VE Sedan - Musicians advice please?

[H4Z4RD]

I stopped playing bass a while ago, but I've just come into an awesome deal on a bass head I couldn't pass up. At the same time a mate of mine has asked me to play in one of his bands. My problem is gonna be transporting bass cabinets around, I'm either going to have to fit a 4x10 or 6x10 in the boot or I'm going to end up switching to a ute.

Any bass players here who use their VE to cart their gear? How's the fit?

[SSV Redline]

Funny you should have that predicament as we had the same issue when buying a new car back in April of this year. We opted to buy a sportwagon which my wife has claimed as her personal vehicle when it is not being used for band reasons. Like you I too am a bass player and I need to cart my gear around. Originally I owned a Navarra dual cab ute and whilst it was convenient I couldn't leave the gear in the back of the ute. It wasn't safe, the sun was always beating down on it and there is a lot of dust on our roads, especially out back. You bust your arse to pack away your gear after a gig, often in the early hours of the morning only to have to unpack it when you get home. We opted for an enclosed trailer towed behind the ute. Now the gear would stay in the trailer until I am refreshed and ready to unpack it the next day or unpack it the day after that. My rig consists of two 4x10 cabs, two 2x15 cabs, a six rack case for amp, power conditioner, wireless receivers, tuner and pre-amp. I also cart a case that holds three basses, a personal lighting rig, an airconditioner built into a fold back, and a laptop monitor built into a foldback. I also have a 12 channel mixing desk so I can mix my own in-ears monitor feed. That's a lot of gear. If you are not carting that much then a lockable, enclosed trailer might be overkill. I would certainly recommend you never leave gear in a ute. Especially outside music shops, at shopping centres or for extended periods in pub carparks. They are so easy to break into. I have heard so many horror stories from other muso's who have lost gear from locked ute's.
If you are limiting your gear to an amp, a cab, two basses (always cart a spare) and a bag of bits then a sportwagon is your best bet. The cars airconditioning keeps the heat away from your gear, you can leave gear in your car and IMO the ride is better. There's also a place for groupies. Dont laugh or sigh. There is always groupies. I met my wife while playing bass on a stage on the beach at Surfers Paradise on NYE 1987. She followed me back to the UK, we got married in 1988 and now we live in Brisvegas. Never knock a groupie.
So, you own a sedan and the boot opening is designed for golf clubs or suit cases and not 4x10 / 6X10 bass cabs. Can I suggest you sell the 4x10 and buy two 2x10 cabinets. They are easier to lift, they fit in the boot or back seat a lot easier, you can use one as a bass cab and one as a monitor for the smaller gigs. There will be two speaker-out jacks on the back of your amp. By using both jacks you are maximising the output capabilities of your head. It's a little more technical than so talk to the guys on basstalk.com about ohms and amps.

I'm as old scholl as they come. 6X10 cab's, 8x10 cabs (nicknamed Henry's afetr Henry the 8th) are heavy, cumbersome to move around and not required in venues anymore. If you need a bigger sound then the PA will have sub's to do that work for you. If you want a bigger sound on stage then perhaps a 2x10 and a 1x15 matched to your amp head will be just the ticket. There is one last option. Ask your drummer and or guitarist to cart the cab for you and save the frustration of trying to make it fit in the boot of your sedan.
Rock on man!

[H4Z4RD]

Thanks buddy.

Yeah your rig sounds like my old rig. 2 8x10s and a 2x15, 2 heads, all Ampeg. 3 basses with assorted tuners, racks etc. There's no kill like overkill!

Yeah nothing beats a good 8x10 in my opinion. But they're completely pointless apart from how cool they look. Will be looking into some Accugroove cabs, I've played some of their single units and they are INSANE. fairly sure I could just have it on the back seat if worse comes to worse.

Thanks mate!


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[TraidMarc]

If your going to change car then the sportwagon makes way more sense than the ute.