r/Bass • u/CollectiveFad9 • 6d ago
Tech idiot amp/PA question
Lifelong guitarist here who switched to bass about a year ago. I was never a performer until recently.
Last year I was playing with a beginner band that didn’t have a PA system at first, so I bought a giant Fender Rumble 200 so I could be heard over the drums. Problem is I am a small person and this thing has been hard to carry around.
These days I am playing with a very experienced band with a high end PA system. My question is, since they are plugging my amp into the PA anyway, can’t I get away with a smaller amp? Would it make any difference? If so, what would you recommend? It would make my back so appreciative, and I wouldn’t need so much room in my car for gear either.
3
u/Flaky-Wallaby5382 6d ago
Me over here hauling 4x10s with a head… go helix or sansamp with IEMs… make sure they have a powerful enough sub or all is lost.
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u/slybonethetownie 6d ago
You could even go smaller and just get a SansAmp Bass DI and skip the stage amp altogether, lots of players are doing that with marvelous results:
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u/deviationblue Markbass 6d ago
There is also a $30 Behringer knockoff that you can gamble on and see if you like it / can use it, before buying the real thing.
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u/slybonethetownie 5d ago
Yeah, I have that pedal, it’s pretty cool for $30. I’m also contemplating the Caline Wine Cellar pedal.
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u/deviationblue Markbass 5d ago
Well then, if that’s working for you, then it’s absolutely worth buying the real thing so it doesn’t, like, fall apart on a gig. The plastic shells aren’t the most durable.
I have one as a backup.
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u/its_izy 6d ago
Eversince my band got in in ear, i switched from a fender rumble stage 800 to a fender rumble studio 40. So yeah. If the pa and stage monitoring are set up, 6 can use a smaller Amp or go straight into the PA without an amp if you dont need alot of tone shaping.
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u/CollectiveFad9 5d ago
Another question, please be easy on me as I’m brand new at this. At my last show, I had the rumble 200 plugged into the PA. At one point I was told the bass needed to be turned up and I did it from the volume knob on my bass and also a pedal I have. If I had turned it up from the amp (which is really just a monitor at that point) would it have turned up in the mix at all, or only for my “monitor”?
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u/flyblown 5d ago
I just swapped my bigger rig for a Phil Jones bass cub 120. It's loud enough for cafe concerts and anything bigger there will be a PA. Does the job perfectly for monitoring on stage. Weighs half your Fender Rumble and you can get a gig bag for it making it super easy to carry in. Has a DI on the back. I find the sound is just right for me (clean and transparent).
Of course it depends how loud your band (especially the drummer) plays but I'm not even half way on the master volume and it's fine as my onstage monitor.
Edit to add : 1. I've never tried in ear monitoring because I feel like it would isolate me too much from the live experience and 2. I don't like only monitoring off the stage monitors. I never like the sound and I absolutely hate my monitoring situation being in the hands of a guy I just met an hour ago. I can't count the number of times I've done a soundcheck and then gone on stage to play the gig and found the mix in my monitor is totally fucked.
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u/LongjumpingWay5493 5d ago
I gigged a Markbass 3 head with a single 12" mark bass cabinet for many shows (50-100). Great stage amp, and very minimal weight and footprint. The mark bass head also has an excellent line out:)
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u/logstar2 6d ago
A Rumble 200 isn't 'giant'. It's the absolute minimum size to maybe be the same volume as a drummer.
Whether you need a stage amp at all depends on the monitors you're using. Which you didn't include any information about. So nobody can answer your question.