Bass amp for acoustic band setups

[Bleat]

Hi all, 

 

After a receiving a recent offer to join a full on rock covers band, sadly all the mileage involved in just getting to and from rehearsals never mind to all the gigs after that is just not feasable for me, neither energy wise nor fuel cost wise, however this has helped me to re-focus on what I would like to do as a bass player. I have always wanted to try a more acoustic approach in a small rock/pop covers band, so am currently looking to get something together more locally, with potential for live gigs. I am looking at acoustic guitar, vocals, percussion, and me on electro acoustic bass to give an idea.

 

The rig I have is perfect for loud rock bands, but just way too much in power and weight for this sort of thing so have been looking around at getting a smaller, more suitable setup. As I have little to no experience in this side of live music, I'm really not sure what would be ideal size/ power wise for small/medium maybe some outside gigs potentially.  Obviously I will be able to use less power and to give an idea I have been considering A TC BQ250 plus a couple of 2x8 cabs as the price is in the ball park of what I'm working with financially, the compact size and light weight looks good, however I'm not sure if it will really cover all potential future needs? There can be only one amp setup and really needs top be the right one.

 

Any suggestions from those experienced or currently playing in acoustic bands for me to consider would be greatly appreciated!

 

Cheers,

James. 

[lemmywinks]

I use a little Phil Jones combo (BG-75) with a FIshman Platinum Stage preamp for acoustic get togethers, I'd probably just scale that up for louder scenarios and use my Platinum Pro for its stage friendly features. A BG-450 would probably do you, what sort of volume do you need?

 

Alternatively a mini head with a decent small cab, a lot of heads aren't voiced particularly well for acoustic music though. A suitable preamp like the Fishman into a compact powered PA cab might be preferable.

Edited yesterday at 12:03 by lemmywinks

[Lozz196]

I’ll be first - Fender V3 Rumble combo.

[JohnDaBass]

6 hours ago, Lozz196 said:

I’ll be first - Fender V3 Rumble combo.

This ☝️

[Downunderwonder]

Be absolutely sure your potential dand mates have the same idea on what constitutes "acoustic" before you get too far into it. Many an acoustic guitar has been played at earsplitting volume ime.

[Beedster]

Spend the amp cash on a decent acoustically oriented DI e.g. EBS Stanley Clarke and go into the PA or if needed a powered cab, you’ll have far more options and with an acoustic some of them are life savers 👍

[JPJ]

3 hours ago, Beedster said:

Spend the amp cash on a decent acoustically oriented DI e.g. EBS Stanley Clarke and go into the PA or if needed a powered cab, you’ll have far more options and with an acoustic some of them are life savers 👍

^ this

 

I do this with our acoustic Americana’ish trio on double bass. I used to use the TC BG250 208 for ‘personal monitoring’ but now prefer to use in-ears with the bass going into FoH via the Stanley Clarke’s DI. 

[BassAdder60]

TE Elf and a decent 4ohm 210 cab 

[PaulThePlug]

Behringer Acoustic DI ADI21 in to PA?..

[Tradfusion]

I use a Warwick Gnome amp into a Barefaced One10 cab for acoustic/unplugged type gigs and it works great with any bass. Di into the PA if you need more presence. 

[chris_b]

When I was in a duo with an acoustic guitarist I used an Aguilar TH500 and a Bergantino AE112. The tone was incredible.

 

I'm still using  the TH500 but the Bergs went awhile ago. For small and quiet gigs I now use a Barefaced Super Compact. Again, beautiful tone. 

[NHM]

Another vote for a v3 Rumble 500 combo. Just the right height to sit on too.

[Bleat]

A fair few answers there, much appreciated. I will check out the suggestions mentioned. As always it's a question of available funds. If I could afford it I would just buy one of everything !  😆

 

My current amp will do about 300 watts into one of the 2x10 cabs, 600 into both cabs, however each one weighs 21kg which is the downside to it. My fitnmess is currently ok but I'm not getting any younger, and am built like Mr Bean, so really just trying to make things a bit lighter, more compact and manageable for me to lug around when it comes to it.  Both my electric and the acoustic do sound great through the current rig though and have found the room eq/ hi/low pass/notch section on the amp to be a genuinely useful feature.

 

I am intending on this being a 3 piece, 4 at most, no full drum kit, more percussion/cajon so nothing too intense. Gig wise small-medium pub size venues will be the aim initially.