Page 1 of 2

Bass amps

Posted: Sun Oct 14, 2018 3:45 am
by griff
Hey dudes
Our bass player has finally decided to kick his line 6 Low Down to the curb and wants to replace it with something. He's an exceptional player but knows nothing about gear.
He was asking me last night what's out there. I dont really know jack about bass amps either but said I would ask on here for some help. We're a 3 piece playing hard rock covers with quite a loud drummer.
The Low Down he was using had a single 15" in it and a line out to the p.a. It seems to be loud enough but can lack a little 'punch' if you know what I mean. Probably due to the large driver.
Not sure on his budget. Nothing too flash but also nothing shit obvioisly. Lets just say reliable and great sounding.
School me.

Re: Bass amps

Posted: Sun Oct 14, 2018 5:40 am
by StrummersOfThunder
I can definitely recommend one of gallien-kruger RB series heads. I picked up an older rb400 (i think) for $250 on tardme. Matched with a neodynium markbass 2x12 it does the job very nicely.
The GK has a great EQ, bi amp option and DI out. Sounds clean, punchy and present.

Re: Bass amps

Posted: Sun Oct 14, 2018 6:24 am
by jimi
New series of Fender Rumble 500 is what I would buy if I got a gig as a bass player again.

Compact
Light
500w
2x10
Bit over a grand new

Re: Bass amps

Posted: Sun Oct 14, 2018 7:09 am
by Single coil
Blackstar unity series very cool. Will be buying the little one.

Re: Bass amps

Posted: Sun Oct 14, 2018 7:47 am
by bender
StrummersOfThunder wrote:I can definitely recommend one of gallien-kruger RB series heads. I picked up an older rb400 (i think) for $250 on tardme. Matched with a neodynium markbass 2x12 it does the job very nicely.
The GK has a great EQ, bi amp option and DI out. Sounds clean, punchy and present.
+1 on this- it’s a very good sounding rig, and easily keeps up with a loud drummer.

Re: Bass amps

Posted: Sun Oct 14, 2018 8:22 am
by griff
bender wrote:
StrummersOfThunder wrote:I can definitely recommend one of gallien-kruger RB series heads. I picked up an older rb400 (i think) for $250 on tardme. Matched with a neodynium markbass 2x12 it does the job very nicely.
The GK has a great EQ, bi amp option and DI out. Sounds clean, punchy and present.
+1 on this- it’s a very good sounding rig, and easily keeps up with a loud drummer.
Very pedal friendly?

Re: Bass amps

Posted: Sun Oct 14, 2018 11:08 am
by Jake
griff7628 wrote:
bender wrote:
StrummersOfThunder wrote:I can definitely recommend one of gallien-kruger RB series heads. I picked up an older rb400 (i think) for $250 on tardme. Matched with a neodynium markbass 2x12 it does the job very nicely.
The GK has a great EQ, bi amp option and DI out. Sounds clean, punchy and present.
+1 on this- it’s a very good sounding rig, and easily keeps up with a loud drummer.
Very pedal friendly?
For bass I currently run a Gallien Krueger head and cab: a 1001RBII head (750watts) into the 410RBH cabinet, sounds absolutely killer in my opinion. I love a 4x10 cabinet for punchiness over a 1x15 but that's personal preference.
The GK stuff is voiced to be a little bit grunty anyway, so in my experience takes drive pedals and the like better than some other brands.

Re: Bass amps

Posted: Sun Oct 14, 2018 4:09 pm
by Kev77
Mark bass.

Re: Bass amps

Posted: Sun Oct 14, 2018 4:13 pm
by Bg
Kev77 wrote:Mark bass.
Is the correct answer ;) I have ampeg svt-200t into genz-benz cab. but Mark Bass is my ideal.

Re: Bass amps

Posted: Mon Oct 15, 2018 7:33 am
by griff
Awesome. Plenty of options to look at now guys.

Re: Bass amps

Posted: Mon Oct 15, 2018 9:23 am
by null_pointer
Yeah the Markbass stuff is great. Goes really well with pedals in the nose, plenty of grunt and definition. I have the Jeff Berlin CMD 151P (1x15) and use it at least 50% of the time (I also have a Fender Bassman TV Duo 10). I see them pop up on TM around that $1k mark for the combos, and it would be money well spent.

Re: Bass amps

Posted: Mon Oct 15, 2018 10:15 am
by griff
Is there much difference in tone between tubes and solid state for bass amps?

Re: Bass amps

Posted: Mon Oct 15, 2018 10:35 am
by foal30
griff7628 wrote:Is there much difference in tone between tubes and solid state for bass amps?
Yeah I think so

"Live Bass" in a rock band gigging the biggest single contributor to Bass Tone is potentially the Sound Person.

Re: Bass amps

Posted: Mon Oct 15, 2018 11:33 am
by griff
What sort of minimum wattage head should he be running if just going through a 4x10 and maybe a sub later on

Re: Bass amps

Posted: Mon Oct 15, 2018 11:47 am
by Single coil
>=400.