I have found for almost every band I've been in that a single 1x15 for bass and a 2x12 for guitar is more than adequate. Yeah, it's fun to bring the big rigs in and set them up, but I've only got a fuckin' mini van guys!

With my current band, I can get away with a Fender Rumble 40 1x10 during practice, but I can't wait to haul my SVTII and 810 out when we finally start playing shows. I've never played live with it, and it's going to be ridiculous overkill for the relatively quiet instrumental stuff we play, but I paid for it, dammit.

penningtron wrote: I admit a band I was in got sucked into the chicago 'Wall of Emperors' thing for a bit. I felt almost immediately embarrassed about it, and pretty quickly shifted to bringing just one and not both cabs to shows before eventually selling both.

The only 'statement' I can make out of that whole thing was "we appeal to dudes who are into craft beer"..

Haha, yes! But, you always try to make the best out of your equipment, it was never a statement about how you looked. I will forever fondly think back to you having that Swamp Thing in a tiny cab and doing all those great things with it. Not to mention all the ugly guitars you've played over the years. But you've always been in search of good tone, in a technical way not really a cultural way. And, I think the music you make is more appealing to dudes into craft beer than the gear, but it's more or less the overlap of a venn diagram.

Depends on the gig, depends on the band.

If I am at a METAL show, and God's Behemoth Vagina has just a couple of 1x12 Crate's on stage and a weak PA they are really going to have to win me over. I'm sorry I am here to get my head knocked off, please. I have a friend who's in a band who play sorta heavy music (and I like them!) and they played a gig @ The Mutiny years back with a pile of combo amps and it just felt like nothing. There shoulda been some girth here, there should have been volume and there wasn't and it hurt the experience.

If sorta sad, sorta angry moderate rock band sets up has a similar set up, ok man, tell me about all the bad things going on. I don't need to be thumped as hard.

I get not everyone needs to be My Bloody Valentine loud, but I want to be rocked at the rock show. I also get being trapped in station wagon, and going on tour, but I also get "we only play out 6 times a year, so I am bringing my full stack." Also like come on, 4x12's are the easiest fucking things to whip off a stage, at the Empty Bottle me and one other guy can get 2 off the stage before the drummer comes too.

Owen wrote: Tue Jul 13, 2021 4:47 pm Also like come on, 4x12's are the easiest fucking things to whip off a stage, at the Empty Bottle me and one other guy can get 2 off the stage before the drummer comes too.

Agree. Especially if it's a Marshall cabinet with casters, which are surprisingly light and you can push them out the door and down the street. Much easier to move than most 30W+ tube combo amps. Much easier to hear yourself too since the speakers are closer to your head. And you don't need yourself in the monitor (which sounds like shit and often creates feedback scenarios).

tommy wrote: Tue Jul 13, 2021 4:58 pm

Owen wrote: Tue Jul 13, 2021 4:47 pm Also like come on, 4x12's are the easiest fucking things to whip off a stage, at the Empty Bottle me and one other guy can get 2 off the stage before the drummer comes too.

Agree. Especially if it's a Marshall cabinet with casters, which are surprisingly light and you can push them out the door and down the street. Much easier to move than most 30W+ tube combo amps. Much easier to hear yourself too since the speakers are closer to your head. And you don't need yourself in the monitor (which sounds like shit and often creates feedback scenarios).

I would definitely rather move two Marshall 4x12s and 100w head than one Mesa Mark II 1x12 100w combo.

Edit: in much the same sense as I would rather push my car than carry a motorcycle.

Moving an 810 is actually easier than moving the Mesa diesel + 210 stack I used to play with. It's its own dolly!

Dr Tony Balls wrote: Tue Jul 13, 2021 10:53 am

Ryan Zepaltas wrote: Tue Jul 13, 2021 10:42 am I am always comforted when a well-known musician's setup in their Rig Rundown video is super modest.

A la my old bud Mark from Khruangbin:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hr7ScpVj1QY

She's so tech-averse, and then she turns her amp on and her bass sounds FUCKING AMAZING.

I was talking to a great guitar player here in town today and he admitted that he owned a Mesa Dual Rectum Finder, and was kind of like "I don't know why I hang on to it, but there's a few things it does that I like," and I said "Almost every amp does SOMETHING cool. You don't have to embrace the worst of it to use it and enjoy it. Not everyone who does cocaine ends up running a restaurant, y'know?"

The bassist got a 6x8 and I got his 15 as a hand me down. So that's 2 1x15s for me and the bass player with his big rig. Tonehenge definitely looks rad, but I don't think I'll take both 15's to a show. I drive a Fit!

Nate Dort wrote: Tue Jul 13, 2021 5:46 pm Moving an 810 is actually easier than moving the Mesa diesel + 210 stack I used to play with. It's its own dolly!

The bass player in my band, whether it's been me or someone else, has almost always played a 2x15. They're surprisingly easy to move. I've loaded one into a van by myself more times than I can count. The tolex took a beating on a couple of them, but if you can move a bass rig by yourself that's handy.