Small Rig Question

Boo Bernstein · Post by **Boo Bernstein** » 18 Jul 2010 8:48 am

I am doing a lot of "fly-to" dates at the moment -- most of them in Mexico. Unfortunately, the backline amps are usually terrible. Generally, they are Roland Chorus amps -- but really bad ones that distort very easily especially on a big stage.

I have been thinking about the idea of getting a powerful small amp -- like the GK MB200 that was recently discussed -- and using the speakers of the Roland. How easy/difficult would that be? I usually have a very short period of time to set up so it would have to be a very simple process. Also, does anyone know the impedance of the two 12's in a Roland would be?

Thanks -- I look forward to your input.

Boo

Bo Borland · Post by **Bo Borland** » 18 Jul 2010 10:15 am

Hi Boo, nice work on the new Chesnutt cd !

Dave Grafe · Post by **Dave Grafe** » 18 Jul 2010 10:32 am

4 ohms

Boo Bernstein · Post by **Boo Bernstein** » 18 Jul 2010 10:37 am

Thanks so much for the kind words, Bo. I shared steel duties with an old friend, Gary Morse, on the record!

Bo, not to highjack my own post, but I'm originally from NJ ... "Bo" and "Boo" would surely get mixed up if I still lived there!

Dave -- thanks for that info. Very helpful.

If anyone has any input on the original post about the ease -- or lack thereof -- of hooking up to the Roland speakers, that would be greatly appreciated.

Boo

Raybob Bowman · Post by **Raybob Bowman** » 18 Jul 2010 4:37 pm

I'm building a nice 2x6L6 head that is similar to the Super Reverb and the Vibroverb in a head only cabinet. There is a selectable ohms switch on the back to run 2,4, or 8 ohms, depending on the cabinet you use. There's also a switch on rear changing capacitors and resistor from Super to Vibroberb. That's easily transportable and can be used with most any speaker combination and works real good with pedal steel.

http://tube-tone.com/supervibe.php

Jerry Hayes R.I.P. · Post by **Jerry Hayes R.I.P.** » 21 Jul 2010 1:09 pm

Raybob, are you building those for sale?....JH in Va.

Raybob Bowman · Post by **Raybob Bowman** » 22 Jul 2010 2:28 pm

Yes Jerry, these are for sale. Two sold in US and one in Croatia to pedal steel/slide guitarist Davor Rodik. Davor uses it for slide guitar. $1370 plus shipping.

Bill Myers · Post by **Bill Myers** » 2 Aug 2010 6:27 am

If you would like a nice power little amp...I have used a Genz Benz shuttle 6.0 with a EH holy grail in the effects loop. It's about as big as a cigar box and weighs 3-4 pounds. You can get a nice little gig bag they make for them that will let you put you cables, volume pedal and reverb pedal with in the gig bag. YOu would need to make a cable to plug onto the Roland speakers...and watch that you don't blow them. The old JC120's wouldn't handle too much power. The little shuttle amps can be had in 300, 600 and 900 watt versions.

Boo Bernstein · Post by **Boo Bernstein** » 2 Aug 2010 7:17 pm

Thanks for the suggestion, Bill. The real question is whether it would be easy/feasible to tap into the speakers in the Roland. There's never a lot of time during line-check/soundcheck to play around with things -- it's often pretty down and dirty.

That said, a friend of mine who plays bass has one of those GB amps and loves it. Ultimately, I think I'll end up with a rig like that for playing in the States where I can stuff the whole thing into a gig bag and just tote a speaker!

Scott Appleton · Post by **Scott Appleton** » 2 Aug 2010 7:49 pm

ZT amplifiers makes one called The Club 200 watts 12" speaker .. external speaker jack EFX loop .. vintage tone stack .. sounds great ..22 lbs 12" by 15 by 19.25.

Olli Haavisto · Post by **Olli Haavisto** » 2 Aug 2010 11:34 pm

Boo,
I`ve played gigs using the Roland as a powered speaker, using just a preamp and effects , plugged into the effects return of the Roland. I don`t remember how it is labeled but I think the return is stereo since the amp has two power amps.
My fly-in rig now is just a Sansamp Blonde preamp pedal with Digitech delay and rev pedals on a little pedaboard that fits in a pack-a-seat.

http://tinyurl.com/2e2w4z2

Alexa Gomez · Post by **Alexa Gomez** » 3 Aug 2010 1:34 am

Hi Boo,

Don't know if you've heard of the lunchbox amp. I haven't tried one, but they look like what you describe...

http://www.lunchboxamp.com/

Hope this helps.

Alexa

David Griffin · Post by **David Griffin** » 3 Aug 2010 9:54 am

Boo: I think the biggest problem in Mexico/Central America is lousy power. Hopefully it's better now,but I doubt it. I did some touring in the early '80s in Honduras and the low voltage made our amps sound like toys. We used the old Peterson strobe tuners back then & they were totally unusable. You might look into some sort of voltage regulator,I think Furman has 3 models. They're pricy,but they might make the rented backline sound tolerable. And you wouldn't have to worry about packing an amp along.

