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Anyone gig with just a 1x12?


bassbiscuits
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As it says - does anyone gig with just a 1x12?

I'm looking to get a really seriously small light 1x12 to use for the support slot gigs/multi-band gigs in small music pubs etc where lugging my bigger gear is a pain.

But how small is too small? We're an electric trio, but mix quiet atmospheric soundtrackish music with some full on flailing and singing.

I've seen things like the Eden E series 1x12 (Bergs etc are out of my price range on this one i'm afraid...) which look decent.

I've gigged many times with a 1x15, so surely a 1x12 should be ok, yeah?

any thoughts?

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I've been through the "smallest possible gigable setup" thing over the last year or so... I found 1x 112 to not quite be enough for me. I went from 2x 112, to a 210 to my current set up of 2x 110s, which is super portable and easily loud enough for my needs.



The whole rig weighs 16kg.

Edited by CamdenRob
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I'll be able to tell you this coming weekend. Getting BF Super Compact delivered tomorrow. Gigging it on Friday night. Electronic music, very loud, live drums and vocals. I know the cone takes a while to adjust and even out, but it should give a good indication of what is possible. Currently use a Behringer 300W combo which is loud enough already and is only turned up just below half.

Edited by modelreject
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Yup, i do.
TKS S112. I'm in a 6 piece band. Guitar, drums, sax and keys with 4 vocals.
We play at a level where the single 12 is enough.
Although if we played any louder i would need to use a second.
But before doing that, i'd just go through the P.A a bit

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Cool, some good views here.

I ended up using some battered old Warwick 150w 1x15 combo which was already onstage at a gig the other day, and it was loud enough, which surprised me, and made me think i could get away with using less than my current cab (a Schroeder 1210).

But given the choice between lugging the Schroeder round, or getting a poor sound from straining a 1x12, i'd probably stick with the Schroeder.

would be nice if a 1x12 was enough tho.

Edited by bassbiscuits
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I've been doing so quite happily for the last decade or so. Usually in jazz trios or quartets, country-rock with two guitars and drums, singer-songwriter bands with one guitar and cajon, etc., and playing in many many open mic house bands. My favorite cab for this is the AudioKinesis Thunderchild 112, but before that I had a fEARful 12/6, Euphonic Audio CxL-112, and an AccuGroove Tri-112L. The AK and fEARful cabs are both much stouter than my old EV TL606 115 cabs ever came close to being. They also need an honest 500 watts for best effect in my playing situations. Bear in mind that I'm a fretless-only player, and most of my gigs tend to be on electric upright. I find the functional limit to be venues accommodating around 200 people or so, but with PA support I have played plenty of much bigger shows. I never play loud rock or get into situations where I have to "compete" though, just way too old for that stuff.

Here's my current rig, DIY head good for ~650 watts at 4 ohms, which the AK cab is:



So that's 33 lbs for the cab and 8.8 pounds for the amp. I rarely need to carry stuff all that far for load-ins, but with a small cart even doing that is a breeze.

Edited by Passinwind
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I see a lot of guys try it ...even up against 2 412 gtrs...
I think it depends what you want it to.

I stood around the room watching this very thing this weekend and the bass was ok and kind of there
but not 'there' .It didn't support the bass but it kind of floated underneath.
My thinking was... if the bass player had got references I did from various points of the room, would he still
use just a single 12".
Me...not at all... but to what extent do you/people care about the fine margins.?
I get both types of thinking as in its' only a pub etc etc or £50/60 etc etc but for me...you'll get the volume
to the detriment of the overall band sound. Whether you care or even notice is another matter..

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[quote name='CamdenRob' timestamp='1464793789' post='3062629']
What a lovely looking amp...
[/quote]

Thanks. It ended up looking quite a bit different from my original design intent, but I'm still pretty happy with how it came out.

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I use a single TKS S112 too - works perfectly well in my pop/rock band, plenty loud enough & light enough to take on public transport (10KG).

I'd say the current crop of decent lightweight cabs are a fair distance away from older combo's, even if the speakers are the same size - everything else is so different it's a little harsh on the older stuff to compare them. TKS, Bergantino, Vanderkley, Barefaced, etc... really have upped the bar IMO - put a decent amp on top & they should all do the job on small-ish stages (ie your standard inner-city pub-turned-music venue gig).

Saying that; the single S112 doesn't quite cut it in my metal/hardcore band, I really need two cabs for that but then it's having to compete with x2 guitar half-stacks & a much more aggressive drummer so it's not surprising really!

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Think it's very dependant on what you're playing. I played for years in a 7 piece function band where everything was at a moderate volume to produce an overall balanced sound. I used a 2x10 for that but a 1x12 would have done fine. I wouldn't try it in my current 3 piece rock band though where the bass needs to fill up more of the sound.

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I've played live with only a 112 cab for a couple of years. Before that i had a *Prometheus 110 combo (wish I hadn't sold that, it was ace). I've always played through the PA too so, to me, no point in carrying anything bigger. It helps that the band like to get a good onstage sound, i.e. not too loud, meaning I've never pushed the amp or cab.

*Promethean

Edited by darren
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For a good few years now, I've gigged with a pair of 2 x10's and been perfectly happy. Lately I've felt the need to down size, so a couple of weeks back bought a Barefaced Big Baby 2 (1x12" + horn).
To date only played one gig with it, so early days but so far, I'm delighted. Certainly a game changer for me, no compromise on sound/volume, if anything more articulate. A huge plus for me, being the ease of load ins and outs.

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[quote name='CamdenRob' timestamp='1464791579' post='3062590']
I've been through the "smallest possible gigable setup" thing over the last year or so... I found 1x 112 to not quite be enough for me. I went from 2x 112, to a 210 to my current set up of 2x 110s, which is super portable and easily loud enough for my needs.



The whole rig weighs 16kg.
[/quote]I don't normally find rigs particularly nice to look at, but this is an exception for me. How about a pic with one of your Wals, just for porn's sake; maybe proportion too, but mainly porn?

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[quote name='CamdenRob' timestamp='1464791579' post='3062590']
I've been through the "smallest possible gigable setup" thing over the last year or so... I found 1x 112 to not quite be enough for me. I went from 2x 112, to a 210 to my current set up of 2x 110s, which is super portable and easily loud enough for my needs.



The whole rig weighs 16kg.
[/quote]

What a nice setup. I want!

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I've been gigging for about a year with the 12" design I've done for basschatters. It's fairly unexceptional in sensitivity but the design uses a long throw speaker so it handles bass well at high power without distortion. It's been plenty loud enough to cope with one, though I've taken two to larger venues once or twice. These were mainly pub gigs with a few larger functions including Exeter Chiefs. We play 70's rock with a fairly full on drummer. My tone is set fairly flat with the bass rolled off below 40Hz.

One 12 is enough to overpower the drummer most of the time. With both I could drown him out pretty comprehensively so no need for any more than that.

The only situation where I think a single 12 wouldn't cope would be outdoors or if you set your tone with a lot of bass boost or use an octaver. That's with the proviso that you have plenty of power in the amp and the speaker is good enough on excursion to cope with that power. Obviously if you are going out with 6dB of bass boost then you need four times the power so that might be problematic.

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