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#112525 by Hugo le M
Wed May 26, 2010 8:29 am
I totally agree with Tronix:

"Avoid anything smaller than a 300watt, and avoid 2x10 or other small rigs for weight, you don't play bass so you can drag around a lightweight rig, it's not conducive to good bass reproduction anyway, also avoid the cheap stuff, distortion hides bad guitar tone many times, but bass is intended to be clean, and cheap under powered rigs will distort, and sound like bunk."

GO for 4x10 AND 1x15 cabs, and consider at a small venue if you want to leave the 1x15 in the van. (I'd always use it.) Don't ask the sound guy to put some bass in the fold back as with most small pas, that's going to mess it up for everyone else (even if he agrees to do it). And totally forget relying a bass wedge - as one bass guitarist insisted he do at an audition with me. (He didn't get the job). Separate heads are vital for carrying... the more powerful the better.
#174237 by Dreamsinger
Mon May 28, 2012 4:15 pm
A lot has changed in 3 years. Light weight without sacrificing performance is becoming more important all the time. I use a Bass Floor POD as a preamp into a 300wt Carver power amp into MarkBass 102P 2 x 10 rear ported cab and a 151P 1 x 15 cab. They're super light but still solidly built and sound excellent. All the gear fits in the trunk of my old Mercedes diesel. In the rare occasions that 300wts isn't enough there's usually a serious PA that I run a line out from the POD to the board.



quote="yanidy"]FOR CLUB GIGS, W/C OF THE FOLLOWING IS THE BEST BASS AMP?


FENDER
AMPEG
BASSON
MARSHALL
GK
MARKIE
MESA BOOGIE[/quote]
#185219 by I play bass
Sat Sep 08, 2012 5:15 am
the best by far is the eden wt-800 2-10 and a 1-15 u can never go wrong with this set up never compremise your sound
#200369 by Bassdiety
Thu Jan 03, 2013 3:50 am
The issues are what type of music do you play, is this the sound for the club or more of a monitor for you, and how much do you want to spend?

I have to say that the ampeg is the most versatile sounding of the ones you mentioned. Ampeg sounds good clean or dirty. You can play funk, jazz, country, polka, ska,...even klezmer. Hartke is great because they cut through , but if you want to get dirty, aluminum is not the way to go! THe speakers will crumble in due time. GK is good, particularly an RB 800 with a hartke 410... classic sound. Marshalls are a guitar sound in my humble opinion. They get dirty, but the ampeg blows them away. Mesa Boogie is an over priced Marshall to me. Markie & Basson..eh...designer with Mark Bass and Trace Elliot and a few other brands that escape me right now.

Amps are like sneakers, so while I and everyone else has an opinion on here, the bottom line is what do you like? If it sounds good to you, then that's kinda all that matters..... unless it costs you gigs. If you get the ampeg, I don't think that you or anyone you play with will complain. I have 2 Ampegs, 2 David Edens, a GK, a Hartke, & a Marshall. I sold my fender years ago.
Then again, I've tweeked my gear over the years so my view may be warped a bit. I have a Peavey TNT 150 with a JBL 2226H I bought from the Jackson victory tour(yeah, those Jacksons). It is not a black widow and you can tell when you hear it. If you want small yet club ready in a combo, the Ampeg Rocket 100. It's small and it sounds good. Since most clubs have a pa anyway, this will blow out some small venues. You'll like it before the gig as it will fit in a trunk and after the gig, when you can carry it out after a long night. Good luck. Some nice comments on here. Great job folks. I'm honored to be in your company.

#205843 by ScoHam
Wed Feb 20, 2013 3:12 am
Ashdown Amps and cabs..........best out there.....

#205844 by ScoHam
Wed Feb 20, 2013 3:13 am
Ashdown Amps and cabs..........best out there.....

