The Needlessly Oversized, Inconveniently Excessive Bass Amp Thread

[Mike Marshall]

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.

At one point when I was playing large outdoor gigs and concerts I had 2 vintage 1970 Acoustic 360's and then I bought the newer 360 that George Grexa produced because I was worried about amp failure. I had 4, 18 cabinets. I never used them at the same time but I always carried 2 I never had to use more than one because those cabinets throw sound so well.

 

[Chickenwheels]

As much as I like the “Janky-A Rigs of Doom” thread—long may it wave—I am really digging the photos and kind of self-deprecating humor and pride in this thread. I mean, awesome and massive is awesome and massive.

You took the words right out of my mouth.

 

[LeonineAlpha]

Strictly small time, this just annoys the neighbours...

I spent my $ on a preamp and multi fx pedal, but I needed to hear myself outside headphones. So I got a used 300w amp with a 410. The behringer amp is oldschool, heavy (like 35 lbs) and its pre only sounds good massively overdriven, but its actually pretty clean as a poweramp for my pedals.

Now 1 of the 410 rumble v2 drivers was blown, so I "downsized" it to a 210. Put the remaining 10" in a thrift store cab, and found a couple of surprisingly good vintage car box speakers.

I made my own speaker wire series for the 3 top boxes, gets then all up to 12 ohms, and then parallel to the 8ohm 210 below.

So, its using 250w, neither the amp nor speakers blow, its waaaay louder than i oughta go, and its surprisingly full range with those goofy mid drivers at ear level.

I dread the idea of moving it.

 

[aus_bass]

Some awesome stuff in this thread. Just love me some big-ass bass stacks.

 

[buldog5151bass]

The deal was, you could lay them down sideways in the back of the van and have a nap.

My first large amp was an Earth. But the ruck and roll was so torn, I just took it off.

 

[dbase]

Are you saying I should add a third subwoofer?

Something like these speakers

 

[vvvmmm]

I don't know about all y'all, but I feel a whole lot better about my G.A.S.

 

[FugaziBomb]

Something like these speakers

That's what my garage door looks like when I turn them up

 

[Agent0]

I am reading and enjoying all this while thinking about the irony of heading out soon to tonight’s big band Christmas musical review show at the theatre - where my Mark Bass 121 is sitting there waiting for me with the Master set at 10 o’clock.

 

[BuddhaFingas]

first, lose the glasses...

then do like everyone else, lay on the floor and take an upward pic.

It'll look HUGE!!

You mean like this?

 

[Marko 1]

You mean like this?

View attachment 4899347

WOW LOOK AT THAT MASSIVE RIG!!!

 

[vvvmmm]

You mean like this?

View attachment 4899347

Ah yes, a vintage Optimus 1 x 4" cab.

 

[J Wilson]

With their relative scarcity, Alembic already had the massive amp rig figured out years ago, but not a lot of guys have seen what they did:

The Series basses have three outputs from the power box, mono/left/right, the L/R being separate outs for each pickup separately if desired. Take those two outputs into a . . . .

Alembic F2B preamp, a two-channel rack preamp, with a mono/left/right output jacks on the back. Come out of the L/R into a . . . .

Stereo power amp, with the accompanying cabinets. But you can just keep daisy chaining to build as big a Bass Wall Of Sound as you need, or wallet permits, just keep adding more amps and cabs.

The modern version of this is easier as you could simply add self-powered cabinets like the Bag Ends.

Be nice to your FOH guy, once this is assembled, maybe he'll lend you his RTA to Q it in.

Excess, done properly, is a wonderfully delicious thing.

 

[Marko 1]

I like having my own bass museum inside my house to look at them on my walls

But I fantasize about downsizing and just having one bass. Well, maybe one day.

I think they're beautiful; they are art to me, and having them on the walls where I can see them brings me happiness.

So, like, having 7 basses is okay? Asking for a friend…

Just so happens that 7 is the PERFECT number, I assure you.

I happen to have a few more wall hangers in a box, so that number might change in the future.

 

[chris_b]

Behold, the world's biggest, dumbest bass rig.

My dumbest and needlessly oversized gear purchase was an Ampeg SVT-215E cab. It must have weighed 130lbs or more! I couldn't lift it more than an inch for more than 10 seconds! I tried to gig it for about a week and had to give up.

 

[Marko 1]

My dumbest and needlessly oversized gear purchase was an Ampeg SVT-215E cab. It must have weighed 130lbs or more! I couldn't lift it more than an inch for more than 10 seconds! I tried to gig it for about a week and had to give up.

You're in luck!!

There are much lighter 2x15 now.

 

[BuddhaFingas]

Ah yes, a vintage Optimus 1 x 4" cab.

Older than that... Realistic Minimus-7. 40+ years old and still workin like a champ.

 

[mexicanyella]

View attachment 4899174

Strictly small time, this just annoys the neighbours...

I spent my $ on a preamp and multi fx pedal, but I needed to hear myself outside headphones. So I got a used 300w amp with a 410. The behringer amp is oldschool, heavy (like 35 lbs) and its pre only sounds good massively overdriven, but its actually pretty clean as a poweramp for my pedals.

Now 1 of the 410 rumble v2 drivers was blown, so I "downsized" it to a 210. Put the remaining 10" in a thrift store cab, and found a couple of surprisingly good vintage car box speakers.

I made my own speaker wire series for the 3 top boxes, gets then all up to 12 ohms, and then parallel to the 8ohm 210 below.

So, its using 250w, neither the amp nor speakers blow, its waaaay louder than i oughta go, and its surprisingly full range with those goofy mid drivers at ear level.

I dread the idea of moving it.

Great to see this over at the Janky-A thread also! This rig has its feet solidly in both camps.

 

[WayneP]

Older than that... Realistic Minimus-7. 40+ years old and still workin like a champ.

Digs all the way down to 200 Hz!

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

Pedulla Club #45 Unique Arrangements of Hymns, P&W Standards, and Original Tunes
Administrator, Official Tobias Club #133
Administrator, Fretless Club #943
Big Cabs Club #23
My Basses
My Rig: Stage and FOH Friendly
Pedulla Club #45

 

[Bassgeer]

There's no kill like overkill!