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The Lightweight Cabs Thread


lukeward2004
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[quote name='tauzero' post='535424' date='Jul 8 2009, 09:28 AM']Reading this thread, I'm struck by how different people define "light". A Hartke VX410 "very light"?[/quote]

FWIW I'm about the scrawniest fully-grown human male I've come across. I can lift my Schroeder 1212L with one hand and lug it short distances like that, or lift it one-handed high enough to get my other hand underneath. I could probably carry it as far as I could carry anything. I regularly carry it up and down four flights of stairs in and out of my flat, without feeling it when I go back to get my rack, bass, pedal board, bag of gig bits, etc.

That's light. I wouldn't want anything heavier now I've heard how good that sounds for how little effort it requires of me.

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[quote name='Musicman20' post='539657' date='Jul 13 2009, 08:13 PM']Bass head wise...I love the Little Mark 3....if you can pickup a 2 they are virtually the same. The 3 has some nice upgrades. Excellent bass amps.

2x10 wise....hmm....someone will help you on this. I know Mark Bass do a 2x10 Traveller which is very light...quite expensive though. Plently of other manufacturers around though :) Epifani, I think, do a 2x10.

Markbass also do a combo [url="http://www.markbass.it/products.php?lingua=en&cat=3&vedi=39"]http://www.markbass.it/products.php?lingua...t=3&vedi=39[/url]

I think the Combo has a Little Mark 2 Head in it.[/quote]
Thanks very much for that, the new epifani cabs sound interesting, and competitively priced when they get to Britain.
BassMann

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[quote name='thisnameistaken' post='542842' date='Jul 17 2009, 04:19 AM']FWIW I'm about the scrawniest fully-grown human male I've come across. I can lift my Schroeder 1212L with one hand and lug it short distances like that, or lift it one-handed high enough to get my other hand underneath.[/quote]
Excellent. at 19kg or so, that's nicely in my "lightweight" category, and fits nicely into my Beaufort scale (the Beaufort was the last club I played with my featherweight before going over to a lightweight).

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I've said this before but I am very happy with my Goliath jnr lll with Deltalites in it.
I wouldn't suggest you swap over speakers unless you have to as 2 new Delta 10's will cost you £150 plus, but they are better than the original PAS speakers, IMV plus give you a cab rating of 500watts for a weight save, so a win-win.

On that basis, IMV, any well made ported cab with these NEO's in should be worth a listen.

Personally, there is only so far I would go with the wood for saving weight and if you can't carry around 40lbs properly then play triangle..:) :rolleyes:

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Just waiting for delivery of TC Electronic rig which will be replacing my 'Harshke' (as someone once called them :lol: ) 4x10 and 1x15 Transporters and Hartke HA2000, SansAmp RBI rig.

Using the additional RC4 controller will make my Bass Pod and shortboard mostly redundant as well :rolleyes:

RH450 amp - 4kg / 8.8 pounds


RS210 cab - 21 kg / 46 lbs


RC4 Controller - 0.8 kg / 1.6 pounds


Total rig weight = a gnats under 26kg which I shall soon be lugging around on the tube and London bus system :)

Ok - so there are lighter, the 15kg rig above will take some beating methinks but I reckon this will suit my needs :lol:

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You get what you pay for, I know, but . . .

Do you have to spend LOADS to get a lightweight cab?

Come March, I'll be looking at a new head & cab to replace my TNT150BW combo. I probably won't have much more than €800 to spend on both.

Judging by the calibre of most cabs discussed already in this thread, I know I'm arriving to the black-tie party in my 94 Corolla, wearing shorts & sandals with this question, but I reckon I'm not alone in needing a light cab [i]and[/i] not having enough disposable cash to get something from Epifani, Tecamp, etc.

Heads I'll be considering will be the Peavey Tour 450, Hartke LH500 & Warwick ProFet 3.3/5.2 (also open to other suggestions).

I've been pretty sure I want a 4x10, and have been looking at Peavey's TVX410 (44kg), Hartke BXL410 (42kg) & Warwick WCA411Pro (41kg), but these are all way off the mark as far as lightweight cabs go.

GK's Backline 410 & Laney's RB410 are both just over 30kg and both cost just over €300, but are either any good?

