Small and awesome or big and mediocre (OR BOTH??)

[scowboy]

Small and awesome has always won for me. In my days of using a bass amp regularly which are now "days gone by", IEM's . The rig I kept the longest and always loved was my Bergantino AE112's. I had two of them and they were always enough. The option to bring just one was excercised quite often. I used various heads but my favorite was an Eden Navigator and a Peavey IPR1600.

Here is a picture:

I do still have a rig, it's a Bergantino AE410 and a TecAmp Puma 900. The latter is both small and totally and (insert profanity for emphasis) awesome with no sacrifices for size. The AE410 was too good of a deal to pass up and I've used it a little more than I thought over the past couple of months, it's weight is in the 50's range. So not small but not heavy but not a fridge and it sounds huge! I've also got a Patterson Audio 310 (for sale btw) which I also got on the cheap and have just kept it at my office. But it pairs well with the TecAmp too.

Still not very big but quite mighty:

 

[two fingers]

Mine is a TVX that I basically got for free because the tweeter was blown and it sounded like arse. Bypassing the crossover is easy and it sounds great now . Kinda stoopid heavy though - great for a rehearsal space cab.

My post was a stupid typo. I meant TVX anyway but auto correct on my phone tried to make it a word. Yes, they are stupid heavy but sound great.

 

[Kmonk]

Big and awesome always wins for me, but that's not the question But with your choices, I'd have to go small and awesome. Big and mediocre just isn't any fun for me.

I agree. I don't want anything that it is mediocre. This is why I use Ampeg. Small and awesome, big and awesome. Never disappointed.

 

[dalkowski]

I would rather load small and awesome in and out of gigs.

 

[edbass1]

Honestly all I read on here is that "oh yeah you need at least a 410 with 500watts to be heard at a gig" and rambling about headroom, but I've been rolling with an Aguilar 112 and 350watt tone hammer with no issue, and yeah that's playing rock music. My plan was, like you are thinking, just get something that sounds great, figuring I would buy a second cab later on, but honestly my experiences so far have been that this is just fine. I mean instead on increasing our volume to ridiculous levels, what about getting the real offenders to turn down? If you are talking to someone and they are screaming as part of the conversation, you don't go and buy a megaphone, you end the conversation until they start behaving like a sane person.


I guess if I was playing thrash metal or something I'd need another cab... But in that case I'd probably get a big heavy peavey and save myself the stress. To my ears, the Aguilar is such a beautiful crisp and articulate sound, it lets you project all the little nuances and fast solo lines sound clear. The part of the sound worth paying the big bucks for, in other words, is unlikely to matter if you're playing the type of music where you need huge volume (not to say the 112 is quiet.. It's damn loud).To me, if I'm playing in a situation where the guitars are so loud the Aguilar won't cut it, then my tonal priority goes to big fat low end, which a cheap peavey does very well - using Aguilar for that situation seems to me like driving a Ferrari sports car in an off road race