How many people gig with 1x12 combos?

PolarityMan

The other thing I hate about not mic'ing is that the FoH sound changes as you step in front of your amp

Megii

All my amps are 1x12 combos - a Polytone Minibrute is the main one, also an old Yamaha G50-112 and a Roland Cube 80XL. They seem to handle any gig I do, though occasionally we take a line out into the PA just to spread the sound a bit. But I play jazz - doubt I ever get anywhere near rock guitar kind of volume levels...

siraxeman

I usually always gig 2 amps both 2x12 and have no troubles with hearing or spread lol. .. my other band mate/guitarist always used his TSL601 and I never have any trouble hearing him. .. But he's cranked up really loud to get that effect. My amps are both clean (ac30 is only on 2 or3 tops! ! )and use pedals for dirt.... Still both sound good.

ICBM

siraxeman said:

I usually always gig 2 amps both 2x12 and have no troubles with hearing or spread lol. .. my other band mate/guitarist always used his TSL601 and I never have any trouble hearing him. .. But he's cranked up really loud to get that effect. My amps are both clean (ac30 is only on 2 or3 tops! ! )and use pedals for dirt.... Still both sound good.

I'm amazed you can even hear him - you must be very moderate with your volume! That TSL601 is the weakest, quietest "60W" valve guitar amp I've ever heard.

IvisonGuitars

ICBM said:

SquireJapan said:

You're the first person I've seen that owns a Laney World Series. I love mine - I actually like the clean tones, plus I find it great for most pedals (I put a little bit of good compression before it though). Light weight and definitely loud enough!

You two are the first people I've ever seen who admit liking them apart from me! I prefer them to both the earlier Linebackers (overcomplicated controls, can be tricky to dial in) and the later Tube Fusions (poor build quality, rattly). I think they may have fallen down a bit on market perception when everyone - shortly to be followed by Laney - was sticking a valve in the preamp of everything. Typically for Laney the styling is a bit dull as well.

They're simple, reliable, well-made and good-sounding solid state amps.

First amp I ever gigged was a World Series 80 1x12. I still remember the awesome clean sound even now. Twin reverb channels as I recall as well, the drive channel on the other hand.... :-& Really well built and had a Celestion too.

Catthan

What about the thiele 1x12s? I read they compete with 4x12s in spread and frequency handling..
I was considering one though I can't see the immediate benefit against my 2x12 in weight, size and cost.
But are they the "ultimate" 1x12s?

tbm

The World Series 120 2x12 was my first decent amp. H&H speakers iirc. The last few gigs I've done I've used my recently acquired Fender Pr Junior, as dragging the AC30 out has been too much bother. For a 1x10 it sounds huge. As long as I'm not beside the drummer I can keep it clean too. The only issue arose when we were playing a gig and the other guitar player was running his Laney 50 watt head louder then everything else. It was coming over the PA. i had nowhere to go. In fairness to him he didn't notice and was mortified when he was told after the gig. That's what in-ears and no sound check will do.

ICBM

Catthan said:

What about the thiele 1x12s? I read they compete with 4x12s in spread and frequency handling..
I was considering one though I can't see the immediate benefit against my 2x12 in weight, size and cost.
But are they the "ultimate" 1x12s?

If you want to get as close as possible to a 4x12"-type sound with a tiny cab, probably. They do have that extended bass response, and fill the room quite well at the bottom end, although the top end is still pretty directional - like a 4x12" really! They don't sound as complex as a multi-speaker cab though, so they won't give you everything a 2x12" does. But they're still much smaller - even quite small by 1x12" standards - and slightly lighter.

miserneil said:

First amp I ever gigged was a World Series 80 1x12. I still remember the awesome clean sound even now. Twin reverb channels as I recall as well, the drive channel on the other hand.... :-& Really well built and had a Celestion too.

tbm said:

The World Series 120 2x12 was my first decent amp. H&H speakers iirc.

Interesting, they must have changed during that series - it was certainly around that time, since the Linebackers had Celestions and the Tube Fusions had HHs.

monquixote

I've always gigged 1x12 amps.

It's fine other than the beamy sound.

It's not just number of speakers I had a pro reverb. Huge cab meant it sounded bigger than a lot of 2x12 amps

guitarmangler

Yamaha dg80. Yeah, it weighs as a 4x12, but at least I can get from the car with a guitar the amp and a box full of pedals all in one go. Perhaps it beams a little, but of the band isn't too loud doesn't matter so much.

hotpickups

I use a lazy J20 and that's pretty versatile little combo. Size doesn't equal the sound I get out of it

HollowAxis

I gig with a Vox TB18C1 running clean and a TB35C1 getting all the effects. 

