The Combo Club

[Pontiac Thrasher]

Seems to me worth playing with and without the VT in live settings is the ticket. My PJB Suitcase is as an accurate combo as can be, and it plays very well with others as is. Pretty sweet. It also weighs several times the Vox, and for my needs now

For my needs now I'm seriously considering an Elf for when I need an amp but no cab, and to read everything the Elf is an awesome match for my C4. Means (to me) I can show up with just my loaded gig bag and that's kind of important in my mind. A proper setting for the Suitcase and C4 as a rig, well drool

For now something smaller, and under 10 pounds of carry for a transparent combo that will do the job is mightifully engaging ....(I do love the VT, it just warms up the tone from a warm-toned bass.)

You have a great plan for the Elf!

Picked an Elf amp a couple of weeks ago, and really like it. Amazing for its size and price. (got it way cheap online)

Put it through a weight loss program the first day. It is lighter now after losing the knobs, feet, bezels, associated screws. That stuff alone weighs over a 1/4 lb. Using it to try building a "lighter than what I already own" combo.

Finger joined pine, tweed, e155 jbl, open back...

Will see how it goes.

The lid should be aluminum... it weighs about 1/2 pound!

 

[biguglyman]

Smallest, lightest combo I've ever owned is this Carvin Pro Bass 150. 100 watts into a single 10" speaker. 150 watts with another 8 ohm speaker in series. I used to gig this by taking a front loaded, 8 ohm, 18" cab and setting the combo on top. 150 watts, a 10, and an 18. I've finally moved on to other stuff. (Eden Nemesis RS-410, etc.) The combo and 18 cab replaced my old Traynor YBA-3 and Acoustic 18" folded horn setup. Before that I had various cabs paired with the Traynor including an SVT bottom. With age comes appreciation for smaller, lighter rigs.

 

[GwenOnBass]

Rat fur!

Down at Santa's Workshop where My StingRay is in skilled hands, there are a number of Vox amps in the guitar and bass room. Didn't see the bass amp but certain I'll inquire next I'm there. Did notice the black Mikro sold. There is also a Fender coil cable in hazy purple begging to go home. drool

 

[GonePlaid]

I like to control the sound I send to the board. There is at least one song we do that goes from clean verses to heavy distorted bridges. I use a footswitch to make the transitions. I don't think our church soundman gets quite that intimate with individual tones.

Hmm. That might be frowned on in church(LOL). Seriously, I want the sound I dialled in to go out front so on the rare occasions we've gone through a sound man, I had them take line out from whatever amp I was using. What they send out front, I have no control over, but at least it starts as what I wanna put out there.

 

[GonePlaid]

Smallest, lightest combo I've ever owned is this Carvin Pro Bass 150. 100 watts into a single 10" speaker. 150 watts with another 8 ohm speaker in series. I used to gig this by taking a front loaded, 8 ohm, 18" cab and setting the combo on top. 150 watts, a 10, and an 18. I've finally moved on to other stuff. (Eden Nemesis RS-410, etc.) The combo and 18 cab replaced my old Traynor YBA-3 and Acoustic 18" folded horn setup. Before that I had various cabs paired with the Traynor including an SVT bottom. With age comes appreciation for smaller, lighter rigs.

View attachment 3220765

AMEN to smaller, lighter rigs-and I'm working on a smaller, lighter me.

 

[GonePlaid]

Rat fur!

Down at Santa's Workshop where My StingRay is in skilled hands, there are a number of Vox amps in the guitar and bass room. Didn't see the bass amp but certain I'll inquire next I'm there. Did notice the black Mikro sold. There is also a Fender coil cable in hazy purple begging to go home. drool

If it follows you home, you can keep it.

 

[Pontiac Thrasher]

I have always pushed the concept of setting instrumental amplifiers to mix perfectly with the acoustic volume of the drums, because for me, that is the point at which beyond that, what I am hearing goes downhill in quality. People used to tell us that it was they first time in a bar that they could distinctly here every instrument, and they really enjoyed that.

A combo can do that very well, but so can a stack, everyone just has to adjust to the sound of the group, vs ego.

Of course, I have nothing but houses and bars for experiance.

