I finally heard back from my brother and told him about this thread. He was not impressed with my assessment of his playing. Which actually ended up being pretty funny. He assured me, he is more than capable of playing at a level that will work with whatever amp I get.
Edit: Based on this, I’m leaning toward the Rumble 100. It seems to have everything I want except for the extra wattage. Which may or may not be worth it at this point. Also, that 22 pound weight makes it terribly convenient for most situations.
I went to my local Guitar Center today and found out that for $50 you can rent 2,000 watts of PA for the weekend. As long as I choose an amp with a Direct Out then I should be able to buy something convenient for daily use and still be able to compete with anything that comes up.
Does this sound right or even practical to those of you with experience?
You’e been busy doing your homework . . . and there’s so much stuff out there, it can be overwhelming. The “Rumble 100” (and on up) has an “XLR line out” jack which could be used to plug into a PA system, recording devices, etc. so that is a good feature to look for, and is another reason why I settled on this amp.
Here is just my opinion : I’m not sure a lot of power is really needed. with the current class-D technology we have access to small amps in the kilowatt range, but my experience is that in most cases a 200-250w amp is enough.
With my 220w Ampeg (class AB), I’ve never had any problem to be heard even with a very brutal drummer. If really more loudness is required, during a big concert outdoor for exemple, there will be a PA and you will be connected to it with your DI, so the amp power won’t be an issue.
@eric.kiser -
My advice would be this:
For any group that you’re going to play in, I’d recommend having an amp that can create the ideal stage/rehearsal volume for the group on its own comfortably.
So.
If you’re doing lots of quiet acoustic, folksy stuff - great. Make sure that when the band is rehearsing, you can hear yourself where you and the band are happy.
If you’re playing lots of loud rock and roll with a loud drummer, make sure you have enough headroom (setting your amp volume well within the safe volume capabilities of your amp) to play a rehearsal at the level you and the band like to hear the bass.
Renting a PA for gigs is an option, and yes, like @terb said - there will be PAs at most gigs.
HOWEVER!! Most PAs are focused on the sound reaching the audience. The sound that you will hear on stage from a PA will come through monitors, and it is a very rare club or stage that will have adequate monitors to give you more bass, if your amp can’t deliver it.
It’s best (says me) to show up with everything you need, and be prepared to dial back and lean into a PA system than it is to rely on a PA system (even one you might rent) that you don’t know and can’t necessarily count on.
Thanks for all the responses! I have had great fun trying to go through the process of getting this figured out.
This was from the Fender Rumble 200 thread…
When you get an amp head, what do you look for to know you won’t be bitten by this. @JoshFossgreen made reference to a Pro XLR direct out. Is that an actual specification? I tried to search out an answer but kept getting pointed to separate boxes.
Edit: I found it. If you look at any of the TC Electronics amp heads, there is a button that lets you select whether the direct out will send pre / post. Using the pre setting protects all the sound guys hard work. Which I find to be incredibly cool.
I think most amp heads in the professional price range (like, not the super cheap ones) probably have an independent speaker volume that’s post-DI, but you can download the manual and check out the wiring diagram to make sure.
Yeah, you can kinda make good use of it either way. You can go pre, and then EQ the amp to make your stage sound work based on the room… or if you don’t trust the sound guy send him a post signal with some nice EQ and compression so there’s a lower chance of your bass tone sucking in the house! (sending the signal “post” still leaves the speaker volume later in the chain than the DI, ideally)
Man, trying to learn all of this with all the options and massive amounts of technology with a thousand different combinations floating around. It feels like falling into a rabbit hole inside of a rabbit hole inside of another rabbit hole…
Yeah gear is crazy! I barely knew anything about gear for the first 10+ years I played bass, whatever amp or pedals I had were just a result of whatever my dad (also a bass player) had around.
I still have huge pockets of missing gear knowledge (i.e. that thread going on right now about ohms and wattage is very educational for me!), for most of my life I’ve just known how to play the bass and not too much else.
Let’s not forget one thing here:
Arithmetically, the difference between 200 and 300 watts is massive, but in reality, not so much. If you have two amps that are identical except for their power output, one being 200 Watt, and one being 300 Watt, the difference between the two in terms of perceived loudness is marginal.
To come up with +3dB of noise, you need to double the output power.
Someone needs to champion amp heads and cabs! I mean, they’re the final link in the chain of what we get to actually hear. Yeah, I love basses and pedals, but in the end, they are nothing without a great amp head and cab, or a combo, right??
Not to confuse the matter further but there are combo amps that compete power wise with stacks. My combo stack does 1kw. They are GK. But you may want to take a minute and really drill down to what you want because it can potentially get very expensive otherwise. Volume isn’t everything. Consider another music nerd term “presence”. I’m not a scientist or anything but I’ve spent some money on my passion over the years and if I can save you money that would be considered a good day,yes? This thread hasn’t seen much action in the last couple weeks but if ya’ll want to benefit from my trial and error (and expense) then post on this and we’ll get a good idea of what you need. Again, I’m not a scientist or a music genius. I just encountered issues with sound, tone, etc. and found solutions (so far)
I just looked up that amp. It appears to be comparable to the Rumble 500 for a lot less money. Do you know how it compares to the Rumble series? (other than being heavier)
send him a post signal with some nice EQ and compression so there’s a lower chance of your bass tone sucking in the house! (sending the signal “post” still leaves the speaker volume later in the chain than the DI, ideally)
