Hi guys,
I'm a former guitarist and pretty new to the world of bass, and I've never played live (at 39... I know!). I've been offered the bass spot in a gigging cover band after the pandemic is over and I have a couple of things I'm not sure about gear-wise. These will be pubs and small club gigs.
1) How often do you get to use the DI from your amp, or mic it? I really like the sound of my amp (Microtubes 900), and the DI sounds great to me. Do engineers prefer DI pedals? I was thinking of getting a Sansamp or something as a backup, but if engineers will always prefer using that, the overdrive from my amp probably wouldn't get used except for my monitoring (and I really like the sound). Would I be better off getting a DI box like a Radial instead?
2) The amp is 900 watts (I usually run it in 500w mode) and I use a 700w Epifani UL212 cab. Will this be way too much for most small venues? Would I be better off getting 2 smaller cabs so I have the option to run one in 350 or 500w mode, or combine the two for bigger venues?
Sorry if these are beginner questions, I just don't want my lack of live experience to be detrimental to the band and I want to be as flexible as possible for the venues.