Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Bob Olhsson on April 25, 2011 at 9:04am

It took me years to realize that our direct bass sound at Motown only worked because James and Bob were hearing themselves on an Altec Hi Fi speaker and not a bass or guitar amp. Maintaining the audio integrity of the musician's ear to finger feedback loop seems to be a huge and highly underestimated part of bass and guitar sounds.

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Permalink Reply by Bengineer on May 9, 2011 at 11:08pm

My wife travels with a Fender Studio Bass for her live work.  (6) 6L6's in the output, it's pretty badass.  She can't tell me why she likes it so much, but her description sounds exactly like "more headroom"

 

Ben

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Permalink Reply by Timothy Gaines on May 10, 2011 at 11:49am

In the 70's I used Acoustic and Sunn w 2x15 cabs. In the 80's I used and endorsed Ampeg SVT's. In the 90's I was a fan of the pre Fender SWR. I think I had just about every combination of heads and cabs and combos that Steve created. My favorite still being the SM400 with a Triad and Goliath Jr cab. Unfortunately, I don't think they make those models anymore. Part of "my sound" has been an old '93 Workingmans12 combo matched with a Bassmonitor 12 wedge. I had a friend who worked at Manley rebuild and modify the preamp and power amp. It sounds great miked and records well. And it is loud enough to work in most live situations. Still keep a Bass 750x and Goliath III around in storage.  For the last two years I have been using and endorsing Line 6 Lowdown 750 heads and 4x10 cabs. The Line 6 combined with my Status Graphite basses sound amazing live. When I am touring overseas, I always request Ampeg SVT classics and two 8x10 cabs. Tried and true

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Permalink Reply by Tommy Lee on May 14, 2011 at 6:02pm

I have a 73-75 svt into an elkhart,In 8x10 that is awesome.If anyone has room and wants to purchase it....go for it.

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Permalink Reply by Mike Sain on May 19, 2011 at 9:03am

Like Timothy, I have used Ampeg SVT, pre-Fender SWR (it's not the same stuff post) and also toured for years with Mesa 400+. Big Cabs and 100lb tube heads are great when you have a truck and roadies, by yourself, not so much. Today I subscribe to the thought that bass amps are glorified monitors at best. All the FOH cares about is a good DI. So I carry my own DI and for a rig I use the new ultra lightweight amp and cab from Genz-Benz. I've used it for about 9 months now and keep being impressed with how I get what I need on-stage, with a good wedge mix or ears, with an amp that fits in a gig bag and a cab I can carry with one hand!

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Permalink Reply by Kevin McGurk on May 24, 2011 at 4:25pm

In the 80s my main touring rig was 1 - Ampeg SVT tube amplififer and 2 - 8x10 cabinets, and while this rig always sounded amazing it became impractical during the club tours of the 90s. It was then that I discovered and started using Eden gear. My current artist gig setup consists of a Eden WT800A World Tour hybrid amp running bridged @8OHMS into an Eden D410XLT which sounds fantastic in almost any situation!

 

Lately though my choice of amp has been less of an issue as we transition to in-ear monitors and many times in search of lower stage volume and easier traveling I have opted to simply plug into the direct box and let the FOH engineer handle my overall sound.

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Permalink Reply by Roger Corley on June 6, 2011 at 5:40pm

I've been playing through a TC Electronics Staccato'51 for the last year. For being so small, it has great sound and power...and I can throw it in my backpack while traveling. But the amp I absolutely need for life to continue (or so I tell my wife) is Mesa Boogie's M-Series Carbine amps. Had the opportunity to play through them a few times and it carries the quality of sound that I've been wanting for quite some time. Will probably wait until the fall for the price to come down a bit (hopefully) and grab an M-6 2x12 combo.

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Permalink Reply by David Phoenix Karns on June 13, 2011 at 12:14pm

nice rig Dave!

mine's a bit much... maybe! LOL but I LOVE it!!!

 

This is Phil Jones' serial #1. I've played over 1800 shows on it. No blown drivers... sounds focused punchy and FULL!

Attachments:

• bass rig.jpg, 79 KB

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Permalink Reply by Barney Johnston on June 26, 2011 at 5:42pm

Hi Dave.I've spent the past 16 years using SWR gear,and for the most part,I loved the sound I got from the SM-400 or 500 amp with Goliath 4-10 cabs.The problem that I did have with my SWR rigs is that when the head got too hot it would shut off,and this right in the middle of a show.I even put 2 small fans on the amp to keep it from getting too hot,but that wasn't enough.Several times the amp would shut off when it got hot,usually 45 minutes into a show.I am now playing through an Aguilar DB751 amp head,and 2 Aguilar DB 4-10 cabinets,and I absolutely love the tone,the head room to cut through on stage,and the durability of the rig to perform flawlessly throughout an entire show.Aguilar has made a believer out of me!

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Permalink Reply by Chris George on August 7, 2011 at 12:26pm

I used a Peavey tko115 as a bass amp for a handful of years as a bass amp and really liked the amp. I currently use an Ashdown Engineering 1x15 combo for an everything amp. When I bought a pog2 for my guitar; the 2 oct below became an issue as it will blow guitar speakers which weren't designed for those frequencies. The Ashdown amp may not be EQ'ed for the freq's needed on a guitar, but that 15 has no problem handling the highs needed.... add an mxr 10 band eq pedal and a bbe sonic stomp and this rig works for anything. It's what I've got my Les Paul plugged into in my right or wrong/anytime vid on my page.

Personally I think an amp company ought to make the pre section of a head like a mic pre, with xlr and 1/4 inputs so we can start using low z pickups like Les Paul and Bill Lawrence told us to do, stick a kick ass EQ on it and either cab up 4x10's or 1x15 and be done with it. Of course then the argument would be why not just plug into the p.a.? Which brings up another point, who do stage monitors not cover low freq's produced by kick drum and bass even though the "engineers"  put those signals through them? Because they want the monitors to break so we have to buy more.....

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Permalink Reply by Steve Forrest on August 31, 2011 at 2:10pm

I used to play SWR. Really liked the SM-400 but it was lifted without my consent from my Suburban one day. I'm now a total fan of all things Aguilar. I know to the average listener through FOH sound it doesn't matter because they get what comes from the D.I., which is a great one from Aguilar, but the difference is that the sound I hear matters to ME. Aguilar DB750 head, 2 GS212 cabs, AG500 head, 2 GS112 cabs, DB680 pre for recording. LOVE THE TONE! 

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Permalink Reply by Clayton Parker Golden on August 31, 2011 at 3:53pm

I play through QSC 900w amp, colored by a SansAmp Bass RBI. (<Both rackmounted along with my wireless, tuner, and power conditioner)  My cabbage is a 215 Kustom and a 210 Quantum Bass Technology. I love the tone and the versatility of the SansAmp, and the QSC puts out plenty of power. For small shows or jams I have a Working Man's 400w SWR that I play through and I use my SansAmp Bass DI as a pre-amp of sorts. That DI is just as sweet as the RBI. I haven't used it for this yet, but with that DI, I could take that and my Geddy Lee and play through any system or recording set-up with minimal equipment and optimal sound quality. I love it. My equipment is about as versatile as my life. : )

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