Touring bass amp rigs that the best country artists use!!

[OzDoug64]

Would like to hear what some of the touring bass amp rigs are for Paisley, Urban, Rascal Flatts, Alan Jackson etc and others in their league.

And, what outboard DI's they use if they don't use the DI's from their amps.

[atinder]

This would be an interesting topic, I agree. However, the traffic around here is pretty slow......I'd check www.talkbass.com. Almost guaranteed that someone over there has started the same discussion.

[Sl8e]

The same rigs are usually used in clubs and or on large stages. The amp get better because of dependability concerns and distance from the amp itself. Sometimes a bassist really doesn't need a rig on a large stage. He is direct and the large side fill monitors pump his tone back at him effectively.

There is another widely used non-rig. It's called the dummy cabinet system. Many acts stack cabinets for no reason. Many are unplugged cabinets.

Then there is the real stuff. This is like the Kieth Urban style stacks of different amps thing.

Usually there are a series of bass amps lined up and piggy-backed together.

Here's a list of good bass amps.

Ampeg, Peavey, Traynor, Gallien Krueger, SWR, Trace Elliot

You will see many players using these amps on large stages.

Many will use a direct box and the system will push them just fine.

The problem with large venues is the bass quality tends to suffer. It's always best to see an artist in a really good small venue. If the venue is designed for sound then you will hear everything well.

Large stadiums generally are not good for hearing bass tones and they generally are crappy tones at that when you do hear them.

I live near Philadelphia. The Mann music center is great. The Susquehanna Center and Valley Forge are also good.

The old Spectrum was great for concerts but bad for sound. I always had a good time but it always sounded bad.

The best bass tone I ever heard live was with no amp. Tony Levin went direct when he was with Peter Gabriel the last time I saw him. Levin is unbelievably great.

[Ben Harmless]

I've done my live sound work with a lot of country and americana acts, and some of those dudes are getting into some real botique stuff these days. Things I don't recognize. Of the stuff I do know about:

A lot of guys are using the Avalon preamp/DI units. I personally think they're overkill for almost all live work unless you've got a seriously high-end system in a very large room. I mean, higher-end than those you'll find in the average quality concert hall. Even then, they don't really do it for all basses.

I've seen a lot of old Ampeg tube heads on small cabinets lately too. You don't need the fridge to get the tone. Not too many new Ampegs. There's a reason for that, I'm sure...

I will tell you however, that the single most popular amp I've run into in this style, for bass players who realize that they don't need to blow the rest of the band off the stage to sound good and be heard is the good ol' GK MB150S. It's got a surprising amount of power for its size, and it's got tone that rivals some of the big boys, as well as a quality direct XLR out.

I have never had a bass player come across any of my stages with one of these and sound bad. I can't say that for many things. I really wish I played bass at a more-than-dabbling level so that I could justify purchasing one.

[Frankjohnson]

Originally Posted by Sl8e

I live near Philadelphia. The Mann music center is great. The Susquehanna Center and Valley Forge are also good.

Although not country - I saw Keb Mo (with Bonnie Raitt - Yeah -Man!) and had seats int eh orchestra pit at the Mann.

Reggie McBride IS the bass player I want to be when I grow up! I checked out his rig which was a SWR 750 power amp and one of the SWR pro series heads with a rack of other magic (not sure what it was).....but the HOuse Sound was very nice! Massive lows, and a twinge of highs to accentuate the harmonics. That was one show where the house system was superb. It complimented his rig/stage sound, and was my first time at a show where that was the case.

[4mal]

More often than not, a rented backline on stage. Typically the band and soundcompany duke it out for 2 minutes over who has the most guicci/trustable DI and sone...

For the hi-end touring production, in ears are becoming increasingly prevelent. The cost of a good in-ear system and the side-stage guy necessary to run several independant mixes let's me out.

I know some guys that swear by the U5 - outside a studio setting it is complete overkill IMO. Still I suppose if you have one, don't mind the size then great. Personally I prefer carrying Radial as it is small, overbuilt and sounds great. If we're talking a hi=end bluegrass ensemble - say Tony Furtado & crew... then by all means a rack of U5's As you can actually hear it in the mando, tenor guitar, flat top, banjo and fiddle. For bass ? once the FOH has done it's thing you'd be hard pressed to tell it from Behringer ...

I suppose there are a few acts that can afford the old roll up in the 18 wheeler and fill a stage approach but in the Northwest I see more fly-in acts or folks that can move themselves of 2 week tours in a couple of RV/motor homes and a trailer or two. Not a lot of room for gear in there... Those guys doing the fill the stage approach ? My guess is that their gear selection is as much a matter of endorsement deals as anything and the real signal you're hearing out front is a good basic DI running through the FOH. For example - I'm pretty sure that when you see Victor Krauss this summer, he'll have his multi cab Warwick stack and after festival season, it will be back to a small combo... What do we think the good Dr paid for that wall of Dr Z cab's in the Brad Paisley video ? My guess is that it is more than say Sewell was will to pony up... maybe not fair to Brad, Sewell or the Doc in specific, but you get my point... product placement is a biz these days after all...

