Will bass amps ever be obsolete?

[BassJunkie730]

Give me a stage that rumbles (an entire stage - not those BS 5x5 risers) and in ears with super sophisticated spatial intelligence (imagine an in ear system that triangulates the position of each ear bud so you can get midrange directionality!) ahh retro engineering

cool.



but then so is playing through two 810s


hmmmmm

ok I'mconflicted.

 

[bikeplate]

HI

Ive prolly played 2000 shows in my life. For two years straight, approx 350 gigs, I didnt use an amp. It kinda sucked. Tought for the drummer to catch a groove, bass sounded like crap in my in-ears, etc. I sure hope not. Unless Im on tour with Elton John with a million dollar system with killer monitors, etc I dont even want to go back there. My 2 cents

Rob

 

[mrtn400]

This is what a lot of major bands end up doing (Paul McCartney comes to mind).

 

[DanielleMuscato]

The only way I'd play with two 8x10s is if the gig included roadies. And even then, I'd ask for more money in exchange for hauling my own gear. Then, I'd just bring my Line6 POD anyway LOL.

I have a couple of Schroeder cabs, and I love the tone of them, but I rarely use them. In-ears + Line6 is so much faster for set-up & tear-down, as well as taking up less space in the van, better signal-to-noise ratio, better for your hearing, etc.

P.S. I play about 100 shows/year.

 

[WayneP]

I ditched my traditional bass amp and cabinet 10 years ago for a processing rack and stage monitor, and never looked back. The only time I used a “regular” bass cabinet is for gigs where there are no subs.

I for one am going to keep lugging my gear around and feeling the sound waves hit my back until I can no longer physically do so...

Although it's tempting to me to get a sansamp and go direct, I think I'd miss the tumping of the bass amp behind me.

I must say I don’t get the attraction of “bass in the butt.” When you think about it, it’s really unnatural. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone set up their stereo speakers behind the couch. Anyone ever hear a singer say, “Move that monitor around behind me so I can hear it better?” If you’re playing a venue with subs, all your cabinet is is a monitor. You’d be shocked at how much better it would sound if you could get it out in front of you, tilted back aimed at your head!

not as long as bassists still lust for tube tones. i wouldnt be surprised if im the last guy on earth with an amp, but i loathe the sound of DI bass to the point that i start foaming at the mouth.

Problem is, once you’re in the PA system – be it mic’d, pre-out of your amp, or DI - what you’re hear on stage is nothing like what’s coming from the PA system.

That’s why I like using a good stage monitor: It has a speaker compliment that’s similar to the PA speakers. Get yourself sounding good in a dedicated stage monitor, and there’s a much better chance that what you hear will be pretty close to what the audience hears.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[Surprise Panda!]

It would save me a lot of money

 

[ryognbass]

i love the feel of the amp, but theres defiantly a point to be had.

great example, geddy lee and his sansamp. (even though he puts washing machines/rotisserie cookers onstage as a gag in lieu of amps)

 

[MNAirHead]

Sure.. it's been this way for years..

all the amp porn is to impress the bass player.. if playing most places, it's a favor to everyone to go direct and use the amp as a monitor.

t.

 

[billfitzmaurice]

No one in the audience noticed or was aware of any difference, and it got me thinking that probably 85-90 percent of the public that I perform for have absolutely no discernment when it comes to bass tones, and quite possibly have very little clue what the bass is in a standard mix beyond what the bass eq control does on their car stereo.

Fact of life: for the most part you're background music for what's really important to the audience. For the men it's (hopefully) getting laid at the end of the night. The women mostly are interested in gossiping, and if they can't hear each other above the band you're interfering with their agenda. You're also way down on the list of what's important to bar owners, selling drinks being #1.
You can tell that you're a real musician when you don't care about idiot owners and ignorant audiences and play for the music's sake. If that's the case you want to sound as good as you can even if not a single person out there cares. Use what you need to do so.

 

[ThunderV]

Careful, there are idiots who are trying to make bass players obsolete. Do not encourage them!!!!!!!!

 

[chimpbass]

I'll keep using my amp until I stop getting positive comments on my tone at every show...

 

[sonic assassin]

Problem is, once you’re in the PA system – be it mic’d, pre-out of your amp, or DI - what you’re hear on stage is nothing like what’s coming from the PA system.

That’s why I like using a good stage monitor: It has a speaker compliment that’s similar to the PA speakers. Get yourself sounding good in a dedicated stage monitor, and there’s a much better chance that what you hear will be pretty close to what the audience hears.

the difference is, it will go INTO the PA sounding good. and thats a lot better than IN bad and OUT bad. i agree that if it sounds good in your monitor, it likely sounds good on the mains. maybe not the room.. but thats a completely different ball game. but i dont believe a bass straight into the board can sound good in the first place, so IMO, it will NEVER be good in the monitor unless it came from a mic'ed amp.

maybe im the only one, but id honestly rather plug into a 10 watt squier guitar amp than go DI. that preamp>poweramp>speaker stage is absolutely necessary to me.

and then mic>preamp>poweramp>monitor is just as important if my amp cant handle the room.

