what to do & what to buy

[Mark_Bass]

Hi everyone, post number one so ill jump right in and ask this illustrious group what your thoughts are!

At the moment im playing a Mesa Boogie M-Pulse 360 through a SWR Goliath III (4x10 @4ohms).
I play in two bands at the moment, one is Solsikk a female fronted metal band (music video to give you an idea of the music [url="http://youtu.be/6rTFn2a1wDw?hd=1)"]http://youtu.be/6rTFn2a1wDw?hd=1)[/url]
And the other is a fun little covers band, with that band i use my custom Warwick FNA Jazzman 5 String, strung with Elixir nanowebs.
With Solsikk i use an Ibanez 5string SR705 5 string as the neck is alot faster also strung with Elixir nanowebs.

Im looking at buying a new head (and later a new cab) something potentially lighter in weight, but mainly something which is easier to set-up, i find that because i use different basses and a slightly different sound for each i find it takes me a long time to get happy with my tone and then im back with the other band and have to reset the parametric eq and start again. The reason why im using two different basses is mainly down to the bands playing in different tunings .


The list of contenders is:
Ampeg SVT 7 PRO
Gallien Krueger Fusion 550 Bass Head or the MBfusion 500
Gallien Krueger RB1001BII
Mark Bass Little Mark III
Mark Bass Rocker 500
Mesa boogie M6 Carbine (bit out of reach of my immediate price range)
TC Electronic RH750


The problem im having is finding someone whos stocks these heads, people can get them in but its on a provision that i buy them,
i've tested the Mark Bass Little Mark '& a Mark Bass tube 800 as well as the TC Electronic head, i didn't get on with the Mark Bass heads, i found the treble a bit too harsh, i was dead impressed with the RH750, the presets are a good idea but again theres alot of scope for over tweaking things to the point where im never gonna be happy.
The GK fusion is looking on specs, price to be a favourite but i cant find anyone whos got one in stock to try, and its the same for the Ampeg and The Mesa head.
I'd like any and all comments and insights, and if theres a brand of model of head that ive over looked please let me know!
I guess the key is versatility without too much fuss, im a big and strong boy so if i have to lump another 15kg head around its no problem, though everyone seems to be heading towards smaller amps...or so it seems.

[Lozz196]

From the point of using two different sounds and basses, I think the TC, with its Memory function would be a good choice, making your set-up easier (once you have tweaked the killer sounds, that is). That, and the fact that it has on-board tuner & compression make it an easily portable piece of kit. Plus, having a TC Classic 450 myself, I`ve been very happy with it, so am happy to recommend TC products.

[Prime_BASS]

Well a super easy and cheap way is right your preferred settings down for each band and then stick it to the head.

But for ease of storing settings the RH750. But like you said, so many things to tweak!

[MatthewKeys]

The SVT7 pro is a really good amp in my opinion; and it has plenty of headroom. There is currently one on gumtree atm [url="http://www.gumtree.com/p/for-sale/ampeg-svt-7-pro-bass-head-amp-as-new-condition-with-original-packaging/78050660"]http://www.gumtree.com/p/for-sale/ampeg-sv...kaging/78050660[/url]

Someone is also selling an SVT4 PRO head for £450 with a rackcase on here, which is a steal for a £1300 pound head!

[chris_b]

Why don't you just run the M-Pulse flat and add a pre amp (sadowski/sansamp) and tweak that.

[Mark_Bass]

[quote name='chris_b' post='1214439' date='Apr 29 2011, 01:30 AM']Why don't you just run the M-Pulse flat and add a pre amp (sadowski/sansamp) and tweak that.[/quote]

good suggestion but id prefer to be reducing what im lugging around, im checking out the genz benz heads next week as well as the GK mbfusion and the mesa M6carbine, i think that its worth seeing whats around and seeing if theres anything to be had from changing my head though it was mentioned to me yesterday that my SWR bass cab might not be best suited to my mesa head, so i was thinking a quick fix might be to swap the cab for something different....i dunno!
im conflicted and confused i guess i just want a chance to have a play and see whats around :-s

Edited April 29, 2011 by Mark_Bass

[Prime_BASS]

[quote name='Mark_Bass' post='1214676' date='Apr 29 2011, 10:42 AM']good suggestion but id prefer to be reducing what im lugging around, im checking out the genz benz heads next week as well as the GK mbfusion and the mesa M6carbine, i think that its worth seeing whats around and seeing if theres anything to be had from changing my head though it was mentioned to me yesterday that my SWR bass cab might not be best suited to my mesa head, so i was thinking a quick fix might be to swap the cab for something different....i dunno!
im conflicted and confused i guess i just want a chance to have a play and see whats around :-s[/quote]


Thats just one persons opinion though. If you like it and it does what you want then no point changing.

Changing gear is expensive and often disappointing and should be taken on a whim on what some one says. I've tried a lot of cabs and even went as far as 2 orange guitar 4x12 all the way to a single lightweight 12.
I'm sticking with what I have though now as it does exactly what I want from a bass cab. It was the same for my head but now I need something more comprehensive and powerful so it's time to change.