Author Topic: Preferred Bass Rig For Series Electronics (Read 911 times)

j_gary · « **on:** June 26, 2005, 11:15:43 AM »

Looking for thoughts from experienced Series I & II players on what type of rig works best with a bass loaded with the above electronics package. I'm wondering if there is a favored set up or is it open for debate? Is there a specific manufacturer,speaker or cabinet size, full range or biamp, that allows one to take full advantage of what the Series package offers?

Thanks, Gary.

jlpicard · « **Reply #1 on:** June 26, 2005, 01:18:06 PM »

Gary, No doubt that this is open to debate, as there are as many preferences in amplification as there are people, however, I think one of the first and most obvious places I would look is to Alembic! Out of your DS-5(R)into an F-2B, into an SF-2( total tonal nirvana!!) and then.......Well, I'm not even going to go there. Everyone has their personal favorite(s)as to the choice of power amp, speakers, etc. Just let your ears be your guide. Mike

dnburgess · « **Reply #2 on:** June 26, 2005, 03:01:54 PM »

Gary, in my view to do Series electronics justice you are looking for hifi on steroids. That is, a rig that seeks to reproduce the instrument faithfully rather than impose its own sonic signature.

Working backwards along the signal chain, this means muti-way speakers such as Acme or Accugroove and lots of watts from a solid state power amp. An Alembic pre and F2B is an ideal front end.

David B.

81series1 · « **Reply #3 on:** June 26, 2005, 03:40:15 PM »

This may help:

http://club.alembic.com/Images/411/590.html?1068499757

j_gary · « **Reply #4 on:** June 26, 2005, 03:56:06 PM »

Great stuff gentlemen. I've got some homework to do. Keep it coming! Thanks, Gary.

howierd · « **Reply #5 on:** June 26, 2005, 06:13:18 PM »

Hi, Gary. I agree with David B. I've used an F2B preamp running through a CS 400 Peavey Power amp for over 25 years. I run the bass pickup through a Peavey 18 Black Widow and the treble pickup through an SVT 8-10 cabinet. I been able to get any sound I want with this set up. Great highs and lows. This rig is old and out of date with what's available these days but it's always been reliable and of course there are new smaller speaker systems available but my SVT cabinet is 30 years old and still sounds great. You can always add filters and compressors later but you do need a good front end just like David said. Good luck.
Howierd

j_gary · « **Reply #6 on:** June 26, 2005, 06:52:08 PM »

Hello Howierd, WOW what a rig! Man I would love to hear and run that monster. That is a great idea sending each pick up to its own cab. Does the 400 have enough to push both cabs by itself? Does the F2B serve as a crossover or does she just split the signal and or the pick ups?

Thanks, Gary.

howierd · « **Reply #7 on:** June 26, 2005, 08:00:19 PM »

The F2B is a Stereo preamp but can also be used to send a mono signal if you use 1 cabinet. If you read the spec sheet about the F2B you'll see how that works. I'm sure i've seen a post about it before but I can't recall at the moment. The cs400 is one of the older amps and does not have modules to bridge the channels but it does have the power to run both cabinets.
Howierd

j_gary · « **Reply #8 on:** June 26, 2005, 08:20:13 PM »

Cool, thanks again for the heads up. Gary

worldfamousandy · « **Reply #9 on:** June 26, 2005, 09:25:45 PM »

I like to go from the DS-5 into a subtle amount of compression via an EBS pedal, then into an F-1X. I cross the pre over at about 150 Hz, and send lows and highs into a powerful (800 watts/ channel?) QSC stereo power amp. Lows go to a Mesa Boogie 2 X 15, and full range is sent to a Mesa Boogie 2 X 10 plus horn box. I have experimented with different crossover settings and configurations, and I like this rig the most.