 

[seamonkey]

"Will bass amps ever be obsolete?"

They are all being archived:
Invalid Link Removed
Link Removed

...

And they are all very playable.

 

[JessyB96]

i will never replace a good bass cab with a pa system just like my drummer would never use electric drums cause its not the same its just not. the legends made it legendary with amps and i can't see why anyone wouldnt want to. besides there's something about standing in front of a stack that makes it just right. besides if given the choice id just mic vocals and drums and run em into cabs to blend

 

[K-Funk]

Yes, but the legends had to use gigantic stacks of amps because they had no PA. If they had what is available to us now, I imagine they would have most certainly used it. I understand that guitarists will always need amps, due to amplification composing well over half their tone. Same thing with many bassists; IMO, guys who use classic basses and tube amps need those amps in order to complete "their" sound. However, bass is much more flexible in a live situation- your tone doesn't have to be 100% studio-perfect to put on the perfect show. This is why I personally would have no problem going ampless. Also, with the basses I use and the music I play I tend to shoot for a clean and clear sound anyway, so it wouldn't make a huge difference to me if I was running through the PA or through a mic'd solid-state amp. For all practical reasons, my sound would be close enough for me to be totally happy with it.

 

[mkrtu9]

I played with a programmable sansamp at church for a long time. No amp at all. However, it always seemed like I could either never hear myself or I was too loud. I hated never having complete control of my stage volume. So now I use an amp but I use it as a stage monitor, though it usually pushes into the crowd anyway. I'm going to change it up and go with a smaller cab in the future.

Conclusion: Tried it, didn't like not having control. Like amp for stage monitor use. Use di from amp head into PA for audience. My humble opinion of course.

 

[Bassmec]

not as long as bassists still lust for tube tones. i wouldn't be surprised if im the last guy on earth with an amp, but i loathe the sound of DI bass to the point that i start foaming at the mouth.

I have tried every kind of recording di and compressor known to man in the studio but am still using Neumann and Neve and real bass amps you know the ones that cost heaps with tubes in and classic speakers, Oh and a great sounding room.
Bass sound with very subtle compression which may be only that found in the non linear area of a tube amp and suitable loudspeaker and a bit of compressible air to smooth things a bit. Is the real deal Mate!.
There is more to this than meets the eye, it should also meet the ear.
The question: Is your guitarist more concerned with tone than you (because he thinks transistor amps suck) is still a relevant one, an octave or two further down the frequency graph.
PS RULE OF THUMB
Due to Physics a bass rig will be larger and heavier than an equivalent guitar amp rig. A unfortunate fact.
For me it will always be about that last 1% and I know how to get it
for real. Its about the Player the bass the fx the amp the cab the mic the room and the pre. Thats if your looking to sell what you do.

 

[Tired_Thumb]

Logically speaking, no, bass amps will never be obsolete. I've played basketball gigs in gymnasiums, and there was never a stage for the band (obviously, the band was there to support the basketball team). We had no PA for the electric instruments, so it was all about the amps for us.

That said, I gig weekly at my church with just my bass and my Pod X3 Live, and I have the best of both worlds, the benefits of not interfering with what's coming out of the FOH and the ability to play with "my sound". FWIW also, my bass rig is pretty much an extremely simplified PA: the X3L heads into a power amp which feeds a Peavey 115BX BW as a woofer and an old Yamaha 2x8 PA enclosure for everything else.

In the end, go with what works for your environment and what pleases you as a musician, but not every place on the planet has a PA.

 

[GeneralElectric]

I'd love to not have an amp, but I lug around tube monsters for a reason. I like the sound. I like to play with a tube amp. Tube amp junkies know that, to a degree, you're playing your amp just as much as your bass.

If I were interested in the solid state amp sound more than I am now, I'd probably drop my whole rig and just use a PA. But I'm not, so I don't.

 

[Larry99]

HI

Ive prolly played 2000 shows in my life. For two years straight, approx 350 gigs, I didnt use an amp. It kinda sucked. Tought for the drummer to catch a groove, bass sounded like crap in my in-ears, etc. I sure hope not. Unless Im on tour with Elton John with a million dollar system with killer monitors, etc I dont even want to go back there. My 2 cents

Rob

+1 totally agree (not that I've played 2000 gigs but...). I've never used in-ears but they just don't sound like somthing I would like. It's not at all about "my tone" or anything I just like to feel the sound on stage. I lost an amp on stage recently and the sound man cranked up the side subs for me to hear bass. it sucked. our drummie was affected as well.