Tech: Handy bass amp for sessions

Subject: RE: Tech: Handy bass amp for sessions
From: Walking Eagle
Date: 11 Mar 03 - 10:53 PM

Not being handy with electronics, I bought a PigNose 30 for my acoustic bass. It works very well with 30 other players and me being the only bass. It is heavy though.

Subject: RE: Tech: Handy bass amp for sessions
From: GUEST,Telecasting
Date: 11 Mar 03 - 07:47 PM

Sorry, John in Brisbane, I was a bit vague when I wrote "P-bass". I meant my Fender Precision.

It's fretless. You can slap the fingerboard, too. It's a legitimate session instrument, honest! I sometimes think it would be amusing to put a spike on it.

Someone was having a laugh when they invented a "fretless" "Precision" bass, though.

Bull fiddles are a bit bulky, all right. I once had a go on a Steinberger upright bass at an instrument show. It was fantastic. It cost more than my lunch money, though.

Cheers.

Subject: RE: Tech: Handy bass amp for sessions
From: wysiwyg
Date: 21 Feb 03 - 09:02 AM

I'll confess to having a Radio Shack karaoke setup. We hoped it would serve as a partial PA. We stopped using it long ago except for very limited vocal use. Made my autoharp sound like crap. But with a good mic going in (using an XLR to 1/4" Lo-Hi-Z thingie), vocals in a small area are nice with this. SO i use it in the church where the hard walls make the autoharp sound great on its own, and then the RS unit boosts my high, light vocal just enough.

On the other hand, we have two Gorilla bass amps we have used quite a bit, with omni mics to catch both voice and instrument. One is medium in size and one is very small, about 12" x 14." In small settings it has been just the thing to make us hearable in singalongs. One mic to a customer.

The RS does have one nice feature-- tape playback slowdown. So you can use it to catch tricky lyrics or fiddle tunes.

We just got a Behringer mini-mixer, it's a preamp with 2 XLR inputs and four (or more if you split the stereo inputs) 1/4". It's smaller than a piece of paper and carries in a nifty padded cardbnoard box with a carry handle. $80 US. A nice feature is that the user manual has a great picture of the control panel, so we can xerox these to make notes, to make our setups faster. For now we are going to line out from that into either my Crate acoustic amp (1 XLKR and 1 1/4"), or one of our big old guitar amps. Think of it-- mixed sound out of one powerful speaker. And you can line out to a recorder and/or monitor/headphones as well. Lighter than a portable PA and using what we already have instead of springing for a portable PA. It will all load on a folding luggage cart.

~Susan

Subject: RE: Tech: Handy bass amp for sessions
From: John in Brisbane
Date: 21 Feb 03 - 02:15 AM

Sounds a great idea. This bull fiddle player often has to leave it at home when travelling. What's a P bass? I'd love to make/own a more space friendly version of a double bass.

Regards, John

Subject: RE: Tech: Handy bass amp for sessions
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 20 Feb 03 - 09:44 PM

For another alternative - I recently picked up a Memorex Karaoke player at Wally World (don't tell anyone I went there - it was an emergency!) for $19.95 (US). AM/FM radio and tape player/recorder, about 2/3 the size of a soccer ball and about the same shape, and livid purple with silvery trim. Two mic plug input jacks.

Only problem is, you can't turn the amp on without turning on either the radio or the tape - but the tape deck doesn't really have to have a tape in it.

Sound is mediocre, but ok for boosting the mate's dulcimer. Works with a clipon tuner contact mic if you don't have anything else, although it's not very loud on that weak an input. I haven't tried it with a guitar or a real mic yet.

There are some pretty good sounding "real" karaoke boxes for a only little more - check out Radio Shack, maybe, or you might find one at a yard sale.

John

Subject: RE: Tech: Handy bass amp for sessions
From: michaelr
Date: 20 Feb 03 - 08:47 PM

Cool idea -- portable and inexpensive!

Cheers,
Michael

Subject: Tech: Handy bass amp for sessions/rehearsals
From: GUEST,Telecasting
Date: 20 Feb 03 - 06:26 PM

If you're looking for a small, session-friendly bass amp, you may find that there's one closer than you think. My PC came with the usual multimedia speaker configuration; two tweeter satellites and a mains-powered subwoofer.

See where this one's going?

Some amateurish soldering got me a short lead to convert the 1/4" instrument cable to a 1/8" plug. I originally used one of those little converter plugs from Tandy, but I reckon it put far too much weight on the tiny socket in the amp. The short lead is much safer.

Because it's a SUBwoofer, it doesn't do high notes at all. The top G on a bass guitar is very quiet compared to the low E, so playing requires a dynamic style to smooth it out. But I'm just putting down a foundation under the other instruments, not playing "Jazz Odyssey", so that's fine. In fact, because it doesn't do the high overtones of a low note, it's extremely friendly to other instruments - there's very little clutter in their way (so long as you're not just booming away as loud as you can, like a clod). Bodhran and cello need consideration, for example, or drop guitar tunings, but mostly it's plain sailing.

I can now carry my P-bass on my back and this little beauty in a small shoulder bag. It beats a double bass (aka bull fiddle) for portability any time. Also takes up less room in a tight session.

Of course, it's great for quiet rehearsals with acoustic instruments too. No more squeezing a bass cab through your mate's kitchen door.

The only drawback is that because it's cream-coloured and has slats on the front, people endlessly assume it's a heater or a dehumidifier, with hilarious consequences etc etc. A small price to pay. I may paint it black and put a death's head on it.

It might eventually disintegrate. It's had a lot of abuse over the years, and has developed a slight, flabby overtone of its own. So be sensible - consider whether you're using it outside its intended output level.

If this one does disintegrate, I'm going to get a new one that's a bit bigger and do exactly the same. That's how much I've enjoyed using it.

Has anyone else come across this approach? If not, I'd like to claim the right to choose a name for it: the "Fat Boy's Friend". This is in homage (that's French for "cheese", by the way) to a Sheffield stalwart whose inconvenient Thursday session got me thinking this way.

http://www.shfolk.host-com.co.uk/profile-jim-mcdonald/index.htm

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