I'm 67, playing bass for over half- a Century now. I'm wondering if there any other bassists like me out there.. I've owned SO much bass gear over this time period, it would literally fill a couple of pages.
All the way from my several B-15N's, and Supro Thunderbolt, to my Sunn Coliseum, Pearce B2P, GK's, SVT'S, Shuttle 9.0, and high power Carvin heads... and cabs from Sunn, Ampeg, SWR, Acme, Peavey, Cerwin-Vega, to EA, Avatar, Mesa, Epifani, Schroeder, and Carvin BRX's. A lot of combo amps in the mix, too. Here's my dilemma... I've never been totally happy with any of it. All of it disappoints me..usually in the area of distortion, or excess speaker cone travel/ farting. Even with high power amps, with cabinets rated for high power, this phenomena occurs. I have yet to find a single 'stand alone' cabinet that I can use. Some have come close, but not yet. The only time I have been truly happy with my bass sound/ power/ volume and fidelity, is in concert situations, where large side fills powered by a lot of serious wattage send my signal back to me. The onstage backline bass amps, at that point sound like garbage in comparison. Figuring I needed to go power amp-preamp, I tried lugging around a Mackie M1400 and an SWR Grand Prix, a folded horn 15, and an SWR Triad on top- it was pretty good, but too big, heavy, and still not what I'm looking for. I bought a BFM 'Jack' cab, and it also disappointed me- although I'm impressed with it as a mid/ high box, it's excellent in that regard. This past weekend, I used my Carvin BX 1500, an Epifani UL-112, and a Schroeder 115L. All high quality equipment. Heavy Speakon cables, all Mogami and Monster patching cables input and output to my single effects unit- a Zoom B-3. Yeah, some of you will bash the Carvin, but it is a lot better than the amps they used to make. I was still not satisfied with this rig. I was not running it at an excessive volume, either.
Have any of you felt this way about your gear?
I've been around just a couple years longer than you have, although I had about a 20-year stint where I went without playing bass in any performances. That's primarily because all my pro-gear from the 60's and 70's was stolen in 1976. Worst loss was my 1965 Jazz Bass, which was irreplaceable.
I started out with a Japanese crap bass in 1965 and then bought my Fender blackface Bassman amp in 1966. Then bought my 1965 Jazz Bass in 1966. That was a great set-up until I went on tour with a nightclub group for 3-years playing 5-nights a week, 50-weeks a year for 3-years in the early 70's.
Guitarist and keyboards both bought Vox Super Beatle amps in 1971when Thomas Organ was closing out the line and they buried my poor 50-watt, all-valve, Bassman amp. So, while we were playing in Lincoln, Nebraska, I bought a Standel MCIIB/SAM30B piggy-back amp. Thought I had died and gone to heaven! Louder than either the SVT w/ 810 cab or the acoustic 360/361, and not nearly as tall. Here's a shot of it behind me back in 1972 when I was playing my '65 Jazz through it.
Had a couple of mics too - Shure 565sd (best mic at the time) and 585sd. Had the sound I wanted and could play anywhere with it. After touring in the early 70's, we started a family and I had to get a normal job as there was no way I would either take young kids on the road, or leave them behind for 6-months at a time. Still played weekend gigs and did some recording for ATCO records that went nowhere. I was entirely happy with my bass sound and set-up then
Moved to Oregon in early 1976. House was burglarized and all my music gear was stolen. They actually left one mic stand. Managed to find a Jazz Bass with the same neck profile as my '65 in 1985 and bought it. That's my go-to bass. Finally in 1997, I borrowed a bass amp from my son, who was no longer using it, and started playing gigs again.
Moved to Vermont in 1998 and my bass was pretty quiet. Moved to Virginia in 2005 and by 2006, was actively gigging again. Started out again in 2005 Using that Yamaha 115 combo I'd borrowed from my son and slowly started adding and upgrading gear. Found a Sunn B202 (212 cab) and added that. Then bought a GK backline 250 with a GK115bpx cab. Next upgrade was an Eden nemesis RS400 and that was a big leap forward in sound. Then came an acoustic B410 cab and I ran that with the GK115 on the bottom.
Next came an Eden WT500 that I bought directly from the founder of Eden. He had just started his new company (DNA) and this amp had been used on his test bench when developing Eden cabs. He had upgraded it from 500-watts bridged to 800-watts bridged. Had a warmer sound, more flexible EQ, and a balance knob so I could plug one cab into each channel and use that knob to balance the sound between them.