Matthew Carlin · Post by **Matthew Carlin** » 3 Aug 2010 9:13 pm

Hey Boo,

I took a nod from the Randy Beavers/Olli post on this one and I've found it to be a nice grab and go rig...

http://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopi ... ch++blonde

Tech 21 Blonde Pre and The Furlong SPLIT Powered Cab... Just add a reverb or delay pedal of your choosing and your in business ....500 watts under 40lbs.

Contact TC he'd be glad to give you the low down on his amps....

http://www.tcfurlongcustom.com/

Randy Beavers · Post by **Randy Beavers** » 8 Aug 2010 1:17 pm

Hey Olli, any chance of you posting a picture of your pedalboard? I've been thinking of something small like that, but I haven't seen anything readily available.

Bill Dobkins · Post by **Bill Dobkins** » 8 Aug 2010 1:39 pm

Alexa Gomez wrote:Hi Boo,

Don't know if you've heard of the lunchbox amp. I haven't tried one, but they look like what you describe...

http://www.lunchboxamp.com/

Hope this helps.

Alexa

Alexa, How did you like the Lunch box.
BD

Darvin Willhoite · Post by **Darvin Willhoite** » 8 Aug 2010 5:11 pm

Here's my lightweight rig, an Acoustic Image SL-R amp and a 15" Eminence Neo speaker in a lightweight custom cabinet. The whole rig weighs about 20 lbs. and sounds great in my opinion. The amp puts out 350 watts at 2 ohms, and this speaker is 4 ohms so I'm probably getting 200 - 250 watts. I know it was plenty loud on an outside gig I played a while back. This amp model has been discontinued, but they pop up used occasionally on Ebay.

Darvin Willhoite · Post by **Darvin Willhoite** » 8 Aug 2010 5:28 pm

Randy, I couldn't find a pedalboard like I wanted, so I built my own. It won't fit in a pack-a-seat, but it is small. I've changed pedals in it a few times, but the picture of it sitting by the Super Pro is the current configuration, that I'm happy with it. It has a Boss RV-3, a Boss CE-5 Chorus, an Electro Harmonix Nano Small Stone Phase Shifter, and an old non-LED Proco Ratt distortion. I put a volume pedal loop in it so I could feed the distortion ahead of the VP. The pedal jacks are normalled so I can use the pedal ahead of it if I want. All of the wiring is hid under a false bottom and the power supply stores in the lid with a velcro strip. I use long zip ties to hold the pedals down, velcro is too unreliable to hold the pedals in place.

Alexa Gomez · Post by **Alexa Gomez** » 8 Aug 2010 6:01 pm

Hi Bill,

Haven't had a chance to drop by Guitar Center and try the Lunchbox amp, but will so, soon. I'm interested in comparing the Lunchbox electric versus acoustic amps, since the latter has all the features of the former, with the addition of feedback control and a plate reverb. Will let you all know what I discover.

That said, I did an impromptou gig last evening using a Pignose and it filled the bar area rather nicely with decent bass and this super bright treble with it turned up about half way.

I got several compliments, so I'm thinking the only real advantage the Lunchbox may be it's volume and features. Plus it being so portable.

Steve Alcott · Post by **Steve Alcott** » 8 Aug 2010 6:54 pm

That's a real subway rig there, Darvin-I use the same amp, but with a Marrs cab. Can't be beat for that power-to-weight ratio.

Olli Haavisto · Post by **Olli Haavisto** » 9 Aug 2010 2:02 am

Hi Randy,

I feel silly posting a pic of my board since all my boards are just carpet covered pieces of plywood. Velcro on the pedals attaches to the carpet. I have several in different sizes and just drop in the pedals I need for the job at hand. I use One Spot for power. I`ve removed one divider from the seat to fit the board.
So, here it is anyway.
BTW, have you used the Blondie on gigs ? Still happy with it?

Randy Beavers · Post by **Randy Beavers** » 9 Aug 2010 5:29 am

Olli, I love simplicity! That's all you need. Easy to trace down a bad cable cause you can see everything. And you don't have to plug and unplug everything, every time you set up and tear down.

Yes, I've used the "Blonde" on some fly gigs and it sounded great. It doesn't have the output of my other preamps, but enough to get the job done. I have to be careful not to hit it with too much signal or it breaks up.

I had a great fly-in gig with backline this last weekend. We were in Lisle, IL, which is a suburb of Chicago. The Backline company rented the steel rig from TC Furlong.

It included a Sarno Classic Tube Pre, Lemay pre, Lexicon MPX1, TC Electronic Classic Delay, and two VB12 SPLIT powered speaker cabinets! For me this was the ultimate backline!

Roger Crawford · Post by **Roger Crawford** » 9 Aug 2010 5:59 am

You could replace the seperate reverb and delay pedals with an RP155 and lighten your load some more.

Olli Haavisto · Post by **Olli Haavisto** » 9 Aug 2010 6:13 am

Yes you could. It`s a matter of personal preference,though. I`ve used all sorts of multi effects and still do, sometimes. But when it comes to on-the-fly adjustments, separate boxes are hard to beat. I would be happy if I never had to scroll through a menu again.....

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