New rig vs. old - need input and suggestions ....

Started by luve2fli, February 05, 2009, 01:31:19 PM

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luve2fli

Due to the fact that I'm doing mostly small clubs and medium sized shows with a heavy emphasis on Upright, I'm thinking of revamping the entire rig. I'm looking for something a little lighter, more versatile, compact and portable. I have some ideas the direction to go in but ......... suggestions? Here's what I've got right now:

Practice Amp/Upright gigs - Fender Sidekick 60B SS combo
Medium venues - Ampeg SVTIII head into a single 300W Yorky 1x15
Bigger gigs - Racked Ampeg SVTIII preamp into Yammy pwr amp into single 300W Yorky 1x15

The direction I want to go in is to sell the Fender combo, the SVTIII head and the Yorky 15 and go to the following:

Practice Amp/Upright gigs/Small to Med. venues - GB Shuttle 3.0 (or 6.0?) into a single 8 ohm 12"
Medium to bigger gigs - Racked Ampeg SVTIII preamp into Yammy pwr amp into 2, 12" 8 ohm cabs

The questions for me right now are:

1) What 12" cabs to get? I've researched Avatar, GB, Traynor and Markbass ..... so far (pricewise), it looks like a toss-up between Avatar and Traynor BUT I haven't tried either. My big concern is buying sight unseen (single 12" cabs aren't real popular in these here parts). How will a single 12" sound with an Underwood-equipped Upright? With my Jazz and Precision basses?
2) What's up with the Shuttle? I'm hearing really good things about them but I've also seen a class-D head by Carvin for a little less that's getting good reviews too ...... and I'd really like to know if the tube in the Shuttle 6.0 makes it really that much better than the 3.0. OR, should I just look at keeping the head and replacing the single 15 with 2, 12" cabs ...... ?

Ugh. Now I know why I've stuck with my rig for so long. If it wasn't for the fact that I'm too freakin' old to be lugging around all this gear, I wouldn't change a thing but I REALLY need to downsize. So .... any and all feedback you can give me on 12" cabs and the various makes of class-D heads would be GREATLY appreciated - in particular, the ones mentioned above.


"I think it's only proper that I play until the last note of a set, then fall over and die. The band won't have to play an encore and they'll still get paid for the gig" (Dr. John)

rahock

#1
I've got an Avatar 2 12" w/tweeter cabinet and I'm really happy with it. I did have some issues with a screwed up speaker , which Avatar took care of with  no hassle. Avatar uses wood screws to mount the speakers,and I don't like that practice. So when I replaced the speaker, I replaced the wood screws with T-Bolt anchors and I would highly recommend doing this to anyone with an Avatar cabinet. It's a 500watt cabinet with Eminence deltas. I power it with a strong 400watt Seymour Duncan head and I couldn't be happier. Very light , sounds great at high or low volume and the price was right even with the minor hassle of replacing the wood screws.
I was using a 1 15" Seymour Ducan cab with an older  Eminence speaker which I still use . It's a very well designed great sounding cabinet , but the 2 12" beats it. The 12" Deltas get nice tight lows , so you won't miss the 15 , you can get more volume than 1 15" and it also sounds better at low volume.
BTW: I run the tweeter at very low volume. That is not just a matter of taste, tweeters tend to blow if you wind them up. 
Rick