Im in the market for a new bass amp. For those of you who havent heard my band, the BLUDGEONING, we plays mostly brutalized but old school thrash while maintaining something of a rock n roll feel (early slayer, early kreator, defleshed, swordmaster, motorhead, thin lizzy, tank) that sort of thing! now and then we change it up and do more doom/stoner rock type stuff (black sabbath, kyuss, monster magnet).


Im lookking for a 1/2stakk thatl be good for playing our kind of music. Anybody got any recomendations??? what do you use and are u happy with it?

ampeg ampeg ampeg ampeg ampeg or if you can find a cheap enough one on ebay get a sunn

ampeg is good but expensive the SVT 4 pro w the 8x 10 cab is the best in the business but $$$$ if you want something cheap but good the Behringer Ultrabass Head w any bassss cab is a good solid deal.

Yea, I was looking at the SVT 410. its expensive but maybe i can find one used or something.

Behringer eh...ill check that out
thanks

behringers blow, if you can find one used go with a mesa 400+ and an ampeg 8x10 best sound i ever had when i was playing bass was thru that rig

just keep looking around, its better to save and get good gear opposed to buying the first cheap thing you see

Hartke or Ampeg for sure.

Come bind me at Guitar Center, I'll hook you up.

We have a used Sunn Model T in right now...I think its $750..I can do it for less though...

I meant find...but you can bind me too if you want.

sunn model T? is that a cab or a head??

btw, while we're at it, what do you guys like for bass distortion? I use an electro harmoniz big muff pedal which is pretty good but i wonder if theres something better

Head only. The guy traded it in w/ a Marshall 1960 cab but you dont have to buy them together obviously...

I dont use bass distortion but if I did it'd probably be a Big Muff.

shucks. ive heard sunn's are sweet but im not sure i can afford that unless i can find a good speaker for a lot cheaper than anticipated

SickSickSicks said:

depending on what andrew can do for a deal, i might be able to sell you one of my sunn bass heads

craigslist is the way to go if you want cheap (read: used) gear. also check out the classifieds at talkbass.com. anything mesa is rock solid for bass. ampeg has some awesome stuff and some mediocre stuff.

beware Sunn amps.... most of the cabs rip, assuming the speakers aren't shot to shit, but some of the amps (especially the solid state ones in your price range) probably don't have enough power to get you heard.

you're probably going to want 4 10s as you mentioned. And a solid state amp with an RMS rating of at least 300 watts at whatever ohmage your speaker can handle. Otherwise, you probably won't be loud enough to hang with your guitarists.

Also depends on your pickups. Actives are alot hotter, so you get more volume out of your rig.

i've been using a hartke 2500 with an ampeg 1x15 for sometime now and I love the combination. I think for the money hartke is a great buy for heads, great tone with lots of options/flexibility, plus it's really durable, I've never had a problem with mine since I first bought it 8 years ago (used), though I've heard mixed reviews about their cabs. ampeg cabs rule, simply put.

Your budget is the biggest factor here.

I would not recommend an Ampeg cab, unless it was used or it was the 8/10 even then I would suggest for that kind of (new) money looking into the New Vintage series by Bergantino http://www.bergantino.com/ Fantastic cabs! I have a Bergantino NV6/10 and I love it.
I use to use it with an SVTCL head but got sick of carrying it so now I'm using an Ashdown ABM500 EVOII I love this head too.

For a budget cab you can't do better then Avatar http://www.avatarspeakers.com/ You can pick up a new 4/10 for around $400 I think. I would consider on of these over a used cab at a similar price

If your set on an all tube amp and want new but don't have much coin to spare check out the new Traynor YBA2 its a great sounding head, could be a little underpowered at 200 watts, but only you can be the judge of that. You can pick them up new for under $600.

I'm always checking out OD peddles and just got a Fulltone Bass Driver. http://www.fulltone.com/
This is hands down the best overdrive I have ever used. You can get just about any type of distortion and OD imaginable while keeping your low end. The same cannot be said about a lot of peddles out there.

