Musician Gear & Tech Discussion

Well, I slept on the Acoustic (brand) AB-50 Acoustic Bass Amp.
It's sold out everywhere. It's priced at 150% plus over what it was retailing at.
I need an amp that will compete with drums and half stacks.
This is a rock band. Not your jazz gig by the pool. I need no feedback.
I've never owned high quality amplification, but all I know is that acoustic guitars
(and especially acoustic bass guitar) are feedback producing monsters.
Any suggestions?

I'm also looking at a good DI Box. Anyone know this one?

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/ProD2?adpos=1o2&creative=54989263441&device=t&matchtype=&network=g&gclid=CIuHkNHvv8kCFYhffgodiAgJ8w

Well, I slept on the Acoustic (brand) AB-50 Acoustic Bass Amp.
It's sold out everywhere. It's priced at 150% plus over what it was retailing at.
I need an amp that will compete with drums and half stacks.
This is a rock band. Not your jazz gig by the pool. I need no feedback.
I've never owned high quality amplification, but all I know is that acoustic guitars
(and especially acoustic bass guitar) are feedback producing monsters.
Any suggestions?

I'm also looking at a good DI Box. Anyone know this one?

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/ProD2?adpos=1o2&creative=54989263441&device=t&matchtype=&network=g&gclid=CIuHkNHvv8kCFYhffgodiAgJ8w

The first thing I always do with bass amps is get the dam thing off the floor. Problem solved...
The DI box has over 20 four and five star reviews, should be good.

i don't use either of the bass amps i'm gonna recommend for poolside jazz gigs (tho they'd be perfect for that app).

i use them in a very loud 4 pc Honky Tonk/R&R band that's the house band in a big ol' 70's style saloon. two loud gtrs, drums, and me carrying the room from the stage. only thing in the PA is the vocals and kick drum.

i've become a huge fan of ASHDOWN. my first ASHDOWN which i still sometimes use there is a Blue 180 combo. 180 watts (yeah, it doesn't sound like a lot of HP on paper but it gets the job done) w a 12" spkr and a 5 band EQ that is helpful at dialing out feedback (within the limits of being reasonably smart about things like volume and placement of inst).

but most of the time i use my Class D ASHDOWN MI550....a little 4lb head that puts out 550 watts at 4 ohms ( i use it w two lightweight EDEN 12" cabs...30lbs ea). the EQ is a 4 band parametric and tone sculpting is a breeze.

there's a certain thing these ASHDOWNs do that i love.....they have this really nice syrupy low midrange that gives up a nice fat tone w/o the mud. great bottom end WITH excellent note definition.

i've tried bringing my upright bass to the truckstop gig a couple of times (like when i already had it out w me from an earlier afternoon bluegrass gig) but at the volume we play at.....no dice. and it's my opinion that's what you're gonna find w any amp......you're only gonna be able to go so far volume wise w an upright or an ABG.

if you don't already have one, you might pick up a little MXR foot pedal style EQ and notch out the offending frequency (frequencies). but the reality is that ABG's and uprights just aren't made to get stoopid loud.

Thanks guys.

I bought a soundhole cover. Hacked it up to fit. No worky.

I have a notch filter on all of my acoustic/electric guitars and bass, but they only do so much.

The bass is an Ibanez with a Fishman preamp. It has 3-band eq, notch and shape. Shape helps more than notch, usually.

How much off the floor? On what? Wood? Metal? Does it matter?

On the DI, can I plug that into any PA and expect good results?

I have lots of electric basses and use them. I'm just frustrated with this acoustic bass situation. I love the feel and the sound of this axe, but just play it next to a steel string guitar, you hear nothing. I need to boost it just to be heard in that situation, imagine what it takes with a loud drummer. I think my gear is just too cheap.

I think I'll make a video of this set up.

The shape, bass, mid and treble are faders. The notch is a button/ switch. The volume is a knob. The tuner is superb.

schmed...that's the deal w ABG's . acoustically they lack the balls to hang w even a puny acoustic gtr. so then ya plug them in and they're not an "acoustic instrument" anymore. just a poor playing and (usually) crappy sounding elec.


w regards to getting the amp off the floor:

to each his own. i went thru a stage where i had my bass rig up off the floor on gigs....no more. bass rig, gtr amp.....they're always on the floor now.

up in the air will get you a cleaner and less bottom heavy sound as the floor/stage/room becomes less involved in the pic.

and in certain recording situations that can be a good thing but live.....i want that coupling that comes from a bass cab on the floor. i want to feel the stage vibrate when i hit the low ones. same deal w my gtr amp.....i'm not worried about throwing to the back of the room....i want the nice round tone (w no flab) that comes from that coupling.

and most of my gtr gigs i'm using hollowbodies and often because of limited stage space i'm in close proximity to my amp. having it up off the floor pointing at my axe would put my gtr in the feedback flightpath.

don't forget you can also play the room's acoustics w how close your cab is to the back wall. need a little more bottom end? scoot your cab back closer to the wall. less flab? move it away. (season to taste)

well, the best sounding (tone and volume) and best playing ABG i've been around belongs to my buddy, Bill. it's a TAYLOR made from Imbua wood. gorgeous instrument that has decent volume for an ABG but he still has to plug it in at bluegrass living room prcts. to hang in there.

Yeah, that's what I was afraid of. We recorded a lot of demo's of guitar, drums and acoustic bass in the rehearsal studio and I love those recordings. I want that as my trademark sound. I would play one with the drummer And add the other on the multitrack.

Yes, about 100 Watt combo or head.

I also need to bite the bullet and get a jamhub. I miss playing with headphones on. Got very tight that way.

Mark, this looks comparable to Acoustic (brand) 4 x 10 combos.

http://www.adorama.com/ASM410T600E.html?hotlink=t&svfor=5m&gclid=CODDhpqoxckCFZRcfgodf8UJAg

Still not sure about gigging, but we're definitely playing with a 3 piece (sometimes) these days in the garage. I want to try this and alternate it with my fretless.