 

[shadven]

I have always pushed the concept of setting instrumental amplifiers to mix perfectly with the acoustic volume of the drums, because for me, that is the point at which beyond that, what I am hearing goes downhill in quality. People used to tell us that it was they first time in a bar that they could distinctly here every instrument, and they really enjoyed that.

A combo can do that very well, but so can a stack, everyone just has to adjust to the sound of the group, vs ego.

Of course, I have nothing but houses and bars for experiance.

So true. My drummer is a very hard hitter, and very dynamic. My Ampeg B100r Rocket Bass (100 watts 1x15) barely keeps up on stage, but in the room it is perfect.

 

[ghostinthemach]

I have always pushed the concept of setting instrumental amplifiers to mix perfectly with the acoustic volume of the drums,

That’s what worked for me to achieve the best room mix with the basic gear available for most of my 48 year gigging history.
I started a mix from the kick drum up. Drums whether mic’ed or not always established the ‘sound floor’.

 

[GwenOnBass]

What I notice is the drummer asks me to turn up when my mids are scooped. Funny thing, that. First came into awareness of this plugged into a backline SWR - 1x15. Show up next time with mids notched up on both sides of 500 hz and everyone can magically hear me.

 

[Pontiac Thrasher]

What I notice is the drummer asks me to turn up when my mids are scooped. Funny thing, that. First came into awareness of this plugged into a backline SWR - 1x15. Show up next time with mids notched up on both sides of 500 hz and everyone can magically hear me.

It's complicated, how sound (from our loud combo's : ) is perceived...

My drummer and I both wore hearing protection that protected us from everything but the deep bass, those hardware store headphone type. It really aided our being able to hear one another by muting the rythym and lead guitarists.

Leads me to two questions:

Could your guitarist hear you ok when the drummer could not?

And:

Did anyone in your group wear earplugs that may have thrown off their perception ratio wise of: bass to mid to highs?

 

[iagtrplyr]

I like to control the sound I send to the board. There is at least one song we do that goes from clean verses to heavy distorted bridges. I use a footswitch to make the transitions. I don't think our church soundman gets quite that intimate with individual tones.

Thanks, Sir G! I know I'm gonna drive you nuts here, but since the Vox is clean-only coming out of the line-out, how are you getting the dirty tone to the board? DI? Or have you not tried it with this combo yet? I'm just trying to wrap my overly-tired brain around your setup, but am still having difficulty. Is that where the wireless comes into play?

Also, when do you, if any, see a time when the Vox ain't gonna cut it? It was rather diminutive on the stand, but who cares? I liked the fact that nine lbs-in-a-cloud-of-dust-benefit. The 29-lb Acoustic was a complete drag to haul to school today, but that's a story for another posting.

Keep preaching to me, G-doggie!

 

[iagtrplyr]

Okay Kiddies,
Are ya warm and snuggled up? Time for a Fearless Leader bedtime story. Once upon a time in a land far away, Iowa, lived a tired old man ready to embark on five glorious days we call Thanksgiving Vacation. But before that he had to accomplish one small task for three classes of cute-as-a-button first graders: demonstrate soundwaves during their science time. No big deal thought the school's lead science teacher. In fact, it sounds like fun!

So he and the first-grade science teacher collaborated on a cool experiment where the little tykes would make ooblek (cornstarch and H2O) and the veteran know-it-all would bring one of his bass amps, a combo of course, to school and proceed to create magic. How? By taking the non-Newtonian fluid (combination solid and liquid) and placing it on the woofer to be bounced around unmercifully. (Check out the YT vids...very cool) Also, this was the first-grade teacher's idea. I was thinking about using rice.

