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Back up Amp - or nothing ?


Guest BassAdder27

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Interested if you gigging ( when it returns ) guys always have a back up amp ? 
 

My only and current rig is new and I don’t know if when I get back to gigging what to have as a backup in case of issues arising 

My current need is 300 to 400w into a single 8ohm cab up to medium sized venues etc 

Or have no spare amp and just have a di pedal in my bag 

Ideas please .. if suggesting amps keep the cost down please to around £300 

 

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In my last band much of the time I’d be using shared or provided rigs going to FOH PA so all my eq/sound came from my Preamp/DI pedal, as such I carried a back up for that. In my current band, for our one and only ever gig that we intend to do I’ll take a backup amp as it will be a pub gig with vocals only PA.

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4 hours ago, Jean-Luc Pickguard said:

I bring a spare SM58 so if my bass amp breaks down I'll be able to sing the bass lines.

Luckily the amp has never broken down as my singing is terrible.

Have you tried using a decent mic? That might help...

 

Back on topic: I haven’t needed my backup amp in 10 years of gigs. I still carry at least a DI box, and often a Trace Elliot Elf which is about the size of  DI box anyway.  For out of town gigs I take my 1x10 frankenamp combo and a spare bass if there is room in the van.

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I've never needed a back up amp but a few years ago bought a head, secondhand, which arrived with a fault.

I took it apart and put it back together again, and it then worked fine, but I've never 100% trusted it.

Since then I always take another head with me, just in case.

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1 hour ago, BassAdder27 said:

Well I always gig with an amp and separate cabs so I think a small backup head is sensible 

Any suggestions that can hang with a drummer and guitarist playing rock ? 

Small to medium venues 

Some find the 200w Elf quite adequate as a main amp while others sneer at it, all playing rock with guitars and drums. Ymmv. Having multiple cabs makes 200w go far so worth a look imo.

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23 minutes ago, Count Bassy said:

In case the PA packs up?

If the PA packs up, your band has a problem a lot worse than merely not having a bass amp.

We have our own PA, with that being the resilient part: spare bits in the van, or can repurpose monitors as FOH at a push.

But yes, when it's not your PA and you're relying on supplied equipment, then I agree: bring something to be self-sufficient.

 

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36 minutes ago, jrixn1 said:

If the PA packs up, your band has a problem a lot worse than merely not having a bass amp.

We have our own PA, with that being the resilient part: spare bits in the van, or can repurpose monitors as FOH at a push.

But yes, when it's not your PA and you're relying on supplied equipment, then I agree: bring something to be self-sufficient.

I think it can balance out though. 

I suspect you've got a very decent PA though plus several monitors? We have two lightweight RCF310As that can handle 3 vocals, acoustic guitar and sax, and we manage with just one monitor for the vocals. 

Our backline serves as the "monitors" for bass and electric guitar, which works just fine for pub gigs. My sense is thay you need a pretty decent PA to handle bass as well as quality separates can - so it boils down to which route you're going down and clearly both can work well. 

In terms of the OPs question: I've never had an amp blow, never bothered with a spare and we will have a spare lead somewhere so that I can DI into the PA in an emergency.

Or not and audience probably wouldn't notice... 

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49 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

I suspect you've got a very decent PA though plus several monitors?

Yes, true, we do.

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We have two lightweight RCF310As that can handle 3 vocals, acoustic guitar and sax, and we manage with just one monitor for the vocals.

Ok, but then in your case, if you/your band had £300 earmarked for back-up gear (the original poster's budget), I would say you'd be better off with a spare RCF 310A or mixer than a spare 200W bass head.  A RCF 310A can play the role of FOH, floor monitor, guitar amp, or bass amp; but you can't put the vocals, sax, and guitar through a Trace Elliot Elf.

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My sense is thay you need a pretty decent PA to handle bass as well as quality separates can

I'd take my RCF 732A over any bass head and 1x12 cab 😀

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