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UNPLANNED DOWNTIME: 12th Oct 23:45

Decent bass tones without mains power

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JCA2550JCA2550 Frets: 417
in Bass
Doing a gig next week with my 4 piece group providing ambient folky background music, bass, acoustic guitars, fiddle  voice etc at a small food festival. No mains power available but still want to play electric bass. What have you tried as an amplification solution that sounds decent without shelling out daft money?
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  • ICBMICBM Frets: 69426
    Roland Bass Micro Cube.

    Not the cheapest, but absolutely brilliant.

    "Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski

    "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

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  • KristoKristo Frets: 120
    ICBM said:
    Roland Bass Micro Cube.

    Not the cheapest, but absolutely brilliant.
    I use one of these and completely agree. 
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  • JCA2550JCA2550 Frets: 417
    Hmm! £300 though
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  • ICBMICBM Frets: 69426
    edited June 2023
    Ouch! I paid £100 for mine second hand…

    They seem to be going for £200+ now. I would probably pay that, given how good it is, but it’s a painful rise.

    "Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski

    "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

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  • fretmeisterfretmeister Frets: 22257
    The 4 speaker one has been discontinued.

    The new 2 speaker version is the £300 version.

    Demos sound ace, but at that money, that’s a used Markbass head! 
    SPEAKER IMPEDENCE CALCULATOR
    https://speakerimpedance.co.uk/?act=two_parallel&page=calculator
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  • ICBMICBM Frets: 69426
    fretmeister said:

    Demos sound ace, but at that money, that’s a used Markbass head! 
    But which won't run on batteries...

    The amazing thing is that the Roland (it's the 4-speaker one I have) not only sounds very good, it produces a usable volume *even outdoors* from six AA batteries and a claimed power output of 5W, which is quite remarkable really - there's definitely some sophisticated processing going on to achieve that, as well as the surprisingly heavy box and speakers. It's a very specialist product for a specific job - although admittedly, I mostly use mine on the power adaptor so I *could* take a 'normal' amp if I wanted... but it's still smaller and lighter than my 'normal' amp, which itself is a modern lightweight 1x10" combo.

    "Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski

    "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

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  • pintspillerpintspiller Frets: 992
    Are they amplifying vocals? Roland seems go-to for buskers in general.
    Trading feedback -http://thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/80357/pintspiller#latest
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  • JCA2550JCA2550 Frets: 417
    pintspiller said:
    Are they amplifying vocals?
    Usually, yes, but usually we have power laid on. In the end we did the gig fully "acoustic", apart from me who plugged the bass into a battery powered Roland busking amp that I borrowed for the day. Did the job okay.
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  • pintspillerpintspiller Frets: 992
    @JCA2550 they sound like a good investment if busking for anybody (not all councils I believe allow amplified busking). I've been playing almost 40 years so unlikely to start now
    Trading feedback -http://thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/80357/pintspiller#latest
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  • spev11spev11 Frets: 214
    If your still looking for a 4 speaker Roland RX bass cube I've got one for sale, swapped it with my mate for a telebass I'd made. Was going to keep it but I've bought a Dual Cube LX for guitar/portable use. Drop me a message if your interested ( I haven't decided on a price yet but it will be less than £200)
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  • stickyfiddlestickyfiddle Frets: 24852
    edited June 2023
    Yamaha THR30ii? Not super cheap but sounds great and would still be useful afterwards?

    My bandmates are usually amazed when I show up places with a little thing like that and don't even need to plug it in :)
    The Assumptions - UAE party band for all your rock & soul desires
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  • JCA2550JCA2550 Frets: 417
    stickyfiddle said:
    Yamaha THR30ii? Not super cheap but sounds great and would still be useful afterwards?

    My bandmates are usually amazed when I show up places with a little thing like that and don't even need to plug it in :)
    Hmm, I  admit the whole THR thing is appealing, how long can it be used on one charge I wonder? £450 is similar money to the Fishman Loudbox Mini Charge, if I didn't already have the regular Loudbox mini, I might have gone down that route?
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  • stickyfiddlestickyfiddle Frets: 24852

    JCA2550 said:
    stickyfiddle said:
    Yamaha THR30ii? Not super cheap but sounds great and would still be useful afterwards?

    My bandmates are usually amazed when I show up places with a little thing like that and don't even need to plug it in :)
    Hmm, I  admit the whole THR thing is appealing, how long can it be used on one charge I wonder? £450 is similar money to the Fishman Loudbox Mini Charge, if I didn't already have the regular Loudbox mini, I might have gone down that route?
    Yamaha’s spec says “up to 5 hours”. I’ve never used mine quite that long in one go but I’ve definitely gone to around 4 and never had it run out. 
    The Assumptions - UAE party band for all your rock & soul desires
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  • JCA2550JCA2550 Frets: 417
    Update time. I got the Loudbox Mini Charge in the end and it seems every bit as good as the regular version but mainsless. So far very happy. Time to get rid of the old one.
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