So thinking nothing would harm the combo in any way, Mr. Brainiac decided to wrap his Acoustic combo in Saran Wrap to protect it. He overwrapped it at first and there wasn't much in the way of bounce when tried in his room before they to head down to the Land of Little People. So the professor instinctively reduced the wrap to allow the ooblek to reach the 10" driver a little easier. He figured, what could go wrong? (See pic image below)

Long story (sorry) short, going to the second class forced me to gamble and...well...I lost. After the nearly-complete covering of the ooblek to the front of the combo, I decided "who cares" and didn't even attempt covering it for the third and last class. Interestingly enough, the bass weakened after each attempt and finally gave up and shut down an hour later. I'm sure the water didn't help, and it was definitely the wrong speaker to use. I tried plugging the ports in the hopes of going a little deeper but to no avail. BTW, I ran my phone through the Aux In instead of playing my bass. Yuck, no balls at all. It got to the point where I leet the little ones stick their fingers on the surround so they could feel the vibration. They had more fun with that than anything, but 45 sets of hands pushing down at various strengths probably didn't help its life expectancy any.

Now before any of you pop psychologists out there trying to dig in my brain for the ulterior motive behind this, there was none, although I had begun tiring of the monotonous tone that the amp has been giving me. Every note sounded the same and I missed at least a little articulation. That being said, I was not intentionally scuttling this combo. So it's become a vacation project where I'm going to tear it apart, give it a sound cleaning (the starch falls right off), see what the electronics looks like, and reassemble the mess together and see what happens. One of my tech-nerd 4th graders has offered to take it off my hands so he can play around with it. He also advised I sell the individual parts on eBay for money. My class' entrepreneur!

So did the science teacher learn anything? Ah...probably not. But as my cohorts watched in horror I said not to worry about it because I had more at home! So about this Vox combo, G-Pup and KbD...

 

[Pontiac Thrasher]

Okay Kiddies, Once upon a time...
Long story (sorry) short, did the science teacher learn anything? Ah...probably not.

View attachment 3221896

Here is a piece of real-world practical knowledge:

Combos (and bass amps in general) are notoriously great at surviving...

BEER : )

My Mark IV Peavey would just get quiet for a few minutes, and then come back without issue...

Accidents happen.

Bass amp makers seem to plan on them.

Your amp is fine, and if you just were to play it for twenty minutes while your drummer shakes up his beers and hoses that combo down, it will look like,

The average used combo : )

 

[ghostinthemach]

Okay Kiddies,
Are ya warm and snuggled up? Time for a Fearless Leader bedtime story. Once upon a time in a land far away, Iowa, lived a tired old man ready to embark on five glorious days we call Thanksgiving Vacation. But before that he had to accomplish one small task for three classes of cute-as-a-button first graders: demonstrate soundwaves during their science time. No big deal thought the school's lead science teacher. In fact, it sounds like fun!

So he and the first-grade science teacher collaborated on a cool experiment where the little tykes would make ooblek (cornstarch and H2O) and the veteran know-it-all would bring one of his bass amps, a combo of course, to school and proceed to create magic. How? By taking the non-Newtonian fluid (combination solid and liquid) and placing it on the woofer to be bounced around unmercifully. (Check out the YT vids...very cool) Also, this was the first-grade teacher's idea. I was thinking about using rice.

So thinking nothing would harm the combo in any way, Mr. Brainiac decided to wrap his Acoustic combo in Saran Wrap to protect it. He overwrapped it at first and there wasn't much in the way of bounce when tried in his room before they to head down to the Land of Little People. So the professor instinctively reduced the wrap to allow the ooblek to reach the 10" driver a little easier. He figured, what could go wrong? (See pic image below)

Long story (sorry) short, going to the second class forced me to gamble and...well...I lost. After the nearly-complete covering of the ooblek to the front of the combo, I decided "who cares" and didn't even attempt covering it for the third and last class. Interestingly enough, the bass weakened after each attempt and finally gave up and shut down an hour later. I'm sure the water didn't help, and it was definitely the wrong speaker to use. I tried plugging the ports in the hopes of going a little deeper but to no avail. BTW, I ran my phone through the Aux In instead of playing my bass. Yuck, no balls at all. It got to the point where I leet the little ones stick their fingers on the surround so they could feel the vibration. They had more fun with that than anything, but 45 sets of hands pushing down at various strengths probably didn't help its life expectancy any.

Now before any of you pop psychologists out there trying to dig in my brain for the ulterior motive behind this, there was none, although I had begun tiring of the monotonous tone that the amp has been giving me. Every note sounded the same and I missed at least a little articulation. That being said, I was not intentionally scuttling this combo. So it's become a vacation project where I'm going to tear it apart, give it a sound cleaning (the starch falls right off), see what the electronics looks like, and reassemble the mess together and see what happens. One of my tech-nerd 4th graders has offered to take it off my hands so he can play around with it. He also advised I sell the individual parts on eBay for money. My class' entrepreneur!