I'd be quite happy to consider other cab cofigurations - 2x12, 2x10 - whatever.

We'll be playing mostly rock covers in pubs at the weekends, so power & punch will be important, but we're also aiming to do functions/weddings, and possibly light afternoon pub/hotel gigs, so versatility will be important too, as will reliability/ruggedness.


Thanks for any replies,

Mark

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I'm confused too!

After a few years "in the wilderness", I return to the bass fold to find that the whole "should I go for Ampeg or Trace Elliot" amplification question has been massively complicated by new (to me) manufacturers like MarkBass, Barefaced, Epifani, Genz Benz, Schroeder, Aguilar and so on. Great news as far as competition goes, but by Christ it makes the choice confusing!

To make matters worse (or better, depending on how you look at it), the mass vs price consideration is also hard to separate! Twenty-odd years ago, when I last bought any bass amplification, good gear was HEAVY. In the case of Ampeg and Trace, VERY heavy. At least I knew where I stood with that! :blush:

Now it seems that, with the invention of neodymium magnets, good gear is not necessarily heavy. In fact, much of the "best" gear (to go by opinions on here) is very light!! :)

So what does it all mean? How can I judge which amps and cabs will suit me? Do I simply pay as much as I can afford? Or do I spend the rest of my allotted three score years and ten trying out amp/cab combinations to the point of madness? A labour of love maybe, but I generally don't like music shops!

Dammit - I'm not even sure which size of speakers I prefer! 8, 10, 12, 15 or 18 or any feasible combination of them... :rolleyes:

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[quote name='Conan' post='688492' date='Dec 18 2009, 04:07 PM']So what does it all mean? How can I judge which amps and cabs will suit me? Do I simply pay as much as I can afford? Or do I spend the rest of my allotted three score years and ten trying out amp/cab combinations to the point of madness? A labour of love maybe, but I generally don't like music shops!

Dammit - I'm not even sure which size of speakers I prefer! 8, 10, 12, 15 or 18 or any feasible combination of them... :)[/quote]

Been there, done that and have in fact got the Basschat T-Shirt (honest)! :rolleyes:

It's not as if you have to go to shops and buy all the latest gear, then find it doesn't suit you (after which you take a massive resale depreciation)... simply buy from trusted Basschat members who have gone through or are going through the same minefield. There are years of fun trying to find what suits you, at not a huge depreciation in value! :lol:

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[quote name='Conan' post='688492' date='Dec 18 2009, 04:07 PM'].... I return to the bass fold to find that the whole "should I go for Ampeg or Trace Elliot" amplification question has been massively complicated by new (to me) manufacturers like MarkBass, Barefaced, Epifani, Genz Benz, Schroeder, Aguilar and so on. Great news as far as competition goes, but by Christ it makes the choice confusing![/quote]

Having tried some of the newer amplification.....
I don't think that things have moved on sonically, although they have in the weight department.

Nowt wrong with old Trace gear!

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Nowt at all wrong with old Trace gear! In fact, when I eventually get round to trying anything new, it will be my old Trace gear that will provide the acoustic yardstick with which I will compare them! :)

Sadly though, they just got too damn heavy - well over 100kg for the whole stack, and being tall I didn't like playing gigs with just one cab as the speaker throw was too far beneath my ear level... :rolleyes:

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[quote name='Conan' post='688714' date='Dec 18 2009, 08:45 PM']Nowt at all wrong with old Trace gear! In fact, when I eventually get round to trying anything new, it will be my old Trace gear that will provide the acoustic yardstick with which I will compare them! :rolleyes:

Sadly though, they just got too damn heavy - well over 100kg for the whole stack, and being tall I didn't like playing gigs with just one cab as the speaker throw was too far beneath my ear level... :lol:[/quote]

That all sounds very familiar... :)

Good luck with your quest.

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[quote name='Conan' post='688492' date='Dec 18 2009, 04:07 PM']I'm confused too!

So what does it all mean? How can I judge which amps and cabs will suit me? Do I simply pay as much as I can afford? Or do I spend the rest of my allotted three score years and ten trying out amp/cab combinations to the point of madness? A labour of love maybe, but I generally don't like music shops!

