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The Needlessly Oversized, Inconveniently Excessive Bass Amp Thread

#61
I mainly keep this monster at home because it's just too big and heavy to haul to a gig... Note how the Ric gives you an idea of how big this amp really is. ;)
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#68
FugaziBomb said:
View attachment 4898184

Behold, the world's biggest, dumbest bass rig. This is two 18" subs powered by a 2x450 watt Crown XLi and a 2x10 Peavey headliner powered by one 50 watt side of a Mesa Stereo 2:Fifty tube amp.

This came about because of playing in reggae and hip hop bands where I couldn't get enough low end to compete with the DJ between sets. At the time, I was playing an 8x10 and an 8 space rack head with the Crown powering the whole thing and the damn DJ was still hitting so much harder than I could below 100hz. So I decide in lieu of a traditional bass amp, I'd carry around my own PA with a sub. I eventually added the Mesa to run my pedal board through and left the Crown to handle the clean lows. It sounded great!

Then one night for a laugh, I added in another Peavey 18 I had lying around. Sure it was a lot louder, but the thing that was really nice about it was that I could just wheel each stack in and out without having to carry anything. You get to the gig, drop an 18 cab and put the 210 atop it, dolly it in and then do the same thing with the other cab and rack. It might seem counterintuitive, but adding the 2nd 18" cab actually made load in and out easier. So that's what I did for a few years. Carting all this BS around never bothered me, up until the bands I was working with started to dissolve. That was about 2 years ago. Now I just sit and play this thing in my home while my neighbors weep.
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ToddB1963 said:
...and here's me thinking "man, I've got to get myself a smaller rig" as I was carting my 1x12 back to the car after last night's jazz gig LOL
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@ToddB1963
I’m with you on the smaller rigs. I have a Mesa rig with a couple of single 12s, but for the last year I’ve been deferring to either my Acoustic Image Corus R or my D800 atop my PJ C4. Both a few clicks under 30 lbs.

@FugaziBomb
That rig is coliseum capable for sure. I’m sure the sound is incomparable. For me, no more. My back and current needs dictate otherwise. Sure, if you’re rig was a house rig, I’d definitely plug in. I must admit, I still miss my SVT at times. It never failed to move mountains.
 
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#69
roccobass said:
@ToddB1963
I’m with you on the smaller rigs. I have a Mesa rig with a couple of single 12s, but for the last year I’ve been deferring to either my Acoustic Image Corus R or my D800 atop my PJ C4. Both a few clicks under 30 lbs.

@FugaziBomb
That rig is coliseum capable for sure. I’m sure the sound is incomparable. For me, no more. My back and current needs dictate otherwise. Sure, if you’re rig was a house rig, I’d definitely plug in. I must admit, I still miss my SVT at times. It never failed to move mountains.
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Ya know, I'm still young enough to haul this thing around, but I'm definitely looking at putting together a smaller version of this. Something like a powered Behringer 15" sub and a 1x10 or 12 mated to one the 20 watt Portaflexs to handle the highs / OD / FX
 
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#70
Small in comparrison to most of these, I've had a Ashdown Lil Bastard tube head for awhile and a couple of years ago I found an 8x10 Ashdown cab (with roadcase!) for sale locally. I didn't get it but it got me looking, I eventually found an ABM610 cab for cheap on Guitar Center's used page. Shipping was $16! I wasn't home when it arrived, my neighbor called me and said there was a big truck with a delivery for me so told her to have them drop it off on my porch. When I got home I found it in my driveway in front of the porch (I live in a rural area) on a pallet!

I do use it from time to time if the stage is big enough, definitely dumb due to going through the house as well but I love to feel the air it moves when I'm standing in front of it.

I show a pic but it's in storage.
 
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#75
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#77
I used to rock a preamp/power amp quasi-bi-amp rig with the full range side powering a pair of Sunn 410H cabs and the low-pass side powering a Sunn 215E that I’d modded with a pair of Eminence Kappa Pro 15LF.

I think total weight of that rig was around 325#…
 

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#78
yeah I know, it went a little out of hand
Glockenklang pre-amp for signal level and routing of signals. In series a Klark Teknik DN3600 midi programmable eq for multiple tone shaping pre-sets as well as a Klark Teknik 4 channel compressor. Always one channel active, occasionally a second in series with the first for a bit harder compression. TC multi effect, chorus, phaser and a bit reverb for fretless in the parallel loop of the Glockenklang. In addition, a handful of effects, octaver, OD, Envelope filter switchable into 8 the series loop by a midi controller rack and floor unit (Voodoo Lab).
Speakers consiste of DIY 3 band Greenboy Fearful 15” sub and 12/6” top, powered by a pair of bridged Crown XLS 1500.
Lot of fun to find all components used, design the system, build, test and enjoy playing through it. And no, I don`t play particular loud. It`s all about dynamic reserves, think Torque over Horsepower.

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