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Will bass amps ever be obsolete?

#161
The answer to the op is and always will be, no. Even if the trend is to bypass amps altogether and rely soley on big PA systems, there will always be gigs without adequet PA, bands that jam in garages, basements, and studio rehearsal halls, and old farts like me, (and several others who've responded here) who will always want the tone and feel that a bass rig provides. The bass amp will never be obsolete- at least, not in my life.
 
#163
I'm actually running the merch table for a Little River Band show. Bass player/lead vocalist has amazing tone, full deep and sparkly. And GUESS WHAT? No bass rig, a few pedals on the floor, a fresh set of strings and a good front of house engineer.
 
#164

JimmyM said:
I- have to listen to myself play too, and i like my sound coming out of a big cab waaaaaaaaay more than a small cab.
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That I can understand. But...

seriously, if you think micing a speaker in a 110 cab, or 210 is the same as micing a single speaker in an 810, then i have no idea what to tell you.
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How would you know? You’re on stage.
huh.gif


Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt





Pedulla Club #45
Administrator, Tobias Club
Pedulla Club #45

 
#165
WayneP said:

How would you know? You’re on stage.
huh.gif
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i like that smiley ;)

how would i know? i get offstage during soundchecks and shows and listen. plus i have quite a bit of experience recording using mics. can it sound good to mic a small single speaker cab? sure. it can sound good doing pretty much anything. but even though you put the mic in front of only one speaker, there's a lot more being picked up than just that one speaker, especially if you mic like i do and don't put it right up against the grill anymore.
 
#167
strke-fender said:
I'm actually running the merch table for a Little River Band show. Bass player/lead vocalist has amazing tone, full deep and sparkly. And GUESS WHAT? No bass rig, a few pedals on the floor, a fresh set of strings and a good front of house engineer.
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Having your amp onstage isn't about getting an amazing tone to the audience. 95% of the crowd is hearing the PA and the quality of modern day PA gear is simply incredible. With the right DI and outboard gear, pumping amazing bass tone out to the audience is a no brainer, provided you have a good sound engineer and a good bassist.

Personally, having an amp onstage is all about me! IMO, in ear monitors just don't replicate the experience of having your amp behind you. Sure you can pump great tone into your ears, but man, it just kills the vibe for me. Maybe I'm old fashioned, but having that amp cranking away behind me is just part of the experience. Also, without an amp on stage, where the hell am I suppose to set my beer... or is the world taking that away from me too? :help:
 
#168
R Baer said:
Having your amp onstage isn't about getting an amazing tone to the audience. 95% of the crowd is hearing the PA and the quality of modern day PA gear is simply incredible. With the right DI and outboard gear, pumping amazing bass tone out to the audience is a no brainer, provided you have a good sound engineer and a good bassist.

Personally, having an amp onstage is all about me! IMO, in ear monitors just don't replicate the experience of having your amp behind you. Sure you can pump great tone into your ears, but man, it just kills the vibe for me. Maybe I'm old fashioned, but having that amp cranking away behind me is just part of the experience. Also, without an amp on stage, where the hell am I suppose to set my beer... or is the world taking that away from me too? :help:
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Yes, I agree with your points as well. My only point was that you can get a good tone out of good PA for the audience with out an amp relatively easily.

I also like air moving behind me and in ears can't do that. :)
 
#169
R Baer said:
Personally, having an amp onstage is all about me! IMO, in ear monitors just don't replicate the experience of having your amp behind you. Sure you can pump great tone into your ears, but man, it just kills the vibe for me. Maybe I'm old fashioned, but having that amp cranking away behind me is just part of the experience.
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roger, i have to thank you. a few months ago, i was bummed out because of a couple people i work with all the time busting my balls about volume (won't mention any names but one of their names rhymes with "yowser" ;) ) and i was ready to go ampless. you talked me out of it with basically the same thing you said here...things i have said many times in the past to others, by the way. but when you're getting your balls busted and you're bummed out, sometimes you need a pep talk. so thanks for the pep talk :bassist:
 
#171
Anytime Jimmy. I'm on a personal mission to talk bass players out of ditching their amps!

