Gig Worthy Bass/Amp?

[twany03]

Hi guys,

 

I'm in college and am going to start gigging with a band. My 15 watt practice amp and 100 dollar bass aren't cutting it, so it's time for an upgrade. I play in a four person band (2 guitarists, drummer, bass), and we play all types of rock except for heavy metal.

 

In the bass, I'm looking for:

 

4 strings

passive

aggressive, growly, and thick tone

1400$ maximum

 

In the amp, I'm looking for:

 

preferrably a head/cab setup

enough volume for a medium sized venue

hybrid or all tube

either a 4x10 or a 2x10 and 1x15

1400$ maximum for the head and cab total

 

Any suggestions? I like overdriven tones, and am considering getting a Fulltone BassDrive pedal too. I have looked at fender p and j basses, g&l, music man for the bass, but any other suggestions would be helpful.

 

Thanks.

[T. Alan Smith]

You've got a great budget to work with. If you don't have much experience with the industry stardards, I'd start with as nice a foundation as possible from which to grow from. Personally, I'd go with an Am. Fender Jazz(P/J setup prefered) thru a GK 800RB head into a 2x10 and 1x15 Ampeg Classic/SVT series or Peavey Tour series cabs. This would fit your requirements, yet they are all standard pieces. If you took excellent care of them, you'd never need to replace them. Rather, you'd grow with them. As your tastes develop, you would simply add basses, amps and cabs, and swap pieces.

[ThudMaker]

Originally posted by T. Alan Smith You've got a great budget to work with. If you don't have much experience with the industry stardards, I'd start with as nice a foundation as possible from which to grow from. Personally, I'd go with an Am. Fender Jazz(P/J setup prefered) thru a GK 800RB head into a 2x10 and 1x15 Ampeg Classic/SVT series or Peavey Tour series cabs. This would fit your requirements, yet they are all standard pieces. If you took excellent care of them, you'd never need to replace them. Rather, you'd grow with them. As your tastes develop, you would simply add basses, amps and cabs, and swap pieces.

Nice rec on the P/J setup preferred.

[twany03]

Thanks, I was already considering those cabs, and they seem like a good choice. I'll check out the 800RB. What about ampeg (I like the tone of the SVT-CL, but can't afford it)? Do they have any amps that would get me that tone within my budget? Any other brands?

 

Thanks again.

[justinbass]

Wow. Take your time with this decision. Read these forums for a few weeks, ask lots of questions, play every bass, amp, and cab you can. You have a great budget to work with it seems, and you can EASILY stay under it and sound amazing.

 

Personally, I'd stay under $1k on the bass and put $1800 into cabinets/amp. A Genz Benz 750 into an Avatar 410 Neo and an Avatar 212 Neo for example. The GBE750 is an amazing amp with both solid state and tube in the preamp, giving a huge variety of tones. And Avatar cabinets are great cabs, and once you consider their price and weight, they are amazing.

 

As for the bass? Wow. You need to find one that inspires you. Go to as many stores as you can, and play them all. Don't look at the price or the brand. Listen to your ears and your hands. You'll know when you find the right one.

 

Hope that helps

-Justin

[justinbass]

oh, where do you live? We can recomend stores to check out.

[dragon9666]

The Ampeg 3Pro is a great amp. Tones out the whazoo.

Those Avatar neo cabs look good too, exp. the 2x12.

[T. Alan Smith]

 

Originally posted by twany03 Thanks, I was already considering those cabs, and they seem like a good choice. I'll check out the 800RB. What about ampeg (I like the tone of the SVT-CL, but can't afford it)? Do they have any amps that would get me that tone within my budget? Any other brands? Thanks again.

 

 

If you really dig the Ampeg tone, I'd give the Genz Benz stuff serious consideration, like the 750 mentioned.

Despite the bang for buck of the Avatar cabs, I'm not inspired by their sound, personally, and you have the budget to do better.

