Bass Stack/Combo recommendations pls

[steve355]

Hi Guys, my 1st post, how exciting

I am a guitarist of 25 years who has recently taken up bass duties in our band, which is a mostly punk/rock band, although I tend to play all styles in my spare time, so I'd ideally like flexibility... . I have a P-bass copy, which is OK, and I think a Danelectro bass on the way.... still....

I need to source a decent, but cheapish stack or combo for gigs. It needs to have a decent tone and be able to fill a decent sized pub/hall or whatever over a fairly noisy drummer - hence the idea at looking at a stack with a 4x10 cab.

My budget is "a few hundred quid". Probably 300-400 max. I'm happy with s/h and long as it isn't knackered. I like tubes (have a Marshall 6100 stack for 6 string) but solid state is fine if it has the tone.

Any recommendations?

Thanks!!!

Steve

[Lozz196]

As a make/rig that`s very versatile, you can`t really go wrong with Hartke, the LH500 in particular seems to get rave reviews. I`ve had Marshalls MB range and I thought it was great, has a very warm classic channel with tube pre-amp, tho some on here don`t seem to rate it, stating reliability issues, but I never had a problem with mine. Gotta say though, the Marshall does one sound fantastic, whereas Hartke are better all-rounders. I had a Hartke rig (head, 2x10 & 1x15) - most versatile rig ever, but it just didn`t have Marshall written on it!

[allihts]

I say it [b]every[/b] time one of these threads come up.... LANEY RB9!

[essexbasscat]

Whereas I always say

[size=5]PEAVEY MK IV SM400 SERIES HEAD[/size]

head should cost around £100, or less. See the appreciation thread

get a couple of 8 ohm cabs, perhaps 2 cabs of 1x12. There's a couple of black widows hanging around here recently

this rig will collapse houses, have buckets of tone and cost all up under £300

You know it makes sense !

T

[Musky]

[quote name='essexbasscat' post='944955' date='Sep 3 2010, 09:15 PM']Whereas I always say

[size=5]PEAVEY MK IV SM400 SERIES HEAD[/size]

head should cost around £100, or less. See the appreciation thread

get a couple of 8 ohm cabs, perhaps 2 cabs of 1x12. There's a couple of black widows hanging around here recently

this rig will collapse houses, have buckets of tone and cost all up under £300

You know it makes sense !

T[/quote]
Strangely enough I was thinking the same thing, only pairing it with the 2x15. Though your suggestion of cabs would probably work out cheaper once you factor in osteopath fees.

Ashdown MAG stuff sells cheaply enough as well, though there's always the question of whether Steve will get along with the tone. It seems to polarise opinions.

[warwickhunt]

If I was starting out again and with a limited budget, I'd go for a used Hartke LH500 head and a pair of used Peavey 2x10 cabs. Stack the two cabs end on end and you'll get a much better spread of sound than a normal 4x10.

Though from the budget amp line-up I wouldn't dismiss Peavey, GK (the older 400/800RB) or some of the old TE and Laney range... actually thinking about it, there's a lot more choice available for a lot less money than there used to be and I could probably find a whole raft of stuff that's been up for sale on here or eBay recently.

[JTUK]

hmmm.. just come back from a outdoor gig with kit supplied.

If your bass sounds pretty damn good then you can make sense of a lot of amp/cabs configs..if it doesn't you wont, IMO.

The house rig had Sadwoskys, J Bass copy thing, I think, super J and a Warwick go through it

None of them worked that well plug and play except the Sei, IMO. Granted no one spent too much time EQ'ing the backline as it was monitor only for all intents and purposes but it was quite enlightening. I now know what they mean by Sadowskys sitting well in the mix....it means they don't cut through well.

This was all conducted on the basis of a 10-15mins changeover with very limited sound-checking, so mitigating circumstances apply, but I know what I wouldn't rush out and try.


For the OP...make your bass sound as clean as poss to give yourself the best chance of a good sound...and then it matters less what you play through, IMO. And put some decent new-ish strings on or forget about it.

Edited September 4, 2010 by JTUK

[tino]

[quote name='steve355' post='944382' date='Sep 3 2010, 11:32 AM']Hi Guys, my 1st post, how exciting

I am a guitarist of 25 years who has recently taken up bass duties in our band, which is a mostly punk/rock band, although I tend to play all styles in my spare time, so I'd ideally like flexibility... . I have a P-bass copy, which is OK, and I think a Danelectro bass on the way.... still....

I need to source a decent, but cheapish stack or combo for gigs. It needs to have a decent tone and be able to fill a decent sized pub/hall or whatever over a fairly noisy drummer - hence the idea at looking at a stack with a 4x10 cab.

My budget is "a few hundred quid". Probably 300-400 max. I'm happy with s/h and long as it isn't knackered. I like tubes (have a Marshall 6100 stack for 6 string) but solid state is fine if it has the tone.

Any recommendations?

Thanks!!!

Steve[/quote]
Roland DB700 £200 fine condition looked after and a very versatile amp.....have a google you never know it might fit your bill

[steve355]

Thanks for your suggestions guys, I'll do some browsing around and see what I can find. I'm tempted by the Hartke!


My 6-string experiences (20 yrs ago) with Laneys and Peaveys kind of put me off those - only when I got a valve Marshall did I hear something I really liked. But maybe the world has changed since then and they are fine - guess I shiuld try a few and see - I'll look up those recommended.

Thanks!!

Steve

[skej21]

[quote name='allihts' post='944930' date='Sep 3 2010, 08:50 PM']I say it [b]every[/b] time one of these threads come up.... LANEY RB9![/quote]

+100000000000000000000

Just sold mine to BobStockon for about £100 and I'd had it 4 years without ANY problems. Great piece of kit!

If you can get one secondhand on here, you'll not regret it at all!

[Low End Bee]

We all know there is only one rig.
[font="Impact"][size=6]
[color="#696969"]SVT[/color][/size][/font]

[benh]

[url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=101026&st=0&p=942062&#entry942062"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=...mp;#entry942062[/url]

It is £500 but the SWR tone is great if that's your thing. Has worked well for me in the past from heavy rock gigs to jazz/funk trio gigs!