Help me to get a Bass Amp!!!!!

OscarLV5

OscarLV5

Guest
Jun 24, 2016
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Mexico City
#1
Hello everyone!!!
Just arrived here and so glad to be part of this amazing bass community.
I´m in a struggle cuz the band where I play is start to grow (So proud of it, by the way) so now we´re going to start playing in a bar buuuuuuut my amp start to suffer the years...
I've been playing a Laney RB3 for a loooooong time (Almost 9 years) and now my guitar mates just got new Marshall Amps (100watts each) and my drummer starts to get WAAAAY LOUDER than I've expected so now I start to get the need for a bigger amp...
So many brands and speakers configurations so I started to wonder... But first of all; do you recommend a Bass Head with a small cabinet or just a Big Combo?
Thx for the help!
 
#2
For you, bass head and TWO identical cabinets. Combos are great for lower volume/convenience situations. MANY of them are not loud enough to cut it against two 100W marshall heads and a wild man on drums. With combos you are limited to what THAT setup can do as many do not allow an extension cabinet. With bass heads and cabinets, you can always swap out the part you don't like and take full advantage of the USED bass gear world. I don't suggest buying ANYTHING NEW here. You need as much firepower as you can afford.

Jump on your local USED site (craigslist, Guitar Center's USED section, and whatever else you find) and post the items you are interested in. We can help narrow down your choices.
 
#3
Small questions

Congrats on getting bigger and good luck for the future.
With venues you are playing now do you need your own rig or is it mainly PA systems?
Although the guys have this blaring rig, do they actually need it, or are their cabs mic'd?
Problem you will have is drums are loud and maybe he/she has been holding back. They have new amps which probably have to be loud to push them to break them up and get that natural tube distortion, and so the drummer gets louder, viscious circle etc.

Question is why can't they play/rehearse quieter?
Ears are precious

That aside depending on budget, what you play etc. You can then make a decision and anyone here far better than me can help but I can tell you what I have.
 
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#4
Gearhead17 said:
For you, bass head and TWO identical cabinets. Combos are great for lower volume/convenience situations. MANY of them are not loud enough to cut it against two 100W marshall heads and a wild man on drums. With combos you are limited to what THAT setup can do as many do not allow an extension cabinet. With bass heads and cabinets, you can always swap out the part you don't like and take full advantage of the USED bass gear world. I don't suggest buying ANYTHING NEW here. You need as much firepower as you can afford.

Jump on your local USED site (craigslist, Guitar Center's USED section, and whatever else you find) and post the items you are interested in. We can help narrow down your choices.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice! And yes, I will need much fire power
 
#5
Cuzzie said:
Small questions

Congrats on getting bigger and good luck for the future.
With venues you are playing now do you need your own rig or is it mainly PA systems?
Although the guys have this blaring rig, do they actually need it, or are their cabs mic'd?
Problem you will have is drums are loud and maybe he/she has been holding back. They have new amps which probably have to be loud to push them to break them up and get that natural tube distortion, and so the drummer gets louder, viscious circle etc.

Question is why can't they play/rehearse quieter?
Ears are precious

That aside depending on budget, what you play etc. You can then make a decision and anyone here far better than me can help but I can tell you what I have.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the best luck!

Sometimes I need my own rig, mainly cuz my signal is going throu a DI box (pre EQ) when its needed, but most of the times it goes by my own amp cuz the bar where we play its kind of small. The issue that I have it's when theres is full house and the PA guy says to me that my sign will go throu the DI box, and thats when I can't hear myself; we don't use ears monitors or anything but our own amps.

We dont mic the cabs of the guitars but the drums are mic'd (Bass drums, toms and snare)

We usualy reharse not so quietly, thats a good advice.
 
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#6
OK i get you.

Glad you like the idea of a quieter practice, save those ears!

As you can see from my sign off i have a Hartke LH1000 and a hydrive HX410 cab, it is VERY loud and will trump those 6 string monkeys any day. It has a DI out for the house PA if you want so you can tailor stage volume, or just smash it out the cabs.
They are pretty cheap, i got them second hand for under £500 and pretty bombproof, hell if Billy Sheehan, Dave ellefson likes it, the cannot be half bad!

Good luck!
 
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#8
It would take way too much Q&A to determine what I would buy in your situation.

Just my opinion, in general: Get light weight stuff. This means class D amps. And 500 watts minimum. Not because you absolutely have to have it, but because it's not that much more expensive than the lower priced stuff, and it's possibly enough to last you for many years.

Get a separate cab based on your musical style. 4x10, 2x12 or 1x15 will all get the job done, but each has its benefits. One thing to be aware of: The larger the driver, the farther away from it you need to be to really get the full sound. It means that a 1x15 a foot behind you may sound louder to your band mates than you.

And I'm a strong believer in bridging a PA amp and using a bass pre-amp rather than getting a bass amp. The main two reasons are: It's cheaper and it is more versatile.

And whenever possible, go used.
 
#10
Hello everybody!!!!
I would like to give you an upgrade of my little "problem"...

I just finished the reharsal for our next gig, a birthday party, aaaand I was able to play to a small borrowed rig by a frind of mine, a GK 700RB Head with a 2x12 cab I was blown away by it.
He told me that I may need just more volumen so he let me use his rig to see if that fits my style so I can think about maybe getting something like that.

Thanks a lot to everyone who provieded your wise advice, I promise as soon as I get my new "rig" I will upload some pic's
 
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