No rig

[Kevin Dean]

I know it's on here somewhere , but I was playing with the amp section on my Roland GR55 & seeing that I have an ok pa with two 700w active subs I'm going to try going straight into the Pa ..does anyone else do this ?

[cheddatom]

I do it but at venues with decent in-house PA and monitors. Some places don't think their monitors will cope and for them I take a combo

[Lozz196]

In my old band which had 2 basses we used to do this at venues which insisted on using the provided backline, as not many have 2 bass rigs. I was always fine with it but decent monitoring is the key to doing this.

[Kevin Dean]

As we are playing small venues I'm going to try having the EV Subs behind me or one of them turned sideways & just use the monitors for top end . Ill let you know when I've blown everything

[Lw.]

Seems there are at least a few people that are into it;
http://basschat.co.uk/topic/289001-do-i-need-an-amp-anymore/

[Bigwan]

[quote name='Kevin Dean' timestamp='1470750335' post='3108141']
As we are playing small venues I'm going to try having the EV Subs behind me or one of them turned sideways & just use the monitors for top end . Ill let you know when I've blown everything
[/quote]

No point doing that. Sub frequencies are omnidirectional so which way the sub is facing will make no difference.

[EBS_freak]

If you are turning subwoofers so you can hear yourself better, there is little point as you'll want to be hearing the definition in the the overtones of your bass, not the subby thump.

[JPJ]

Having tried this, all I can say is you need good monitoring, either a suitable floor wedge or in-ears. I've tried, loved the simplicity, but will in future take a small combo for personal monitoring.

[chris_b]

[quote name='Lozz196' timestamp='1470748555' post='3108122']
decent monitoring is the key to doing this.
[/quote]
. . . . and a good FOH engineer. I've done this a lot with the acoustic duo I played in, and it was OK, but add a drummer and guitars and the level of complexity increases. I'd need some oomph behind me. What about the other amps, guitars, keys and the drums? If the bass is the only one doing this it will be very easy to unbalance the sound on stage and difficult to get a good FOH balance from on the stage.

Last weekend I played an open air festival. Apparently they had a great sound out front and the on stage monitoring was fantastic. . . . but I still had both SC's thundering away. Call me old fashioned but there's nothing like your trousers flapping from a couple of cabs in close proximity behind you, especially with the drummer and guitarist we had.

[Kevin Dean]

[quote name='EBS_freak' timestamp='1470815137' post='3108577']
If you are turning subwoofers so you can hear yourself better, there is little point as you'll want to be hearing the definition in the the overtones of your bass, not the subby thump.
[/quote] I used one barefaced super compact powered by one of the peaveys internal amps for the top end sounded great to me .

[EBS_freak]

[quote name='Kevin Dean' timestamp='1470827336' post='3108733']
I used one barefaced super compact powered by one of the peaveys internal amps for the top end sounded great to me .
[/quote]
BF doesn't do the lows and shelve the highs that a sub does - so yes, you would be able to hear.

[Kevin Dean]

Anything to get the weight down & make more space in the small pubs . what I really like is that I had one lead going from my Gr55 to the PA & another to my bass rig & relying on the monitor for the GR55 sounds , having everything on one lead going from the GR55 has made it easier & quicker to set up & sound check ..I must admit I haven't enjoyed getting my head around the GR55 .

[Dan Dare]

I'd take a decent preamp a least - the average mixing desk eq won't cut it for your bass. I agree with others' suggestions to take a combo.

Edited August 15, 2016 by Dan Dare

[JapanAxe]

I'm not sure I hold with going rig-less - that would be way less kit to GAS over!

[stingrayPete1977]

[quote name='Dan Dare' timestamp='1471277765' post='3111757']
I'd take a decent preamp a least - the average mixing desk eq won't cut it for your bass. I agree with others' suggestions to take a combo.
[/quote]

With good mixers so cheap why would you have an average one? Ok if you dont use your own pa but from the OP that doesn't sound like the case.

[Dan Dare]

Not my point. Mixing desk eq not generally suitable without some kind of preamplification. You get a flat, sterile, 'studio' sound (regardless of the quality of desk). I know because I've tried my bass via my own(high quality) desk and PA.

[stingrayPete1977]

I disagree totally.

Maybe wet have different ideas of high quality mixer, I'm thinking digital, put an ampeg plug in into the fx rack.

I've done almost all of my recoding and live playing pre eq di.

Edited August 16, 2016 by stingrayPete1977

[ped]

[quote name='Kevin Dean' timestamp='1470830649' post='3108762']
Anything to get the weight down & make more space in the small pubs . what I really like is that I had one lead going from my Gr55 to the PA & another to my bass rig & relying on the monitor for the GR55 sounds , having everything on one lead going from the GR55 has made it easier & quicker to set up & sound check ..I must admit I haven't enjoyed getting my head around the GR55 .
[/quote]

I do exactly this but with a VB99 which is almost the same thing. I have a small Ashdown ABM 1x10 combo next to me and sometimes also IEM support. It's terrific!

There's so much to learn with the GK systems but I really enjoy playing with things and getting my patches nailed. It's nice to know that once set up you can plug and play. It's worth spending the time getting to know how to work it all. I may be able to help if you have any specific questions?

Cheers

[Dan Dare]

Stingray Pete. If we're going to compare stuff, my PA is a Soundcraft GB4 into Fohhn LX150 tops and XS30 subs. Not cheap kit. Without my Basswitch in the line, it's clean but anaemic for bass. All the best.

[stingrayPete1977]

Well that's a good quality mixer but it has no built in fx does it, it's great for an installation or medium sized venue, it isn't however what is suggest for the OP at all, a digital mixer will have a massively flexible set of eq options to mould a fantastic bass sound out front, essentially a built in version of as you suggested earlier "a good preamp".

[EBS_freak]

Oh gawd, don't let this turn into a "let's get our d1cks out on the table" competition.

[Merton]

Here's mine:


.|.


nothing to see here

Edited August 16, 2016 by Merton

[lowhand_mike]

if you need decent monitors for this to work i dont see the point as surely thats something else to carry, may as well keep your rig. unless of course your mean IEMs

[dannybuoy]

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1471341970' post='3112236']
I disagree totally.

Maybe wet have different ideas of high quality mixer, I'm thinking digital, put an ampeg plug in into the fx rack.

I've done almost all of my recoding and live playing pre eq di.
[/quote]

Are you running the ampeg plugin on the mixer itself, or via a laptop? I've always been wary of laptops live and would sooner just shove a VT Bass or Tonehammer in there instead, they don't crash as often!

I have a rigless gig coming up soon and after auditioning various bits at home, I'll be going with a P-Bass with flats and an Aguilar Tonehammer pedal with the AGS on. Sounds amazing!

Edited August 16, 2016 by dannybuoy

[stingrayPete1977]

The x air has 4 digital fx racks built in with loads of toys to play with so you can run four different effects at once and blend each channel between all or nothing independently, we currently only use one for the vocal reverb, my Stingray clean sounds great just using the comprehensive eq for that channel, you really can fine tune things FAR more than a typical desk with a row of knobs.