Anyone gig with a small combo??

[ImmortalSix]

Re: Anyone gig with a small combo??

I gig every week with a 1x8" combo, the VOX AD15VT.

I close mic it with an SM57 and it's plenty loud for me to hear it and sounds great in the mix. I get compliments on tone all the time.

 

[spule85]

Re: Anyone gig with a small combo??

yea 1 x 12a are heavey, i got a trans tube, it has a handle but i still find it easier to carry with boths hands so i have to do two trips from my room to my car -----> car to jam room. i dont gig and never have yet, but ims ure it is a pain in the butt to catch a bus... but to catch a bus near me would take me 2 hours to get to the stop, if i needed to do trips. unless i got a lift but grrrr..... i can feel your frustration dude. so man i would keep in nice n light, line 6 spiders are pretty rad ive heard... or maybe a peavey banditt or vyper??

banditts are good cus they got the trans tube but heavey as ****, doable with one hand but not confortably, unless well your bigger than me which isnt hard. but im not really a light weight.... well enough **** talkin hope you find something comfy.

 

[jeremy]

Re: Anyone gig with a small combo??

i know jeremy used to play a lot of gigs with his blues jnr. wahwah still gigs with his fender super champ. he plays stadium shows with that amp mic'd. its a very doable thing.

yup. i did at least 100 shows, probably more with my blues jr with a greenback and never had any issues.

Sometimes I'll take my old Fender MusicMaster Bass out (12w), it doesn't keep up unless it's mic'ed or it's a pretty quiet group.

mine has been modded so its more like a brown princeton, has the greenback from my blues jr and i gig with it all the time even last night. real simple and has a nice sound.

i use a 1x12 combo's for just about all my gigs, typically a bf deluxe reverb, and it works great for me. i have three 1x12" low wattages combos (12w, 15, 22w) and i gig with those more than anything else and very seldom do i mic it.

 

[wahwah]

Re: Anyone gig with a small combo??

I've toured for the past 8 years with an 18w Fender Super Champ, which has a 10" speaker. I generally run the master and channel volume on 6, but for smaller stages, it's way too loud and I have to drop the master back to 4 or 5. I keep it on top of its flight case, tucked in behind me. All of my gigs involve full production, and the guitar is always in the mix. FOH engineers love it. They don't have to wipe out all the frequencies under 120Hz that mush up a mix, and they don't have to deal with uncontrolled stage spill. Once you understand the logistics of what happens when the few milliivolts of signal delivered by the microphone reach the mixing console and run out through the PA's power amps and speakers, you realize that it is all about scale and tone. The only time it doesn't work is with very loud drummers in very small spaces. For that I'll use a 30w amp! It's not for everybody, but the results when you can make it work can be huge.

I use this rig...

For gigs like this...

Cheers................................... wahwah

 

[Laughing Kookaburra]

Re: Anyone gig with a small combo??

My last few gigs were done w/a Fender Super 60, which is a 60 watt 1x12 combo. For blues, blues rock, and classic rock styles, it's perfect. Actually, it can still be too loud.

I probably used a 4x12 the majority of my gigs over the yrs, but I find it isn't needed. Granted, certain styles of gtr playing benefit greatly from the use of a 4x12, so I understand people who feel they need them.

I do keep a closed back 2x12 cab around if I feel I need a bit of extra thump.

IME, A well miced small rig can sound huge in a mix.

 

[WhoFan]

Re: Anyone gig with a small combo??

even if it's a pain to haul 2 pieces instead of a combo i was using a 1x12 cab with various heads at one point... the 1x12 cab is a sealed back cab and has i high wattage speaker... amazing cleans and great for my pedal board!

i've been eyeing the new Princton Reverb reissue as well as the Deluxe Reverb Reissue

 

[Laughing Kookaburra]

Re: Anyone gig with a small combo??

wahwah, if you had the choice, would you prefer a 12" spkr in the Super Champ, and why, or why not?

 

[wahwah]

Re: Anyone gig with a small combo??

wahwah, if you had the choice, would you prefer a 12" spkr in the Super Champ, and why, or why not?

I think the 10" is definitely part of the equation of why the Super Champ design works. 10's generally have a more focused bottom end, and considering there's only 2 6V6's driving it, it helps keep the whole thing compact but very full sounding. A 12 would obviously go into lower frequencies, but wouldn't be as punchy as the 10. I have a couple of Super Champs, and the one I use all the time already had the speaker replaced with a Celestion when I bought it in '94. The other one is all original, and the original speaker doesn't sound anywhere near as good.



Cheers.................................... wahwah

 

[phil_104]

Re: Anyone gig with a small combo??

I think the 10" is definitely part of the equation of why the Super Champ design works. 10's generally have a more focused bottom end, and considering there's only 2 6V6's driving it, it helps keep the whole thing compact but very full sounding. A 12 would obviously go into lower frequencies, but wouldn't be as punchy as the 10. I have a couple of Super Champs, and the one I use all the time already had the speaker replaced with a Celestion when I bought it in '94. The other one is all original, and the original speaker doesn't sound anywhere near as good.