Otherwise, junstinbass's recommendations are spot on for an intermediate player with enough experience. If you do not have much experience, I still say start with a more traditional(i.e. proven) foundation.

[T. Alan Smith]

Originally posted by dragon9666 The Ampeg 3Pro is a great amp. Tones out the whazoo. Those Avatar neo cabs look good too, exp. the 2x12.

 

Yeah, if it HAS to be Ampeg, their 3Pro is decent. Again, not inspiring to me. The 4Pro is a bit better. I still say the Genz Benz is a much better investment, yet the 800RB is still a loooong time industry standard for a reason and my vote if your inexperienced with many heads. -A worthy stable in the ol' arsenal.

[Thumper]

Used P/J

 

Also, check out a Thunderbird if you can. They're great basses, but they balance a bit odd.

 

As for the rig:

 

Traynor YBA 200

Avatar 2x10 Neo cab

Avatar 2x12 Neo cab

 

That's my rig (1x15 instead of the 12s). It works fine for me, and will be well under your budget.

[degroove]

T. Allen is right on his standards theory.

 

Heads to check out:

Ampeg SVT III Pro or SVT II PRo (Hybrid and Tube heads)

 

GK 800 andd 700/1000RB. 700 and 1000 are similar but one is more powerful. 800 is standard, but not as much tone control and is bigger than 700 or 1000rb. All of these are biampable with power increasing as you go 800 700RB 1000 RB.

 

Also - GK has a Hybrid coming out, but its not an issue. Its hard to just go in and twiddle knobs, but with the Drive knob (I think that is what it is called), you can get pretty hybriddy like OD. Not tube like, but decent. Pedals can also help that.

As for cutting trhough tone, it is the bees knees.

 

+1000000000 on taking your time and learning first!! It would be nice to try everything you can get your hands on first.

[The Insomniac]

With that budget you have all sorts of options.

 

My current gigging rig ran me right at 2 grand.

 

Ampeg SVT III Pro - used ebay $450

Avatar B212 and B210 - $550 (the price might have inched up a bit but still a great bargain)

Peavey Cirrus $1000 (I know these are going for more but you can find all sorts of killer basses for less than a grand)

[degroove]

There are three people in the bass world:

Bass Guitar whores

Bass Amp whores

Bass Cab whore

 

I am all of the above. Anyways, you said:

 

 

4 strings passive aggressive, growly, and thick tone 1400$ maximum

 

 

And, I am going T Allen on ya:

 

1. P-Basses (MIA Fender, Skyline Laklands)

2. J-Basses (MIA Fender, Skyline Lakland, G&L JB2s)

3. Stingrays (Ernie Ball, Subs)

 

These are the three stables of every bassists quiver. P and J are without a doubt like Pand J on a sandwich, you can't argue over one being more important than the other.

 

The Third option can vary. The Stingray is a more Middy tone, but is still copied by tons of knock offs.

 

The are all Passive. They are all growly (even a Pbass with round rounds). They all can produce thick tones. You can slap on them all, but to me the J and Stingray sound a bit better on that. For deep funk, the P rocks. For pick tone, any will do. Fingerstyle is same way.

 

They all will complement music you are playing.

[T. Alan Smith]

Well, if we're going to go that route...

My MarkBass LM II head ran me about $600. My Bergie 1x12 is gonna run about the same. Double that for the pair. I was this ->

[Darkstorm]

For amp, the Eden Nemesis 1x15 combo and ext cab. Or their 2x10 combo and either 1x15 or 2x10 ext cab.

 

For bass, a NT, or neck thru body NJ classic BC Rich Warlock, Mockingbird, or Eagle. Or top of line ESP Ltd, Schecter, Traben, or Ibanez. All these choices are active eq basses though but much less then your stated top of budget. If ya absolutely dont want active I'd say Warwick std Corvette. Why dont you want active? Gives more tone tweaking ability and imo better tone. With the money youd save getting any of these very nice active basses listed you could easilly get the BassPod live or other top line processor of choice for overdrive & etc effects. Yes there are more expensive passive basses out there. But I havent found one as good as.

