Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Will bass amps ever be obsolete?
- Thread starter Akito
- Start date
I don't know, dude. I've seen plenty of bands get booed off the stage for not sounding good. If you're a good band you can overcome bad sound, but it's hard.JimmyM, you know way more about the subject than I do but IMO you're being mighty generous to the 'vast majority of people in the audience'.
Load in isn't bad. I don't mind moving this stuff at all. We both move all of the gear in our band though, and we also always have a seat open in our van, and whoever comes with gets to be roadie. haha
We haven't played anywhere with a stage yet. We play house shows and VFW hall type places which means we're on the floor with the crowd.
And I set my stuff up like this...
Invalid Link Removed
Stands a little over 6 feet tall, and isn't that wide.
We always set up next to each other and I imagine whenever we play a place with a stage, we'll do the same. Just set up next to each other centered on the stage, not using the drum riser if there is one. I've seen other two piece bands set up like this.
I was suggesting that it was generous that the vast majority of non musicians in the audience actually knows what sounds good. But I'm sure you play to a more sophisticated group.
By the way try telling these guys to give up their 125db setup and go direct...
Invalid Link Removed
Invalid Link Removed
I wouldn't but I would tell them to get rid of the stupid druid robes.By the way try telling these guys to give up their 125db setup and go direct...
Invalid Link Removed
Drunken old people at the Villages? Hardly
But I have a hard time with the concept that bands are way smarter than the know nothings in their audiences. If that were the case, the high end home audio business wouldn't exist, and everyone would still listen to music on 8-tracks.
By the way try telling these guys to give up their 125db setup and go direct...
Invalid Link Removed
I would but they're probably stone deaf by now.
Wow, I was away for a few days and this thread became quite a nice discussion! Thanks everyone for your input and sharing your experiences, they are all very interesting to me when considering this question.
I was also a little surprised by the number of players willing to consider amplessness as a way of life or who are already doing it. I've been gigging for a long time, and my standard setup was one or two 410s and 500-1000 watt amps, and during that time the idea of doing a show without ny own backline was unthinkable to me.
Not long ago my band opened for Blackhawk. It was on one of those huge open-air stages to a big crowd that have been mentioned in this thread already. Because Blackhawk had sound issues that meant less time for our setup, and because our bus ended up parked quite a distance from the back of the stage, I told the sound man I was willing to run direct and trust him to make me sound great in the crowd.
They had incredible JBL monitors and really knew what they were doing, and by trusting them I think my band won them over. I've never heard my vocals sound so good, and the bass sounded great. Also many people commented that we were quite a bit louder than the headliner!
Anyway it's shows like that one that made me start to consider this line of thought.
Over and over again you will hear from experienced players that a great deal of their tone and sound comes from their hands. Even Doug Pinnick, who uses one the largest and most complicated bass rigs around, has said that no one else playing through it sounds exactly like he does.
I'm thinking that part of being a good bass player is being able to get a good performance out of almost any gear and situation that you are faced with. It's sort of a garbage-in, garbage-out thing. I'm going to focus on making sure that what starts with me and the instrument sounds good, and maybe worry a little less with the nuances that occur after that point and stay open minded to options that were once unthinkable to me.
I was also a little surprised by the number of players willing to consider amplessness as a way of life or who are already doing it. I've been gigging for a long time, and my standard setup was one or two 410s and 500-1000 watt amps, and during that time the idea of doing a show without ny own backline was unthinkable to me.
Not long ago my band opened for Blackhawk. It was on one of those huge open-air stages to a big crowd that have been mentioned in this thread already. Because Blackhawk had sound issues that meant less time for our setup, and because our bus ended up parked quite a distance from the back of the stage, I told the sound man I was willing to run direct and trust him to make me sound great in the crowd.
They had incredible JBL monitors and really knew what they were doing, and by trusting them I think my band won them over. I've never heard my vocals sound so good, and the bass sounded great. Also many people commented that we were quite a bit louder than the headliner!
