An amp geek in the ampless era

[javi_bassist]

Hi, my name is Javi and I am an amp geek. 

And I've always been. I really like basses and pedals, but amps... I'm always looking for information, reading and trying different amps. And I love it. There are a lot of brands that I love, other ones that I hate and some that I don't care about. I'm always looking for new creations and what brands put out in the market. The thing is that I have stopped using amps live for two years (before the pandemic). And I like that. I can go by train with my bass and pedalboard and going ampless. So I started geeking out about pedals. Then, I bought a Line6 HX Stomp and it has cured my GAS for pedals. For good. And I'm really happy with my sound now. However, I can't stop geeking out about amps. Yesterday I saw a really good deal in an Orange 4-stroke, which is an amp that I really wanted to have when it came out. But then I thought: "and what are you going to do with it?. Your amp has been at home for a long time (only been used twice in two years). Are you going to spend money on an even heavier amp?" I know I could just use it when I got the chance to play live again but, unless it's a big stage or a good venue to play, I prefer not to. The amps the venues have are only for monitoring so... 

PS but now that I have finished writing this, I'm going to look for another bass amp

 

[chris_b]

I'm not in the amp-less era and doubt I ever will be. I want to stand in front of my amp and feel my sound when I play.

[sifi2112]

I’m awaiting delivery of a new poweramp to serve as both bass & home hifi setup (I do use different preamps) .. so yeah I’m all for amps, never used iem so can’t comment on that but prefer amp / cabs over headphones even at home 

[javi_bassist]

38 minutes ago, chris_b said:

I'm not in the amp-less era and doubt I ever will be. I want to stand in front of my amp and feel my sound when I play.

I used to be like that I admit. And I always wanted to play with my amp and cab. Then, I realised that since I was always getting DI'ed from the head and the rest was in monitors, I switched to the preamp of my amp but in a pedal.   

[itu]

You will learn about the SWR Mo'bass and then you are in trouble in wanting and finding one.

Bi-amp Trace Elliot, Mesa 400+, ampeg, tce 1140 and Alembic preamps, LAB Gruppen power amps, Hellborg... I am sorry to inform you dear @javi_bassist, the list is endless.

[Lozz196]

52 minutes ago, chris_b said:

I'm not in the amp-less era and doubt I ever will be. I want to stand in front of my amp and feel my sound when I play.

Same for me Chris. I can do gigs with just a preamp DI’d to FOH and have monitor feeds for my bass but I prefer the sound behind me, not that keen in bass blasting straight at me from monitors

[Muzz]

Horses for courses for me; I have a Stomp and inears for the trio gigs, for sheer convenience - we have a good PA - (and inears are a bit of a revelation - 'Maaannnn, is that really me?' - which made me up my game; there's nowhere to hide* 🙁🙂) but I've still got a backline I love (Walkabout and Super Twin), which can trounce any drummer**. I've also got a small combo for the ultimate simplicity for the smallest gigs, where we're pretty much acoustic, with just the guitar and vocals in a reduced amount of PA...

Oh, and inears have the trump card, which is an overall volume control; I can hear everything I need to, at whatever volume I want...much easier on the old lugholes, and miles better in terms of sound quality than just attenuating earplugs...

 

* It's a bit like hearing isolated bass tracks (Geddy's ones in particular spring to mind) which are really rough in isolation...

** I'm a believer in the theory that as long as I can keep up with the drummer playing acoustically, my backline's loud enough: if he gets mike'd and DI'd, then I will be, too..