[OzDoug64]

Originally Posted by 4mal

I know some guys that swear by the U5 - outside a studio setting it is complete overkill IMO. Still I suppose if you have one, don't mind the size then great. Personally I prefer carrying Radial as it is small, overbuilt and sounds great.

Hi 4mal,

Apart from the U5 I would like to purchase the next best DI especially for portability.

Which model Radial do you have, and how would you compare it to the Sansamp for overall quality?

Cheers....

[4mal]

In Radial you choose the one that meets your impedance needs. The JDI or J48 are the 'pro' series - absolutely indestructible and they deliver great tonality. IIRC it;s the JDI for active basses, and J48 for passive although I reserve the right to have that backwards.

There is also the lower end 'Pro DI'. It's great too. SO\ounds a lot like the J series but less 'industrial' packaging. It's still robust to be sure though. I believe that the BassBone utilizes the same DI as the Pro.

I'm currently using DI's from GT. I got one on evaluation and one that I purchased. I have to say they appear to be on par with Radial sound wise. I do prefer Radial's package though. Those guys I really trust... If I'm in a setting where I need two basses cabled up and an EQ adjustment - I'll go back to the BassBone in a heartbeat.

The Sansamp BDDI is kind of a different animal. It is very colored. Not very clear as a DI. What it does really well is to cop an ampeg'ish warmth in front of a board. Say a house mixer without a sweepable mid... The BDDI will give you bass specific voicing and warmth while going direct. I only prefer it for live work without a rig. it's just too colored for anything else for my uses. Still a useful tool to have in the kit for me. I do a lot of singer/songwriter/acoustic guitar backup. Those gig's usually have a powered speaker on a pole, a small mixer, him, me and a couple of mic's ... no rig. The BDDI kinda saves the day for those and the Radial or GT would sound horrible ... The more kinds of gig's you do, the broader the toolkit needs to be.

[thessandman]

Originally Posted by OzDoug64

Would like to hear what some of the touring bass amp rigs are for Paisley, Urban, Rascal Flatts, Alan Jackson etc and others in their league.

And, what outboard DI's they use if they don't use the DI's from their amps.

Alan Jackson's bass player, Roger Bob Wills, usually plays a 59 P bass. His rig consists of a Mesa 400+ through a Fender 4x10 bass cab. I've seen him use that rig in huge domes and in small clubs in Nashville. It sounds like pure money. The Mesa has a line out, but I don't know if he uses that or mics the cab.

[jar240]

Originally Posted by OzDoug64

Apart from the U5 I would like to purchase the next best DI especially for portability.

Which model Radial do you have, and how would you compare it to the Sansamp for overall quality?

If you're looking for a versatile, high-quality DI (who isn't?), try the Countryman Type 85. Its 10 Meg input impedance will handle raw piezo pickups used in acoustic instruments (if you play upright and want to DI before your preamp for whatever reason) much better than the Blue/Green Radial ones, IMHO.

(I'm not an endorser or otherwise affiliated)

http://www.countryman.com/store/prod...id=52&catid=10

Chris

[JCSouthpawtele]

As a Front of house sound engineer I recommend.
Direct box-Radial engineering Passive D.I. no noise from that and no battery to die on you. or countyman D.I.
For amps.
Mesa 400,David Eden (was not mentioned yet)
Ameg,SWR

4-10 cabs,tighter punchier sound
15" cabs tend to put too much low mud in your stage mix unless its outdoors and has the room to send out the frequency waves.

I have run rigs with both a D.I. and a mic on the cab for some bands who like to have some grit out front. I set it up on my mix to have the low end of the D.I box sent to just the subs on an Aux fed Sub-woofer out put setup on the large concert rig.

(note the larger rigs usually have the subs sent out via an aux send and only send the subs kick drum, maybe floor tom,bass guitar and maybe some low keys DI , it clears up the mix by not crossing over the full mix and getting low mud signals from other mics and such,it just gets what they need in the low end. pro talk here but you get my drift)

The cab mic only going to the mid cabs for the mid punch gritty sound just underneath the guitars and vocals to sweeten the sound. It cool when you can get that big stacked national rig sound.

[OzDoug64]

Originally Posted by JCSouthpawtele

I set it up on my mix to have the low end of the D.I box sent to just the subs on an Aux fed Sub-woofer out put setup on the large concert rig.

(note the larger rigs usually have the subs sent out via an aux send and only send the subs kick drum, maybe floor tom,bass guitar and maybe some low keys DI , it clears up the mix by not crossing over the full mix and getting low mud signals from other mics and such,it just gets what they need in the low end. pro talk here but you get my drift)

Nice info, thanks