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 Sunday 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. 

 

[Dood]

11 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 👍

 

 

And if you're looking for an amplifer with a suitable feature set then I recommend the Bergantino B|Amp (second time I've mentioned it today!) as it has high pass and low pass filters along withe a feedback destoryer (handy for acoustic instruments) and an fulllly parametric 4 band EQ rather than being forced to use what a manufacturer says you should have for your EQ. Oh and there was one for sale recenty in the ads section too. 

 

 

[Downunderwonder]

8 hours ago, Bleat said:

My current amp will do about 300 watts into one of the 2x10 cabs, 600 into both cabs, however each one weighs 21kg

Sorted. What you need is a trolley.

[Bleat]

5 hours ago, Downunderwonder said:

Sorted. What you need is a trolley.

What I really need is to not live one floor up with an awkward flight of stairs to navigate with a heavy cab to get to a trolley to put it on!

[Downunderwonder]

A 21kg 210 is pretty manageable in the greater scheme of things though. If your big rig was a 810 I would understand.

[chris_b]

4 hours ago, Downunderwonder said:

A 21kg 210 is pretty manageable in the greater scheme of things though. . . .

 

Maybe for some, but sadly not for me, which is why today my 112 cabs weigh 10kg each, and I often use a trolley.

[Tradfusion]

3 hours ago, chris_b said:

 

Maybe for some, but sadly not for me, which is why today my 112 cabs weigh 10kg each, and I often use a trolley.

Ditto 🙄

[Bleat]

8 hours ago, chris_b said:

 

Maybe for some, but sadly not for me, which is why today my 112 cabs weigh 10kg each, and I often use a trolley.

 

My previous cabs were 18kg and just manageable for me. I didn't think the extra 3kg in the current ones would be too bad but actually feels like quite a difference. The thought of me, now into my 50's potentially  lugging this lot up and downstairs on a weekly basis to then do a 50 mile round trip to a rehearsal space after doing a week of physical work (I'm self employed so I can't afford to do my back in) then to be lugging around to gigs which the band has been doing a lot of has really started to lose its appeal, hence partly the decision to go acoustic and downsized in the amp department.

[Lozz196]

That was a huge factor in my getting a Fender Rumble 800 210 combo. At 13kg it’s the same weight as one of my Ashdown 210 cabs (of which I have two). So as well as reducing the weight (and number) of the large-ish items I need to carry I now don’t need to carry an amp head & speaker leads, plus the inevitable bending over plugging them all in, just combo & mains lead, much less stress on the back. 

[casapete]

In my acoustic duo I use a Fender Rumble 100V3 combo. I plug a Fender Kingman V2 acoustic

electric bass into it and it sounds really good to my ears. I’ve also used this combo with other

small line ups including percussion and it’s coped very well. 
The best bit is it’s weight - 22lbs / 10 kg. People who pick it up can’t believe how light it is,

and it is the best thing I’ve bought for years. I also have a Rumble 500 combo and that is

a great bit of kit too. 

[jazzyvee]

A Schertler Unico acoustic amp would do. I've used mine for rehearsals and for gigs with my EUB on a few acoustic folk and jazz gigs. It has A few inputs for other instruments if required. They sound great and are pretty expensive new but i picked up mine dirt cheap from an auction. 

https://www.djangobooks.com/archives/Unico.pdf

[Phil Starr]

I've been on this journey with a couple of duos. I started with just wanting something to amplify me to the same sound levels as the acoustic guitar so we could play together with minimal equipment. You don't need anything like a 2x8 to do that never mind the pair you mention in your OP. The problem is that there aren't too many small combos or even speakers with a grown up sound. I ended up designing my own cabs and regularly use a 1x6 for simple play alongs. I've also used a 1x8 and 1x10 which is way over the top. All the designs are on Bass Chat but I'm assuming you don't want to build so this is just to say you don't need to be huge and a single 2x8 will be epic in this situation.

 

FWIW the duo which was intended as a side project now gigs regularly. For gigs with a duo in noisy pubs the guitar needs to go through the PA so we put the bass through too. I took my little speaker along for a while paired with a Warwick Gnome but the 'stack' has been replaces with a floor monitor which does for bass guitar and two vocals. Long term it's probably better to spend on a decent PA and monitor than spend big on a new bass system IME. My tiny bass speakers let me jam along and do the odd open mic. A 1x10 or 2x8 combo will be more than enough so the Rumble isn't a bad shout.

[SimonK]

I'm going to be left field, and say amp wise I don't think it really matters what you use for an "acoustic" sound as almost anything can be turned down. Indeed I often think that bigger cabs work better at lower volumes as you get better sound dispersal.

 

BUT when I played in an acoustic group for a couple years, and on occasion sit in for acoustic gigs now, I always use a fretless as I think it gives a much softer and less aggressive sound. So I would say the bass you use matters more than the amp.