Your Favorite "One Night Stand"?

[KevInDaBassment]

Ever play an amp/combo/stack ONE time and never again? Be it a backline at a gig, a bandmate's at rehearsal, at a music store, or in a recording studio....Which one of these would you say was your favorite "One night stand" and how did you two "meet"? Any saucy details you'd like to add are very welcome



My Answer:
I was at a guitar store and ran across an Orange AD200B with matching 1x15 cabinet. I'd heard a few Orange guitar amps and was impressed, never heard their bass amps. I tried 4 or 5 basses through this rig and LOVED it. A Ric 4003, USA Spector, fretless Fender P-bass, a recent Fender Jazz, an Ibanez Prestige SR...all sounded fantastic though it! Haven't run across one since then, and didn't have the scratch to get myself one either

An honorable mention was a previous bandmate's Trace Elliot with 1x15 cabinet. I couldn't tell you the model, but I believe it was either an 80s or 90s model with graphic EQ and compressor built in....heavy SOB too. This one got disqualified because I used it several times at his house. Sounded GREAT though!

 

[bass12]

Funny you mention Trace Elliot because that was my favourite "one nighter". I don't remember the particular model, just that it was a 410 combo (well, pretty sure it was a 410). The punch of that amp really impressed me and I had a blast playing through it that night.

 

[lug]

A backline Markbass stack. Of course it belonged to a bass player who also was the owner of the bar so it was DIALED in.

 

[twinfallsbass]

The country band I was in years ago opened up for Cross Canadian Ragweed. The bass let me use his Aguilar DB750 and matching 8x10, it was glorious. Back then I did not have my Orange AD200B and matching OBC115’s, if I did, I would have kindly turned down his offer

 

[Bob_Ross]

Two things immediately come to mind:

- an Adamson 3- or 4-way triamplified PA stack that was nearly 8-feet tall (three 18" drivers in the subwoofer cabinet alone!) driven by a couple of Crest 10001 power amps, using a DI and one channel of the monitor desk as a preamp (full disclosure: I worked for the PA hire company servicing the venue at the time so I was able to cobble that rig together from the spare items we had onsite. It was total overkill for a corporate office Christmas party GB gig, but too much fun to pass up.)

- there's a rehearsal studio in midtown Manhattan where the house bass rig in their "A" room consists of an Aguilar DB780 tube preamp, a lab.gruppen power amp, and a pair of Epifani 4x10" cabinets. That "A" room is usually booked out months in advance so I've only ever had the pleasure of playing through that rig once, but sweet jeebus is it a nice sounding rig!

 

[5StringBlues]

Bay cliff?

A backline Markbass stack. Of course it belonged to a bass player who also was the owner of the bar so it was DIALED in.

 

[lug]

Bay cliff?

Katie's!

 

[Cave Puppy]

Not me but our guitarist had the pleasure of playing through a Matchless one time. Holy cow. I still think about that.

 

[TomB]

We’re talking music here, right?

….sorry

 

[evs]

I recently played at a gig which had the backline supplied.
They had a Crate 4x10 cab and head.
It looked big and heavy and older.
It actually surprised me with the sound. I enjoyed it.

 

[Old Fart]

Not me but our guitarist had the pleasure of playing through a Matchless one time. Holy cow. I still think about that.

I was in the same room with a Matchless combo, and would heartily agree. Best guitar tone I ever heard.

 

[J Wilson]

You'll forgive me if I don't remember the model number but it was the OG Trace Elliott black-light lit stereo head, 600w a side IIIRC, sitting on top of two TE single 15's and two TE 410's. Holy Smokin' Joe, it was Earth moving.

 

[Flatwound]

Ampeg B-15. It was at Guitar Center, and I tried a couple of basses through it. Sounded so fantastic. Then I touched the chassis and it shocked the crap out of me.

 

[Dincrest]

There was this one Saturday in 2011 when my old punk band had two cross-town shows back to back at two different venues. At the first show I used my rig, but at the second show, the headlining band allowed all of us to plug into their gear since the venue was tiny.

The bassist's rig was an Ampeg SVT with an 8x10 fridge. It was the first and only time I ever played through one of those, and feeling the air move the way it did behind me was a total surprise, since I was always used to my compact "small amp, big sound" rigs. Back then, my "pee wee" rig always surprised everyone.

So, yeah, my most memorable "one night stand" with an amp was with an SVT + fridge.

 

[dbsfgyd1]

Ever play an amp/combo/stack ONE time and never again? Be it a backline at a gig, a bandmate's at rehearsal, at a music store, or in a recording studio....Which one of these would you say was your favorite "One night stand" and how did you two "meet"? Any saucy details you'd like to add are very welcome



My Answer:
I was at a guitar store and ran across an Orange AD200B with matching 1x15 cabinet. I'd heard a few Orange guitar amps and was impressed, never heard their bass amps. I tried 4 or 5 basses through this rig and LOVED it. A Ric 4003, USA Spector, fretless Fender P-bass, a recent Fender Jazz, an Ibanez Prestige SR...all sounded fantastic though it! Haven't run across one since then, and didn't have the scratch to get myself one either

An honorable mention was a previous bandmate's Trace Elliot with 1x15 cabinet. I couldn't tell you the model, but I believe it was either an 80s or 90s model with graphic EQ and compressor built in....heavy SOB too. This one got disqualified because I used it several times at his house. Sounded GREAT though!

Mine wass a Sunn 2000s head into 2 215 Sunn bass cabs I fended for a show at my old high school circa 1972. It was a pretty good sized auditorium, sat maybe 500. No FOH support. I was playing my EB3, and is was the best it ever sounded.

 

[Slough Feg Bass]

last minute call to play with the house band at a local blues jam at a nice place. I wasn't doing anything that night, and it was food & drinks + $$ so I said yes.
BL said not to worry about bringing anything, that the house rig would suffice. I figured he knows because he does a lot of this kind of stuff.
I walked on stage, and there was a nice vintage V4B w/ 1x15 cab, and right behind it was a case. I opened up the case and there was a nicely worn 80's P-bass, ready to go!
That rig was so nice sounding, and broke up at just the right volume when we were really pumping the groove. I don't think I touched anything except the volume knob that night, and yup, it was a nice one night stand!

 

[bigjames]

I played an Eden rig at one gig...it was excellent. Loved everything about it...I was 19 and when I went to the local shop to get one of my own the pricetag was overwhelming...at least, to 19 year old me.

 

[fourstr00]

Martyrs in Chicago has a wonderful Trickfish head and matching 4x10 backline. It sounds glorious and the board is already EQ’d for it.

 

[Renegade bass]

I was buying a second hand Ashdown ABM 300 evo 2 head, the guy who had the store it was in was a roadie for Killing Joke and he had Youth's cabs etc on the premises. Hooked the head up to his 8x10 and then 2x15 cabs & gave me his Mexican Precision to noodle about with.

I bought the head and paired it with a much smaller stack. 2x10 + 1x15. I later enquired about the bass, alas I was unable to grab that.

 

[Daniel Piper]

A backiline company in town has a 1001RBII into two 410RBHs as one of their supplied stacks.

Played through it twice - absolutely loved its simultaneous deep tone and massive grind.