#206652 by Chris Volpini
Tue Feb 26, 2013 11:00 am
My Carvin MB1215 Microstack is perfect for small venues... 250 watts of power (plenty for a small club), easily portable, and great for the money. It also has a 12', 15', 6.5', and titanium HF tweeter to give it a VERY balanced tone no matter what kind of instrument you play through it. My main amp is my Genz/Bergantino stack and nothing will ever replace it, but when space is an issue I will always go for the Carvin. I also play everything from my Modulus to my hollowbody and upright through it and it works for all of them!
#206850 by J-HALEY
Thu Feb 28, 2013 4:24 pm
Amir Arrington Pro Bassis wrote:the best by far is the eden wt-800 2-10 and a 1-15 u can never go wrong with this set up never compremise your sound


Our bass player used this rig and it was constantly in the shop! It was so bad they would repair it and he would try it at home then bring it to the gig and it would NOT make a sound! This happened 4 times. I mean he couldn't use it for almost a YEAR! Thats how long this went on. Finally Eden gave him his money back and he bought a different amp. The Eden sounded great for the first 2 months it flat out wouldn't work after that!

#206971 by phillipg
Fri Mar 01, 2013 6:15 pm
Hugo le M wrote:I totally agree with Tronix:

"Avoid anything smaller than a 300watt, and avoid 2x10 or other small rigs for weight, you don't play bass so you can drag around a lightweight rig, it's not conducive to good bass reproduction anyway, also avoid the cheap stuff, distortion hides bad guitar tone many times, but bass is intended to be clean, and cheap under powered rigs will distort, and sound like bunk."

GO for 4x10 AND 1x15 cabs, and consider at a small venue if you want to leave the 1x15 in the van. (I'd always use it.) Don't ask the sound guy to put some bass in the fold back as with most small pas, that's going to mess it up for everyone else (even if he agrees to do it). And totally forget relying a bass wedge - as one bass guitarist insisted he do at an audition with me. (He didn't get the job). Separate heads are vital for carrying... the more powerful the better.


i used to think big was best , but not any more, i'm using a hartke 2.5xl and a 350 watt celestion 12" neo powered by a lighweight d class ashdown mibass 550 , the hartke goes down to 35hz and the celestion 40hz easily low enough to make me feel sick when standing in front of it , with a full tonal range covered, i can use just the 12" celestion with the ashdown amp for smaller gigs and still be heard above the drummer with no drop in quality, and i can carry the amp in my shoulder gig bag ,cab in one hand and bass in the other without a hernia or slipped disc , small is now beautiful and sound quality and bass presence is also there.
#207495 by Bassdiety
Tue Mar 05, 2013 10:36 am
Let the venue and the PA dictate your sound needs. One of the rules a lot of bands I've played with used (and still use) is that only vocals go through the monitors. Maybe a sax or violin or keyboard, or acoustic guitar too...but most of the violinists that I play with have amps too. Its rare that I play any venue what has no pa or monitors, but it does occur. Those places tend to be small or acoustic so I'm not taking anything over 300 amps into those places.... it would be over kill, plus some of these places have no stage so there's no room for something big. Technology has really improved and there are some great amps for bassists(and guitarists too) that are smaller, but still sound great.
When I play larger venues, my amp is still not gonna carry the room, the PA is and typically, the sound guy runs me direct( so my rig is for my ears only) and I'll rely on the subs for my house sound. In those situations I could get by with only my head, but I have a cabinet there for my stage volume & tone. Unless we have our own sound guy, the rest is out of my hands so all I can do is control what happens on stage, not out in the house.
I played the HOuse of blues. They rolled out an Ampeg SVT with an 8x10 which was great, but with the side fills and stage monitors, I never really needed it. I took my 4 x 10 another time and it sounded the same, because the PA was so good, plus the sound guys knew me.
I did a festival once and only took my head, as my cabinet went to another festival that I played later that night. It was ok, but it would have been nice to have some volume control on stage. I spent a lot of time by the drummer wedge. It was outdoors so the sound was a bit thin. Even then, I didn't need much, just something for my sonic reference. I could have used 100 watts and been fine.