[oldivor]

Used MIA p-bass = 800

Used SVT = 800

Really good used cab(s) = 800

 

400 for cables, a tuner etc etc

[degroove]

Originally posted by T. Alan Smith Well, if we're going to go that route... My MarkBass LM II head ran me about $600. My Bergie 1x12 is gonna run about the same. Double that for the pair. I was this ->

 

You are getting a Bergie 1x12?!!

 

You are in for a treat. My GK400RB IV --> HT112T = Shake the walls balls when I set a reggae sounding dub tone with deep bass in my basement. I was astonished at how much bottom that little bugger could push. It sounds good slapped too. Fingerstyle is dreamy.

 

I am trying to avoid Markbass GAS.

 

But, my GK400 and 700 weigh 15 and 16 lbs respectively and can fit in a half depth effects rack! My Ashdown was a behemoth compared to that.

 

You will not be dissapointed with a Berg cab. I paired it up with a 210 at some gigs to get full volume and used it stand alone for smaller lower volume places. Sure beat the Big Ass SVT410 PR the band had (and I used) that had to be lugged in and out of bars and a Minivan. That gets old quick when you play 90% of places at a lower volume.

[way2fat]

With that kind of budget you should be looking at the next level up for cabs and power- Acme, AccuGroove, Bergantino, Epifani. You can't hardly go wrong.

[T. Alan Smith]

Originally posted by degroove You are getting a Bergie 1x12?!!

 

Yeah. It's really pushin' it for me budget wise, but I played one at the HCBF Columbus OH meet, and was awfully impressed, so I'm goin' for it.

[degroove]

Originally posted by T. Alan Smith Yeah. It's really pushin' it for me budget wise, but I played one at the HCBF Columbus OH meet, and was awfully impressed, so I'm goin' for it.

 

Why don't you get a used one. I did. I got it off Ebay for around $450. They pop up over on Talkbass classifieds and Bassgear.com from time to time.

[T. Alan Smith]

Originally posted by degroove Why don't you get a used one. I did. I got it off Ebay for around $450. They pop up over on Talkbass classifieds and Bassgear.com from time to time.

 

Factory sealed. I'm a freak. Must the the artist in me.

[AnalogKid]

For the bass:

 

Lakland Skyline DJ4

 

For the amp:

 

I would go used Genz-Benz, but otherwise GK or Markbass heads would be best for your budget. Avatar cabs are pretty good, not great, but hard to beat for the money. With a good head, like those listed above, I think they are fine. You could get a couple of those until you can afford nicer cabs.

[burnthiscorpse]

if you want growl, then you want an ampeg. you can get used svt head on your budget. there is also a 100 watt all tube svt . i would go with a gibson bass to help the growl and snarly tone. watch e-bay theres always good {censored} there. i like only the big ass cabs, 8x10s, and like that so i can't recomend you there. i would be bull{censored}ting you.

[twany03]

Thanks for the all the replies so far.

 

I also want to check out the Aguilar AG500SC or AG500 and the Ashdown Mark King Signature head (AL-MK500). Do any of you have experience, comments, opinions for these?

 

Thanks, and keep 'em coming.

[AnalogKid]

 

Originally posted by twany03 Thanks for the all the replies so far. I also want to check out the Aguilar AG500SC or AG500 and the Ashdown Mark King Signature head (AL-MK500). Do any of you have experience, comments, opinions for these? Thanks, and keep 'em coming.

 

 

I personally thought the AG500SC was not much better than a GK700RB-II. The clean channel is good, but it didn't knock me out. However, the AG500 (with both channels) is a really cool amp. The distortion circuit on that amp is the best solid-state distortion I've ever heard and really makes the amp very versatile, having two channels. All sorts of distortions available from Geddy type tones to fuzz like "Should I Stay or Should I Go" by the Clash. I have no experience with the Ashdown, but I like the AG500 lots.