what would be a good amp for a church band?

It depends on what you want to spend. If you are gonig high dollar, you can't go wrong with an Eden Metro or a Redhead.

In the less expensive range, I highly recommend the Nemesis NC210. This amp has plenty of thump and gets plenty loud if you need it. Good, clean comtemporary tone.

Chas

 

Shoot, you're going yard with the P.A. anyway. Sounds like all you're using the the amp for is to monitor and for a little color on the tone.

Why not just go with a Sansamp DI and use a wedge to monitor?

 

Peavey TNT.

Chris

 

I recently bought an Ampeg B100R Rocket bass amp just on the recommendations of a few members here. It's 100 watts with 1x15. I haven't used it in a gig yet, but it does go pretty loud, it's not that big, and it sounds absolutely great. I paid $479.00 at www.musiciansfriend.com Check out their site. Ampeg has a few other models in that price/power range. If you're going through the house P.A. I don't think you'll need more than this. I love mine. Ashdown amps are also very good. If you want a real contemporary tone (the others are more traditional) check out Hartke amps.

Good luck,
Mike J.

 

You're better off going di to the board and let the soundman handle it. Keep the SWR for a monitor. If you don't like the di sound of the SWR then do like jcadmus said and go with the SansAmp BDDI. Why would you rather mic a cab?

 

exactly what I was going to say.


I played guitar and bass in a church band for about 5 years.(until I practically got kicked out for no reason thats another story)

For the longest time I played through a Peavey tnt, it had a 15 incher in it. I found it too muddy and since 15's have more "throw"the soundguys would always want it turned down (even though it appeared very quiet on stage) From my experience the soundguys like to have control over all the levels. (I guess to go with the mood?) So they don't really like you using your amp alone to fill the house. I would definatly say go with a good monitor and something like the SABDDI. Or get something that can really cut through like 8's or 10's. Where I used to play alot of instruments are put through the mains which causes a muddy sound and it drowns out certain instruments so basically it sounds real bad. Because of this I would recommend sending the best signal possible to the soundguy. Anyway hope that helps.

 

What would be a good amp for a church band??


Uhhhhhhhhhhhmmmmmm, anything that would blow the hell outta the church??

 

Get him to buy you an Ampeg SVT2 and an 8x10

seriously though, you should get a DI box. You plug into it, and plug that straight into the PA system. Simple and effective.

 

Keep in mind this is IMO only. My church band WANTS a better bass rig, because even though we have thousands of watts, bi-amped, with 2 18" subs, the bass response isn't what we want. We play in a 500 seat theater, very soft walls, floors, chairs, etc. We're not into being terribly loud, but probably louder than most normal "church" people would have it. That's why our church is so cool. I also thought at one time that the bass rig would just be for a monitor, but amongst those who "know" sound, they would argue that the bass rig does function to provide reinforcement to the PA.

I think we're going to go with about 500 watts into a 4x10, unless I get a sweet deal on a Silverado Special like I plan to.....

God loves bass......

 

here is a good solution... peavey firebass 700 with a 4x12 or 4x10 cab underneath it... yeas... you would rock the house with this system.. sounds better than many amps out there and isn't expensive at all... just my 2 cents though

 

peavey firebass with 2 810tvx cabnets hahaha

 

Well, you've had some good suggestions here. A good DI like the Sans Amp or Aguilar DB924(?) pre could work with what you already have. However, I have to agree with Mark. Your rig will provide some reinforcement for the PA even at sizes up to 1500 to 2500 attendants. First of all, do you like the sound of the old SWR? Can it handle the volume you need inorder to hear yourself on stage without you or the amp "struggling"? If you answered no to any of those questions, then you need to look into another rig and the DI only approach with the old amp is moot.

You can spend $500 to over $1500 for a combo or you could go with separates. I like the "Metro" or "Redhead" idea. However, I personally don't care much for those companies and think you can get better tone for a little more investment with the likes of Euphonic or Aguilar. Now before all of you roll your eyes around saying that I've gone off the "deep end", hear me out. Euphonic makes a 1x10 combo (iAMP 350) in that price range. IMO it is a finer combo than any combo SWR or Eden makes. Better electronics, a better cabinet design and better tone quality. The one thing you may sacrifice is a small loss in volume, but you can add another cab under it if it's not enough. A friend of mine used this little guy without an extra cab at a 1200 seat church. He said that the EA carried the sanctuary at pretty loud volumes and they didn't even put him in the mains.

Something similar happened to me at a loud rock venue the first time I used my EA 210 cab. I heard myself better than I ever had before at this club with my old Eden 1-18 and 2-10 rig. It was as if someone had taken a wet blanket off my old cab and made my back happier in the process. After the show, the sound engineer ran up to me and asked what changes had I done to my rig. He'd never been that enthusiastic before. I told him all I did was change from Eden cabs to one EA cab. He then told me that the "little box" sounded so good from the stage that he didn't put me very much at all in the mains. You get what you pay for.

I know I'm going long here, but let also suggest that Aguilar makes awesome stuff and it's built to last. PJ and all the guys there are among the best I've ever worked with. They too are the "real deal". If you're looking to keep this rig "in service" for a long time, Aguilar has a 10 year warranty. In the long run it actually may save your church money.

 

I'll vote for the Nemesis - I have a 4X10 and play in a church band (albeit a smaller church than the one you're playing in) as well. For several reasons. First, you get a lot of amp for the money - I think I paid $699 for mine and probably could have saved some money (and back pain) by going with the 2X10 without sacrificing volume or tone. It sounds awesome - it is very punchy and cuts well. Sounds like we play similar styles of music and let me tell you, the tone works. Second, is that it has some pretty good features - one thing that would help your sound guy is the balanced out (which is post EQ so it will sound like your "real" tone), so it is easy to add to the mix. The enhance feature and the parametric EQ help shape the tone. Third, the sucker is LOUD for a 200W combo. We recently played without the PA - played directly from the stage in front of 60 people. I had my gain at 1:00 and volume at 12:00 - kept my bass just under halfway up and it was just right. I also play in a classic rock/blues band and use the Nemesis there as well. We play at ear-ringing volumes sometimes and I am plenty loud...

 

Wow 2,500 seat auditorium....is the room very acoustic? Does your church actually feel up all the seats....good god, most I played in front of was at the homecoming game at school....I'd estime about 1,500 people and at assemblies we play in front of a little over 800 ppl....

 

God is known to favor the Eden WT-800 and two D-410XLT cabs.

 

I think a Peavey BAM 210 would be nice for almost anything. There wasn't one setting I found on it that wasn't good. I found some I wouldn't use, and some I loved, but none I'd consider "bad" or "unusable."


I don't think a 2x10 would be good for a 5 string bass, though. You could checkout the Peavey combo 115. With a 2x10 extension cab, it has proved to be a nice amp.