what amp rig does Tom Peterson of Cheap Trick use?

[hardheartedbill]

gonna be playing bass on a brit invasion show and kinda want a lil growl in the tone. I know dusty from ZZ Top uses guitar amps alot and I'm guessing TP does too. Pinnick always has growl in his tone, are all these bi amped bass/guitar rigs?

[tomteriffic]

Bill, on some recent video I looked over at TP's backline and it appeared to a a mixture of small bass amps(Ampeg, IIRC) and guitar amps. For an 8/12 string tone, I'd think that a split setup like that might be a necessity.

If you're after just a 4-string with some growl, I can think of a number of options. Usually in the Brit Invasion days it was just a matter of having an inadequate bass amp (there weren't many "adequate" ones around those days and PA was for vocals only) and just pushing it until it begged for mercy. Back in the day, I used to do this with a Vox Essex. Later on, of course, you pummeled an SVT or Marshall Super Bass. Really, a bass-only amp will do it as long as you don't need to reach way up into the midrange like you would for an 8 or 12 string.

I don't recollect if this is more of a "pit band" volume you need or more of an onstage kind of loud, but these days it can be done with a stomp box, a wide-range bass amp with a tweeter and an overdriven front end, etc. I've also gotten there using a Fender Princeton Reverb with a 2 x 12 bass cab hooked up and the internal speaker disconnected. It just depends on your volume needs. But if it's a 4-string situation, I'm not sure that you really need to go the bi-amp route.

[gtone]

I'm still amazed at the growl our bassist gets outta his MIM Jazz bass and a cheap-ass Fender 100W Rumble amp he uses in our rehearsal space. His secret? The SansAmp. My son, on the other hand, has to crank his Warwick thru his rig (SVT Pro w/2 4X10 cabs) to get anywhere close to that level of growl, but obviously with gobs more volume. Matter of fact, thinking of buying him a SansAmp for his next b'day...

[Steve Haynie]

Tom has used a variety of amps over the years. At one time he was using three different amps together.

Best advice-- wing it!

[Hackubus]

Perhaps a cheap crossover to split the signal to a bass amp & guitar amp?

[maxschrek]

Yep, Sansamp will do the trick (bad pun not intended ). Better still though, I've found, is the Tech 21 Leeds pedal. Hiwatt in a stomp box...nails Tom's tone IMO, highly recommended!

T

[BCR Greg]

When I worked for them it was Transonics and an Ampeg B15(I think).

[Steve Haynie]

I thought those Rickenbacker Transonics were not necessarily stock inside, or they were mostly for show.

[hardheartedbill]

Thanks guys. I think Im going w my old mark1 boogie head and Bruno 412. I can get some preamp od involved for growl. The dogs run when I play it so something is going right lol. Im using a pair of vintage Japanese short scales. An all mahogany set neck by Kent that's kinda like the early p bass and a no name beatle bass hollowbody.

[raythewrench]

Just some hisitory on toms transonics.these were jimmy pages that he abandoded after a tour in like 70 - 71

and got a hodl of them some how. this is first hand info Ispent like 3-4 houers before a show with the techs and got to play a lot of the bands gear and learn there live setups . the giutar tech at the time was Joe Perrys guy ,a great dude and had cartehblanche to ricks gear it was a great day hIlearned a lot .and some things Im not willing to divulge but bcr Greg can confirm this Ihave offered to him accescto come with me on nights in philly /ac but he was busy.rock on boys.

[killerteddybear]

I read in a TP interview that he used Hiwatt lead guitar amps (TP's words)...

[Brooks]

i read dug w/ kings x spit his signal between SVT's and a distorted traynor guitar amp. but prolly any dual guitar amp setup will get you there.

[mc2]

Actuallly.......

Tom recently converted over to all ORANGE gear. Appears to be his typical three head type rig into cabs.

I recently sold him my korina fake Gibson non-reverse TBird 8-string that my pal Baz had built. He was using that live as well. He also just bought a fake korina Gibson Futura 8-string from Baz that he also just completed and I saw him playing that live as well on "Gonna Raise Hell" thru the Orange rig. Sounded great.

He's running Rockerverb 50 guitar heads (two I believe) for the overdrive part of the rig into cabs with 12's in them.....and a AD200B bass head into an Orange OBC810 (8x10 cab) for the lows.

I have a pic and video somewhere of it live recently. I will dig it up and post.

Here's the video.....

More video of his Orange rig from last week....and a great band intro. Dig the aluminum 12ver Tom is now using.

I use a similar setup but two-way....AD200B with the OBC810 for lows and a Thunderverb 200 for the highs/grind.

[hardheartedbill]

Actuallly.......

Tom recently converted over to all ORANGE gear. Appears to be his typical three head type rig into cabs.

I recently sold him my korina fake Gibson non-reverse TBird 8-string that my pal Baz had built. He was using that live as well. He also just bought a fake korina Gibson Futura 8-string from Baz that he also just completed and I saw him playing that live as well on "Gonna Raise Hell" thru the Orange rig. Sounded great.

He's running Rockerverb 50 guitar heads (two I believe) for the overdrive part of the rig into cabs with 12's in them.....and a AD200B bass head into an Orange OBC810 (8x10 cab) for the lows.

I have a pic and video somewhere of it live recently. I will dig it up and post.

Here's the video.....

I use a similar setup but two-way....AD200B with the OBC810 for lows and a Thunderverb 200 for the highs/grind.

Thanks man. Is it full range signal into the 50 watts?

[Ethan]

MC2 what an awesome rig...one of my favorite bassists Josh Newton uses a similar setup, except with Aguilar cabs and a few choice drive pedals....freaking awesome tone...