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You've still got Mobile listed as your home-base...Pittsburgh is fine: Andy Warhol museum, Strip District (Primanti Bros' for a sammich). My son is a paramedic with AGH.
Riis
Don't go all Entwistle here. First determine your cabs goals based on your bass, its' tuning, music genre, venue style. etc. Then select a bass cab. If there are no mass market cabs available to fit your needs, there are plenty of boutique bass cab builders who know what they're doing.
Kinda funny, when I was in New Orleans, I had a few drinks with one of Andy's associates, Jimmy Lala. Really nice guy, really funny.
Primanti's is ok I guess, a lot of hype there. Check out Sunny Jim's. Great food there
Primanti's is ok I guess, a lot of hype there. Check out Sunny Jim's. Great food there
If you want to go 'separates', IE a preamp with a Crest/Pevey, QSC, or Crown power amp, go for it! Make sure your power amp's input sensitivity and impedance okay with what the Sansamp puts out.
As far as cabs, I suggest Greenboy Designs, AKA fEARful or FEARLESS lines of bass cabs. They are tuned to approx to 46Hz and designed to handle what a PA power amp can put out. There really aren't any mass market bass cabs in their class.
Or look at Bill Fitzmaurice designs. He designs high end PA style rigs that bassists use with true subs and tops that can handle low frequencies as well. But certainly more expensive than a Greenboy cab
As far as cabs, I suggest Greenboy Designs, AKA fEARful or FEARLESS lines of bass cabs. They are tuned to approx to 46Hz and designed to handle what a PA power amp can put out. There really aren't any mass market bass cabs in their class.
Or look at Bill Fitzmaurice designs. He designs high end PA style rigs that bassists use with true subs and tops that can handle low frequencies as well. But certainly more expensive than a Greenboy cab
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My rig is two Carvin 15's with the horn's disabled.
I use a Behringer 300 w head or a Hartke.
Light tight and punchy, and portable!
After all we play through the Pa system at times, why not use the cabinets.
I use a Behringer 300 w head or a Hartke.
Light tight and punchy, and portable!
After all we play through the Pa system at times, why not use the cabinets.
i'm a PA guy (as well as a bass guy): of course it can work: but as previously mentioned, it depends on what you have as a "PA cabinet(s), what you want to hear, and what you're willing to tote around. in fact, the best PA/sound system is probably the best bass rig! but none of us want to carry our rigs in a trailer or truck! and i play (mostly) jazz, so a big PA stack for the sunday brunch with the acoustic piano and the clarinetist isn't appropriate.
if the OP is referring to an 'all-in-one' cabinet (usually designed to deliver vocals in the combo setting), it may work very well in low volume situations: and in those situations may actually help clean up some 'mud'. but if you need loud and low: get a cabinet designed for that.
if the OP is referring to an 'all-in-one' cabinet (usually designed to deliver vocals in the combo setting), it may work very well in low volume situations: and in those situations may actually help clean up some 'mud'. but if you need loud and low: get a cabinet designed for that.
BassHappy
Supporting Member
It seems to happen a lot around here - but I find myself on the other side of conventional wisdom more than I like to admit.
My band, Happy the Man had purchased a couple of powered Yamaha A4115H PA speakers, with large casters, which Kit Watins used as the stage rig for his keyboards for a couple of years. When the band broke up the first time and Kit joined "Camel" in England - as part of the settlement, I inherited the cabinets. I still had a power conditioner, an Ashley SC-40 preamp and a DBX 163 peak limiter in a rack I had built, which also had a road case. I used the DBX only for hard limiting and for speaker protection from my former rig. So for giggles one day at band rehearsal - I plugged it all in, rolled the horn volume off put everything to "flat" on the Ashley preamp and checked them out.
To everyone's amazement - they sounded great, just clean Yamaha power and clean tight low end. No tube grit or anything but they were full, rich, deep and round on the bottom end - just the way I like it. I played around with the horn level, just giving each cabinet a pinch, and they really came alive. The band loved them and I had one for each side of the stage. We always had major PA support so this served only as a stage monitor for me. The cabinets had their own volume control so the guys on the other side could temper the cab to the volume they liked. Sorry, I am not picky at all in that respect. A stage monitor is a stage monitor for me, and as long as the bass is barking in the mains and sounds full and rich with minimal projection on stage, I am fine. The less stage projection you have - the more the bass can be cranked in the PA. The wheels also helped reduce the stage coupling. Worked quite well for me.
