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Behringer or Harley Benton?! Anything cheap!


throwoff
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Hey Guys,

As some of you may of read in off topic a few weeks back I am due to get a nice retention payment from work on 31/10.

Now what started as a holiday being booked and a New Sandberg + Markbass rig has become the far less interesting (but far more sensible!) paying off all me and the other halves debts and stuff and leaving me with the princely sum of 400 quid.

Now I know I can probably get a bargin second hand half stack for that kind of money when it comes through but if nothing is going at the time that peaks my interest can someone recomend some cheap and cheerfull halfstacks that will give me enough volume for pub and small venue gigs?

Behringer have bad rep generally but the prices are mad! Same for Harley Benton. Maybe theres someone I missed?!

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Both Behringer and Harley Benton use weird power descriptions that bear no relationship to those used by other manufacturers, so you're probably going to struggle with getting enough volume at anything more than a pub gig.

My advice would be to tread warily around those two manufacturers and pick up something decent second hand - you'll get a lot more true power for your £ and won't have the reliability issues that inevitably seem to come packaged with budget amps.

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Do not buy the Behringer aluminium cone bass cabs. They are apalling quality. I usually try and give a balanced opinion on stuff but you'd have to give me one for free before I took it and then I'd instantly remove and bin the speakers. I owned a 1*15 and a 2*10 and every single speaker broke within a couple of weeks of reasonable use and the last one blew, taking my amp head with it.

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Guest bassman7755

A quick surf on ebay came up with theses goodies ...

[url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Peavey-TVX-410-Bass-Cab-/320763579406?pt=UK_MusicalInstr_Amplifiers_RL&hash=item4aaeffcc0e"]http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Peavey-TVX-410-Bass-Cab-/320763579406?pt=UK_MusicalInstr_Amplifiers_RL&hash=item4aaeffcc0e[/url]

[url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Warwick-300-watt-Profet-Bass-Amp-Head-/130577867875?pt=UK_MusicalInstr_Amplifiers_RL&hash=item1e670c2463"]http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Warwick-300-watt-Profet-Bass-Amp-Head-/130577867875?pt=UK_MusicalInstr_Amplifiers_RL&hash=item1e670c2463[/url]

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When I was a rep my firm distributed Kustom bass amps in some EU markets.

When they redid the range we got one of everything from bass and guitar ranges delivered to our office and spent 2 weeks trying everything for 3, 4 hours a day, 5W practice combos to full stacks!

The bass amps were very nice. The deep end hybrids were for my ears the weakest sounding. Not enough guts. The GrooveBass stuff is awesome for my money and the KXB does the job at a good price.

Epic times -

[IMG]http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c330/throwoff/kustoms2.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c330/throwoff/kustoms.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c330/throwoff/kustoms3.jpg[/IMG]

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[quote name='throwoff' timestamp='1317116625' post='1386820']Hey Guys,

As some of you may of read in off topic a few weeks back I am due to get a nice retention payment from work on 31/10.

Now what started as a holiday being booked and a New Sandberg + Markbass rig has become the far less interesting (but far more sensible!) paying off all me and the other halves debts and stuff and leaving me with the princely sum of 400 quid.

Now I know I can probably get a bargin second hand half stack for that kind of money when it comes through but if nothing is going at the time that peaks my interest can someone recomend some cheap and cheerfull halfstacks that will give me enough volume for pub and small venue gigs?

Behringer have bad rep generally but the prices are mad! Same for Harley Benton. Maybe theres someone I missed?![/quote]

A bassist in a local band uses a Behringer head & 410. I don`t know what model it is, but it sounds great, and he gigs regularly, without any backup gear. For info, he has a very JJ from The Stranglers type sound.

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[quote name='Lozz196' timestamp='1317197770' post='1387802']
A bassist in a local band uses a Behringer head & 410. I don`t know what model it is, but it sounds great, and he gigs regularly, without any backup gear. For info, he has a very JJ from The Stranglers type sound.
[/quote]

FWIW, i used to gig a alu cone behringer 4x10 with an old Crate head and had no troubles. Sound quality not great but it worked and was loud enough.

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[quote name='bassman7755' timestamp='1317137161' post='1387218']
A quick surf on ebay came up with theses goodies ...