Bottom line is, though, mess around with some different stuff and see what suits you best. Personally, I feel lucky to say that I have never heard any rig sound better than my own. Of course, my sound may not be your sound, and another rig may better give you your sound. I think the important things everyone should have are tons of power and full-range capabilities.

worldfamousandy · « **Reply #10 on:** June 26, 2005, 09:29:11 PM »

Hey Gary, I just read your profile. I grew up in Rochester, and played hockey for several Warren teams when I was a kid, at Fraser Hockeyland. Is that place still there? I am also a firefighter, although we are a volunteer department.

slapbass · « **Reply #11 on:** June 27, 2005, 05:27:41 AM »

Gary,

I guess I am a little old school with my 75 s1 I run from a ds-5r to my Bass pod XT Pro on the treble side and a F1-X on the bass side. The signals go into there own Sunn power amp 2500 watts each. The bass side drive 2 2X18 cabs and the treble drives 2 10X10 cabs. This Rig is great for outdoors!! But in the words of George Clinton Were gona tear the roof of the sucka if you turn it up indoors.

Dale

j_gary · « **Reply #12 on:** June 27, 2005, 05:41:46 AM »

Hi Andy, I drive by the old Fraser Hockeyland all the time. It's huge now with a number of rinks. A semi pro team runs out of there and a bunch of the Redwings hang out scaring the poo out of anyone who wants a fun scrimmage game. There is something different about hockey players. I do not know most of the Wings but my buddy's son does. He plays there quite often. These pros hang out at the rink sweeping, hauling out the trash,selling tickets and popcorn, just waiting for a scruff team that needs a body. Out they go and Katy bar the door. Great people, lots of fun.
How big is your FD? What kind of rigs are you running,and what job are you on? Pumper donkey,ladder lump or even worse, Chief?

OK, now some fun stuff. Could you tell me how you ended up with your Series and if you've had any work done? Also I'd be interested in the journey to your Boogie rig. As a full time player, I'm so jealous, you must spend considerable time researching and experimenting with equipment. I throughly enjoy the whole research process of finding a bass or amp, but I struggle finding the time to do my homework. I'm a recent Alembic convert from many years with a Smith. I've also have a collection of Trace equipment that I've used for years, but it appears they are fading away. Now I'm starting all over with a new bass and searching for it's voice. Therefore I'm curious as to how you arrived at your current set up and in particular what you tried and passed on.

Stay Low, in both jobs, Gary

811952 · « **Reply #13 on:** June 27, 2005, 07:01:12 AM »

Gary,

For many years I was thoroughly content running my '81 S1 into a ten-band graphic and straight into a pair of CS-800 amps connected to small pile of 18s and 10s, x-overed at somewhere between 250 and 500 Hz. The bass has enough output to drive an amp at line-level, and enough tone control to make it a not-insane proposition.

Currently I have 3 different setups, the newest being an Ampeg B-5R head pushing a Kustom 410H cabinet - and I love how it sounds. I also have an ART tube preamp w/parametric and compression which sounds very nice, especially when run through my ancient Bogen 200w all-tube power amps into any cabinet you connect to them. I am probably going to part with setup number three, which consists of a Bass Pod Pro and Peavey DECA 1200 power amp.

For cabinets, I have a couple of 18 folded horns (similar to the Acoustic 301) which are great for either getting that Jaco sound or for loud rock in a big room. I've got a Peavey 210H that's great for small jazz or blues gigs and reproduces the full range of Alembic tones. I now have a 410H Kustom cabinet, which is pretty much a full-range system as well. Oh, and an old Lab Series 115 which sounds like a box but works well for blues.

I find that I tend not to like biamping, because of the complexity and the need to always carry a minimum of 2 cabinets to every gig. Power is cheap these days, and the newer 410 cabinets handle tons of it quite gracefully. For me, also I must take into account that no matter how high-fidelity my system may be, unless I'm listening in the living room it's mostly wasted effort. An amp that sounds musical at a high enough volume to compete with the guitars/keyboards/drumses is often all that I can realistically hope for after feeding the tribe and paying the mortgage. And perhaps most important, I'm getting old and becoming much less of a gearhead than I once was. While I do certainly envy the folks with the systems to die for (and there are many in this group!), the Alembic sounds good no matter what it gets plugged into, IMHO...

John

j_gary · « **Reply #14 on:** June 27, 2005, 08:53:06 AM »

Dale, Dale, Dale. good grief! You may need therepy, 2500 watts each?!!!! Please, can I join your band? Old school? Sounds like my kind of education. As I asked Andy above, I would like to know what you went through to arrive at your current set up. Were there amps that you thought fell flat, and what kind of music & places are you playing? I'm thinking I should be able to hear you here in Michigan every time you fire that bad boy up!

Thanks, Gary