Cheers.................................... wahwah

Man, I feel like sometimes, you have the same basic idea of what a guitar should sound like than me, except with more expertise. I love the sound of a 10 in a small combo. It has that controlled sound, like you said, specially in the lower ranges, that really makes my sound crisp and defined.

Not everyone's bag, but I am glad to see I am not alone when it comes to speaker size.

 

[Laughing Kookaburra]

Re: Anyone gig with a small combo??

wahwah and phil, I'll admit that I have been very prejudiced against tens, my attitude being that they are great for practice, but...

This is in terms of a 1x10 combo, not a 4x10 cab/combo.

I'll need to reexamine the issue...

edit: But, wahwah, what I really like about the pics you provide is not the gear, but the audience chicks in low cut shirts...ah, Australia!

 

[tone4days]

Re: Anyone gig with a small combo??

i have gigged with nothing but a 1x12 combo (either a fender deluxe (ss) or blues jr) for the last 6 yrs - no problems

t4d

 

[Christopher Caruana]

Re: Anyone gig with a small combo??

ive done a couple small - mid size gigs with my Peavey ValveKing 112. It gets the job done just fine.

 

[Zerberus]

Re: Anyone gig with a small combo??

For the most part I expect to have to get the 4x12 and head to a gig.... But I´ve played gigs where I was happy that all I had to lug was my 100W SS Combo, horses for courses

 

[Rich_S]

Re: Anyone gig with a small combo??

I play a 13-watt version of a Marshall 18 Watter clone, in a combo cab with an efficient Celestion. A Weber MiniMASS in the back lets me balance the amount of overdrive with the amount of volume. I can't imagine ever needing more, but I do want a better mic than my SM57.

 

[WhoFan]

Re: Anyone gig with a small combo??

I've toured for the past 8 years with an 18w Fender Super Champ, which has a 10" speaker. I generally run the master and channel volume on 6, but for smaller stages, it's way too loud and I have to drop the master back to 4 or 5. I keep it on top of its flight case, tucked in behind me. All of my gigs involve full production, and the guitar is always in the mix. FOH engineers love it. They don't have to wipe out all the frequencies under 120Hz that mush up a mix, and they don't have to deal with uncontrolled stage spill. Once you understand the logistics of what happens when the few milliivolts of signal delivered by the microphone reach the mixing console and run out through the PA's power amps and speakers, you realize that it is all about scale and tone. The only time it doesn't work is with very loud drummers in very small spaces. For that I'll use a 30w amp! It's not for everybody, but the results when you can make it work can be huge.

I use this rig...

For gigs like this...

Cheers................................... wahwah

it's kind of funny seeing that little amp up there on such stages... but in so many ways it just makes sense... for years i've been hearing of bands having stacks on stage yet the sound to the front of house would be a small amp or a cab in an isolation box under the stage... or in more modern times a Palmer simulater....

how much gain on tap does that little Super Champ have when cranked? is it all clean-ish?

 

[wahwah]

Re: Anyone gig with a small combo??

it's kind of funny seeing that little amp up there on such stages... but in so many ways it just makes sense... for years i've been hearing of bands having stacks on stage yet the sound to the front of house would be a small amp or a cab in an isolation box under the stage... or in more modern times a Palmer simulater....

how much gain on tap does that little Super Champ have when cranked? is it all clean-ish?

Actually, it's hilarious seeing that amp on most stages! Here's a shot from the FOH console at the outdoor River Stage in Brisbane during the Bryan Ferry tour in '07, you can hardly even see it! It's there though, ready to roar through that substantial line array system!

The amp stays clean on the preamp until about 7, when it starts to break up and growl a little. The power stage stays clean (dependant on the channel setting of course) up until around 7 or 8, when it starts to go into power tube saturation. So running it on 6 and 6, it is bold enough to shout when you hit the strings hard, but clean enough to be warm and friendly when treated with finesse.



Cheers.................................... wahwah

 

[Diego]

Re: Anyone gig with a small combo??

Any factual downsides to gigging with a tiny amp?

As long as it's got a mic in front, I fail to see why a 15w amp wouldn't be good enough for playing even in the biggest gig you can think of. Unless I'm missing something here?

 

[some_dude]

Re: Anyone gig with a small combo??

Any factual downsides to gigging with a tiny amp?

As long as it's got a mic in front, I fail to see why a 15w amp wouldn't be good enough for playing even in the biggest gig you can think of. Unless I'm missing something here?

The downside is that you're pretty much dependant on the monitors. Not an issue if the monitors/soundman are decent, but in some clubs the monitors are either crap, blown, or simply not there.

 

[Benjy_26]

Re: Anyone gig with a small combo??

For a while, I used to run my GT-8 into a SWR Strawberry Blonde 1x10" acoustic amp. It throws an amazing amount of low end for such a small package and sounds great with the DI out.

 

[Benjy_26]

Re: Anyone gig with a small combo??

Any factual downsides to gigging with a tiny amp?

As long as it's got a mic in front, I fail to see why a 15w amp wouldn't be good enough for playing even in the biggest gig you can think of. Unless I'm missing something here?

Headroom.

If you play clean most of the time (like me), 12-20 watts just won't cut it. I don't blast the volume, but a 60-100w tube amp is where it's at for me. :14: