50 watt amp ........

[badboy1984]

Did a gig tonight and as usual, we not headlining so we just need to turn up with our equipment and play. For myself I don't need to bring anything apart from my bass and guitar stand etc. The bass is DI in the venue and the sound system is pretty good but the bass amp that I have to play is a Orange Crush 50 watt 12" combo.

The on stage sound is terrible for this little combo but the DI sound was awesome.

I think I have kill the amp a little bit because in order for me to get the same stage volume and hear myself, (not extremely loud) I have to crack the volume on this combo to max, gain to around 3-4 o'clock position and crack my bass volume full on (Musicman Bongo) in order to hear myself. I also have to ask the sound tech to dial in some bass on my monitor to support my onstage sound a little bit.

The tone I was getting on stage is distortion/driven tone which is pretty terrible because is not a valve tone distortion/driven ......

Some other band came and compliment my bass tone and my bass playing so it was pretty good ......

My Ashdown LB30 is way much louder then this orange combo ........

Edited May 24, 2014 by badboy1984

[Roland Rock]

Not surprised the LB is louder - I have a 100w valve amp which is way louder than my 440w solid state one

[badboy1984]

I have no idea how I just done a gig with a 50watt amp on stage lol.

[JapanAxe]

TBH that is just a practice amp with ideas above its station!

[VTypeV4]

Yeah, 50w is a bit border-line especially in dinky combo form..

[badboy1984]

Seriously the amp is really struggling .....

I did not stay to listen to the head line band so can't tell whether the 50watt is enough or not. It was certainly not enough for me. At one point on some louder stuff we play i can't even hear myself. Don't think i made any mistakes because i know the song well but still frustrates me tho.

[Lozz196]

I`ve done a few gigs with similar amps. I think the venues/sound-men do this for one to save money, but also to control on-stage volumes. And agree, all the bands I`ve seen using those little amps, all have said how bad the on-stage sound was )inc myself), yet every one of them had great FOH sounds (dunno about me, no-one said anything).

[theyellowcar]

They could probably get away with it if they had a little extension cab sitting underneath just to bump up the stage volume. I know I wouldn't try and gig my little 40 watt combo these days, although I have been guilty of doing such things in the past - albeit with a 50 watt tank of a Peavey.

[discreet]

[quote name='Roland Rock' timestamp='1400971691' post='2458796']
Not surprised the LB is louder - I have a 100w valve amp which is way louder than my 440w solid state one
[/quote]

Surprising just how loud 100 valve watts really is! I too have one which is louder than my 500 Fusion.

[xgsjx]

It's not how many watts an amp is, it's how good it is at making speakers move.

Would the head section from the Orange be loud through some decent cabs?

[badboy1984]

You can't use the head only on that amp. Is not my amp and the amp is just a 50watt practice combo.

[xgsjx]

[quote name='badboy1984' timestamp='1401134449' post='2460497']
You can't use the head only on that amp. Is not my amp and the amp is just a 50watt practice combo.
[/quote]

Snips & a soldering iron & anything's possible!

[badboy1984]

Is not my amp and I don't care too much, I have no choice because we are the first band to play and to help the sound tech guy I decided to play via that amp instead.

Still I want to give credit to Orange because the amp does sound very loud for the size and power it got. Just happen to be play in the wrong type of gig lol.

[Ghost_Bass]

Next time ignore the amp or keep it turned down and ask the tech for more bass on your monitor. No point in having that thing on if it's going to distort and muddy the stage's sound.

[badboy1984]

During the sound check I did realise the problem and ask the SE to put some bass via my monitor to reinforce the stage sound abit which actually help and everyone can hear the bass.

I personally think the stage volume is way too loud anyway because the vocal can't hear herself probably and do we. We been told not to touch any settings on the stage rig so we have no choice but to plug away. We have mess up abit on 2 of our songs becuase of that.

[Ghost_Bass]

Do you have individual monitors? A good tech should be able to do a proper monitor mix and alow for everyone to hear themselves and the rest of the band on any stage...

[badboy1984]

Actually we do have a monitor each, as usual the headline band have all the time in the world to sound check and because we are the first one to go on, we only get like 5min sound check .......

We kinda got use to it already and get the job done even tho the stage sound is bad.

[Ghost_Bass]

In that case my last sugestion to you would be for you to have a word with the sound guy and show up at the next gig really early and take care of your sound and stage mix before the scheduled soundcheck for the main band. You would only have to have that trouble one time if the tech takes notes of your settings.

[badboy1984]

We give that a try next time, hopefully things will go better.