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Retooling my gig rig - 2nd amp or keep the PA?

I’m downsizing my travel rig from a Fender Champion 100 2x12 combo and Harbinger M60 sound system down to a Roland Micro Cube GX and possibly another battery-powered amp to run my vocal mic out of. Most places I play are either dive bars or small restaurants so I’m really rethinking the need for a sound system. I want to keep everything as portable as possible and I’m tired of lugging around a full rig. I just want to get some feedback on if I should ditch the PA and go with a small amp for vocals. Do most of you use a PA or do you run out of an amp? Thanks in advance!

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Permalink Reply by Cause the Blue rat on February 9, 2020 at 11:26am

Sound is sound. And if you sound bad it doesn't matter how well you sing or play. I'd ditch the 2x12 and go to a one in the same amp line. And perhaps downsize the speakers on the PA.

It's also about first impressions. If folks see a nice setup they will automatically think your good.

If you don't already have one get one of those fold down two wheel dolly to four wheel cart things. One with big wheels on the dolly side. Big wheels are a lot easier to go up and down steps.

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Permalink Reply by ChickenboneJohn on February 10, 2020 at 8:36am

The Roland StreetCube GX is a real winner for portability and light weight if you want a simple setup to run a guitar and vocals from one amp. It's not cheap, but it runs off 8 x AA batteries or mains and delivers 2 x 25Watts of power. I've used mine for gigs, festivals and busking and is plenty powerful to cover a lot of eventualities.

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Permalink Reply by Jimmie Earls on February 10, 2020 at 9:37am

Thanks for the input! I’m also seriously looking at running everything through a Fender Passport Mini which is more budget-friendly, but only has 7 watts opposed to 50 watts for the Street Cube EX. I definitely want something to run a vocal mic, guitar and iPad into. It will take me longer to save up for the Street Cube EX but it’s given me another option. Thanks!

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Permalink Reply by Taffy Evans on February 10, 2020 at 12:35pm

Hi Jimmie, late last year the band I played in was asked to reform for one special gig after many years of members being in different parts of Australia. Long story short...... we set up the stage as we always did, everybody's amp mixed into the PA......all except the bass player that is. He did not bring his bass rig this time, just a small pedal thingy that he plugged into and then into the PA along with the rest of us.

Every thing he needed fitted into his guitar case. I have forgotten what he called it now though.

Taff

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Permalink Reply by Jimmie Earls on February 10, 2020 at 1:07pm

Hi, Taffy! I’ve used a couple bass DI boxes to record albums and do live shows - mostly a Tech21 SansAmp Bass Driver DI and also the Ampeg SCR-DI pedal. The advantage of the Ampeg is it has an Aux input to use an iPad to play along with tracks plus a headphone jack.