[url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Peavey-TVX-410-Bass-Cab-/320763579406?pt=UK_MusicalInstr_Amplifiers_RL&hash=item4aaeffcc0e"]http://www.ebay.co.u...=item4aaeffcc0e[/url]

[url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Warwick-300-watt-Profet-Bass-Amp-Head-/130577867875?pt=UK_MusicalInstr_Amplifiers_RL&hash=item1e670c2463"]http://www.ebay.co.u...=item1e670c2463[/url]
[/quote]
+1 for Warwick and Peavey gear. Peavey are reliable and cheap (mainly due to the weight), and IME, are a lot louder than their power rating would suggest compared to other manufacturers.

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Definitely check out the Harley Benton BA500 head. I bought one about 3 months ago, have used it mainly for gigs with a BareFaced Midget and its been great.
Loads of tonal control, good volume and so cheap at just over £200 for a 500 watt Class D lightweight head. So far so good. Can't quite believe it. thomann.de of course.

P.

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[quote name='Lozz196' timestamp='1317197770' post='1387802']
A bassist in a local band uses a Behringer head & 410. I don`t know what model it is, but it sounds great, and he gigs regularly, without any backup gear. For info, he has a very JJ from The Stranglers type sound.
[/quote]

Isn't that sound mostly due to having blown drivers?

I'd avoid Behringer - we had a guitar combo for a while and was glad to see the back of it. I know someone who has a Harley Benton 4x10 and it's OK for the money, but as others have said I'd be inclined to keep an eye on the For Sale section for Peavey or maybe Trace Elliott, assuming of course that you haven't got a bad back yet ;-)

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[quote name='211dave112' timestamp='1317240490' post='1388629']

FWIW, i used to gig a alu cone behringer 4x10 with an old Crate head and had no troubles. Sound quality not great but it worked and was loud enough.
[/quote]

You were lucky, mine and every other person I spoke to had the cones come away from the surrounds very quickly. Maybe you got a later model when they fixed the problem?

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SWR head, nothing can beat them!
[url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SWR-Studio-220-Bass-Amplifier-/120786712999?pt=UK_MusicalInstr_Amplifiers_RL&hash=item1c1f72f9a7"]http://www.ebay.co.u...=item1c1f72f9a7[/url]

and

1) peavey 2x10 cab, somebody is it selling here for 30 pounds, needs repairing but it's very, very good cab!
or
2) hartke 410 TP or XL - I used them until bought myself Aguilar :)
3) [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Peavey-TVX-410-Bass-Cab-/320763579406?pt=UK_MusicalInstr_Amplifiers_RL&hash=item4aaeffcc0e"]http://www.ebay.co.u...=item4aaeffcc0e[/url]

Edited by dr Szelma
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I've just started playing again after a break and wanted a budget rig, so I bought a Trace Elliot 1153 cab for £100 and an Orange Terror Bass for £350 and together they sound fantastic.

The 1153 only weighs about 50lbs and is pretty compact so is easyish to carry around and they come up for sale fairly regularly as does the 2103, which is the 2x10 model in the same range. They are great cabs that have gone out of fashion I guess. If they had Bergantino or Aguilar on the front grill people would be raving about them, Review by Tombowlus here [url="http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f15/booyah-1x15-shootout-358077/"]http://www.talkbass....hootout-358077/[/url]

Also don't discount Ashdown. Ignore all the woolly bollocks that some people spout. The Compact/Mini range sound good, are portable and can be picked up for peanuts.

Edited by DirkThrust
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I've got a fair bit of Behringer kit (pedals, preamps, rack gear) and considering the price, it's very good. A few bits of their gear have become pretty much industry standards (DI boxes, rack compressors) but I tried one of their small (1x10" I think - it was a long time ago!) bass amps (ali cone) in a shop and was utterly unimpressed. It was a small shop, and that was the "best" bass amp they had - I was trying an instrument through it, and it put me off buying....

I owned an Ashdown "electric blue" 1x15 (either 120 or 150W - I forget) combo for a while, and it sounded OK, just not loud enough! I have a mate who has a MAG 300, and he's never felt the need to upgrade. (I've tried it, and it doesn't suit me, but that's not to say it's bad!)

If you like Trace "sound" - there are deals to be had, and in your position, I'd be looking for them. Ditto Peavey - If my 150W ashdown had have been a 150W peavey, I might still own it. They're (peavey) a bit "rehearsal room" as an image, but that's only testament to their reliability/cost/performance.

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