We had the original cardboard boxes they shipped in, so we trimmed off the top of the boxes neatly and slipped them over to use as covers. They stayed in perfect condition and we could easily cart them around - they were very light even with the power amps. At that time we were doing 4-7 shows a week and they served me very well for a quite a few years without problem one.
Happily, my ears are still in really good shape too, as I refused over my entire playing career to ever have my rig or even my monitors pointed directly at my ears. I loved the sound to be full but peripheral.
You can see the rig behind me here. Of course, there is a disclaimer. PRS #11 sounds incredible though anything you plug it into. So there is that....and of course YMMV.
My band, Happy the Man had purchased a couple of powered Yamaha A4115H PA speakers, with large casters, which Kit Watins used as the stage rig for his keyboards for a couple of years. When the band broke up the first time and Kit joined "Camel" in England - as part of the settlement, I inherited the cabinets. I still had a power conditioner, an Ashley SC-40 preamp and a DBX 163 peak limiter in a rack I had built, which also had a road case. I used the DBX only for hard limiting and for speaker protection from my former rig. So for giggles one day at band rehearsal - I plugged it all in, rolled the horn volume off put everything to "flat" on the Ashley preamp and checked them out.
To everyone's amazement - they sounded great, just clean Yamaha power and clean tight low end. No tube grit or anything but they were full, rich, deep and round on the bottom end - just the way I like it. I played around with the horn level, just giving each cabinet a pinch, and they really came alive. The band loved them and I had one for each side of the stage. We always had major PA support so this served only as a stage monitor for me. The cabinets had their own volume control so the guys on the other side could temper the cab to the volume they liked. Sorry, I am not picky at all in that respect. A stage monitor is a stage monitor for me, and as long as the bass is barking in the mains and sounds full and rich with minimal projection on stage, I am fine. The less stage projection you have - the more the bass can be cranked in the PA. The wheels also helped reduce the stage coupling. Worked quite well for me.
We had the original cardboard boxes they shipped in, so we trimmed off the top of the boxes neatly and slipped them over to use as covers. They stayed in perfect condition and we could easily cart them around - they were very light even with the power amps. At that time we were doing 4-7 shows a week and they served me very well for a quite a few years without problem one.
Happily, my ears are still in really good shape too, as I refused over my entire playing career to ever have my rig or even my monitors pointed directly at my ears. I loved the sound to be full but peripheral.
You can see the rig behind me here. Of course, there is a disclaimer. PRS #11 sounds incredible though anything you plug it into. So there is that....and of course YMMV.
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If PA cabs are not good at handling bass then why in the world to we (and every live act on the planet) use them to carry the bass? Come on people, think about it.
The deal is that a PA cab is less likely to have a colored sound. They are more neutral and we bassists prefer the colored sound from a bass cab. Play full range music through your bass amp if you don't believe me.
If you go with a high end Greenboy cab you'll probably get something that is more like a good PA cab (flat, wide response) and the bass sounds very different than it does through a bass cab.
Yes, I played with a PA speaker (JBL EON 1500) as my only speaker for a few years. It was a great and true monitor that I could use for bass, guitar and vocals. It gave me a truer picture of what was being heard out front and made my EQ changes more effective for all. I ran it as a floor monitor and mixed my bass plus other stuff into it. The PA was the bass signal for everyone else.
The deal is that a PA cab is less likely to have a colored sound. They are more neutral and we bassists prefer the colored sound from a bass cab. Play full range music through your bass amp if you don't believe me.
If you go with a high end Greenboy cab you'll probably get something that is more like a good PA cab (flat, wide response) and the bass sounds very different than it does through a bass cab.
Yes, I played with a PA speaker (JBL EON 1500) as my only speaker for a few years. It was a great and true monitor that I could use for bass, guitar and vocals. It gave me a truer picture of what was being heard out front and made my EQ changes more effective for all. I ran it as a floor monitor and mixed my bass plus other stuff into it. The PA was the bass signal for everyone else.
It seems to happen a lot around here - but I find myself on the other side of conventional wisdom more than I like to admit.
