So what do I need?

[Preacher]

RESURECTION!!!

Bringing an old thread back to life.

So back in July I decided to just ride with the Big K III head and the 1x15. Then we had an outdoor concert coming up in October and I decided I needed a little more "ooomph".

I started trolling CL and FB for another head and stumbled on a reasonably priced SWR Workingmans 4004 Head. It has 400 Watts at 4 ohms and 260 watts at 8 Ohms and an XLR out if needed.

I paired it up with the 2x10 Peavey Cab (160 watts at 16 ohms) and the 1x15 GK 15" cabinet (200 watts at 8 ohms). I played it for about two hours in 90 degree heat and it did not burn up. I even went and asked the sound guy how it sounded and he told me that he took the bass out of the PA as the rig sounded better than the PA.

But the other day was in GC and just happened to plug a new Jackson four string $199 bass into an Ampeg Rocketbass 500 watt combo. I was blown away. I know @68Telebass has posted a thread about his new 200 watt unit and I was intrigued but I have never had the opportunity to play one. It sounded so go. I tried a little blues shuffle and it was low and had a little growl. I tried some pop slapping, played a little "Can't Stop" from RHCP (and no one stopped me) and it sounded great. But then I made the mistake of picking it up so I could inspect the back of the amp.

This thing was FORTY POUNDS!! I was stunned! The 15" cabinet I use currently is 67 pounds by itself, that doesn't include the head, or the Peavey 2x10 cabinet which has to be a metric ton!

So now I am re-thinking my life choices... do I just sell my cabs and the SWR head and go and get that Ampeg? I mean FORTY FREAKING POUNDS and FIVE HUNDRED WATTS OF POWER!!!

 

[jsiddall]

Class D amps and neodymium speakers are amazing things!

I built a 1000 W 3-way rig that weighs about 50 lbs.

 

[68Telebass]

RESURECTION!!!

Bringing an old thread back to life.

So back in July I decided to just ride with the Big K III head and the 1x15. Then we had an outdoor concert coming up in October and I decided I needed a little more "ooomph".

I started trolling CL and FB for another head and stumbled on a reasonably priced SWR Workingmans 4004 Head. It has 400 Watts at 4 ohms and 260 watts at 8 Ohms and an XLR out if needed.

I paired it up with the 2x10 Peavey Cab (160 watts at 16 ohms) and the 1x15 GK 15" cabinet (200 watts at 8 ohms). I played it for about two hours in 90 degree heat and it did not burn up. I even went and asked the sound guy how it sounded and he told me that he took the bass out of the PA as the rig sounded better than the PA.

But the other day was in GC and just happened to plug a new Jackson four string $199 bass into an Ampeg Rocketbass 500 watt combo. I was blown away. I know @68Telebass has posted a thread about his new 200 watt unit and I was intrigued but I have never had the opportunity to play one. It sounded so go. I tried a little blues shuffle and it was low and had a little growl. I tried some pop slapping, played a little "Can't Stop" from RHCP (and no one stopped me) and it sounded great. But then I made the mistake of picking it up so I could inspect the back of the amp.

This thing was FORTY POUNDS!! I was stunned! The 15" cabinet I use currently is 67 pounds by itself, that doesn't include the head, or the Peavey 2x10 cabinet which has to be a metric ton!

So now I am re-thinking my life choices... do I just sell my cabs and the SWR head and go and get that Ampeg? I mean FORTY FREAKING POUNDS and FIVE HUNDRED WATTS OF POWER!!!

Yes! 40# indeed.

 

[Blackout Jazz]

RESURECTION!!!

Bringing an old thread back to life.

So back in July I decided to just ride with the Big K III head and the 1x15. Then we had an outdoor concert coming up in October and I decided I needed a little more "ooomph".

I started trolling CL and FB for another head and stumbled on a reasonably priced SWR Workingmans 4004 Head. It has 400 Watts at 4 ohms and 260 watts at 8 Ohms and an XLR out if needed.