Both 1x12 and pretty small.

Bit of a mission to lug around but actually better than my old rig (70's Fender Super Twin Reverb and/or 70's silverface Bassman).

siraxeman

ICBM;326131" said:

siraxeman said:

I usually always gig 2 amps both 2x12 and have no troubles with hearing or spread lol. .. my other band mate/guitarist always used his TSL601 and I never have any trouble hearing him. .. But he's cranked up really loud to get that effect. My amps are both clean (ac30 is only on 2 or3 tops! ! )and use pedals for dirt.... Still both sound good.





I'm amazed you can even hear him - you must be very moderate with your volume! That TSL601 is the weakest, quietest "60W" valve guitar amp I've ever heard.

Never have any problem his amp is up on a stand and is really cranked by the 2nd set.... my amps ares stacked on top of each other (ac30 on top ) and I can hear myself clearly and have good volume and feedback just my amps are nowhere close to being as cranked as his but I'm still really loud. My AC30 potentially could bury his amp tho.... its usually only on 3 tops but the dsl50 has its clean channel on 6 to balance it then the dirt pedals add plenty volume boost.. world just fine. We're not the list band but we are far from quiet to! !

ICBM

That figures .

AC30 on 3 + DSL50 on 6 vs TSL60 on 11… sounds like you're each using about 30W in total .

frictionfraction

Dr Z maz 18 1 x 12, bunch of pedals. Easy, portable sounds good.

longi

I always gigged with 1x12 for the most part. I always got pretty results from it, can't say I've ever had any problems.

Voxman

In the old days at one time or other I've either owned or played through most 'main' types of amp - and they all had one thing in common....my God they were heavy!  Marshall JCM800/JTM45/SPL100 heads plus 4x12 cab, Vox AC30 (about 74lbs!), Fender blackface/Silverface, Selmer Zodiac 50 MkII, Orange heads etc etc.  

So it was only back in circa 1990 that I bought a 1x12" combo for gigging - it was the record breaking Marshall Valvestate 8080 Mk1 that I still have today and they'd just come out. Great little amp in its day, and still holds up very well.  Utterly reliable (it's recently had its first service in well over 20 years...not bad!), light to carry, and with an excellent Celestion G12T75 speaker that suits the amp very well and a proper spring reverb.  And for an SS amp it sounds very good.  I gigged with it for many years and it's still my number one back-up amp.

Since then I've sold the big stuff and have gone smaller - encouraged by a recurring bad back which means my days of schlapping big heavy gear are well over.  Plus, I don't play at venues that need that anymore - nowadays even my little light Laney 15w Cub 12R (I made that heavier with a Celestion Vintage 30 though!) can be miked up to the PA.  My other amps are a Marshall DSL401 JCM2000 combo, a Laney VC30-210 plus GS12VE extn cab, and (what is now my heaviest remaining rig) a Vox Valvetronix AD120VTX/AD212 extn cab plus VC12 controller. 

Anyway, back to the OP theme of gigging with a 1x12 combo.  So, last month my new band 'Midnight Sun' had its debut gig at the Builders Arms as part of the Barnet Music Festival raising money for the Noah's Ark Childrens home. I use my PRS Cu24 for my other band 'Undercover Duo' but for this gig I kept it traditional with a Les Paul & a Strat.  The game plan was to mike up the amp through the PA so I figured I didn't need my big Vox rig and just took my 1x12" Marshall JCM2000 DSL401.

When we got there they were having some trouble with the PA and it couldn't take the extra load from the amps - so I had to play pure backline. With only a 1x12" and an open-air event I thought I was going to have problems with volume and cutting through the mix ...but I needn't have worried as my DSL401 performed admirably and I was no where near maxing it out.   

We played a good dozen or so numbers - here's a few clips...only done with a mobile phone, but hopefully good enough to demonstrate how well the 40wv DSL401 did:

Route 66

Rock Steady

Mustang Sally

JayB

1x12 pretty much all my playing career. Boogies for around 20 years but Divided by 13 for the last 8 or 9 years. Don't think i need anything else. 

Fuzzdog

Aside from a time when I had the luxury of having two 4x12" cabs and the chance to crank them up on stage on a regular basis, I've used 1x12" combos more than anything.  I'm getting older and lazier, and I like to keep everything portable. \:D/

Currently using an Egnater Rebel 30 combo - stupidly loud for something so tiny, covers all the ground I need from clean to filthy without desperately needing pedals, and it's one of the less beamy little combos I've had.

vasselmeyer

@Fuzzdog I'm also using a Rebel 30 but it's the 212 for the extra spread. Do you find the 1W mode makes any difference whatsoever, even at gig volumes?