My band, Happy the Man had purchased a couple of powered Yamaha A4115H PA speakers, with large casters, which Kit Watins used as the stage rig for his keyboards for a couple of years. When the band broke up the first time and Kit joined "Camel" in England - as part of the settlement, I inherited the cabinets. I still had a power conditioner, an Ashley SC-40 preamp and a DBX 163 peak limiter in a rack I had built, which also had a road case. I used the DBX only for hard limiting and for speaker protection from my former rig. So for giggles one day at band rehearsal - I plugged it all in, rolled the horn volume off put everything to "flat" on the Ashley preamp and checked them out.
To everyone's amazement - they sounded great, just clean Yamaha power and clean tight low end. No tube grit or anything but they were full, rich, deep and round on the bottom end - just the way I like it. I played around with the horn level, just giving each cabinet a pinch, and they really came alive. The band loved them and I had one for each side of the stage. We always had major PA support so this served only as a stage monitor for me. The cabinets had their own volume control so the guys on the other side could temper the cab to the volume they liked. Sorry, I am not picky at all in that respect. A stage monitor is a stage monitor for me, and as long as the bass is barking in the mains and sounds full and rich with minimal projection on stage, I am fine. The less stage projection you have - the more the bass can be cranked in the PA. The wheels also helped reduce the stage coupling. Worked quite well for me.
We had the original cardboard boxes they shipped in, so we trimmed off the top of the boxes neatly and slipped them over to use as covers. They stayed in perfect condition and we could easily cart them around - they were very light even with the power amps. At that time we were doing 4-7 shows a week and they served me very well for a quite a few years without problem one.
Happily, my ears are still in really good shape too, as I refused over my entire playing career to ever have my rig or even my monitors pointed directly at my ears. I loved the sound to be full but peripheral.
View attachment 889941
You can see the rig behind me here. Of course, there is a disclaimer. PRS #11 sounds incredible though anything you plug it into. So there is that....and of course YMMV.
That PRS is sweet!!
To the person who started the thread, do you need something that will carry the sound of the bass in the room, or is this more for your own monitoring purposes on stage? I was touring with a band a few years ago and we did a morning tv show in Oregon somewhere, and there was no room on the set for the rig I had at the time. I always use an Aguilar Tone Hammer as a preamp, so the soundman just took the xlr out of that for his mix and stuck a powered JBL wedge on the floor for me to plug the other output into, just so I could hear myself. It sounded pretty good! I think you should be able to do something similar with your Sansamp too. There's an acoustic guitarist I play with sometimes who does the same thing with one of the LR Baggs acoustic preamps and a powered EV and it sounds great too.
Mike Gordon with Phish uses (used?) a Meyer powered PA system with 4 cabs.
Rig info starts at about 2:25
Rig info starts at about 2:25
BassHappy
Supporting Member
Hey Thanks ERicks
When I have my sound man hat on and I am running full PA, I wish EVERY bass player would play through one of these or something similar. Makes getting a balanced bottom and a perfect kick/bass blend in the FOH so much easier:
But lots of folks insist on the rig of doom, so what-are-you-a-gonna do?
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BareFaced are def in the same class. Whether or not they're mass market, I guess that's up for debate.
The OP's question was about a PA top, intended to be used with subs to handle the lows. An easy way to see if a PA cab isn't suited for bass is to see if it has a socket in the bottom to mount it on a pole. If it does it's not likely to work well.
BFM is far more than just top plus sub systems. There are plenty of single cab bass rigs, like the Omni 12 and 15 or the Jack 10, 12, and 15, plus the Simplexx series. If anything they're less expensive than Greenboy, because you have a choice of speakers you can use, from bargain priced to high end. IMO they're better engineered too.
i've often wanted to try an old pa type floor wedge ... replace internals with bass appropriate stuff , and use it as a Bass monitor ...
i think most PA cabs are to 'long throw' designed to be used for nearby bass cabs .. ?!
i think most PA cabs are to 'long throw' designed to be used for nearby bass cabs .. ?!
This cheap setup works well as the Bugera head has a crossover and 2 amps in it. The rig below cost about $660, sub is crossed at 140 Hz or slightly lower. This is my "don't trust the PA and/or soundman rig. It was tested indoors and outdoors prior to use at a gig.
The sub also works quite well when using BOSE stuff in place of their 2 x 5-1/2" speakers that do not "throw" lows out to match their vertical array.
The sub also works quite well when using BOSE stuff in place of their 2 x 5-1/2" speakers that do not "throw" lows out to match their vertical array.