Dammit - I'm not even sure which size of speakers I prefer! 8, 10, 12, 15 or 18 or any feasible combination of them... :)[/quote]

I know what you mean. I´ve recently downsized after years of playing through a rig consisting of a Trace Elliot amp with Mesa Boogie cabs. Although it´s useful to do a bit of research on here, the only way I could be sure of buying new gear that was right for me was to take my main gigging bass to a shop that stocked a good variety of amps and cabs that I was interested in and then doing A/B comparisons and mixing and matching.

Unfortunately that meant having to travel a fair distance as my local music shops don´t stock the gear I was interested in. I ended up liking, and bought (from Bass Direct), a different amp and size of speakers to the ones I thought I would so it was definitely worth the journey. Although what I bought wasn´t cheap there were other, more expensive, options available but I bought what sounded best to me when playing with a flat EQ on my bass and the amp and then needed as little EQ adjustment as possible to get the sound I like.

There isn´t a ´correct´ way to make your decision but I would recommend trying to find somewhere (shop or Basschat meetings) where you can do a A/B comparison of gear using your own bass and then letting your ears decide.

Good luck :rolleyes:

Gaz

Edited by gazhowe
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[font="Verdana"]For me the answer was EBS (my grateful thanks to Bernie G)
I have an EBS Gorm ET350 combo for rehearsing and smaller gigs (not so light :) ), for big gigs (and to put the guitarist in his place :rolleyes: ) I use EBS HD350 head, EBS Proline 2000 2x10 & 1x15, perfect compliment to my Status 5 string, oh, and a Line 6 M13 stompbox


Mr. Quiet[/font]

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I've started today on the road to a new light weight rig with the purchase of a Barefaced Compact. The Ashdown Mag 600R will be out the door soon in favour of something lighter, most probably Markbass. I'm just not sure if 500W of Markbass power will have the same Oomph as the 575W of the Mag 600R which I have gigged pretty much on full volume at times (I play a 5 string and like it DEEEEP!). Might have to make the step up to a Little Mark 800.
At the moment I have an ABM 410H (UK made, before they went to horribly cheap looking PRC ones) on top of a Mag115 deep. The ABM isnt exactly light at 36 Kg but i have a strange infatuation with it and it does sound awesome. The compact should be significantly better sounding than the 115 and comes in at less than half the weight.
Cant wait till it arrives.

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[quote name='Mr. Quiet' post='711557' date='Jan 13 2010, 04:46 PM'][font="Verdana"]For me the answer was EBS (my grateful thanks to Bernie G)
I have an EBS Gorm ET350 combo for rehearsing and smaller gigs (not so light :rolleyes: ), for big gigs (and to put the guitarist in his place :lol: ) I use EBS HD350 head, EBS Proline 2000 2x10 & 1x15, perfect compliment to my Status 5 string, oh, and a Line 6 M13 stompbox


Mr. Quiet[/font][/quote]

By definition the title of this thread must preclude the best part of your rig! :) :lol:

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[quote name='ukbassboy' post='712030' date='Jan 13 2010, 10:38 PM']I've started today on the road to a new light weight rig with the purchase of a Barefaced Compact. The Ashdown Mag 600R will be out the door soon in favour of something lighter, most probably Markbass. I'm just not sure if 500W of Markbass power will have the same Oomph as the 575W of the Mag 600R which I have gigged pretty much on full volume at times (I play a 5 string and like it DEEEEP!). Might have to make the step up to a Little Mark 800.
At the moment I have an ABM 410H (UK made, before they went to horribly cheap looking PRC ones) on top of a Mag115 deep. The ABM isnt exactly light at 36 Kg but i have a strange infatuation with it and it does sound awesome. The compact should be significantly better sounding than the 115 and comes in at less than half the weight.
Cant wait till it arrives.[/quote]

I used to use a Markbass LMII, and now have an LMK. I'd be willing to bet you'll find a 500w MB head plenty powerful enough! These days I have MB cabs - but for years I couldn't afford them, and so used the MB heads with all sorts of cabs, including various Ashdowns, and, for a while, two Trace 4x12s stacked. I can honestly say the MB heads have always cut it, even at big outdoor gigs. I was (and still am) playing five strings basses too.

I heartily recommend you give them a go anyway, if you're after a good, lightweight amp.

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