I recommend http://www.bostonguitar.com - though Mr. Kinslayer is a sweet opition at GC!

This is a nice cheap head option. Sounds great for the price ($299)

for workhorse reliability, good prices, and most importantly TONE look for a hartke HA3500 head. there are hundreds of 4x10s used available all the time that are going cheap.

Blue said:

sounds like an ad from bass player magazine

I played a HA5500 before and it was a pretty great sounding amp.

mesa 400+!!!

thanks for the info guys! youve given me a lot to think aboot!



i didnt see anyone mention SWRs.
someone menitoned those to me as good cabs and ive seen em on craigslist from time to time.
anyone have experience witht hem?

SickSickSicks said:

I use an MXR DI +, and that is the best i've ever played IMO....better than the big muff. The best thing about it is that you can mix the clean and distortion sounds together, so you can get a really amazing distortion sound, yet still retain the clarity of a clean bass. It's also got a compressor and 3 band eq on there.


As far as an actual amp.....I'm using an Ampeg B2 350- watt head and running it through a BSE 4x10 and a SVT 1x15.......and I don't plan on changing my rig anytime soon. That thing packs a fucking whallop. I personally am an Ampeg man, and always will be. Yeah they're pricey....but I think they're worth it.

one of my personal long time favorite bass DI/pre amps is the sansamp RBI II. You can get a really amazing sound out of that... and it is super rugged and one of the best sounding solid state pieces you are going to find. That with a decent cheap power amp is a killer head combo and has a great DI sound for live gigs.

if you want real tubes... Aguilar hands down. They make such awesome high end shit. If I couldn't get one of them I would search for an older ampeg SVT back when the power amp was tube too....they sound a lot better than the new solid state versions.

bedrock makes some sick cabs, and there is the always trusted ampeg cabs. You can also try some of the swr cabs because they are definitly road tough, and they make some serious noise. You can really feel thier cabs.

SWRs....Live I've been rocked hard by their driving tone (Dan/Anmosity, Chris/Pillory play them) but I've never played one I've liked. It comes back to budget...I think Hartke is really the best buy for someone making a jump from a combo.

MESA 400+ or the GK is pretty sweet too, i used to have a 400 and then an 800 but when i found the Mesa 400+ i got rid of the 800.

seriously hit me up, i got two Sunn 1970s concert bass heads 200 watts and when on 3 completely tunes out my bass players set up, but i play gtr so who knows.

Get the Hartke VX3500 combo half stack.

It's got the hartke HA3500 350 watt head and a vx cab.

I have one. I used it during my time in Terminally your aborted ghost and I never had to turn it past 5 to compete with Mark Richards's crate blue voodoo.

hmm...a hartke combo half stack. that sounds promising. theyve got one on zzounds for about as much as ive seen some heads or cabs go for by themselves

I guess it all depends on the Bass your playing man hey who works at guitar center I am in there all the time and never know anyone shit I play metal and see metal heads so whos who?

Morbid_Mike said:


ill be working at the one in boston starting monday.

Well when you start work, find out why the hell they don't stock ESP.

I ask a different employee every time I go to a guitar center and they always give me a different answer.

heres a question:
whats the diffrence between say a 2x15 and a 4x10 or a 8x10?
8x10s seem to b more expensive so im guessing theyre better?

whiskey_weed_and_women said:

i use a Behringer niggerhead!!

the #x# reprisents the number os speakers and the size of speakers

4x10 would be 4 speakers, 10 inches each; or a half stack

8x10 would be ten 8 speakers, or a full stack

than theres 1x15 (1 15 inch speaker), 2x15, 1x18, ya know.

There are tonal differences between speaker sizes too. The bigger the speaker, the lower it will sound. typically, 10 inch speakers carry more mids.

cool.
what about "ohms"?
most amps seem to be either 4 or 8 "ohms"

dont worry about ohms, whatever you buy will match up.

i reccomend staying away from 8x10 cabs, as they are ungodly heavy and massive. that and its uneccesary to have 8 10 inch speakers. its a much better decision to get a 4x10 and a 1x15 if anything.

but im sure all you need is a 300-400 watt bass head and a 4x10 cabinet.