Right about that time, I set my sites on the DNS-410 that he made. It will handle 1400-watts rms both thermally and mechanically and has a maximum SPL of 137db. It is a LOUD cabinet. At ~$1,000 though, I would have to save up for it. Basically it's the next step beyond the Eden XST speakers that David designed when he still owned Eden.
Then, in 2015 I got the DNS-410 cab. It not only lived up to the hype I'd heard about it, it exceeded it. This is the absolute best cab I've ever heard or played through. It's clear, articulate, full-sounding, has a low and tight bottom end and it is LOUD! I was hoping this was my "one cab does everything" cab and I wasn't disappointed.
Since it would handle more power than my 800-watt amp could deliver, I run it bridged at 800 watts. Indoors or in an outdoor patio, enclosed venue situation I can run it with my master at a max of 9:30. Any more than that and I get told to turn down. I can actually run it up to 10 o'clock at an outdoor festival situation without being told to turn down but can't stretch that to 10:30. So it's a very sensitive cab too.
Being loud enough that I'll never need to haul an 810 cab around is nice, but loud is no good if it doesn't have decent sound. Well this has GREAT sound. It has a clearer sound than any cab I've heard. If you play chords on your bass you will distinctly hear all three notes of the chord. The bottom end is really low and really tight. It's frequency response is very flat, so I run a little boost in my low mids at ~250Hz and all is right with the world!
I did find a problem with it though...
it scares owners of small clubs. First time I rolled it into a brew pub where we hosted open-mic nights almost every Friday, the owner's eyes got as big as pie plates and he said, "that's way to big for here. Use that little Peavey 112 combo." So now I had to buy a cab for small venues. Ended up buying a couple of Eden EX112 cabs. I would use one cab at small venues and two at medium sized venues. We played outdoors at that brewpub one night, so I brought out my DNS-410. Now Eden cabs sound really good - clear, warm, and full. My DNS-410 sounded so much better, I knew that I needed another DNA cab.
Word was that the DNS-210 had the same sound quality as the DNS-410 but in a smaller form factor and not as loud. I knew DNA didn't "give" equipment to anyone, but I had a couple of friends who are Endorsing Artists for them, so I thought I'd apply. Sure enough, I was accepted and I got a break on the price. It's not a huge break, but it did make a difference so I bought the DNS-210. It doesn't scare small club owners, it does have the same sound characteristics my 410 has and come to find out it is plenty loud!
We played a medium-sized club that was almost a large club last weekend. I brought both my DNS210 and my DNS410 and made a nice, impressive stack. However, I only plugged in the DNS210. Figured I could easily unplug the 210 and plug in the 410 if the 210 wasn't enough. The DNS-210 will handle 700-watts rms and has a max SPL of 134db, so I bridged my WT500/800 into it. It was more than enough by itself, so I just used my 410 as the most expensive cab stand in the world. I walked out past the dance floor and beyond the tables during our sound check and was very pleased with the nicely balanced sound we had as well as the level of the sound.
It was a shallow stage, so I had set up my cabs about 3-ft. directly behind me. I quickly found out I did NOT want that cab at ear level only 3-ft behind me. It was painful. I pushed it as fat back as it would go and as far to the side of me as I could. I will be using that cab for most of my gigs and just pull out my DNS410 for the really big clubs, outdoor, and outdoor Festival venues.
So, I've come a long way since 1976 gear-wise, and I'm pretty happy right now with my gear. My old Eden amp puts out great sound with more power than I need and the cabs put out the best, clearest, most articulate sound I've ever had. And of course, they are LOUD! I will be getting a DNA-800 amp next though because it weighs all of 4.8-lbs putting out the same amount of power. My Eden amp weighs about 36-lbs. in its rack. No critique at all about the sound of my Eden amp, just the weight of it at my "advanced" age of 69.
Here's a shot of that set-up last weekend. Ended up moving the amp to the right (as you look at the stage) and I stood more to the left closer to the center. Ended up moving the amp up a bit too so I was more next to it than in front of it:
You can find more info on DNA amps and cabs at their website. And, yes, you will find me listed on their "Artists" page:
DNA Amps - David Nordschow Amplification - Bass Amps
) although my tastes have changed somewhat over the years. So my gear choices and inventory has changed to reflect that.
