Well friends, as you may know if you've read my other post I have a Mackie sound system I've been using for my Stick and band but my band is breaking up and I've been made a great offer for my sound system so because i think sound systems are the best way to amp a Stick I went shopping and ended up picking up a single Peavey PR-15 P powered front end speaker. (I can live without stereo!) I initially didn't think I'd be impressed with anything Peavey but I'm happily surprised, it's great and cost under $400. I got it on sale (new) for $339. It has a 15" woofer and a horn (tweeter) and is internally bi-amped with 200 WTS peak, 150 continous power to the woofer and 70 WTS peak, 50 wts continous to the tweeter horn. So under regular play conditions it's 200 WTS total. It's crossed over internally like the Mackie systems and weights 47 lbs.

One of the best features of this powered speaker are the inputs. You can run the cabinet line or mic level (Greg recently explained the difference to me! ) and the speaker has 3 inputs. One is a combination XLR/1/4" TRS input and the other two are 1/4" unbalanced inputs. All 3 inputs have their own volume controls on the back of the amp so you can actually use this powered speaker cab as an amp without using a mixing board. You can plug your Stick directly into the cabinet or go from your Stick into your effects then into the cabinet. You don't need to run a seperate sound board however one thing the speaker is missing is an active EQ and effects so if you want to EQ or run effects you'll have to supply them.

Tonight I tried it using my small 6 channel Mackie sound board. It sounded really nice ... very full range and plenty loud. And the 15" woofer handeled some very respectable low end. I think it would push bass guitar at most stage volumes as well as any 200WT bass amp. In a few days I should have a Rane AP13 unit and I intend to use that to process my Stick along with two Zoom A2 peddles and a DR-880 drum machine with COSM guitar modeling. Even WITHOUT using the Mackie sound board it should work great.

So in short ... Although I've only spent a few hours playing though this Peavey PR-15P powered front end speaker I'm very impressed and I think this type of powered speaker is perfect as a Stick amp. And with this particular speaker you don't even need to buy a sound board and you have more then enough power for live performance and IMO very good quality sound in all ranges except the sub woofer range. Something to consider.

In addition to our Acoustic Image Contra amps, we use two Peavey PR-10 speakers for the larger gigs. I also ran direct into the cabs just for fun, and the tone was surprisingly good. Only 29 lbs to boot! We got these speakers when we downsized our rigs from the huge SWR stacks to what we have now. My back and my van thank me every time!

Lately, I've been thinking of taking it a step further. I recently had the opportunity to plug into one of those Bose L1 tower PAs. Man!! I just plugged straight into it and was greeted with awesome Stick tone. Tight bass, clear highs. And it sounded the same 30 feet away as it did standing right in front of it. Very impressive. To think of going to a gig "ampless", with just the pedalboards and the Bose tower was a nice thought indeed. Anyone have experience with one of these systems?

I tried one in the store ... my only issue with it is the price tag. VERY tempting though.

I have been waiting to see if any Stick players are going the Bose route. I am seriously considering getting rid of my Aguilar rig/Mackie set up for 2 Bose bass bins and a tower (would want to add another tower down the road for stereo). You felt the bass fundamental was strong and that you could "feel" it?

Most definitely. The bass was "all there". I was only using one bass module at the time, and it was turned down pretty low.

With the Bose I think one thing I wonder about is application. Would it carry enough bass and volume if you were using it to cover the bass role in a rock or prog rock band with your Stick? I have no doubt it would be amazing as a solo Stick amp and probably at jazz band volumes but what if you really need some thump! The Peavey PR15 P's would definitely cover that job and at the price of the Bose with two bass modules you could buy 4 Peavey PR 15 P's with stands and place them in different parts of the room!!!

Well, although this thread has been quit for some time now, I would like to ask for some thoughts/suggestions.

I currently run my stick through a pod X3live which works fine for me. It models bass-amps, guitar-amps (and cabs as well for both) and has lots of effects (stomp, modulation, delay, reverb etc). At home, I use a headphone and at rehearsal, I plug the X3 into the sound system which is there.

But I want to have my own amp-rig. I've been thinking of the following setup and am curious for your opinions/suggestions in this.

Output of the X3Live (i.e. left:bass right:melody) to a PA-amp (i.e. Cerwin Vega 1800), have bass side connected to Hartke 4.5XL cabinet and melody side to a Orange PPC212-OB cabinet. If needed, i can switch off the cab simulation on the X3
In a way, having transparant amplification (tone shaping already done by the X3) and speakercabinets matched for bass and melody...and besides that, I can also use it for the regular bass-guitar (hack, even guitar if needed)

Hartke 4.5XL : 4x10" + 5" tweeter, 400W (8Ohm), range 30Hz - 12000Hz
I think this bass cabinet would be a nice choice, cause it's upper frequency range goes all the way to 12kHz. I already have the 410 XL from Hartke for my bass guitar which I think sounds very clear already
The Orange cabinet ? Well, 2 Celestion vintage 30 speakers and i'm just a sucker for Orange

What do you people think about such a setup ?

Cheers,
BasV

I seem to always start reviewing my setup whenever something new comes along...but then I have to temper the thoughts with cost vs return (whether monetary or artistic) and practicality. For me I have found a modular approach to work best.

Currently I am playing mostly bass on gigs, so I wanted a rig that could definately handle bass in a hi-energy rock situation yet be scalable enough to handle a small lounge and could work well with Bass and/or Stick. So, I decided on two of the newer Hartke HyDrive 410 cabinets. They have a horn in them but don't seem as harsh as other horns in other cabinets I've played. Also - they are a LOT lighter then the 410xl's I used to use. For straight bass gigs I run a bass pre into a power amp into either one or two cabinets. Works fine. I can also run Stick into the rig as well - I just plug the bass pre into the expansion input on the SP13 and then everything goes to the power amp and speakers - either stereo or mono. (In another thread I detailed the way I can connect a lot of stuff thru the SP-13). The melody side of the Stick sounds great, to me anyways, through the 10''s in the cabinets.

However for a more 'hi-fidelity' sound I substitute two Acme Low B2 cabinets for the HyDrives. The sound is fantastic. This system though has a hard time keeping up with the hi-energy rock band but works fine in my other cover band. Actually for some gigs I probably could get away with the Low B1's (single 10, 5" mid and 1" tweeter) but I've exceeded my cabinet allowance for the year . I also have an AI Coda RIII for very small gigs - and I can drive any of the cabinets from it.

The Mackie SRM450's, JBL Eons, Peavy PR series - all seem to be good fidelity speaker systems. The same with the Bose system - which seems to be an awesome concept. However, if I were you I would write down exactly what you need the system to do and compare features from ones that you are considering. And make sure they can move enough air for the job. It's so much easier to do if you are in a group situation where the stage volume is reasonable. Louder volumes tend to stress the system - you don't want to be blowing out components because you have to push it too hard to keep up.

Dave

Has anyone stopped by the Phil Jones page these days?
Wow. As soon as I have 10,000 dollars I'll have to go back...
Check this one out:
http://www.philjonespuresound.com/PJWeb11_LS1800.aspx
By the way I love my briefcase. Its been my "Stick amp" for a while now...

I guess I'm too much of a skeptic. That would have to be beyond belief to be worth $10,000. For that much money there are lots of things you could have. And it doesn't look like it is powered, at least they don't talk about that and you'd think they would.

-Eric