It lightens the load and frees up a hand. Every little bit helps. Oh yea. Neo speakers are much lighter too. I believe you are mistaken.
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2 Aguilar SL112 12” cabs are less than 25 pounds each and sound great!
I have the opposite experience. In the traditional realm I've used 1x12, 1x15, 4x12, 2x15 and 15+2x8 with drivers by, amongst others, Celestion, Peavey and EV. All of them sounded like mush or filth compared to the GenzBenz 1x12 that I now use. What's great about the GB is it sounds the same at any volume, whereas, IME, all those other traditional drivers start to go bad when the work starts...
So does this mean that all my old heavyweight gear is worthless, or will the pendulum swing back again one day?
Whatching my guitar companions still carry their heavy tube rigs in, and being old enough to have experienced the heavy head/heavy cab days serves as a reminder for me to how much I don’t want those days back. I’m pretty thankful for the technology that allows us to carry a 4 lb head (that kills and sounds plenty great) and a 30lb 2x10
a 50-60lb 2x10 cab will wreck your back and hands right before you have to play your bass for 4 hours
a 50-60lb 2x10 cab will wreck your back and hands right before you have to play your bass for 4 hours
Personal experience: when my old, heavier head died and I needed something new, I went with a lighter head with more watts. This way it was a lighter replacement and allowed me to push the same amount of volume with only half of my cab stack. So essentially I ended up with a lighter head and less cab weight, space, and trips to the rig to load and unload.
I gigged in NYC for years with a Bergantino HT112 and an Acoustic Image head or a Walter Woods head; total weight for the rig; 47 pounds and I carted it on a pop up handcart with my electric bass in a backpack case.
I also used a small direct box for the house system.
With that compact rig I could take the subway or walk to a gig.
I was happy.
I also used a small direct box for the house system.
With that compact rig I could take the subway or walk to a gig.
I was happy.
The tiny lightweight heads make great back-up devices! Just keep one in your toolbox or under the seat of your car until needed, but they do tend to vibrate off the cabinet at gig volumes. If incorporated into a speaker cabinet (i.e. combo) loaded with neo speakers they do make for a light-weight package.
I've seen the small heads vibrate off cabs before. This is why my two light heads are not free standing. One is built into my Markbass combo, the TC BH250 is rack mounted in a 3 space bag.
The idea of a back up device is solid. I know a couple guys who keep GK MB200 heads packed in their accessory bag as a backup.
I searched long and wide for just the right roll-on luggage. The one I settled upon has the wheels and retractable handle. Contains two Ampeg PF-500 amps, a Markbass passive DI (plan C, never used), my voice mic, a cabinet mic and mic stand (rarely used), and a backup mic, two power cables, a power strip, several speaker cables, three guitar cables, three XLR cables, spare strings, a spare tuner (primary is on my pedalboard), two guitar stands, a flashlight, a circuit tester, an electronics toolkit (including small spools of wire and a roll of solder), and set lists (printed in 40-point bold, in clear plastic sheet protectors, so they sit on the floor). Oh, and a 10"-screen MS Edge with all our lyrics in PDF files (just in case it's one of those brain-fart nights) and a clamp to affix it to the mic stand (my mic stand itself travels in the big bag with the speaker stands).
So everything I personally use, except my mic stand, breaks out into four or five pieces: my roll-on bass box, a lightweight 600W Carvin neo 2x10, my bass in a hard case, my pedalboard, and sometimes a second bass, also in a hard case. If I were courageous enough to carry my bass in a gig bag on my back I could load in in one trip, because I can get the cab, roll-on, and pedalboard in one hand-truck load. Then we all pitch in to load in/out the MF PA.
Just use what's best for you, not what other musicians have. I had big heavy gear that hurt my back every time I loaded/unloaded. It was popular and looked good - but was a major pain in the back. I finally sold it and got a GK combo that was a quarter of the weight and twice the power. Now I have better sound and less to pack-up. Don't care what others think - it works for me!
In all honesty, I believe that if travel weight is a problem it's probably best to invest in a combo unit. I've noticed that a number of different companies now make bass combo rigs that are more powerful than ever before, and they usually feature a single 12" or 15" speaker which can handle all the power of the amplifier. Why carry more than you need to for the specific job?
People have been using the super lightweight (and expensive) speakers as well. I personally like to lower the about I have to carry. If the tone is good, I'd rather make life easier.
I do about the same. I use either a Genz shuttle 3.0 for upright and more acoustic work and a GK MB500 for more electric work. I have an old Carvin AC112 cabinet that someone ripped the head out of. I replaced the crossover and the thing sounds pretty awesome for almost everything. I have a Genz 115 that rarely gets used anymore. Total weight for the rig comes in at about 20lb. I am one happy bassist.
I still lug a 6 U rack with my gear in it and won't be replacing it any time soon... it's my sound. If I am doing a small thing I have a Traynor small block 110. .. light as a feather but not my real big sound. I use Eden cabs heavy but good ... if it ain't broken don't fix it.
I've looked at getting a smaller rig since I've already had back and neck surgeries, and almost got a Peavey MiniMax or MiniMega, or even a Headliner 1000 (10 pounds) but it would be pointless since I'd still use my two 100+ pound Peavey cabs. So until (if) I decided to just purge the whole rig, the Firebass 700 or Tour 450 with them work just fine. I'll live with it.