Its your money, your back, and your choice. You gotta maintain that monster or pay someone to maintain it. good gear doesn't have to be so big anymore. besides, how many people are you playing with anyway? IF it's 3 piece, then how loud do you have to be to cut through? Are you all on the same frequency or what? Even in a 5 piece, the bass is on the bottom. Unless your guitarist has an 8 string or your keyboardist has a heavy left hand or you're backing up Barry White, you're on a sonic island. No one should be in your frequency so volume isn't an issue. Ok, maybe if your drummer plays for Slayer and has a quadruple kick pedal, but then you're gonna lose that battle anyway. Just slap away and enjoy the enhancement.
#207525 by Starfish Scott
Tue Mar 05, 2013 5:36 pm
Bassdiety wrote: One of the rules a lot of bands I've played with used (and still use) is that only vocals go through the monitors.


I knew I wasn't the only one. KUDOS.
(It's a more clear/clean product you pump out in the end.)

I know a few drummers that absolutely want all their drums mic'd at all times.

Unless you are playing a GIANT venue, I fail to see how a decent drummer cannot play loud enough and if your amp sucks as badly as to need to be mic'd, I feel bad for you in general.

Acoustic guitars and instruments are a completely different story.

#207590 by Cajundaddy
Wed Mar 06, 2013 4:59 am
phillipg wrote:
i used to think big was best , but not any more, i'm using a hartke 2.5xl and a 350 watt celestion 12" neo powered by a lighweight d class ashdown mibass 550 , the hartke goes down to 35hz and the celestion 40hz easily low enough to make me feel sick when standing in front of it , with a full tonal range covered, i can use just the 12" celestion with the ashdown amp for smaller gigs and still be heard above the drummer with no drop in quality, and i can carry the amp in my shoulder gig bag ,cab in one hand and bass in the other without a hernia or slipped disc , small is now beautiful and sound quality and bass presence is also there.


Ahh a voice of reason in the crowd. Thank you Phillipg! Can we finally put an end to refrigerator cabinet bass rigs pummeling small clubs in every town? 35hz at 130db is just insanity onstage and it bleeds all over everything. A small tasty rig with direct-out to run through the house for when you play large venues or outdoors is all the rig anyone could ever need.

#208385 by billy517712
Sun Mar 10, 2013 1:51 pm
Hartke Kickback... you get your sound aimed at your ear without lugging a stand
#214000 by JazzBasser
Sat May 04, 2013 8:05 am
I currently use the GK Backline 600 along with 1- 4x10 300 watt and 1 - 1x15 200 watts. Fender Jazz passive and so far I have played it at 12:00 at even that was a lot of sound. Played it twice at Fair Park last year and was heard all over. One time just pure amp only and one time had it mic'd. For some reason when they tried the DI, the sound was horrible so I yanked the cord and played natural. Get lots of compliments on my sound from other longtime bassist and musicians.
However I do like the Eden....man it gets so deep and heavy, but not muddy. But as said by others, it's a matter of taste / personal likes. I got this because was on a tight budget at the time, but hey it still works. Cranked it a few times about 2:00 and the 10db pad and man. "what did you say, I can't hear you". Awesome and no rattle or buzz and been with this setup about 5 years or so now. Nothing blown or rattling.

have a good one

#217848 by ThunderG0D
Wed Jul 03, 2013 7:17 pm
I use an Ashdown ABM 500 Evo III....I use to run an Electric Blue 180 from Ashdown which is fine for smaller venues, but needed a little more oomph.

Cab: Genz Benz 2x10 - Efficient and lightweight. I will say they have a killer 2x12 Neodymium driven cab (Weighs under 50 lbs) that hits in the 40 hz range and can handle 600w RMS....just costs more than I want to spend to "upgrade".

Genz Benz is up there with super-efficient, super-range Bass reproduction. Aint cheap, but it'll last you. My 2x10 cab is probably a decade old and still kickin nicely.

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