Current Rig Status Update – March 2016

Just over a week ago I had the first opportunity to implement the idea of putting my amp in front of me, facing up like a monitor on stage. Before I acquired the Orange PPC108 (1×8) cab, it was not that practical to place my cab in front of me because of the lack of space in front of me at most events.

Ironically there was enough space on this particular stage to have put my 1×12 cab in front of me anyway, but I haven’t built a stand for the 1×12 to face up at me with the amp securely anchored on top of it.

Currently the PPC108 cab still has the stock speaker, which isn’t ideal, but nobody is really going to hear much of this cab, seeing as my sound is DI’d through the Palmer PDI-09 for the PA system and the monitors. I was able to deal with the tone from the cab and although I didn’t like the fizzy, tinny sound that much, the placement and setup worked perfectly in this application. Not only was I able to clearly hear myself (I also had the sound of the monitor itself too), but as suspected, I didn’t need to have the master volume of the amp up too high either, thus pleasing the other band members.

In fact the master volume was set just one notch higher than I have it set at home, which makes that just 3 clicks up from zero!

I’m guessing a maximum of 5 watts. It was clear as a bell and now I’m excited to hear it with a high-performance speaker. I’ve decided on the speaker, most likely an Eminence Alpha-8A. This is largely due to the availability of this speaker compared to the Celestions (i.e. it is available here!). Also, it has plenty of power and should be robust enough for anything I’m likely to use it for. I can’t see myself ever having to get close to volume levels that will start working that speaker very hard at all.

The stock speaker in this cab is rated at 20w and whilst it doesn’t sound that great with the Tone Block, it certainly wasn’t hurt during the 2 or 3 hours of work it had to do for the gig.

My entire rig, apart from the guitars, fitted in one small suitcase which I dragged on its wheels.

Winning setup!