Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Chris, you and me are totally on the same page...

Thanks for the tip man maybe I will have to start hauling my fridges around with me again .

Chris - what, no car alarms this time??!!

I don't even use 4x10 cabs ... I use 2 2x10 cabs ... actually for last nights gig I could have just brought a bass and a bass pod and still filled the room with sound from the 4 subs and 4 mains ... but a small amp is good for a little stage volume ...

Charly ... for small venues get an old ampeg b3 ... it has a similar sound to the b2 but about have the power and it has a drive button to get a driven sound at lower volume ...

OK... I admit it...
I need all these amps cause it looks really cool
I ain't really much of a bass player...so, if I got the BIG tone and the Big Ampeg look at least thats half the battle...
Chics will see my big AMPEG rig and want a piece of me

P.S. I only set off car alarms when I include the V4B reflex cab.... That pisses off your crowd, when they are running outside the club all night trying to figure who's car is screeching and trying to shutting it off..

Chris

'"Speak softly, but carry a big rig"'

I do, but what about the amp?

It's all about the Wood(s).

I am starting to agree with Jeff.

I did a show last night where I went DI and people said my bass tone was HUGE (a good soundguy and house PA). I sounded terrible onstage through the monitors though (no actual bass amp, only monitors). For med/larger shows the amp is for the band onstage, the PA is for the crowd.

A mid size amp should be plenty, as long as the drummer & guitar player can hear you as well as you can hear them. A good balanced stage sound & a sound guy who knows his stuff is all you really need to be able to play at your best. If you're struggling to hear yourself or others in the stage mix, it'll show in your playing, even if no one else notices, you will.
I've played through other people's gear at benefit jams & the stage sound was horrible, but the PA sound was great. It's hard to play really well if your bass sounds like tinny ****, & that affects the whole band's performance.

An SVT & an 8X10 cab definitely makes sure that you have plenty of reserve power, & I really think that 10"s are the way to go, but just how big is the band truck?

I fit them in the back seat of my soon to be gone 94 Cutlass (with the back seat out of course). And he's right it's not about the power it's the tone. Two cabs sound fuller than one, very clean and warm, the ultimate to me, they're definitely worth lugging and come in handy when you play with deaf guitarists. A head (or two) and two cabs with a Ric is the classic bass set up IMHO. Nothing sounds like a good SVT. Incidently I picked up a BassPlayer mag today and there were three Rics in it, one had a blank TRC but looked like an early 70's other wise. The other two were definitely real.

Here is another thing to consider about the SVT rig...
The early speakers were ALNICO magnet speaker...they blow the doors off the new ceramic speakers Ampeg uses now.. period!! The problem is that the these old "flat-back" cabs with Alnico's can only safely handle 230W RMS.... There are transients in playing bass and the had will put out alot on demand...So using two cabs is a safe way to ebsure you don't blow a speaker... There is a trade-off, the things you need to do to make the voice coil dissipate more heat, so it handles more RMS power will make the tone take a nose dive... I have been designing and hand making speakers for years..so I hope you trust my word on that.. In fact one of the Alnico speakers was blown when I bought the cab...a recone would be out of the question since the recone is not built the same way..So i dissasemble the gasket, cone and spider from the basket very carefull with MEK and acetone, as to not damage or tear any of it... Then I fix the broken winding, re-varnish and bake the windings and then it's re-assembly..when the speaker glues dry..it looks perfect and sounds just like it always did..I also do this for all old vintage spaeakers...
It's a lot of tedious work, but someone got to do it..in another 10 years if all speakers get re-coned we will loose the original tones..
Chris

I have three cabs, two are old flatbacks with all original speakers and the third is a later 70's with the handle. I've played pretty loud through single cabs at times and have never had any trouble blowing speakers although when I was a kid I did but the bands were much louder back then onstage.
They can krap out on you though and sound muddy if you overdrive them, if I hear that sound I back off which is probably why I've never had trouble with them. Also it's 240 watts per cab, the speakers are 30 watt speakers in them. When they were sold new it was always recommended that you buy two cabs, two cabs and a head were the standard SVT amp and were very common during the 70's.

when I play out it is nice to get good tone out of my amp ... but it is more important that there is good tone coming out of the PA ... because that is what the audience hears ...

I mic my amp when the band is miced, no DI's for me, so it's also important for me to get a good tone and I get the best out of the SVT, my amp is just as much a part of my tone as my basses are. I've been complimented on my tone from some pretty good engineers, in fact a few have started micing basses after doing me.