Members Bassified Posted March 23, 2006 Members Share Posted March 23, 2006 I'm still pondering whether or not I should spend more money on unnecessary gear. My current set-up seems pretty nice and for those who never played with bass amps, I'm getting a variety of nice sounds similar to some cover bands. My current setup comprises of: ESP LTD EC-50 >>>>> ZOOM GFX-1 >>>>> Yorkville BassMaster XM100C Now of course, I can get a better set-up, but within a certain budget. I am willing to spend $300USD to spice up anything in this set-up. Get a better distortion tone, because the notes/chords played are not distinct through a bass amp. It's a 15 inch speaker and after calling up music stores and researching other amps from their websites, I am still unsure what I can do to maximize my set-up potential. Would getting a new gutiar amp significantly improve my set up? By the way, my friend has a Fender Strat into a Peavey Transtube and the distortion is horrible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members masturbater0083 Posted March 23, 2006 Members Share Posted March 23, 2006 can you save a little more?? the reason is because, i thnk with what you have now it would benifit to stay focused on mastering the guitar and amp setup (a few boxes too)...maybe upgrading your "meat and potatoes" after you save bit more. tube amp and a nice overdrive pedal maybe? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Bassified Posted March 23, 2006 Author Members Share Posted March 23, 2006 Originally posted by masturbater0083 can you save a little more?? the reason is because, i thnk with what you have now it would benifit to stay focused on mastering the guitar and amp setup (a few boxes too)...maybe upgrading your "meat and potatoes" after you save bit more.tube amp and a nice overdrive pedal maybe? A lot of hype on tube amps, but I guess you're saying I shouldn't go for a solid state amp at this point? The thing is, I don't know if a 30 watt VOX AD30VT or Tech 21 Trademark 30 will have any significant improvement to my current set-up. Besides a smaller amp convenient for traveling, what else is good? Tone? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members peavey2112 Posted March 23, 2006 Members Share Posted March 23, 2006 bass amp? 5W crate palomino tube amp? I dunnno Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Bassified Posted March 23, 2006 Author Members Share Posted March 23, 2006 No.....I am not looking for another bass amp! I already have one and I don't have any guitar amps. I assume improving my set up would mean purchasing a guitar amp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members masturbater0083 Posted March 23, 2006 Members Share Posted March 23, 2006 oh well then a good solid state amp would be great, like a Peavy Bandit ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Bassified Posted March 23, 2006 Author Members Share Posted March 23, 2006 I was thinking of the Marshall 30 watts with digital effects, but since I have a ZOOM digital effects processor, does my ZOOM go to waste? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members feintguitarist Posted March 23, 2006 Members Share Posted March 23, 2006 Just send me $300 and I'll send you a Vox AD50VT. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Bassified Posted March 23, 2006 Author Members Share Posted March 23, 2006 Originally posted by feintguitarist Just send me $300 and I'll send you a Vox AD50VT. If it was that good, why are you selling it....and 50 watts is a bit too much for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members feintguitarist Posted March 23, 2006 Members Share Posted March 23, 2006 Originally posted by Bassified If it was that good, why are you selling it....and 50 watts is a bit too much for me. I've got Mesa Mark III gas.I'm selling my Ibanez Prestige to also help fund it. I've been jamming on it all night..3am..everyone elses asleep.Just turn the wattage down in the back, or hook my headphones up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members V-Type Posted March 23, 2006 Members Share Posted March 23, 2006 Originally posted by feintguitarist Just send me $300 and I'll send you a Vox AD50VT. Pretty good price on a very tubeish sounding ss modeler amp. Way better than the posters current setup and you could I supppose still use some of the effects tha are on the Zoom in the return of the amps effects loop. A few real nice amp models in these and the effects arent bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Bassified Posted March 24, 2006 Author Members Share Posted March 24, 2006 VOX.....can someone recommend a good solid state amp? I was leaning more towards the Marshall MG30DFX. The only problem is that it uses digital effects, so would my ZOOM go to waste? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members V-Type Posted March 24, 2006 Members Share Posted March 24, 2006 Sounds like your just not convinced anything but the Name Marshall will do. Try one of those Vox's out first and then tell me what you think. Truthfully your setup is very basic and somewhat cheap on the amplification/effects end. Trust me there are many amps that would be a big step up from what you currently use and the MG series you are contemplating. You asked in this post and some of us who have been there done that tried to help you. Its up to you I suppose. For the record I use mainly tube Monsters but also use a Pod xt for recording and when noodleing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members feintguitarist Posted March 24, 2006 Members Share Posted March 24, 2006 My friend had a small MG series Marshall. I think it had 2x10's or 2x8's. It didn't have any digital effects though. This was about 5 or so years ago. I, at the time, had a Crate GFX212, and can honestly say I hated that Marshall more than the Crate. Although I think the Crate GFX series is a pretty decent amp for the money. The name isn't everything. :| Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BAZGUITARMAN Posted March 24, 2006 Members Share Posted March 24, 2006 I wouldn`t worry about buying any more f/x right now. What you need is to upgrade your amp and then look to upgrade your pickups. Those two changes will make a very dramatic difference and will improve your tone 1000%. Do not buy the Marshall MG amp. You will quickly outgrow it and the tone will become very dissapointing, very quickly. Look for a used Randall SS 2x12 combo. I know it may seem like too much amp right now, but you want something you will grow into. Not outgrow. Since they are an SS amp they sound good at low volumes. So you don`t have to turn it up like a tube amp. They sound good and are very dependable. They are also easy to find on the used market and are well within your price range. Next you will