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Amps - a minefield


Funky Dunky
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I tried a Genz 6 and really didn't like it found it had a harsh unfriendly sort of sound used a Tec amp 350 for a few years completely the opposite of the genze loved it decided I needed more power tried a streamliner much better than the 6 but too polite for my taste and ended up with a tonehammer 500 so now I'm happy ? err no unless your very lucky you will probably spend your life looking for that sound in your head. So I would say buy cheap and use it when you know what that amp doesn't do for you buy another and so on but remember that not all cabs work well with all amps and vice versa.

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[quote name='barkin' timestamp='1431162060' post='2768335']
Get the amp that you really want.

If it doesn't have a headphone out, get a Zoom B1on
[/quote]

True, but my response was really aiming to highlight that it's nuts to endlessly research amps lacking any features appropriate to your only current use-case, e.g home practice as has been previously stated.

I kinda feel like we've all been giving crack to an addict here, clearly the OP is in the midst of a major multi-month GAS attack, obsessively researching every detail of products they can't afford and don't really need. We've all been there! :blush:

I know the OP came here to seek refuge amongst other, similarly afflicted GAS addicts, but I feel like it's only responsible to try and rationalize things, so here it is, some well intentioned "tough love", FWIW:

1. Don't buy a really expensive amp you can't really afford and don't really need, you'll suffer the agony of the associated debt for much longer than the "agony" of the research.

2. The only way to gain experience of playing live is to get out there and do it. You don't need an expensive amp for this. Turn up at some jam nights with your £35 pedal and plug direct into the PA, it'll work fine, you can jam with friends at a rehearsal studio using the same method (or, frequently, with amps provided by the studio). This is also a great way to meet folks and get into/form a band.

3. If you really want to own an amp, or get to the point where you really need one, get something cheap (used) and live with it for a while, gaining experience of what you like. My first two amps were a £50 Behringher combo, then a £70 Hartke kickback, I gigged both in small/medium pubs (also DI'd generally) for several years before upgrading. They both worked perfectly fine. The MarkBass I upgraded to does the exact same job, slightly louder, but cost *way* more - personally I could never justify that outlay unless I had income from gigs to pay for it.

Whatever you get, have fun and enjoy making music with it - good luck! :)

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[quote name='6v6' timestamp='1431335857' post='2770024']


True, but my response was really aiming to highlight that it's nuts to endlessly research amps lacking any features appropriate to your only current use-case, e.g home practice as has been previously stated.

I kinda feel like we've all been giving crack to an addict here, clearly the OP is in the midst of a major multi-month GAS attack, obsessively researching every detail of products they can't afford and don't really need. We've all been there! :blush:

I know the OP came here to seek refuge amongst other, similarly afflicted GAS addicts, but I feel like it's only responsible to try and rationalize things, so here it is, some well intentioned "tough love", FWIW:

1. Don't buy a really expensive amp you can't really afford and don't really need, you'll suffer the agony of the associated debt for much longer than the "agony" of the research.

2. The only way to gain experience of playing live is to get out there and do it. You don't need an expensive amp for this. Turn up at some jam nights with your £35 pedal and plug direct into the PA, it'll work fine, you can jam with friends at a rehearsal studio using the same method (or, frequently, with amps provided by the studio). This is also a great way to meet folks and get into/form a band.

3. If you really want to own an amp, or get to the point where you really need one, get something cheap (used) and live with it for a while, gaining experience of what you like. My first two amps were a £50 Behringher combo, then a £70 Hartke kickback, I gigged both in small/medium pubs (also DI'd generally) for several years before upgrading. They both worked perfectly fine. The MarkBass I upgraded to does the exact same job, slightly louder, but cost *way* more - personally I could never justify that outlay unless I had income from gigs to pay for it.

Whatever you get, have fun and enjoy making music with it - good luck! :)
[/quote]

Sage.

Made me step back and question myself. I'm not even in a band and I'm preparing to drop hundreds of pounds on something I can't justify. Fine if I'm a regularly gigging bassist, but at this moment I'm not. I didn't even recognise this as GAS gone wild, which ultimately is what it is. Your advice, 6V6, is really sound and safe, from a monetary standpoint as well as a needs standpoint. What am I actually thinking here? Get a cheap, giggable amp. Take it from there. Makes the most sense of all really.

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[quote name='Funky Dunky' timestamp='1431347982' post='2770209']
Made me step back and question myself. I'm not even in a band and I'm preparing to drop hundreds of pounds on something I can't justify. Fine if I'm a regularly gigging bassist, but at this moment I'm not. I didn't even recognise this as GAS gone wild, which ultimately is what it is.
[/quote]

Easily done - I don't do an awful lot of gigs and most of them have backline supplied anyway. But GAS led me to a GK Fusion and it's very nice. However, I've got a strange kind of reverse-GAS which is now leading me to one of these:

[url="http://www.thomann.de/gb/behringer_bx4500h_ultrabass_basshead.htm"]http://www.thomann.d...ss_basshead.htm[/url]

Apparently it's an Ashdown clone similar to one I used as backline a while back and liked [i]a lot.[/i] Not much of a gamble at the price.
And it's got a three-year warranty. :)

Edited by discreet
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[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1431348665' post='2770223']

However, I've got a strange kind of reverse-GAS which is now leading me to one of these:

[url="http://www.thomann.de/gb/behringer_bx4500h_ultrabass_basshead.htm"]http://www.thomann.d...ss_basshead.htm[/url]

Apparently it's an Ashdown clone similar to one I used as backline a while back and liked [i]a lot.[/i] Not much of a gamble at the price.
And it's got a three-year warranty. :)
[/quote]

Gordon Bennett! That's insane value. I'm not entirely sure about Behringer gear - IIRC the pedals are really inexpensive, but were known for sucking tone right out of your sound and having an intolerable amount of hiss, but that was a few years back in fairness.

