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Who HAS NOT Gone Ampless?

#101
Nearly every place I have played in the last few years has had the ampless option. I did it once with personal monitor through headphones. I didn't like that I had no control over the overall tone coming through the PA. Occasionally, I will do it, when I don't feel like lugging my Fender BXR200.
Even when I bring my amp, the sound guy puts me through a DI box also, so the amp is more for my own monitoring. I use a pedal to help keep my tone more consistent.
 
#102
bloobass said:
Sweet Jesus in the morning!! I think I heard you playing all the way from KY! Nice stack(s)!
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You probably did.
tfer said:
Yeah.

I was gonna post mine, until I saw this, then I remembered that my wife says that size matters...!
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Story: Many moons ago I used a Trace 410 combo with two 2x15 extension cabs (one was under a guitar player's rig, essentially their bass monitor). When our church refinanced, my pastor bought two full Marshall stacks, the four Hartke cabs, and a SVT 6-Pro.

The 6-Pro worked great until bad generator power took it out about three years ago. Talk about playing ampless! I had to step out onto our stage extension to hear the bass in the mix for the rest of the show. That sucked.

I found the 400 locally at a good price, also the Ampeg fridge (a 200+ lb. behemoth!) Even though the 6-pro got fixed, it was never the same - my 400 walked all over it. After using the 400 for a while, and based off a suggestion by a friend to "store" the fridge between the Hartke cabs (they used to be set up horizontally), my pastor liked the setup and bought it from me (freeing me up to explore other smaller, more portable options).

So now it technically belongs to the church but I'm responsible for all care and feeding. And yes, I wear earplugs, but mainly for our loud drummer. To balance out the sound I'm not working the 400 at all (a power amp drives all the Hartke cabs). With the additional backdrop on stage I have to stack it vertically, and now it's taller than my 6' 5" frame. Good times!!
 

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#104
H2okie said:
Razman! That is ur old Henry. Been playin it twice a week since u convinced me to buy it with the 800rb. Both going strong.
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What?!? Hey there my friend!! Awesome - good to hear from you and that the rig is serving you well!

I thing of it occasionally as I drive by the church all the time, but a year ago when my son had his 6th grade banquet at OP Baptist I saw the cab in the gym there. Where do you play it at now?

Anyway, good to hear from you - let me know if you ever decide to upgrade!

Eric
 
#106
Razman said:
What?!? Hey there my friend!! Awesome - good to hear from you and that the rig is serving you well!

I thing of it occasionally as I drive by the church all the time, but a year ago when my son had his 6th grade banquet at OP Baptist I saw the cab in the gym there. Where do you play it at now?

Anyway, good to hear from you - let me know if you ever decide to upgrade!

Eric
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Still play it at FBOP
 
#111
Barbaric.Eric said:
Woahhh, I like this!!
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Be afraid. Be very afraid.

So the neat thing about the Mesa is that I can drive the slave amp out of the DI, which is tapped directly from the Mesa's power section. That means when you get the Mesa into power-tube saturation, that same sound is reproduced in the other cabs. Unfortunately, it gets excruciatingly loud (I can't even run the fridge by itself at that level!) but standing in front of the thing turns you into Marty McFly...

Edit: I need to post a YouTube vid of that clip but can't where I'm at!!
 
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#112
Jeff Scott said:
I am not ampless, but I am gigless, these days so the amps don't get much use, now! So I spend time creating bass concepts and lines/riffs running my basses (and guitars) into my Flint and on to a Marantz PMD661, so no amp there, although if I use the Cave Passive Pedals B-Drive MkII that produces a great tube amp-like tone.


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Photograph Copyright © Jeffrey P. Scott 2013 All rights reserved.
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Dude you glued a pedal to your Ric?!?
 
#119
As a sound man and bass player, i dont like "ampless".. Gotta have a rig behind me. At a reasonable volume. And from audience perspective, if they're rocking out with you up against the stage, they won't be getting much bass. It's all coming from the mains out at the ends of the stage. You need the amp to provide some center fill..
I use either an Mesa mpulse 600 on a berg nv412 or a genzler Magellan 800 on a berg hdn112/hdn210 stack depending on how much I like my back any given day.
 
#120
Aelfwine said:
In response to a recently created thread, I am asking those who have NOT gone ampless, and the amps/cabs that you are using.

I am currently using a Fender Rumble 40 Watt combo that has built in overdrive functionalities, 5 band Equalization, and various buttons that cut or reduce treble/bass. I find it to be a joy to play through.
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Why go ampless? Any number of 500W+ Class D heads plus a Phil Jones C4 cabinet. 300W into 8 ohms and it will easily fill a room, with a drummer and multiple guitarists. People laugh when they see me carry my entire rig in one shot. Then they hear it and want to know where to get one. Total weight, 35 lbs.
 

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