Rehearsal Rant

[SteveFromBerlin]

How many of my fellow bass players pay to rehearse at studios? I've yet to go to one here on Long Island that has a bass rig I can tolerate using. A new band I joined about 3 months ago picked a rehearsal space conveniently 10 minutes from my home. Happily with my P bass special in hand I enter the room we're to practice in, then in horror I spied the bass rig! It was a SVT 350, upon closer inspection all the graphic eq sliders were busted off and it was sitting on top of 2 4x10 cabs, a Seismic audio and old Ampeg 410 HE. I plugged in and brought up the gain, it sounded like crap, and very little deep bass which if nothing else should have been present. Upon further inspection the Ampeg cab was unplugged, maybe by accident I thought? Plugged it in and plucked the open A string and all I heard was BUZZZZZZZZZZZ! I unplugged it and went ahead with just the top Seismic cab. Next week I brought my Mesa WD-800 and Revsound RS-210. A different room, but another SVT 350 with another Ampeg 4x10 under a Carvin 2x10. For grins I plugged into it and turned up to 1/3 gain. It sounded passable as I noodled for a few minutes, then suddenly it turned to a weird fuzz. Turned it down (it wasn't loud at all to begin with) and the fuzz didn't diminish. Turned it off and back on and it sounded normal. Hooked up my rig and went ahead with rehearsal non the less.
I get that running a rehearsal studio is not exactly a goldmine, but there is much more effort into providing guitarists amps that are usable (Marshall, Fender, etc.) Last week we went to another studio. Foolishly I left my rig at home, as I walked into a Hartke LH-1000 sitting on top of a Hartke 8x10 "VX" cab. Every single note buzzed like all of the joints in the cab were broken, and that amp? Bass, mid, treble, and a bright switch only?? I could not get an acceptable tone out of it. Today we're heading to that studio again, I'm bringing the Mesa head with my new Subway 2x12 which has only been used in my apartment, going to stretch it's legs!

I feel your pain. BUT I have to put in a word in defense for the LH-1000. That is a beast of an amp with a wonderful Fender Tone Stack that can't go wrong! The only flaw is that the XLR out doesn't carry that beautiful tone stack.

 

[Nanaki]

We practice at a selection of three places locally, all have a bass amp/cab provided. I couldn't tell you if any of them even switch on, I always take my own head and 4/10.

 

[Jonathan C]

I'm a big fan of Next Phase Studios in Farmingdale. All the rooms have Ampeg SVT-3 heads and Ampeg 8X10 cabinets. The owner Mike is a great guy, I've known him for well over 20 years. He used to be an authorized amp repair tech for Ampeg, but doesn't work on gear anymore. Mike used to own Fastlane Studios on Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn, but lost his longtime lease and relocated. He's done a ton of work at the new location.

Ironically, I work within walking distance of that studio, but it's too far away from my bandmates to rehearse there!

 

[Jonathan C]

I feel your pain. BUT I have to put in a word in defense for the LH-1000. That is a beast of an amp with a wonderful Fender Tone Stack that can't go wrong! The only flaw is that the XLR out doesn't carry that beautiful tone stack.

I couldn't tell what that amp was capable of unfortunately with that horrible cab it was plugged into. I personally can't work with a 3 tone control amp anymore, I'm spoiled by the WD-800 tone controls and the HPF is irreplaceable in the studio. I might try just bringing the Mesa head to see if I can dial in an acceptable tone out of the beat up Hartke 810

 

[Yango]

I feel your pain, brother.

The guitar players ALWAYS have a choice of decent rigs: Marshall, Mesa Boogie or Fender tube amps and the like. Meanwhile, on the bass front, what’s on the menu? Garbage with a side order of crap. It honestly looks like they find these amps and cabs on garbage day at the end of someone’s driveway.

This is the reason that I bought my GK Fusion 500 amp head. It fits nicely into my gigbag, it’s light and it sounds AMAZING! I’m willing to put up with sub par cabs, but I do want my amp to sound good.

Depending on the situation I have, on occasion, brought my 12” Mesa Boogie Walkabout Scout combo. But I do find it to be a bit of a drag lugging essentially all of my stage gear to a rehearsal—and I’m not always using my car—so there’s no way that I’m hauling my combo with me on the subway.

I’m really happy with the GK, it’s solved my rehearsal room blues.

 

[BlueTalon]

This is the reason that I bought my GK Fusion 500 amp head. It fits nicely into my gigbag, it’s light and it sounds AMAZING!

Is that the new Fusion 500S? Or the older MB500 Fusion?

 

[ga_edwards]

It's a crapshoot for sure. Most of the rehearsal rooms in my area (I'm assuming the same for the rest of the UK) is either pay extra to use the studio's backline or it's supplied as part of the cost whether you need it or not. Some of it's maintained well, and some of it is heavily abused. It depends entirely on the quality of the studio.

Since my band has gone all Helix and FRFR it makes things a lot easier. If the supplied PA is beefy enough, we can simply stick the guitars, bass and vocals straight in. Otherwise, we each have an FRFR speaker that's not a hassle to plug in. I actually bought the tiny Headrush 108 speaker specifically for this purpose. It's amazing how big and powerful this little box sounds in a rehearsal room! I also find it easier to hear than a big cab in a small room as it's more directional.

 

[Yango]

Is that the new Fusion 500S? Or the older MB500 Fusion?

The older MB500 Fusion. I actually like the EQ on it better than the Walkabout. It’s much more intuitive in my opinion.

 

[BlueTalon]

The older MB500 Fusion. I actually like the EQ on it better than the Walkabout. It’s much more intuitive in my opinion.

I have one of those, I like mine a lot. I use it to gig with, though I need to get it sent in for service.

 

[ArtechnikA]

I have one of those, I like mine a lot. I use it to gig with, though I need to get it sent in for service.

Mine's been back to GK twice, with two different failures.
Now it's doing the signal-dropout thing again. Preamp section (works through the effects return).
Probably tube (which one of 3?) or flaky ribbon cable connector.
Been procrastinating opening up again, but I've got gigs booked and I could use a spare...

 

[RyanSaranich]

And to gigs!
In a pub I ran years ago the owner was a big jazz fan and booked some of the premier jazz bands from Sydney.
The pub had a music theme with all manner of (generally unplayable) instruments screwed to the walls and hanging from the ceiling.
At one gig the keys player walked in and asked where the piano was. I pointed to the baby grand that was mounted on the wall. It had had borer all through the wood and was just a display piece. He'd heard there was a piano at the gig and didn't even bring his keyboard "just in case". Luckily for him the owner was a keyboard player so I grabbed his keyboard for the gig. I had no idea how to set the sounds on it and neither did the keyboard player so during the gig he'd try to change the settings and would get all manner of interesting (but definitely not jazz sounding) sounds coming through. He was such an entitled acting prick who would then get angry and yell at me to fix it. I eventually had enough of him and yelled back "I don't play keys, I don't know how to set it up, and if I did play keys I'd bring my own F*%$#%$ keyboard to EVERY GIG...... just in case!"

It's for this reason that I'm currently building up a little 112 + Class D rig. Easy to move, easy to always have with me! Some of the places I've shown up to play where they said they had gear......scary stories, lol.