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Suggestions please..........


donslow
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Long story short........

Only been playing bass a little over a year so knowledge not too hot on gear as yet

New amp needed (not fussed on new or used)
£500 (ish) to spend
Squier vintage modified precision with pickups upgraded to fender classic/62 reissue vintage thingies and cloth wiring with cts post and orange drop cap
Playing blues and bluesy rock mostly through 1 1x15 and 1 2x10 Ashdown cabs mostly
Exclusively play with fingers

Looking for thumpy yet clear tone

Heart is almost set on an orange terror bass 500 but is there anything else I should be looking at, something better for the money I'm about to spend...........

Any suggestions greatly welcomed

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Can`t disagree with any of the above. I like the Orange Terror but it`s not the most versatile - it sounds great but if you don`t like it`s main tone much there isn`t a lot you can do to alter it. The others listed are all a bit more versatile in this area.

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Had been looking at markbass stuff but it seems a little pricier than what I have to spend at the moment

The fender role may be worth a look

I've read that gk stuff has reliability issues, true?

I'm looking for proper old school clean bluesy tone will the little mark get me there? I figure of I need a bit of grunt/dirt I could get a pedal but is there a head I'm overlooking?

I'm not much of a tweaker so simple yet effective eq is most likely the call of the day hence why I stumbled upon the orange

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Are you gonna keep the Ashdown 115 and 210?
Are they MAG or ABM or...?
If you're keeping them, my initial thought would be that you could even get a Hi-Fi head, and rely on the cabs for the blues/rock sound, especially if they're MAG cabs (or ABM cabs with tamed tweeter).
If however you may be looking into new cabs, I'd probably choose the head with the new cabs in mind.

Nothing wrong with the Terror Bass or the other heads mentioned, but for your type of music and sound cravings, I'd add the TC Electronic BH 500, which has great flexibility, and if memory serves, a Class AB power amp.

In general, after all the reported stuff on Class D power amps (sensitivity to mains' "cleanness", demand for effective cabs), I'd consider whether a Class AB could be worth it instead. Looking quickly at all the suggestions, I think they're all Class D.

Mind ya, I've got Class D amps myself (Terror Bass, Streamliner, Promethean...), but just thought I'd mention the notion.

Good luck with the search!
You can hardly go wrong with any of the above, I feel.

Edited by BassTractor
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Already have a bh500 head and have been playing with it for as long as I have been playing bass, no matter how many questions I ask, how many people I speak to, I just can't find a satisfying tone in it, a few have agreed with me

It's been suggested that I go for a tube amp, whether it be power stage or otherwise as that will get me closer to a warm, thumpy, clear tone

Can't really afford new cabs at the moment so will be sticking with the ashdowns for now, they are the mag cabs, although I really only use them when gigging as the rehearsal space I use has, mostly, trace Elliot cabs that I use for practice but many thanks for suggestions so far, have been looking a lot at the mark bass little marks and streamliners on the inter web a lot today, liking what people are saying about them

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I'd expect that the tone you want can be found, but your situation is a budget and two cabs you are keeping, which may be somewhat limiting. But I don't think BC gives up yet, if you don't.
The sound you describe (as I think I understand it) is what I feel I get from the Little Bastard and two LB cabs, and the Little Bastard indeed has a valve power amp. Mind you: the LB cabs are not lazy. Send a Hi-Fi signal from a good amp (I tried the Genz Benz GBE 750) through them, and hear them perform.

Have you heard the BH500 with other cabs? It's quite possible the combination that killed the joy. I got a nice bluesy, rocky sound from it with either TC's own BC cabs (they are not so good, but this seemed to work well enough for that sound) or TC's more expensive but awkward RS cabs (which had a weird litte edge to them that probably needs taming).

When you want warm and thumpy but also clear at the same time, I feel the cabs need to be quick. The MAG cabs IMHO are lazy, and I feel no remorse whatsoever over having sold mine. But as long as you're keeping them, my guess is you're better off with a flexible amp with great EQ and good damping factor than with a head that has that tone built in, as my guess is the cabs are gonna ruin that tone - whether it comes from a Streamliner or a MarkBass.

Unless; if by "clear" you do not mean "enough high mid and treble output" but instead "max control of the power amp over the movement of the cones without any old skool after-movement (sorry, I don't know the correct term for this), then you are gonna need an amp with a high damping factor. I do not know which amps have that, but my spine seems to tell me that a cheapish Class D with a switching power supply is not the ideal partner for this. My gut feeling says: weight and size are your buddies.
YMMV.

Edited by BassTractor
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Some very interesting points and not the first time I have heard about my cabs being a bit pants, I am aware of this also but at the time they were cheap and at the time, so was I hahaha I don't play through the ash downs too much, just when gigging which at the moment is just a couple to three times a month but will hopefully pick up soon enough

I'm wondering if I should be looking at combos, in theory, a combo will have a perfectly matched speaker for the amp and should be a good start?!

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Suddenly got an idea: The MAG 300 head has a good EQ (if you're willing to dial a little), and so has a used ABM head which I guess would be within budget. Try and test one of those with these cabs, and see what you get. I'm not initially believing that it is exactly what you want, but the result might just be less wrong than feared.

If some people on BC are to be believed, there is little of this "perfectly matched" in our bass guitar world. Reportedly it's a world where production costs are what is looked at first and foremost.
(For reference: I used to shove my 4 - 8,000 quid synths through 4,000 quid amps and 20,000 quid speakers. It's a different world.)

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Sorry if I seem to be so dismissive but I have owned three amped bass amps of varying styles, abm, mag, of various wattages 300 / 500 etc etc and all three crapped out on me, at first I put it down to human error but THREE times?!

As you may understand, little bit sceptical about buying another but thankyou for the thoughts all the same

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There`s also a Markbass Little Mark 2 up for grabs on here at present, for a very decent price. That with, as has been said, a DHA/Sansamp/VT DI in front of it would give a really nice thump - I use the VT DI with mine and it`s surprising how much you get from that little pedal, really does do a great Ampeg sound. Plus LM2 & VT DI, it`s all nice and portable.

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[quote name='donslow' timestamp='1410444050' post='2549507']
Sorry if I seem to be so dismissive
[/quote]

Not at all, mate, and I'm totally with you.
Similarly, I have this thing against Hartke, where I'd be hard pressed to buy it after one negative experience. I know it's nonsense, but the feelings are there, and I choose to follow them.

Now if we can only get you to hate Ashdown soo much that you throw away those cabs, and then invest in a nice CTM 100 instead, with some big ass CL cabs! :D

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[quote name='donslow' timestamp='1410501556' post='2550026']
If I had the spare money to, the Ashdown cabs would be gone [i][b]quicker than a quick thing leaving somewhere very quickly[/b][/i] hahaha but for now, I'm stuck with them :-s
[/quote]

Haha! That phrase is cheesier than a cheesy thing with cheese on it, but I thought I was the only person to use that sort of phrase. :D

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