Interesting history of tea chests! I buy a lot of loose leaf tea in bulk. Can’t stand tea bags.
I went back and looked at your photos again, and noticed that your bassist plays through an Ampeg combo. That’s what I used many years ago, but switched the Fender Rumbles when the third version was released (about 6 years ago). Better sound IMO. A LOT lighter. Nothing beats an Ampeg 8x10 on the backline, but for a high tea?
As long as I’m going off-topic, if your bassist ever has audio issues with his combo sitting directly on the stage/floor, have him/her take a look at Auralex’s GRAMMA v2. I bought one years ago, and wouldn’t play without it now. Great decoupler!
Thanks for all the bass tips! As we’re a duo I get to be bassist, keyboardist and lead guitarist! At present we have our singer who plays a bit of accoustic guitar…and in those songs I’ll jump on the bass. Then I revert to keys with bass vst in the left split of keyboard. Also brought the electric to mix it up. Really interested in the amp idea of the Rumble, gramma 2 etc…I bought that Ampeg BA115 as a beginner second hand years ago off ebay…it has done the job well…hisses a bit…but yes something lighter would certainly be handy from a setup point of view. It certainly was overkill for the high tea…some of the older ones in the crowd were probably nervous! It does weigh a fair bit! I think that is my next goal…trying to figure out how to streamline setup as much as possible. I think the tea chest will need to stay though:) Thanks so much!
Given that you are a duo, I’ll bet that the Rumble 40 (I’m on my second, the first was the straight up combo (which I sold along with my 200 combo (no 230V support) when I moved to France, and now the Studio 40 (a modelling amp)). It sounds great, and probably has plenty of volume for your situation. Plus, it only weighs a little over 8 kg (18 lbs)! If you go that way, PM me and I’ll point to you a VERY active Rumble thread on TalkBass.com.
Thanks so much for the tips. I’ll have a look for that thread. Is an option even just to use front of house speakers? Do you think it’s still worthwhile having a bass amp? Our singer bought these speakers . So that is what we are using. Yamaha STAGEPAS600BT 680W Portable PA System Bluetooth
I’m not even sure if I should just attach some sort of subwoofer type thing… if such a thing exists!
Very open to any suggestions! I’m also wanting to find a good portable touchscreen monitor solution… that doesn’t break the bank… I’ve seen a few on Amazon fire about $100 Australian dollar or so.
I did a quick scan of this long thread and failed to find a mention of the audio interface you’re using. If you have a spare input that is Instrument-capable (some combo inputs support mic, line and instrument), you could plug your bass directly into it and play it through a bass amp sim VST in Gig Performer. If that sounds like something you’d like to try, let me know and I’ll post links to a couple of simple, but capable bass amp sim VSTs. That way, your bass audio would just route to your FOH speaker system, no bass amp required (same for guitars). Most audio interfaces that include Instrument inputs often have two such combo inputs. For example, my PreSonus Studio 1810c has four mic/line inputs (plus four additional line inputs), two of which also support Instruments. I use Input 1 for bass, Input 2 for guitar and Inputs 3 and 4 for mics.
I also just noticed that you’re from Australia. I made three trips to Sydney in the late '90s on business, staying at the Hilton across the street from the QVB. I met and spoke with Mal Eastick in the Marble Room there. He’s a great guy and guitarist/singer. I also got to attend a show by the Bondi Cigars (awesome!) and a CD release party by the Mighty Reapers (Robert Susz). Sydney was a great music town. I loved it. And the John Dory (poisson Saint-Pierre)!
I have the Motu M4 interface and am already passing it through the interface onto gp then back out to both the foh and the bass amp…
But it does make me wonder if I need to even really worry about carting along the bass amp . Maybe I could just go straight into the Yamaha STAGEPAS 400
Are there subwoofers or something one can use as well? Would there still be a benefit with the bass amp you mentioned?
By the bass vst which ones do you mean? I use moto bass vst… but in keyboard playing context
I’m also using Neural amp modeler vst for my guitar and bass vst
Certainly interested in other options. Thanks!
(Glad you enjoyed Australia btw … I’m in Victoria… so the southern state!)