I paired it up with the 2x10 Peavey Cab (160 watts at 16 ohms) and the 1x15 GK 15" cabinet (200 watts at 8 ohms). I played it for about two hours in 90 degree heat and it did not burn up. I even went and asked the sound guy how it sounded and he told me that he took the bass out of the PA as the rig sounded better than the PA.

But the other day was in GC and just happened to plug a new Jackson four string $199 bass into an Ampeg Rocketbass 500 watt combo. I was blown away. I know @68Telebass has posted a thread about his new 200 watt unit and I was intrigued but I have never had the opportunity to play one. It sounded so go. I tried a little blues shuffle and it was low and had a little growl. I tried some pop slapping, played a little "Can't Stop" from RHCP (and no one stopped me) and it sounded great. But then I made the mistake of picking it up so I could inspect the back of the amp.

This thing was FORTY POUNDS!! I was stunned! The 15" cabinet I use currently is 67 pounds by itself, that doesn't include the head, or the Peavey 2x10 cabinet which has to be a metric ton!

So now I am re-thinking my life choices... do I just sell my cabs and the SWR head and go and get that Ampeg? I mean FORTY FREAKING POUNDS and FIVE HUNDRED WATTS OF POWER!!!

Yes.

 

[0utputXfmr]

Thanks for all the replies.

I have been keeping an eye out for a new 500 watt or bigger head. I have heard some bad reports of Class D heads having issues. At least on some of the Mark Bass units which I really like.

I am thinking a 500+ Head at the minimum and either a 4x10 cab or a 2x10 cab with a 15 cab for the low low notes.

Oh and the guitarist has a Blues Jr so no problem keeping up with him for now.

Class D heads have issues the same way Class A\B heads have issues-- circuit design or component quality. There is nothing inherently unreliable about Class D heads that also don't apply to other amplifier types. Class D power supplies have come a very long way in just the last 10 years-- so much so that even the "old guard" of bass amplification, like Mesa, Hartke, and David Nordschow (formerly of SWR and Eden) have designed virtually all of their new products around Class D power supplies. Not to mention they are now the standard in the rigs of virtually every big-name bass player on tour (the only exceptions I can think of are the Ashdown ABM endorsers).

Onto cabinets-- cabinet design, in terms of internal volume, porting, and tuning, has a much more drastic effect on the depth of lows than the size of the driver. With good cabinet design, you can get a similar low-end response from a 2x10 as you could a 1x15. To wit, heads with "bi-amp" capability (with a built-in crossover for a rig that used a full-range cabinet and a sub cabinet) are all but extinct, unless you scour the used\vintage market. Back in the day, you needed a larger driver in order to get the deeper excursion needed to reproduce the big lows. Modern speaker design has largely made that requirement obsolete.

Unlike guitar amplification, bass amplifier and cabinet design have advanced far beyond the designs and materials of 1963!

 

[Preacher]

So in playing around with this Rumble 200 I have had some thoughts.

I think I am going to park the GK 15 for the Rumble 15 because of weight. The Rumble should get me 200W out of the speaker through the SWR4004. It might push it a little hard but I think it will be OK.

For bigger gigs I plan on running both the 15s and if I need a little boost I may pick up a Crate Powerblock to run the 2x10s.

 

[57joonya]

@Preacher In the country band I play in, he's an older guy that has been playing since 15 and he does a really good job at this. He is very stuck in his ways in other ways but he is excellent about how loud he plays.

At my last church, that drummer has played with us in country band. He was excellent about not playing loud in church. He would use a cajone for his bass drum. And the sticks that have several little sticks bundled together. BUT, when we play out in the country band, he would get louder and louder as the night wore on and his arm would get higher and higher. I play bass in that band and I'm sitting right next to him. It annoyed me at first. But you gotta do what you gotta do. It made it very difficult to get a good mix and not get feedback in order to hear the other instruments in the smaller bars.

At the first church I played at over 20 years ago I played drums. They had an electronic kit and that's how they dealt with that. The cymbals and toms were the annoying rubber pads but the snare had an actual head that had some bounce. I did not like playing them that much but I did for a long time. As well as any other drummer. You do what you gotta do.

