Jack

At home I'll often boot mine up in 'gig mode' wherein it's set to ethernet in order to use the router in the back of the rack, I'll then switch it over to wifi client so that it can access my home wifi (and I can use it on my desktop for recording or whatever) and I don't reboot. I also do the opposite at gigs sometimes. It seems to work fine. I have no idea how relevant that is, but I don't have to reboot when switching modes.

Just like traditional bass cabs, different FRFR solutions have different pros and cons. A 745 or similar will literally replace a large bass rig like a good 4x10" or perhaps even some cheaper 8x10" in terms of pure volume, yeah it's big and heavy but it's not as big or heavy as a good 4x10". Unfortunately things don't really scale down as such, so the equivalent gains compared to something like your BF rig just aren't there. There are loads of smaller or lighter frfr solutions out there if you don't need outright volume, but if you're looking to beat the BF on size/weight/output I'm not really aware of anything that's meaningfully better. The Barefaced stuff is pretty top shelf. FRFR do tend to be quite heavy compared to a similar sized bass cab, partly because they have integrated amps and partly because they have some quite serious LF drivers and VERY serious HF drivers when compared to bass cabs. They do, the Hypex Filter Designer software is brilliant. Mine came with 4 settings that are 1 - Neutral (completely flat, no eq at all apart from a 30Hz HPF) 2 - Neutral Raised (can't remember what the filter looks like, but it's suppose to counteract the loss of floor cancellation for pa stand mounting) 3 - Deep (quite wide 100Hz boost) 4 - Flat response (few little bumps and cuts in places to actually make the cab pretty close to flat >30Hz)

FWIW I always meant to buy a 5GHz router when I outgrew the 2.4GHz one that's in there now but I just haven't gotten around to it. I don't hide the SSID either as the guitarist's phone could never find it again (he uses it for his IEMs) but it is WPA2 protected, so that's enough to throw off anyone who'd connect to it by accident. If someone is determined enough to get onto your wifi they will, no getting around it. Hell I could do it, but long before I sniffed enough packets to work out what the password was you'd have noticed the weird guy sitting with a laptop staring at Kali and kicked me out.

I'm a Linux user, so things might be a bit different if your laptop is Windows. On mine I have to be disconnected from any WiFi (as then you're in that network) and then set the mixer to ethernet. Search function on the app works. My tablet doesn't have ethernet, so I can't help you with that but it does work on laptops if you have the magic touch.

In other words, after selling you bass rig you'll still have 2 or 3 top-shelf rigs? What are the 'couple of smaller setups'?

Personally for me I got really into pedal board-based rigs with preamps and DI boxes. I have around 10-15 preamp pedals (like Sansamp type stuff) and a Helix. What I was finding was, if I ran those through a traditional bass amp they all came out sounding the same. Or at least not as different as they should, the bass amp and speaker were imparting their own tone. That's why I switched to FRFR. As you know Bas, looking back I now see the benefit of the wedge format and I'm thinking about either selling the FR800s or just adding a wedge to the collection anyway. Whatever FRFR I end up with, it'll be an FRFR and not a traditional amp, that's for sure.

Given their rarity, and the fact that that's a very local gadget reseller on ebay, there's a good chance that £250 BIN one on ebay is actually my old one. I love tiny computers too but I'm not going back to the pocket 1. It all started with an Asus Eee PC 901 about ten years ago. The netbook I've got at the moment is great to be honest, it's rugged and dependable and small enough. I'm just a geek. Thanks for the recommendation on the Yoga though, I read lots about those when they were all reviewing and talking about the Pocket 2 but I'd never considered buying one. Might change that....

This had occurred to me, it's even free as I've already got a Soundcraft Notepad 5 and two tiny Alto TX10s, but the problem is that I'm out and about so really I need a backup of everything. Which means either a whole 'nuther PA (mixer, one of every cable and speaker) or a not-as-good backup like keeping the bluetooth speakers. This isn't ideal as I'd like to keep everything in one trip in my wheely tool kit! I'm such a nerd about downsizing that I'm even consdering swapping the 11" netbook for the 7" GPD Pocket 2. I would have already if the pocket didn't need an adaptor for hdmi. And, you know, wasn't over £500... I suppose I've got to stave off the taxman by buying something, right? 😀 I'd written off bluetooth for delay issues, but actually I don't think there's much speech in the stuff I show, so maybe perfect sync isn't needed that much. Good shout!

Hi guys, TLDR, If you don't care about the preamble: are there any small, active, PA speakers (say 6" to 10", 100W or so) that can act as USB soundcards? In my day job I'm youth worker and an adult teacher. A big part of what I do is traveling around and giving talks and workshops in venues like village halls, community centres, that kind of thing. Often, these places have a full setup like a university lecture hall and all I need is a a usb pen to plug into all of their A/V, often they have nothing and I'm doing it all myself. Thankfully, I'm into computing almost as much as basses, so I'm ok with that, my current setup is Lenovo 100e Epson EH-TW570 Polaris V8 However, I'm running into venues that the tiny bluetooth speaker doesn't fill with sound. I don't need anything major, just enough power to play decent audio from videos and such to around 50 people. However, I'm thinking hat it might also be best if I can get myself a sound system that I can plug a proper xlr mic into as well as sooner or later I'm going to find a big venue with no sound facilities. Loads of the little active boxes have phono inputs for PCs, but what I really like about the bluetooth speakers is that they can act as proper usb soundcard, meaning I don't need to carry around extra leads (it's a phone charger lead) and there's no gain staging or anything to worry about. Is there a small, active, pa trap out there that has at least 1 xlr input and a USB soundcard. Current front runner is the Thomann Six Mix. It has a USB port but that's just for memory sticks, if I wanted to use a PC I'd need to use the photo inputs. But it's about the the right size, weight, power and price for what I need.