(legal disclaimer: The views expressed above are the personal opinion of Roger Baer and do not reflect the views of Baer Amplification). ;)
 
#173
JimmyM said:
no it's not. make no mistake...you're fooling yourself if you think looks don't count. play a formal jazz gig where everyone's wearing tuxes and you wear a t-shirt and sandals. or play a rock gig where everyone wears t-shirts and sneakers and you wear a tux. or play with devo where everyone wears a yellow hazmat suit and you wear anything else but the yellow suit.

now use that logic with amps...show up to an allman bros gig with no amp, or show up to an ampless gig with an svt...see how quickly it takes for you to be shown the door.

looks count a great deal. those who don't believe looks count usually end up not getting many gigs.

also, regarding an earlier comment...maybe for you and mama dave the amp is just a monitor. well i tried that route the last couple weeks and it isn't working for me. i don't like the sound, so i'm going back to using a mic on my amp, which makes it way more than a stage monitor...it makes it the way i get my sound to the crowd. and any soundman who complains i'm too loud is incompetent. i am NEVER too loud :D

so as you can see, the actual answer is "do what you think is best."
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I totally agree. However, the point I was trying to make is that too many people get overly focused on having an amp rig simply to impress other musicians. As you said in an earlier post, people in the audience (aka non-musicians) generally only notice if it sounds good or not and could care less what gear is used to make the sound. As many people have said in this thread, your sound comes from your instrument and your playing style. You should sound like "you" regardless of whether you are using an amp, DI or whatever. The problem with having the stage amp too loud is much more common to guitar players rather than bassists from my experience. When the soundguy has a 1000w amp pushing a 2x18" JBL sub on each side of the stage, I get all of the low end I need to the FOH even with no amp. Personally, I love using in-ear monitors because I can hear myself much better and play much tighter than when I am trying to hear myself in a loud stage mix. It's also nice to go home and not have my ears ring for the next day or two after a gig. Standing next to a drummer pounding on the cymbals for hours at a time takes a toll on your hearing. The bottom line is summed up by your comment "do what you think is best". Different situations require different solutions.
 
#174
Bass rigs going extinct? No way.

But, I'm perfectly happy running direct into PA and letting it go. Frankly, if I wasn't playing the occasional jazz standards gig, I'd sell my rig. I just DI everywhere else. As long as I can hear enough of me to be able to judge dynamics and pitch I'm good.

What changed me was the first time I ran through a Meyer PA run by a national class engineer. What I could hear on stage coming back from the hall was something other wordly. Tone search stopped that day.
 
#175
i could buy that, iridium, although i always include the amp (well i do since i went back to tubers) in the you and the bass equation. however, by far, we all know the most important ingredient in that equation by far is you.

btw, i never did iem's, but i think if i did, i'd still want an amp just to get that pants leg vibrating ;) yes, even at the pathetic volumes i'm forced to play at during bowzer shows, i can still get a little pants leg action going.
 
#176
Interceptor said:
Bass rigs going extinct? No way.

But, I'm perfectly happy running direct into PA and letting it go. Frankly, if I wasn't playing the occasional jazz standards gig, I'd sell my rig. I just DI everywhere else. As long as I can hear enough of me to be able to judge dynamics and pitch I'm good.

What changed me was the first time I ran through a Meyer PA run by a national class engineer. What I could hear on stage coming back from the hall was something other wordly. Tone search stopped that day.
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If you can reliably always get that, and it's good for you, there you go. For my small-time, rock-headed self, there's no getting away from my amp. I don't personally know anyone else who can or will either. You're kind of a rare bird among working players, I think!
 
#179
well ill put in my 2 cents if you guys dont mind. I work as a cook in a large night club that books djs,local acts,and national acts. Seeing as i work in the kitchen and it is directly behind the stage i can usually hear bass pretty well, and i have gotten pretty good at telling if the bassist is going direct or through an amp, when the bass is boomy and has no fundemental 85% of the time its going direct, if its clear and can be heard with out shaking the walls and having equipment fall its usually through and amp, so i have to say i would go with an amp...but then again the sound guy is also a dj there who plays (c)rap and techno who has no concept of low end i dont know situation dictates action i guess
 
#180
JimmyM said:
i could buy that, iridium, although i always include the amp (well i do since i went back to tubers) in the you and the bass equation. however, by far, we all know the most important ingredient in that equation by far is you.

btw, i never did iem's, but i think if i did, i'd still want an amp just to get that pants leg vibrating ;) yes, even at the pathetic volumes i'm forced to play at during bowzer shows, i can still get a little pants leg action going.
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I still use an amp too to get the pants leg vibrating too ;) The IEM's have their problems too, which is why you still need some type of amp for a stage monitor. Since they fit inside your ear and block most of the stage sound, you are almost totally deaf if they stop working. I have had times when I either snagged the headset cable on something and unplugged myself, or forgot to plug them back in when returning from a break. It's terrifying when you are on stage and you can't hear anything you're playing. They also cause problems because people can't talk to you face-to-face since your ears are plugged. I have had people in the audience try to talk to into my ear while I am playing and they don't realize I can't hear a word they are saying.
 

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