If you get one of these, do post a review because at that price I would be most interested.

Other than that, the answer for me would be to wait a bit, stick some money in a jar and when the time is right pick up a wee bargain from the For Sale section of BC. 6v6 has been the voice of reason.

Even if I bought one of them thar Behringer heads, I could buy a nice used cab and save myself crazy amounts of loot.

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[quote name='Funky Dunky' timestamp='1431349975' post='2770245']
Gordon Bennett! That's insane value. I'm not entirely sure about Behringer gear - IIRC the pedals are really inexpensive
[/quote]

Behringer do not have a good reputation online. It's worth repeating that (in my opinion) this is because they manufacture and distribute a HUGE amount of product globally, so statistically you're going to hear more about Behringer fails than anything else, even though their percentage failure rate as a company is no better or worse than average. Plus, I've had a Behringer BDI-21 (Sansamp Clone) for years and it's been very reliable. It was £25 and sounds 95% like the pedal it's emulating. When I buy one of these amps I'll certainly post a review. If it goes tits-up within three years I'll just send it back... if it fails after that I will have had my money's worth...

It's worth Googling this amp too, and reading the many reviews of it online.

Edited by discreet
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See, Behringer gear is always incredible value for money especially in terms of features. I remember in my days as a guitarist (ah, the wilderness years) GASing for things like loopers and Leslie emulators and was stunned the gulf in price between Behringer and everyone else - sometimes the Behringer pedal cost the same as the power supply for the big name brand pedal!! They always cram their gear with all the features you would hope to find as well. But again, that tone-sucking thing....

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YouTube reviews are sketchy at best and given the many parameters of audio quality (theirs and yours) it's not a good way to decide about the sound of anything really, especially not amps. Have a read of some of these reviews:

[url="http://www.musiciansfriend.com/amplifiers-effects/behringer-ultrabass-bx4500h-bass-amp-head"]http://www.musicians...h-bass-amp-head[/url]

Scroll down a bit for the reviews... :) ...warts and all, they're not all good!

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[quote name='Conan' timestamp='1431351481' post='2770289']
A sensible, GAS-killing, expense-avoiding thread on Basschat?!?! :o

Whatever next? :lol:
[/quote]

:lol:

Sorry, I came over a bit funny for a moment there didn't I, don't worry, I'm back to browsing ebay and maxing out my credit cards as we speak! :D

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[quote name='Conan' timestamp='1431351481' post='2770289']
A sensible, GAS-killing, expense-avoiding thread on Basschat?!?! :o Whatever next? :lol:
[/quote]

Well now the Tories are in we have to tighten our belts, batten down the hatches and gird our loins for some full-on austerity!

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[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1431350197' post='2770255']
Plus, I've had a Behringer BDI-21 (Sansamp Clone) for years and it's been very reliable. It was £25 and sounds 95% like the pedal it's emulating.
[/quote]

+1, I've had a BDI-21 for a couple of years, and it's great for the price, and has been reliable.

More reliable than my £500 MarkBass actually, so while my LM3 was getting fixed, I cobbled together a makeshift rig for a recent gig with the BDI-21 DI'd and going through an old PA amp into my normal cab.

It worked, cost nothing, and most folks in the audience couldn't tell the difference, I even got a couple of compliments on the punchy tone out front! :D

Anyway, bit OT, but I just wanted to illustrate that Behringher do have a somewhat undeserved bad rep online, and IME they make some good stuff for us budget-constrained bassists, and it's just as reliable as any other brand, even supposedly premium ones.

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[quote name='Funky Dunky' timestamp='1431349975' post='2770245']
Gordon Bennett! That's insane value. I'm not entirely sure about Behringer gear - IIRC the pedals are really inexpensive, but were known for sucking tone right out of your sound and having an intolerable amount of hiss, but that was a few years back in fairness.
[/quote]

I've got a couple of Behringer pedals (ADI21 and AB100) and both get hissy if I power them with an adaptor but are fine with battery power.

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  • 1 month later...

Holy thread resurrection Batman! :o ;)

Well, after going through the same thought process as the OP, and the lack of places to try amps out, I ended up buying a second hand rig locally thanks to a trawl through Gumtree.

They had a few heads advertised, so I was able to try a few different heads & a couple of cabs out. I was slightly disappointed they'd sold the one I wanted, but after playing through a few that the did have, I walked away with a Hartke head & a non-Hartke 2x10. I think it sounds great, but I expect I'll be tweaking it for a while yet. B) :)

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