Having weight problems

[dumelow]

I have an old Marshall DBS 72410 combo... it sounds fantastic but it weighs 65 kg or something like that, its rediculous. Im trying to think about how to battle the weight problem. I came up with these possibilities and wondered if anyone could tell me which would be the best thing to do.

A - Rackmount the head and buy a lightweight cab to go with it.
Im not 100% sure whether this can be done but the head of the combo is just a DBS 7200 head i think, which are actually rackmountable, but I dont know anything about racks and wouldnt know which to buy, and then would it sound totally different through a lightweight cab??

B - Replace the speakers in the combo with lightweight ones
Would this make much of a difference to the weight of the thing? And can I put any 10" speakers into the combo?

or C - Sell it and buy a lighter rig which is all well and good but the DBS sounds fantastic and id probably only be looking at putting around £400 with whatever I make selling the marshall, so probably cant afford something as good as the DBS

What are your thoughts? People who gig regularly with heavy amps, how do you make light work of lugging your gear around?

Edited March 28, 2010 by dumelow

[phil.i.stein]

buy new lightweight stuff..

tweak it 'til it sounds good.,

end of.

[DirkThrust]

A budget of £400 isn't going to buy much in the way of a lightweight rig and I don't think changing out the drivers is going to make an appreciable difference if the combo is over 100lbs and something that heavy is going to have a very limited resale value.

I would rackmount the head and spend your budget on a lightweight cab. There's a couple of stonking neo 4x10s in the for sale section now - Epifani UL410 and a Markbass 4x10. IIRC those DBS heads were supposed to be really good sounding so definitely worth hanging on to it.

Edited March 28, 2010 by AndyMartin

[chris_b]

You can save up for a lightweight rig, or keep you gear and get yourself a folding aluminium trolley. Homebase or B&Q, £30, sorted!

[Delberthot]

I have wheels on both of my cabs and have a stair climbing trolley for the few gigs that would require we to navigate a lot of stairs

65kg is a hell of a weight though, possibly closer to 45kg - that was the weight of my Trace Elliot MkV 4x10" combo. an 8x10" weighs in at around 65kg - you'll know when your lifting one of those cos after you lift it you'll be right over to the chiropractor

[ezbass]

I must admit that going fully lightweight (Markbass head, Schroeder cab) was the best thing I did. It sounds great, weighs bugger all and my entire rig including 2 basses, effects, mic stands, etc, all fits into the boot of my car. However, it wasn't cheap Keep an eye on the for sale threads here on BC.

[dumelow]

I would love to rackmount the head and just buy a lightweight cab. I measured the head unit quickly and its 17" width...arent all racks 19" standard? I found on the internet a piece that says that the 7200 head is 3U though

[Florida_RRoe7_A]

[size=3]I'm over the weight limit. kg or lbs. it doesn't matter.. I have a small practice amp and that's a Fender Rumble 60, the first one I bought last year(hardly use it !!) . I can see downsizing the heads, I just finished with returning an Ampeg VR head and it is 85lbs or 38.5 kg which doesn't sound as heavy. The trade-off in cab size isn't worth it. I almost bought (2) 212 Genz Benz cabs but the total price was twice that of one Ampeg 810E cab. I still might eventually go smaller but for now I really love the bigg sound. The trend is to go lighter and the manufacturers are responding to that need. Still, Its like going from a Hummer to a Toyota Prius Hybrid, don't you think? [/size]

[dumelow]

i really dont mind lugging the thing about, between two people its not that bad, its just what it does to band members cars when i put it in the boot, and how much it makes us sweat when we encounter large steep sets of stairs. at the room we have band practice, i use a friends Ashdown Mag 2x10 it was 35 kg or so, i can carry that myself no problem, id love to be able to take something like that to a gig, the ashdown doesnt sound half as good as the marshall though

[theosd]

[url="http://www.google.co.uk/product_url?q=http://www.farmhomesupplycenter.com/Shepherd-Hardware-9275-General-Duty-Rigid/M/B000N6BR2Q.htm%3Ftraffic_src%3DGB%26utm_medium%3DCSE%26utm_source%3DGB%26id%3Duk&fr=APrNhxl_gIlQQwa9XRy7OKqjFnmIeTtVspp9kXoUdbgLrSX3dTdb7o8ZDqNlJKVawkXxgUi8AVBQ7-fG-3BSMApmQK-lUDHqc8lbz1klh1Fdeyok5VkkCPn4FrsysHht3XP3Otgav4i3BWHi3x177nMzQBMYxPdfJvY4l1NMBOmjLbUzsw2ewM27A28InHUXCu0ATCRrtiPllw3ajCLEGU6gTY1ef2O6Yryrs78jwlG4oi1UuVPiD8IAAAAAAAAAAA&gl=uk&hl=en&sa=title"]The Answer =][/url]

[dumelow]

[quote name='theosd' post='790045' date='Mar 29 2010, 10:22 PM'][url="http://www.google.co.uk/product_url?q=http://www.farmhomesupplycenter.com/Shepherd-Hardware-9275-General-Duty-Rigid/M/B000N6BR2Q.htm%3Ftraffic_src%3DGB%26utm_medium%3DCSE%26utm_source%3DGB%26id%3Duk&fr=APrNhxl_gIlQQwa9XRy7OKqjFnmIeTtVspp9kXoUdbgLrSX3dTdb7o8ZDqNlJKVawkXxgUi8AVBQ7-fG-3BSMApmQK-lUDHqc8lbz1klh1Fdeyok5VkkCPn4FrsysHht3XP3Otgav4i3BWHi3x177nMzQBMYxPdfJvY4l1NMBOmjLbUzsw2ewM27A28InHUXCu0ATCRrtiPllw3ajCLEGU6gTY1ef2O6Yryrs78jwlG4oi1UuVPiD8IAAAAAAAAAAA&gl=uk&hl=en&sa=title"]The Answer =][/url][/quote]

those things climb stairs emselves eh?



Right after doing a bit of research, and being given advice by you friendly people and the friendly people over on talkbass, Ive decided Im going to rackmount the head and buy a new cab.

Only problem is...the head is 200w at minimum 4 ohm. I want to buy a 4ohm cab to get the full power out of the head, but what wattage should I look at? This head is 200w with a 2000w peak power whatever that means. Does that mean I have to get a 2000w cab? do they even exist?

Edited March 30, 2010 by dumelow

[Marvin]

[quote name='dumelow' post='788833' date='Mar 28 2010, 08:22 PM']I have an old Marshall DBS 72410 combo... it sounds fantastic but it weighs 65 kg or something like that, its rediculous. Im trying to think about how to battle the weight problem.[/quote]

I don't even weigh that much.

Me, I'd flog it and by something lighter. But I'm lazy.

[theosd]

[quote name='dumelow' post='790183' date='Mar 30 2010, 02:34 AM']those things climb stairs emselves eh?[/quote]

Fair point...

...a sledge/rope combo?

[dumelow]

[quote name='theosd' post='790625' date='Mar 30 2010, 02:28 PM']Fair point...

...a sledge/rope combo?[/quote]


In a perfect world Id buy a bodybuilder dwarf...strong and spacious