Anyway it's shows like that one that made me start to consider this line of thought.
Over and over again you will hear from experienced players that a great deal of their tone and sound comes from their hands. Even Doug Pinnick, who uses one the largest and most complicated bass rigs around, has said that no one else playing through it sounds exactly like he does.
I'm thinking that part of being a good bass player is being able to get a good performance out of almost any gear and situation that you are faced with. It's sort of a garbage-in, garbage-out thing. I'm going to focus on making sure that what starts with me and the instrument sounds good, and maybe worry a little less with the nuances that occur after that point and stay open minded to options that were once unthinkable to me.
Although I don't do this anymore, I really had a great time at this one club using a little Mesa 2-10 slanted-front bass amp (sorry, it was rented, forgot the name of it) at the front of the stage next to the foldback monitors pointed at me. That way, I could monitor myself, the sound guy had his direct signal out, and my bass wasn't gettin' into everybody else's mics and mucking things up.
That's kind of a halfway amp-less solution. But I certainly wasn't trying to fill the stage (or the room, god forbid) with my bass amps, The sound I hear standing with bass speakers behind my knees and the sound that the audience is hearing is, many times, drastically different. I found that out the first time I borrowed a wireless and went out to the board.
That's kind of a halfway amp-less solution. But I certainly wasn't trying to fill the stage (or the room, god forbid) with my bass amps, The sound I hear standing with bass speakers behind my knees and the sound that the audience is hearing is, many times, drastically different. I found that out the first time I borrowed a wireless and went out to the board.
Well, late to the thread here but I don't have an amp at all, I have a PA system with a Carvin mixer and power amp and Yamaha cabinets and I play through that. I also don't play out anymore, but would take this with me if I was going to play out. I don't like effects, play active basses, and it works for me. It also allows me to play along with a drum machine, or hold down a chord on a synth when I want to play as well, which is great for the basement bassist 
I hope they become obsolete. That way, I can start buying all the cool gear I want but can't have/don't need, etc.
I wouldn't dream of just using a P.A. and I don't like "in ear" type monitoring. I highly doubt the demise of bass amps.
There will always be some sort of personal amplifier. And even as technology changes, most small clubs and venues dont, so in those cases an amplifier would be useful.
Of course larger tours and gigs, you can go the laptop, receptor, Live, etc route, but even then, theres some kind of amp..even if its just for the sake of the bassist singing a deal that says, where he/she plays, they use such and such equipment.
Of course larger tours and gigs, you can go the laptop, receptor, Live, etc route, but even then, theres some kind of amp..even if its just for the sake of the bassist singing a deal that says, where he/she plays, they use such and such equipment.
Drunken old people at the Villages? Hardly
But I have a hard time with the concept that bands are way smarter than the know nothings in their audiences. If that were the case, the high end home audio business wouldn't exist, and everyone would still listen to music on 8-tracks.
I still use a Sony reel to reel I found at the dump, but heck,
I am ready for a walker soon. Jimmy Walker. Dyn-O-Mite!
If I had some of the money that some guys on TB blow on amps, etc. I'd have a killer 4-way PA, with monitors that could handle bass and drums. That way the only reason to have an amp on stage would be because you like the miked sound of overdriven POWER tubes on a 20 watt amp and so you can create a little controlled feedback. Otherwise, everyone DI, except the drummer, 'cause...y'know.
That or I'd require everyone in the band to have an amp of some sort to use live, facing back toward themselves as a monitor--even the vocalist and drummer.
That or I'd require everyone in the band to have an amp of some sort to use live, facing back toward themselves as a monitor--even the vocalist and drummer.
- Dec 18, 2000
- 13,201
- 340
- Disclosures
- greenboy designs: fEARful, bassic, dually, crazy88 etc
Oh? Has someone used the Dr Evil shrinkit ray on the amp stacks?
Are they still as loud as they were when they were big?
Sure, they're as loud, but in my opinion don't sound anywhere near as good as older and larger amps and cabs.