Personally I think most drummers should do exactly what you suggested, play with some brushes and a smaller kit in the smaller spaces. Or learn how to hold back. And in bigger places go whole hog.

To me this seems to be the bigger issue with musicians in general. A lot of them are more interested in playing their instrument than playing music. But thankfully I've played with a good amount of people that know how to hold back or be loud our whatever the song and style of music requires. Without that it is a lot less enjoyable and makes playing music difficult. You just gotta be thankful when you find people that are good like that.

I personally think for me, playing guitar, bass and drums and singing made me more aware of that. I always struggle with the thought of the fact that if I stuck to one I'd probably be a better musician at that particular instrument. But I would've missed out on a lot of opportunities to play and I personally think it made me a better overall musician to understand them all at whatever level I do. I think of songs in more of terms of the overall sound and not just my instrument. Well I try to. LOL.

I’m band situations I’m constantly saying”we” need to start out at lower volume guys… like, let’s keep it lower volume tonight . Otherwise the bass player and drummer come out swinging. And it only gets worse from there . I’m more and more just leaning towards acoustic stuff .meaning going solo Hah. Nobody wants to come see us play and have their ears blown out . Nobody gets it

 

[68Telebass]

I’m band situations I’m constantly saying”we” need to start out at lower volume guys… like, let’s keep it lower volume tonight . Otherwise the bass player and drummer come out swinging. And it only gets worse from there . I’m more and more just leaning towards acoustic stuff .meaning going solo Hah. Nobody wants to come see us play and have their ears blown out . Nobody gets it

Hear, Hear!!

 

[57joonya]

Hear, Hear!!

Nice bass on your avatar

 

[Preacher]

I’m band situations I’m constantly saying”we” need to start out at lower volume guys… like, let’s keep it lower volume tonight . Otherwise the bass player and drummer come out swinging. And it only gets worse from there . I’m more and more just leaning towards acoustic stuff .meaning going solo Hah. Nobody wants to come see us play and have their ears blown out . Nobody gets it

Agreed, I am kind of getting into that old codger crumbmuffin state of mind when dealing with venues. We went to a bar a few weeks ago where there was a band playing, they were so loud that you could not really anything. The guitarist was playing through a half stack and had so much distortion that all you could hear was his pitiful playing. I could hear that he wasn't very good but so many equate loud with good. I mentioned it to someone I was with that the guitarist was pretty bad, and he said, "how can you tell, his sound is so distorted?". I smiled and said, "yep".

 

[Preacher]

Well back to life... again.

I picked up a Rumble 200 for cheap as it had a problem in the circuit board. Found out the power supply was toasted so I pulled the guts and used the 15" speaker as a cab only powered by the SWR4004. It sounded OK for what I was using it for and the cab was much lighter than the GK 15" unit.

Then the other day this popped up on Marketplace. The ad just said "Peavey 115 bass speaker" and nothing else.

Peavey Max 115 - I did not know of this model but I saw it had a 15" speaker so I googled it. My search brought up a ton of Peavey Max units, most of them smaller combo units and nothing that matched the picture in the ad. Then I stumbled on a Max115 bass ad and found the match to the pitcture.

300 watts at 4 ohms, three band EQ, DI out and lots of other stuff with a 15" speaker. The price was crazy good so I went and snatched it up.
Total weight: 50 Pounds....

The SWR head weighs almost 30 pounds by itself... So it looks like the Peavey is going to be the one for now. I tried it at rehearsal last weekend and it worked really well. Has the typical Peavey sound (my first rig was a Peavey TNT130BW)which I like, but there is a low end enhancer that I really loved once I dialed in the EQ. Still haven't got to play with it too much but I am liking it so far.

 

[Preacher]

I just thought I would give an update as I have used the Peavey amp at a couple of rehearsals now and it is working well.

I really want to get a power supply for the Fender Rumble 200 so I can compare the amps side by side. I think the Peavey weighs about 10 pounds more than the Rumble but so far for a C note this Peavey is doing the job.