want to upgrade your guitar`s pickups. Look for a good set of pups from Seymour Duncan or Dimarzio. A good set of medium/high output pups would work great. Don`t skimp here. Pickups are a vital part of your signal chain and every thing you do goes through them. Look into the SD JB/`59 combo as a starting point. They are a great combo and an easy step up into after market pups. Also they are readily available on the used market. Keep your f/x unit and run it through the loop of the amp. Turn off all the amp models and speaker sims or it will sound like ass. The Randall amp will have plenty of distortion for any type of music up to death metal. Use the standard f/x like chorus, phase, reverb, delay, flange. They sound the best through the amps f/x loop. With just these two changes you can radically change and improve your rig for a very low investment. Just take it one step at a time and be patient. Eric Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Bassified Posted March 24, 2006 Author Members Share Posted March 24, 2006 Originally posted by BAZGUITARMAN I wouldn`t worry about buying any more f/x right now. What you need is to upgrade your amp and then look to upgrade your pickups. Those two changes will make a very dramatic difference and will improve your tone 1000%.Do not buy the Marshall MG amp. You will quickly outgrow it and the tone will become very dissapointing, very quickly.Look for a used Randall SS 2x12 combo. I know it may seem like too much amp right now, but you want something you will grow into. Not outgrow. Since they are an SS amp they sound good at low volumes. So you don`t have to turn it up like a tube amp. They sound good and are very dependable. They are also easy to find on the used market and are well within your price range.Next you will want to upgrade your guitar`s pickups. Look for a good set of pups from Seymour Duncan or Dimarzio. A good set of medium/high output pups would work great. Don`t skimp here. Pickups are a vital part of your signal chain and every thing you do goes through them. Look into the SD JB/`59 combo as a starting point. They are a great combo and an easy step up into after market pups. Also they are readily available on the used market.Keep your f/x unit and run it through the loop of the amp. Turn off all the amp models and speaker sims or it will sound like ass. The Randall amp will have plenty of distortion for any type of music up to death metal. Use the standard f/x like chorus, phase, reverb, delay, flange. They sound the best through the amps f/x loop.With just these two changes you can radically change and improve your rig for a very low investment. Just take it one step at a time and be patient.Eric Yeah, thanks for the tip! I was thinking of Seymour Duncan pick-ups, but at the time being, I want to concentrate on a decent amp to improve my rig. As for Marshalls, I was reading a lot of reviews and it seemed to have a lot of pros, but I don't know. I think I'll give the VOX a try. My local music stores don't carry the Tech21 Trademark 30. If it did, I would have bought one of those. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Bassified Posted March 25, 2006 Author Members Share Posted March 25, 2006 Instead of the Marshall, I think I might go for the Roland Cube 30, if I plan to stick with Solid State and if I want to go Hybrid, I'd buy the Vox Valvetronix. Thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members feintguitarist Posted March 25, 2006 Members Share Posted March 25, 2006 I suggest going to somewhere like Guitar Center and trying them out, and decide what you like best. With these amps it should be fairly easy to do. If you were debating on Bogners, Framus, and Engl it would be a different story of course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members -=MYK=- Posted March 25, 2006 Members Share Posted March 25, 2006 Originally posted by Bassified ....and 50 watts is a bit too much for me. The Vox amps and most ss and modeling amps have a decent master volume so don't worry about wattage so much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Bassified Posted March 25, 2006 Author Members Share Posted March 25, 2006 Originally posted by -=MYK=- The Vox amps and most ss and modeling amps have a decent master volume so don't worry about wattage so much. Well, yes and no. The amp I currently use is 100watts and it's so hard to get it at a low volume without losing quality tone.When it's too low, every effect and tone sounds the same and as for distortion is sounds very fuzzy. When I crank it up a little bit, it's way too loud for my neighbors. Right now, it's about 1mm away from volume 0.So yeah, I'm just going to go for a 30watt, since I don't want to spend more money, but thanks for your suggestions!There's not a lot of quality amps out there. All I can think of are Roland and Vox.Fender Champion anyone? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members feintguitarist Posted March 25, 2006 Members Share Posted March 25, 2006 Originally posted by Bassified There's not a lot of quality amps out there. All I can think of are Roland and Vox. You're just limiting yourself too much with a 300$ budget, wanting >30watts, and only wanting SS...Not to mention you're basing why you want a lower wattage amp on a 100watt bass amp. This Vox AD50VT sounds good at any volume IMO. I like to keep the attenuator down so I can crank it and it still not be loud. I liked my Crate GFX212 for what it was. Maybe more so than this Vox. It was 120watts, and I only used it for bedroom jamming. Those can be had for real cheap on eBay. What did you decide on anyways? The Roland? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Bassified Posted March 25, 2006 Author Members Share Posted March 25, 2006 Well, I guess I am being a bit stubborn, but so far I only know the amps from people's opinions and reviews. That only, narrows me down to the Roland Cube 30. Of course, I'll just grab my money and walk into the store and see what I like, trying out everything, but I want a good idea of the amps before I walk inside. That's why I need recommendations. Thanks though! I'll check out the Vox AD30VT, but the 50 is a little bit out of my price range. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Bassified Posted March 27, 2006 Author Members Share Posted March 27, 2006 Alright, I am planning to get the Roland Cube 30, but the problem is I won't be able to try it out at any store before buying it. They don't have it at any of the stores I called and some music stores don't even get any Roland Products. Is it safe to order and buy without trying it out? I have to pay 25% down and I don't think I can get my money back if I don't buy it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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