"The venue has its own backline.."

[stickyfiddle]

FFNNNNRRR!!!

Hate it. They never have anything I'd ever choose to use. It's always Fender Twins or Marshall JCMs. Why not a standard AC30, or ANYTHING capable of middling dirt, rather than just super-clean or mega-filth? RAH!!!

AND breathe...

[erictheweary]

Your upmarket from me!

Standard supplied backline usually means a Valvestate!* I'd be made up if I got to a gig and there was Twin there.

Still , I have high hopes for this gig supporting members of OCS as PA and backline are supplied for that and , presumably, they have better stuff than some beaten up Valvestates...


* actually, last time it was a totally shitty Fender SS combo now I think about it.

[JackGriffiths]

Hate it. They never have anything I'd ever choose to use. It's always Fender Twins or Marshall JCMs.

This.

Except it's usually a Roland Jazz Chorus for me - a Twin would be a nice upgrade!

Of course, it would be a lot more expensive, but realistically it would be a good idea for at least the larger venues to start using systems like the Axe Fx, but to the financial minds behind these venues, an amp's an amp.

[thereformant]

for me ashdown bass combos and marshall MG's seem to be most common "venue backline". Mind you for our cheapskate bassplayer it just makes him feel at home

[ICBM]

I don't mind it usually. I can get a decent enough sound through a Marshall (even an MG100 and a crappy small-size 4x12") or a Twin... you just need to base 'your tone' around pedals or a preamp - at that point, a middling-dirt amp is often a disadvantage, if it doesn't play nice with your pedals. I'd much rather a super-clean sound than an amp that distorts in the wrong way. Which is very much a matter of taste... for example, I find the Fender Deluxe Reverb difficult to use, for me it's too glassy and becomes farty when pushed even to the relatively low volume I like, and yet many people love them and would probably jump at the chance to use one.

I don't even own a bass amp any more really (it's for sale in the shop), I'll use more or less anything provided. The only time I've ever come unstuck on that was when the house bass amp turned out to be an ancient 60W 1x12" Carlsbro - which I thought I would immediately kill, if I put my bass fuzz and filter pedals through - and the PA wasn't adequate for bass either... but very luckily I knew someone with a Trace Elliot 200W 4x10" only a few streets away.

Of course, taking my own gear is nicer, but it's a lot of work when most of the gigs I get are either unpaid or very poorly paid, and there is 'usable' gear there. At the end of the day an amp *is* just an amp, if it's loud enough and has controls that work effectively, which most do.