Hi there! I’m trying to find a gift for my resident bassist. He’s got a 15W 10" bass amp which for bass is only enough for rehearsals. He started gigging and I want to gift him a new amp. Something that can be connected to a concert setup as the band is about get their hands on loaned equipment.
I know in pro set-ups there’s an amp head connected to some speakers. And somehow that is connected to overall concert sound system. How is that connected? Is that “output direct connect” I see in some combo amps?
Where can I read about it? All I’ve found online was useless. I guess my lack of basic knowledge prevents me from asking Google the right questions.
Generally through the preamp out. Each head is often split into two portions. A preamp (signal creation) and a power amp (the bit that amplifies the signal and powers the speaker cabinet that is connected via a speaker cable to the head). The preamp out of a head is what you can use to send the signal out. Alternatively you can use that same output to a simple power amp itself (ie with no preamp). Others sometimes microphone their speaker cabinet and use that signal via its own preamp instead but that’s getting too technical and not often used for bass. That last option is more for studio work and less for gigging.