input everyone, although I get the feeling that i'm being looked down on a bit here like I don't know what the eff i'm doing :)

I ended up buying a used Laney RB6 combo which sounds great and was perfect for first rehearsal, should be more than enough for gigs and was only £100!

I was hoping for a bit more input from anyone who had knocked up a DIY rig to see what happened - I do understand a lot about rigs and electronics, i'm no noob, but for the most part I seem to have encountered fear on this here forum - I thought bassists were the brave ones!

anyway, my crappy Spirit Absolute Zero's live to fight another day.

keep rockin.
 
#19
There are a lot of DIY bass rigs on this forum. The difference is that they are purpose built for bass or live sound, where as you were looking to use something that was designed for neither of those applications.

I don't need to try it to know what's going to happen :)
 

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