Blue said:

wrong wrong wrong. Would you play your guitar through a 2X12? A 2X10? I think not. An 8X10 and/or a 2X15 is the way to go.

a bass 4x10 is the equivilent of a guitar 4x12. a 2x15 is a good choice as well, i just think an 8x10 is overkill. if you have the means of transporting it, then be my guest. i certainly dont, so a 4x10 works out nicely for me.

Blue said:

i'll fight you.

you's a jive ass turkey.

HAHAHA

DO pay attention to OHMs.

unless you like blowing amps

niccolai said:

christ, thats not what i meant. what i was referring to was dont let the ohms dictate what you buy, because you pay attention to ohms after the purchase.

word.
money is a factor as his space. WHatever I get has to fit in the back of my (ugh) Jetta. 4x10 seems to be the way to go

Word.


SickSickSick, if you don't know much about OHM impedance, an OHM is a measure of electrical resistance (wich is also reprizented by the greek letter OMEGA... it looks like a horse shoe)

The resitance on the cabs is allowed to be higher than the head's rated for (for example, you can have a 100 watt cab rated at 8 ohms and it will be fine to plug into a head that's 200 watts at 4 ohms) but you can't do the opposite.

If the cab rating goes below the head rating, you got yourself a genuine grilled cheesed amp.

You can also mix cabs together with a formula.


01 X 02
______
o1 + o2


Say you have 1 cab thats 4 ohms (lets call it o1) and another cab that's 4 ohms (call it o2)

To get the total impedance, multiply o1 by o2:

4 x 4 = 16

and divide it by o1 + o2 (4 + 4 = 8)

16
__
8

= 2


Your 'master impedance' with both cabs plugs in is going to be 2. You would then need to plug it into a head that can go as low as 2 ohms.


Most heads are rated to go no lower than 4o and most 4x10 and 1x15 bass cabs are 8o

8x10 are usually 4 ohms, wich is why you can only plug one 8x10 in.


ohms law:



Ohm symbol:

well, i sure as hell wasnt going to type all that shit out.

haha

I know I know, I'm a fag.

wow! thanks niccolai! thats a lot of info!




im so dumb!
i just talked to my bandmates and realized that the big cab we've been using as a PA moniter in practises is a Ampeg 2x15! not sure what type of ohmage it is. someone said 2x15s are good but that 15" speakers = a lower sound. We're not really a death metal act so I am gonna want a good mids sound too. but i figure theres no need to nitpick. as long as i get the eq levels right the mids will be there....right?

Yep. And you can always pick up a good EQ pedal.

the ampeg will probably have the wattage and impedance written somewhere near the input jacks.

You may even want to consider trading the Ampeg in (if it's yours) towards a decent 4x10 cab.

niccolai said:



its not unfortunatly. belongs to our lead guitarist. 2x15 should be good though right? no matter what itl be an upgrade over my 100 watt Hughes & Kettner combo amp.

nice thing about havin that is now i dont have to be as stingy when it comes to shelling out for a good head.

I've heard nothing but good things about that hartke 3500 and they seem to be really popular so Ill likely be able get one through ebay or craigslist eventually. im also talkin to someone about maybe buying their Mesa 400+. Those get hyped it pretty good. Spose its really that much better than a Hartke?

The hartke 3500 is great for the price range, but theres much better out there dude, find out the impedance and wattage of that amp. If you can't find it tell me who makes the amp and the model name and I'll find out.

SickSickSicks said:

i like the overdrive channel in the gallien kruger backline 600 i got. im in the process of building a sweet fuzz pedal from a schematic, although i am using higher output transistors to get more gain out of it. big muffs not a bad choice though, esp for stoner shit

Bradness said:

you also eat fried peanut butter and banana sandwiches, whats your point brad, whats your point !