Emergency Bass Rig

[jet_powers]

I picked up a Rumble 75 last year and found they named it correctly. It does rumble. Highs are a bit sketchy but it rarely leaves my living room. I could use it for a quiet type of gig....

[5a_quilt_top]

Hijack alert!
 
Re: tubes - check out Fender's new Super Bassman.
 
There's a 300 watt version and a 100 watt version. The 300 watt version compares favorably to an SVT, but has more versatility with two footswitchable channels.
 
I realize that mentioning this here is the height of irony as this thread pertains to portable emergency rigs - but you since you asked...
 
I now return you to the original thread.

[edwin]

My favorite portable small rig is an Eden WXT500 with a fEARful 2/5/1. Some of the other Greenboy related cabs look interesting, too, like the Crazy 8 or Crazy 88. Also, are people around here familiar with B E speakers? They've got this vortex waveguide thing that apparently has the thing punching well above weight and size. I've yet to hear one, but I'm intrigued.
 
I also really like my Fender Showman with a JBL K120 in a Joe's Thiele cab for a small rig. Very nice old school sound, although not the last word in small and light.

[hb3]

I am definitely going to check out the Fender amp mentioned upthread.

[rustyg61]

I think you will like it Hugh! Unless you play in a metal band with triple stack Marshall's or play on a huge stage or outdoors, I think this is a do-all amp. My biggest fear now is that I won't want to use my Eden rig anymore! 65 lbs that will fit in the back seat of my truck VS a combined 300 lbs that take up my entire truck bed & back seat is going to be hard to resist!  

 

[rjmsteel]

Did someone say:  
The fEarful/fEarless designs and the Thunderchild get this way, way better (Bradley) and  
Mike Arnopol and someone else (Edwin);
 
I own one of each both built by Mike (Arnopol) totally in composite materials.
 
The top Cabinet is my Thunderchild 212 coming in at 38 pounds with two 3012LF Eminence drivers loaded and below that is my fEARful 15/6/1 at like 36 pounds loaded with a 3015LF Eminence a Eighteensound 6 mid and horn, (can\t remember brand) with waveguides.
 
Oh, and of coarse my Elan six and '66 Jazz bass.
 

[hb3]

Do those giraffes ever suddenly jump up straight in the air at random moments?

[oddmetersam]

Do those giraffes ever suddenly jump up straight in the air at random moments...Hilarious! And you took the words right out of my mouth, Hugh.
 
And sadly, that bass/drum duet thing is no more after just one freakin' gig. The young drummer has been tapped to play with a budding singer with major label backing (and who only wanted guys much younger than me in her band). And since I look like Methuselah's great grandfather I was odd man out. Oh, well.
 
Meanwhile, once I get a job (I'm now semi-retired and selling photography and T-shirt designs online) I'm ditching my Crest/Aguilar rig and getting one of these Thunderchild enclosures and a GK MB 800 or equivalent. Killer in every sense of the word and I'm surprised I haven't seen more of these around.
 
http://www.audiokinesis.com/product_ak_thunderchild112.html
 
Strongly recommend tracking one down to try it out, if you can.

[hieronymous]

Isn't that the same as the one that Victor brought to last year's gathering? Very tempting! I ended up going cheap with a GK MB-112 II.

[rjmsteel]

The TC 212 is very smooth and round sounding where I can get a pretty fretless sounding tone out of my fretted Series custom. And the height of the cabinet is just fantastic as it brings the waveguide, (which is very smooth sounding and not harsh at all), up to ear level.  
 
Sometimes I tilt the cabinet back a little bit too. Reason I\m pointing this out is because I rarely use both cabinets on a gig as you see them stacked in the photo. It also keeps the giraffes in line from doing random actions too! The TC212 is a 4 ohm cabinet whereas the 15/6 is an 8 ohm cabinet. I really wish I had ordered, (or could have ordered) the TC as a 8 ohm cabinet so I could run both cabinet loads together with my Eden head. 2.67 running ohms is obviously not a good idea. With that said, running two heads or a two channel amp in Stereo is pretty awesome.... just not needed most of the time.
 
The fEARful is flat out Low End power!
I really have to tame the lowend in a lot of the rooms it goes in, just ask Edwin.
 
In fact someone here recently has a thread going about a hollow wooden stage they are playing at where the Low G resonates out of control. Well that same thing happened at last Saturdays night gig with my 15/6, Superfilter and an Eden head, only my tough to tame note was the Low F! It took till the third set to finally dial in some control.
 
Rich
 
(Message edited by rjmsteel on May 09, 2013)

[oddmetersam]

Yeah, Harry, same rig. Otherworldly volume, clarity and punch.

[5a_quilt_top]

UPDATE:
 
This past Friday night, I played the same outdoor gig that I mentioned above using the same emergency rig once again feeding the PA.
 
A friend of mine was in the audience and took this bad cell phone pic of the band on stage. The QSC monitor sat just outside of the picture frame to my right.
 

 
 
The stage actually extends another 10-15 feet in either direction beyond where we set up - so it's about 30 feet wide by at least 15 feet deep, which is a little larger than I originally thought. We placed the PA speakers near the far edges of the stage.
 
This time, I pushed the QSC to 2/3 of full volume and it helped to cover the stage area a little better. My friend, who is also a musician, said that the bass sounded great and cut through the mix nicely, sounding full, thick and defined.
 
Given this review and the fact that I can carry everything in one trip, I'm strongly considering changing the name of this rig from emergency to permanent...

[rustyg61]

UPDATE 2:
 
David, I just played my first gig with my new Fender Rumble 350 & it passed with flying colors! It sounded amazing & had plenty of power! I played on about 1 1/2 - 2 all night & could hear myself very well. I put it on a kickback stand beside the drums facing sideways so the sound was in my left ear & I loved what I was hearing! I'm with you, I think this will now be my main amp except for the outdoor shows on big stages. The Fender is perfect for smaller venues where I'm no more than 10 feet from my amp, but my Eden will be better for the big stages. I too was able to get everything in one trip as opposed to 3 trips with my big rig. Now I'm thinking about splitting my rack from the 6 space with everything in it to (2) 3 space racks so I can have my power conditioner, tuner, & SF-2 seperate to use with the Fender. That will make it much lighter to set up my big rig too, my current rack weighs 85 pounds & is very hard to lift chest high to sit it on top of my speaker boxes.

[edwin]

I played at the Oriental Theater in Denver last Friday. As an experiment, I brought my recently refurbished '67 Showman (Mercury Magnetics output transformer and power supply upgrades with Philips 7581A output tubes) and a small Thiele cabinet with a JBL K120. I had the usual QSC/fEARful 15/6/1 under it, as the main rig. The bass went into an F2B->Grace M103 preamp section.
 
Well, during soundcheck, I fired up the Showman and it sounded so good I ended up never even hitting the power switch on the QSC. I kept thinking that I would run out of headroom and start hearing distortion, but it remained clean for as loud as I wanted. I think it's time for a significant downsize. The Showman/JBL rig will probably be my new club rig, leaving the big one for outdoor and very big venues. I'd love to put together a JBL 15 cabinet.

[5a_quilt_top]

Mercury Magnetics, baby - that's the shizzzit!
 
Bet it sounded amazing.