Going Light!

[Brian Scherzer]

At 54 years of age, I have no interest in lugging around the kind of bass rig that I used to bring with me to gigs in the past. In the 1970s (during the "wall of sound" years), I used to need my own road crew to haul four Sunn 15" folded horn cabinets and two Ampeg SVT heads. My more modern rig of a few years ago was an Epifani 2x12" cabinet and an Ampeg SVT4-Pro head.......great sound, but truly back-breaking for someone who doesn't do weight lifting several times a week! Updating my rig recently meant looking at the realities of my age and the limitations of my vehicle and strength of arms. I figured that I would have to sacrifice tone to get a rig that I could carry myself. NOT true, thanks to modern technology!

I really liked my old Epifani 2x12" cabinet, but knew that I would have difficulty moving it around. I checked out the new Epifini cabinets, including the UL and Performance series cabs and was pleasantly surprised by what I brought home....a UL 1x15" cabinet with 400 watt speaker and 100 watt tweeter. I actually almost hurt my back when I lifted it......not because it weighed a tone, but because I was expecting a truly heavy load.....and it was incredibly light (43 lbs.)!

This Epifani cabinet is not only ultra light (thus, the "UL" designation), but it pumps out SERIOUS tone. Through the years, my experience with 15" speaker cabs was that they could be pretty mushy and needed another cabinet to get a full tone spectrum. This Epifani cab not only carries the low end very well, but has great punch and articulation, probably because of the great tweeter. For my current limited needs, I was debating between the 2x10" cab and the 1x15" cab. I found that I preferred the sound from the 1x15" because it had (to my ears) a fuller sound. I figure that I can always add a 1x10" cab or 2x10" cab later if I need that kind of air pressure!



Another surprise in the "going light" trend was what has happened to bass amps since I last seriously looked. I was seriously considering a used SWR 750 Pro head, but the weight was pretty close to a deal-breaker. Fortunately, technology has supplied us with the "Class D" amplifier. I ended up with a used EA iamp-500 head, which gives me 350 watts in an 8 ohm load and 500 watts into a 4 ohm load......at a total weight of 13 lbs! For $500 more, I could have purchased the 800 watt (4 ohm) head brand new, but being cost-conscious, I figured I could live with less headroom for the small clubs that I would likely play in.



The synergy between the head and cab is extremely good. The amp has more than enough tone-shaping capability, and the cabinet pushes out the sound in a surprisingly tight fashion to a 15" speaker-based cab. Best of all, the rig in total weighs less than just my old cabinet, so I'll still have energy to actually play once I'm set up! Bassists have a lot to be greatful for nowadays!

[The Golden Boy]

Brian, how does that Epifani 15 compare to an SWR or Eden 15? No place around here carries that stuff (I think one place might be a dealer, but they have nothing in stock), and I've been intrigued by the UL series stuff. I've "heard" that the Neo speakers are a lot more "hi-fi" than "regular" speakers. From some of the people I've heard it from, I get the feeling they're looking for an all together different sound than what I'm after. Opinions...

I love the sound of 15s, and I don't use the horns in my cabs... My back is cooked and I'd love an alternative to a 115 lb 2x15 cab. (the 2x15 is easier for me to tilt and push into the car than it is to deadlift a 92 pound 4x10...)

[Brian Scherzer]

Originally Posted by The Golden Boy

Brian, how does that Epifani 15 compare to an SWR or Eden 15? No place around here carries that stuff (I think one place might be a dealer, but they have nothing in stock), and I've been intrigued by the UL series stuff. I've "heard" that the Neo speakers are a lot more "hi-fi" than "regular" speakers. From some of the people I've heard it from, I get the feeling they're looking for an all together different sound than what I'm after. Opinions...

I love the sound of 15s, and I don't use the horns in my cabs... My back is cooked and I'd love an alternative to a 115 lb 2x15 cab. (the 2x15 is easier for me to tilt and push into the car than it is to deadlift a 92 pound 4x10...)

Not having tried out any of the new Eden or SWR cabinets, I can't give you an accurate comparison. If this helps, my previous tastes were "old school" Ampeg SVT and 8x10" cabinet as the "ultimate bass sound". The EA/Epifani combination is more modern sounding, yet, when playing with a Lakland Duck Dunn bass (P-Bass), I get a lot of that growl that I associate with the Ampeg gear. The sound coming from the cab is very tight. There is no "flab" coming out, and you can hear each note played as punchy and articulate. Fingerstyle playing carries through quite well, and if you turn up the tweeter, the slap bass style of playing comes through very distinctly. I actually preferred the 15" cabinet to the 2x10" that I thought I was going to purchase. You pay through the nose for the reduced weight (list price of $899) of the UL series cabinet, but the extra $300 was worth it when compared to the Epifani Performance Series 15" cabinet, which DID sound a bit flabbier than I would have been happy with. I wouldn't recommend that cab to you. Just to give you an idea of how easy the UL cab is to carry, my wife (5' 2" at age 54) took it out of the back seat of the car by herself without straining!

[The Golden Boy]

If it gives you a better idea of what I'm shooting for- kind of like a cross between McCartney's White Album tones with Geddy Lee's Moving Pictures/Temples of Syrinx tones.

[Brian Scherzer]

Originally Posted by The Golden Boy

If it gives you a better idea of what I'm shooting for- kind of like a cross between McCartney's White Album tones with Geddy Lee's Moving Pictures/Temples of Syrinx tones.

Depending on the bass and amp you use, I think that you can get pretty darn close to those tones.

[musicofanatic5]

As a fellow aging bass gigster with a high-mileage sacroliliac, I am with ya. For years I swore by my Boogie D-180 (tooobs, man!), but at over seventy pounds in a road case...c'mon! My most recent rig is a Thunderfunk 550-B (500 w @ 4 ohms-15 lbs!!) into one or two Aguilar 1-12" cabs (about 40lbs each). Most gigs I can get away with just one cab. I am all over the "hi-fi" sound with at least 85% of my gigs on upright bass. I like the sound coming out of the spkr being an accurate representation of what my bass sounds like. Since my old P-bass sounds so damn good I don't mind that this rig accurately represents that as well. Would like to try a Schroeder 2-12 cab (40 lbs). I can't wait till someone markets helium filled cabinets!
I have played Eden and SWR and they seem to have a eq emphasis built in so that when set "flat", they are actually not "flat". My Thunderfunk has a lotta eq knobs that are almost always set to true ruler flat.

[The Golden Boy]

Originally Posted by musicofanatic5

I can't wait till someone markets helium filled cabinets!

Made of Baltic Balsa plywood!!

[jokerjkny]

good stuff, brian!

nick designs and builds some fantastic cabs, and i'm a huge fan, too.

w/ the tweeter down on my ul112's, its amazing the vintage fat tones i can cop.

[mainsale]

I with ya' man! I recently picked up a pair of Bag End S-15D's and also have a Genz-Benz NeoX 212T and pick between these for my needs. I still have my G-B 410XB but it's a dust collector these days because of it's weight.