Vanon78

Like so many bass players, I have recently been investigating the lightweight route (lazy, perhaps, but it certainly beats dragging a wardrobe across gravel and up stairs to gigs) and found this thread. My setup until now has been a Laney Nexus 400w tube head with a 1x15 and 4x10 Laney RWB cab underneath for the open air gigs where you really need to move some air. For indoor gigs I have been using a MarkBass CMD121P and have recently had to add a New York Traveller 121 extension cab to keep up with the guitar players. While the Laney rig is EPIC, it is also HEAVY (but worth it for the right setting). I am finding, however, that I am dialling out everything that MarkBass seems to add to colour their kit (very marmite on this, I know a lot of people love MB kit - and they are great for the weight and the price… if you like the MB sound). After a lot of reading, I took got in touch with Stevie at LF Sys for a final piece of advice and very quickly took the plunge to invest in one of Stevie’s finest Monaco cabs. (Stevie was honest enough to say that a pair of Monaco’s would not be the same as the Laney rig, but would get me to the same ballpark - after playing through just one Monaco, this was really close on its own so can certainly see that 2 stacked Monaco’s would definitely be all I could ever need on those outdoor gigs where the back line has to do all the work). Originally, I was looking for a solution for electric bass so also managed to bag a Genz Benz Streamliner 900 to pair with it - and it certainly does not disappoint! (Understatement there - my jaw hit the flaw at how great this sounded!) One of the bands I play in has a couple of guitarists that seem to have their amps constantly set to 11. At these volumes, the MB rig was getting muddy and the Laney was rig overwhelming. So: enter the GB Streamliner and the Monaco… wow! This setup gave me the heft and richness of sound I was looking for in bass tone and sat in the mix with absolute clarity without drowning out the rest of the band, and absolutely none of that mushy muddyness that can so easily and often creep in! This then got me thinking and wondering how it would fare for upright (being a clean FRFR cab and all)… so GAS strikes again and I managed to bag a Genzler Magellan amp for a steal on e-bay and tried that last night. Again, I was truly impressed. All of the rich, ‘substantial’ sound of the upright and all of the harmonics developing beautifully with each note played. It really was ‘my bass, only louder’. This is one versatile cab, taking the tube grit of the Streamliner with electric bass with ease and, the very next day, providing a really clean sound with the Magellan and upright bass. Definitely a cab that I would recommend to any bass player - upright or electric. Bearing in mind that, as the Monaco is 8Ohm, I was only using 1/2 the max power of each amp yet the volume was plenty (and then some) for the two rehearsal settings. I have a feeling that I may shortly have a MB rig and a Laney rig up for sale… although parting with the Laney will be hard, but I suspect it may start collecting dust as the Monaco really does get to the same ball park. Thank you Stevie!! Obligatorty pic for reference: