Cab or Amp.

[paul h]

I am talking about YOUR set up in particular.

Do you use an amp with a particular sound and use a transparent* sounding cab? Meaning that you can change cabs without affecting your tone. (Too much.)

Do you use a neutral sounding amp and rely on the cab for colour*? Meaning your amp is just there for volume and everything else is down to bass and cab. Oh and fingers before any of you chime in.


*I have no idea what these terms mean. I am just repeating things I have heard in an attempt to fit in.

Edited May 3, 2011 by paul h

[Mr. Foxen]

All about the plural.

[Prime_BASS]

I voted for the two as for me I like me and the bass to come through un-coloured.

I use my rig as more of a PA than a bass amp.

[paul h]

@Mr. F. You are most probably correct.

The reason for this poll is that I am now using a cheap arse amp through a great cab...and it sounds awesome. I am convinced this has far more to do with the cab than it does with the amp.

Edited May 3, 2011 by paul h

[Adrenochrome]

The audience don't hear my amp or cab so it's largely irrelevant. My tone comes from my bass and my Zoom B2 which feeds our PA (with lots of lovely speaker area) and my amp (which is just there for monitoring).

[waynepunkdude]

Amp

[Ghost_Bass]

Neither! I get my sound from my bass and my hands... and some fx units... I EQ all my sound (and i change my sound a lot from one song to another, i'll go from a funky cracky sound to a phat-almost-thump one) using the bass's pre and playing on diferent places of he bass (closer to the bridge or closer to the neck) and adjusting my playing to each sound.

I have my amp set flat (it's very transparent) and use a un-colouring cab. I take my line to the mixing desk using my pre-EQ DI and leave the desk channel flat also! Works great and never needed to EQ anything to compensate the room!

[Mr. Foxen]

I am sure 90% of the time the cab is the limiting factor on volume, but that is a different thing to 'tone'.

[JTUK]

Bass..if the signal there is not good, there is only so much you can rescue.

I think people who have problems with their sound should always start with the initial signal...and if they don't, they are forever chasing the tail with masses of corrections and over-corrections from time to time/room to room etc etc ..!!

[paul h]

<good natured but admittedly sarcastic reply>

So out of the choice of your amp or your cab you feel the biggest contribution to your sound is your bass? Do you understand the concept of multiple choice?

</good natured but admittedly sarcastic reply>

I know what you're saying but I'm talking about amps and cabs.

QUICK, YOUR HOUSE IS ON FIRE AND YOU CAN SAVE ONLY YOUR AMP OR ONLY YOUR CAB.....WHICH IS IT?

[JTUK]

I was justing pointing out that the question is fine but the correct answer is missing..therefore I couldn't vote.

but out of the two in the event of a fire, I would grab the amp.

[Mr. Foxen]

[quote name='paul h' post='1218754' date='May 3 2011, 04:06 PM']QUICK, YOUR HOUSE IS ON FIRE AND YOU CAN SAVE ONLY YOUR AMP OR ONLY YOUR CAB.....WHICH IS IT?

[/quote]

95% chance it was the amp that started the fire.

[thodrik]

I think for me the choice of amps makes a bigger difference to the sound than the cabs. I have three heads and each has a pretty different sound when put through my two cabs. Usually soundguys/girls will just take a DI from the head anyway, so the cabs are just for monitoring/looks, so I feel I would always prefer a 'great amp/good cabinet' combination than a 'good amp/great cabiniet' one. Not something I really spent much time thinking about though to be honest. I bought my amps and cabinets about three years ago and will probably use them until they break down or I come into lots of money, which isn't likely to happen soon.

[paul h]

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' post='1218770' date='May 3 2011, 04:17 PM']95% chance it was the amp that started the fire.[/quote]



Well, I expected to be in the minority...I always am on here!

I am currently using a Harley Benton BA500 and a Barefaced Compact and I am absolutely blown away by how good it sounds. Now I am sure that it hasn't got a lot to do with the the £200 HB Markbass rip off!

And talking to a guitarist friend the other day we agreed that you can get a good sound out of an average amp and a good cab, but a crappy cab can suck the tone out of the best amp money can buy.

[Prime_BASS]

[quote name='paul h' post='1218778' date='May 3 2011, 04:22 PM']

Well, I expected to be in the minority...I always am on here!

I am currently using a Harley Benton BA500 and a Barefaced Compact and I am absolutely blown away by how good it sounds. Now I am sure that it hasn't got a lot to do with the the £200 HB Markbass rip off!

And talking to a guitarist friend the other day we agreed that you can get a good sound out of an average amp and a good cab, but a crappy cab can suck the tone out of the best amp money can buy.[/quote]

You do have a valid point.

However I feel that for most people they try and get the sound right at the bass as some of the time I can't use my rig or I'm DI'ing anyway.

Poor cabbage can make for a nasty meal but if the ampage is poor it doesn't matter much, if I use a amp I don't like Ill input into the effect return to bypass the pre-amp.

[Lozz196]

Out of the choices available, it is Amp for me. I`ve put my TC Classic 450 through a good few different cabs, and can still get exactly what I want from it.

Tho my real order of preference is Bass, then Amp, then Cab.

[Ghost_Bass]

[quote name='paul h' post='1218754' date='May 3 2011, 04:06 PM']<good natured but admittedly sarcastic reply>

So out of the choice of your amp or your cab you feel the biggest contribution to your sound is your bass? Do you understand the concept of multiple choice?

</good natured but admittedly sarcastic reply>[/quote]

Of course! The bass is the basis for our sound! The amp/cab are there to serve you as a monitor for you to hear what you're playing. If the sound coming from your bass is of poor quality no money in the world would buy a amp/cab capable of fixint it (though there are some rigs capable of making bad instruments and poor playing sound good due to the colouring of the signal to the extend of making things sound so wolly you are tricked into believing you're getting a great sound!!!)

[quote name='paul h' post='1218754' date='May 3 2011, 04:06 PM']QUICK, YOUR HOUSE IS ON FIRE AND YOU CAN SAVE ONLY YOUR AMP OR ONLY YOUR CAB.....WHICH IS IT?

[/quote]

Both! I would easily carry one in each hand! But i would still see first if i haven't left any of my basses laying around...

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' post='1218770' date='May 3 2011, 04:17 PM']95% chance it was the amp that started the fire.[/quote]

That made my afternoon!

[Monckyman]

All elements are important but..In my opinion ,a fine amp like a Markbass through a behringer 115 will probably sound more like a Behringer 115 than a Markbass amp.
And a Behringer amp powering a GK cab will probably sound more like a GK cab.
Because however well the original signal is produced, if you play it through substandard speakers in a crap cab, it won`t get reproduced properly.
Put it this way, an upgraded head unit and amp in your car, will still sound like sh*t through the OEM speakers. The OEM head unit though,can sound a lot better for just replacing the original speakers.
At least that`s how it seems to me.
MM

[alexclaber]

I'm much more attached to my bass than my amp or cabs and it's the bass and my hands that produce my sound. BUT (see, big 'but'!) it's the cab that tends to be the weakest link in the chain when it comes to reproducing that sound, especially if your band is loud.

[waynepunkdude]

I think it's better to get a good head than cab just due to the amount of gigs that are 'cabs supplied just bring heads'

[paul h]

I have altered the poll to suit you lot of awkward buggers.

[JTUK]

[paul h]

[quote name='waynepunkdude' post='1218908' date='May 3 2011, 05:49 PM']I think it's better to get a good head than cab just due to the amount of gigs that are 'cabs supplied just bring heads'[/quote]

Can't say I've ever done a gig like that. I have either used someone else's entire rig (back in the old days) or I have supplied my own.

And now I am 100% more likely to be on the bill with a DJ and not another band. Because our singer is a DJ!

[Ghost_Bass]

My vote is for the Bass but i only noticed you've altered the poll when i pressed show results (null vote)!

[BigRedX]

IMO everything in the signal chain from the player > bass > effects > amp > cabs(s) > room will have an effect on the final sound as it is perceived by the listener. Change any one thing in the chain and you change the sound.

For example I recently had to be dep'd for a Terrortones gig because I had prior commitment I couldn't get out of. My replacement was a bassist that our drummer has worked with before, and at the rehearsals he used my one of my basses (because the songs needed a 5-string which he didn't have) and rig when I taught him the songs. Although using the same gear we sounded fairly similar there was a noticeable difference in the bass tone depending on who was playing.

Also I have two speaker rigs that I use - an EBS and a Dr Bass set up. The EBS sounds better overall but the Dr Bass rig has peak in the upper mids that tends make it easier to hear on a lot of stages.

Finally my two bands rehearse in 2 very different acoustic spaces. The place where my covers band rehearse tends to emphasis the upper frequencies of the snare drum and the guitars and make the bass sound either very mussy or thin and trebly. Using the same rig in the room where the Terrortones practice it sounds nicely balanced and even.

So overall unless you are using your amp and speakers to compensate for some short-coming elsewhere in the signal chain I would say that they had the least influence in your overall sound.

For me I would say the order of importance is:
1. Me and my bass (about equal)
2. My Bass Pod programs
3. The room
4. Amp and speakers (about equal)