So did the science teacher learn anything? Ah...probably not. But as my cohorts watched in horror I said not to worry about it because I had more at home! So about this Vox combo, G-Pup and KbD...

View attachment 3221896

What if the amp actually sounds better after you clean it? There might even be a patentable process discovery afoot changing bass amp science forever!
Ok, maybe not, but what if you like it more?

 

[ghostinthemach]

@Pontiac Thrasher, re: your avatar photo, has anyone else noticed that your dog and your bass are very similar color schemes?

 

[Pontiac Thrasher]

@Pontiac Thrasher, re: your avatar photo, has anyone else noticed that your dog and your bass a very similar color schemes?

Friends and family have, but match was not intentional, I had dressed up the bass as a Christmas gift from my Girfriend and I to her Grandson, was taking a picture of it before shipping it back East, and well, that dog puts herself in a lot of photos, not kidding.

 

[G-Dog]

Thanks, Sir G! I know I'm gonna drive you nuts here, but since the Vox is clean-only coming out of the line-out, how are you getting the dirty tone to the board? DI? Or have you not tried it with this combo yet? I'm just trying to wrap my overly-tired brain around your setup, but am still having difficulty. Is that where the wireless comes into play?

That's part of my quandary, iagtrplyr, the control-freak in me dunno what to do about the Vox's clean DO! Suggestions would be appreciated.

Also, when do you, if any, see a time when the Vox ain't gonna cut it? It was rather diminutive on the stand, but who cares? I liked the fact that nine lbs-in-a-cloud-of-dust-benefit. The 29-lb Acoustic was a complete drag to haul to school today, but that's a story for another posting.

Keep preaching to me, G-doggie!

For music I believe in situational propriety. I'm sure I will have a gig, a jam, something, where I'll want (read "need") something more than The Ultralight, sooner or later. That's when the trusty B-DEC, or Rumble 500, or both(!) will (not "may") come back into play.

I admire your dedication to science education, iago. I helped a grandson do the non-Newtonian fluid science project a few years ago. NOT ONCE did I consider using one my amps like that. The g-son got his dad to setup a cheapo radio speaker, instead, which was fine by me. We ended up with a super cool video with the soundtrack of "She Blinded Me With Science" and his zip-locked bags of the "Alien Juice" ("ooblek" didn't sound sciency enough) were the hit, literally, of the Science Fair. The kids could feel the fluidity, then karate chop them to feel the solidity. No mess! I was amazed at the strength of the bags.

The Vox's speaker is mounted behind a front wooden baffle, so it's cone is not as easily accessible for such demonstrations. Hmmm, . . . perhaps that approx. 5/8" wood plate provides some nice organic resonance to the Vox's tone! Yeah, that's the ticket! It's not all plastic.

 

[iagtrplyr]

What if the amp actually sounds better after you clean it? There might even be a patentable process discovery afoot changing bass amp science forever!
Ok, maybe not, but what if you like it more?

Ghost, I was thinking the exact same thing yesterday as the cornstarch flaked off the speaker each time I hit a road divider on the highway. How do we know there's not some added mojo now that this thing has been through the gauntlet? And then...maybe not. I'll let everyone know after the HAZMAT team goes in.

 

[iagtrplyr]

I admire your dedication to science education, iago. I helped a grandson do the non-Newtonian fluid science project a few years ago. NOT ONCE did I consider using one my amps like that. The g-son got his dad to setup a cheapo radio speaker, instead, which was fine by me. We ended up with a super cool video with the soundtrack of "She Blinded Me With Science" and his zip-locked bags of the "Alien Juice" ("ooblek" didn't sound sciency enough) were the hit, literally, of the Science Fair. The kids could feel the fluidity, then karate chop them to feel the solidity. No mess! I was amazed at the strength of the bags.

Today's winning science-in-school post! 'dog, thank you for helping your son find the fun and excitement in science. You are The Man!