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Will bass amps ever be obsolete?
- Thread starter Akito
- Start date
...and there's nothing better than playin' a blues gig with a mic'd B15. I do it every Monday night.
I don't see amps going away completely, well at least in my lifetime. I can see bands playing with !x12's for guitars, and combo bass amps in the future though. Either mic'd, or along with a DI. I don't think that guitarists are going to give up their stacks any time soon. And until they do, I don't think bassists are going to either.
1972 S series. It was the biggest loudest one I could find. It's just enough. Even though it's circuit board, it's big and spread out. All tube. Sounds like it should. I actually think the B12 sounds the best but I can't use it outside the studio.
I own a small cheap PA, which is perfect for practices, I like to have a small 180W amp with me for gigs, but normally is so I get a just bass monitor behind me then a good mix into the foldback as most gigs I play we don't have a foldback each. However I've played many gigs without any amp and it's worked perfectly, as long as the sound engineer is willing to take a little time getting the foldback mix right, then I'm happy without an amp, and with the 3 band EQ in my bass I don't feel the lack of tone control.
a friend of mine in a popular country band around here goes ampless & uses a jbl 15"/horn wedge for his bass and voice, and it sounded ok. (the drummer's monitor was a p.a. setup pointed the guitarist's way, and was loud) if you think bout it a wedge will give you the closest representation of what you sound like thru the p.a. cabs.(a good case for wireless so you can go out & actually here how you sound?) yes i know it's not the same (full p.a. into a big room/outside vs wedge to stage) & imo this applies more so to DI than a mic. but like lots have said there is no right/wrong here, only what works for you. it's like the argument bout effects or not in the vocal monitors, but that's another thread.