You're not THAT far away from Gateshead, a man on a local Facebook group is selling two of the GSS cabinets, and they're absolutely top shelf. Both for £295. I can do introductions if you'd want. Edit - Hah! I read the thread to make sure you hadn't bought anything yet, then posted, then saw that you in fact had bought something.

When your entire product is a metal box with less than 50p worth of 1/4" and xlr jacks, all that's left to pay for is the marketing department and the transformer, either of which can cost a fortune. With a passive box you need a decent transformer and that's that. With an active design you just need the same resistors and capacitors that you buy from maplin to build every other stompbox. It's easier to do acceptably on a budget.

I'm not an Ampeg aficionado, is there anything special about that one?

Really? I was under the impression that it's mostly under0the-hood type stuff? I know there's a Sansamp coming...

Yeah man, that. Unless both amps have a proper effects loop an AB pedal is the only decent way. I still question the usefulness of putting a 25W amp with a 1x8" speaker next to a drummer.

You can absolutely use a passive DI with passive bass, but it's not always optimal. The problem is that a passive DI is literally a transformer with a certain ratio (in order to get from high impedance to low) and so the input impedance of a passive DI can be relatively low. As any double bass player will attest to, plugging something really high impedance into a low impedance input will result in a weak, trebly, almost out-of-phase type sound. The thing is, that depends far too much on your bass and DI box to be all sweeping and generalising about it. One thing is pretty much a given though, a good passive box and a good active box will be equally good but a cheap active box is usually WAY better than a cheap passive. The only component in a passive DI is a transformer and you can tell a cheap one by how it handles (or doesn't handle) low frequencies. If the box is always in a mixer rack (and you're always running the mixer) then phantom power shouldn't be a problem should it? If that's the case then you can use pretty much whatever you want. For active, I love the Countryman Type 85 and the bigger Orchid, as the smaller one is phantom only and doesn't have a pass through. In this one circumstance that wouldn't be a problem but why limit yourself down the line! If you can definitely get away with passive then I think it's hard to beat the £70 or so you'll pay for a radial stagebug 2. That's what I ended up with in the back of my rack wired into my Line 6 Helix. Great DI, and tiny. What's wrong with getting fancy though? That BDI21 is decent enough DI. There are plenty more bass-specific preamps out there like that as I'm sure you know. The great thing about something like a Sansamp is that you've got the choice of phantom, 9V battery or standard boss power, making it a lot more versatile. Sorry for waffling, it occurred to me about a week ago that I've got something like 15 different DI boxes if you include pure DIs, preamps, bass pedals with DIs, etc. They're useful and interesting and I've been hooked ever since I got my first MXR M80 and realised that an amp can be optional!

Probably, what are the amps? The real question though, is why would you bother? I can't imagine that the 25W amp is going to add much, probably worth just using the 100W.

Are you sure the jack inputs aren't balanced? Most pro gear should be.

I'm not sure how much output my bass has below around 80Hz, so depending on the FOH system I'm probably not in the subs that much anyway. I can see why reggae players or whatever might feel differently. Either way I really don't want that stuff on stage. Something that loud and low will likely do nothing useful apart from rattle mic stands and woof into every open channel.

What cables? 😀

My previous rig was any one or two from a Compact and two Midgets (one a Midget T). My current rig is one or two FR800s, which are essentially a BB2 with a 600W amp built in. I'd say the BB2 is maybe slightly bassier than the original compact, but there's not much in it. I've played a Super Compact loud but not gigged it, but my impression is that it was maybe between the BB2 and the original compact. It's essentially a BB2 but in a slightly shallower (front to back) box. (Yes, with no tweeter, but that doesn't affect the lows) There's really not much in it and I think the SC is slightly bassier than the compact, but not by much. All 3 have pretty similar lows, certainly more similar than they are different. I'd also say that any from the compact, super compact and BB2/FR800 are one cab solutions for most people. Yes, I've also got a stack just like you, and yes that can sometimes serve to fill out the sound a little more and make it a bit more effortless but I know that I could do all of my gigs with one FR800 if I really had to.

Hey man, no worries! It's in my signature, and here too.

Yes I know that's one way to do it, I saw your first post. I asked how hartke do it. If you don't know that's fine.

It seems as though Hartke don't get the same vitriol, so I've always assumed that their speakers do actually switch (unlike the Accugroove). Is this true? If so, how do they accomplish what Accugroove couldn't?

The Accuswitch on Accugroove cabinets turned out to be snake oil as I recall. Something about switching in a capacitor to fool a multimeter possibly? Not saying that's true of Hartke, but certainly with Accugroove it was a scam.