It looks like I might be able to get a Stick in the next few months, so I'm reevaluating old plans.

I had always envisioned playing Stick at home with no gigging whatsoever. This is far and away the most likely scenario for my Stick usage, but should I concern myself more with portability?

I could always develop a live rig later, sort of like start-up costs for gigging, but I would like to hear the perspective of Stickists:

1. What strategy did you use for your outboard gear?
2. How much trouble was it to revise that strategy later?
3. Have you found yourself performing more than you would have expected?
4. Is the Stick sufficiently unique to make any practitioner a potential performer?

For reference, this is what I plan to use my with my future Stick:

• Melody Side: Carvin's V3M guitar amp head playing through Carvin's 212S guitar speaker cabinet (the two are available as a discounted pair)
• Bass Side: Carvin's BX500 bass amp head playing through Carvin's BRX15.3 3-Way bass speaker cabinet (the two are available as a discounted pair)

Have you any comments on this gear? I selected the massive speaker cabinet because it is the only one I have found which can accurately reproduce B0.

To answer question 4: yes, even with limited skills, a stickplayer will wow an audience. Try a jam session or an open mic night. The moment you appear with the stick (and i mean still offstage but visible for people) you will attract attention, pretty cool if you ask me. I was used to being a bassplayer 'pre-stick' so mostly no attention whatsoever hahaha!


Cheers,
Bas

That is both encouraging and bothersome, simultaneously. Both of those heads are rack mountable...


And so began his quest for a reasonably portable bass speaker cabinet capable of reaching 31Hz.

To me, still very much a beginner, it's very simple, and it's what I'm doing:
Right now my "rig" consists of 2 combo amps. I have an Ibanez Soundwave 80 bass amp, and a Line 6 Spider IV 30-watt. Until the day comes (very far down the road) when I'm able to gig, this is perfectly suited to me learning, and both amps have enough "oomph" to eventually cover a potential one-man or duo gig in a small room setting.
Beyond that, who knows what the future foretells? My dual-combo-amp setup might just be enough for the rest of my career. I'll consider outboard effects IF and ONLY IF I see the value, the need to have them.
Don't try to plan too far out, and don't try to think too much about it now, before you even know what it is you might need. A good musician will get a good sound out of their instrument no matter what the rig - become a good Stick player first, and let the answers to gear questions present themselves as time goes on.

I think you should have the gear that you want to shape your sound, that being said, this is going to be a "big rig" (that's what she said!). Go for it!!! Best of luck to you

Yeah, I had pretty much decided on a big rig to start. Emphasizing proper frequency response for the Stick's range and amp voicing flexibility, I had no concern for size because I was treating the rig like furniture.

Reading about various Stickists' house concerts is what got me to consider size and weight, but it's looking like the extreme low end of the Stick's bass side in Classic 12 is going to greatly disrupt the gig rig concept. On a related note, I can't stand how difficult it is to find frequency response specifications for bass speaker cabs and combos.

Well, I have spent hours researching bass speaker cabinets, bass amplifier combos, and multi-driver loudspeaker design (I do so love my books).

I have worked out this much thus far:

• Bass Amplifier Head: Carvin's BX1500, which will bi-amp the following at 450W per speaker cabinet:
  • Middle Frequency/High Frequency Speaker Cabinet: Carvin's BR210-4
  • Low Frequency Speaker Cabinet: Carvin's BR118-4
• Rack Case: Carvin's 12U Road Warrior case, which will house:
  • The amplifier head for the melody side
  • The amplifier head for the bass side
  • Carvin's AC120S Power Conditioner

The bass equipment listed above is available as a discounted full stack.

I know a lot less extravagant equipment than I have discussed here has suited Stickists for decades, but I just do not see the point of being able to play a note at 31Hz if my speakers will not be able to reproduce it.

When I selected my computer speakers recently, using quite an unorthodox approach, I made sure to get a subwoofer which would honestly hit 31Hz at a decent volume: I don't understand why it is so much harder to do that in the bass performance world (as opposed to bass playback). For what it is worth, high definition YouTube videos of Stick performances sound absolutely amazing through these speakers. Bob Culbertson's A Moment in Time is mesmerizing, to mention just one of the many great Stick performances available on YouTube (thanks folks). It would be nice if I could apply this same "designed for Stick" approach to a performance rig.

I feel I have already written too much in this post as it is, but I feel I should point out that I am going to research building a full range speaker cabinet capable of doing justice to the various Sticks' 31-1760Hz range (allowing for harmonics as well, of course). I do not expect to be able to compete with lesser solutions with regard to size and weight, but I may well surprise myself.

I hate to keep replying to my own thread when no one else is, but such is life.

Firstly, let me say that the speaker cabinet research project is moot. Improving the frequency response relative to current designs would do a musicians no favors in terms of size and weight: that is physics here on Earth.

Secondly, I have found a small and light full range bass cabinet that goes as low (with as much volume) as the larger cabinets I had considered. As such, a genuinely easy to haul Gig Rig has been formed:

Melody Side

• Combo Amplifier: Carvin's V3MC, 16" x 9.3" x 17.75" @ 36 pounds

Bass Side

• Rack Enclosure: Carvin's 4U Road Warrior, 21" x 19" x 8.75" @ 23 pounds
• Power Conditioner: Carvin's AC120S, rackmounted @ 11 pounds
• Amplifier Head: Carvin's BX500, rackmounted @ 5.8 pounds
• Speaker Cabinet: Barefaced Bass's Big Baby T, 19.5" x 13.5" x 25.5" @ 36 pounds

Dimensions are in inches, WxDxH, and that will leave 1U in the rack for whatever I may want down the road.

The only problem with this plan, as of this writing, is the cost: this rig will cost at least as much as my Grand Stick.

Just a principle to ponder...

Playing an electric instrument is all about moving air. An instrument such as The Stick has a pronounced attack and strong fundamental. Many sound systems and MI amplifiers boost the highs and lows to create an artificial presence for basses, guitars and voices. These are exactly the frequencies The Stick is already strong in, so I would suggest that you think most about midrange presence when thinking about a rig.

These days, I'm really enjoying playing through a Fender Deluxe Reverb guitar amp on the the melody side. The sound is clear but surrounds me with yummy tube goodness. For the bass side a Bag End S15XL-D, which is a physically deep rear ported two-way bass cabinet, has the same quality, clear articulation, but a surrounding sound that envelopes me and the listener.

Just thought I'd pass along the reason I like using this gig-oriented system rather than playing through studio monitors, etc.

Thanks for the advice, Greg. I will bear that in mind as I continue to mull over my options; I will be lucky to have the funds by the end of this year, with the Stick purchase being prioritized.

Have you experienced any difficulties playing through an open back combo? I have found that open backs tend to be a little too room sensitive, hence my plan to use a closed back combo. Come to think of it, I seem to recall you advising Stickists to practice with high gain; how do you accomplish that playing a Deluxe Reverb?

What bass head do you run into the Bag End 1x15?

I remember that Bob Culbertson told me that he plays mono through a PA (changing it up for certain situations), and I think I remember Rob Martino plays through a Fishman SA220 PA. Bob advised me to look up what Tom Griesgraber has written about Stick signal chains, but I never found it.

Man, I love the Stick community.