camdoug1990 Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 hi everyone, this is my first post so go easy on me. i know this sort of question has been asked a million times but i just can't find the answers i need. i play in a punk band and our stuff ranges from hardcore to melodic. iv just switched to bass after many years of mainly playing guitar so just buiolding my gear up. iv got a mexican fender jazz but I'm without a rig at the minute, just using a carlsbro bass beasty combo that I've had for a couple years but it defiantly won't cut it at a gig. so my question is which head i should go for, i use a darkglass vintage microtubes and a markbass mini dist (mainly as a preamp for extra tone control) pedal, so im wanting a head i can get some volume out of without breaking up too much to let me continue using the pedlas. iv narrowed it down to these:[list] [*]tc rh750 [*]gk mb800 [*]markbass lm800 [*]orange terror bass [/list] whats your opinions on what would suit me, theres no shops locally that stock them all to try them so iv had to resort to youtube which doesnt really help me. cheers for the help in advance cam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest monsterthompson Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 of the listed ones, I've only used the terror bass. i'd say that wouldn't get you clean volume (headroom) if that is what you are after. I've used other markbass products and found them to tend toward warm sounding. i'm a huge mesa fan, and I've been told the GK stuff would get me closest to the clean, crisp attack of the Mesa gear. i've got a VMT, and I know how it does a fine job of making tones warmer, so i'd lean toward the GK you aren't stacking a warm pedal on a warm head to end up in dark and mushy places. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reverend Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 GK MB500 with the right cabs goes pretty damn loud without distortion, so I can only imagine the MB800 being more than capable. IMO it's more about finding a cab or cabs that can handle the volume without breaking up. Staying clean at volume is all about having bags of headroom, so don't go cheap with your cab choice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bradwell Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 Where are you based? People may be able to suggest some good local music shops. I'm using an Eden WT800 which is great for having loads of clean headroom and works well with pedals up front. I tried Markbass (can't remember which one though) and found it lacked the low end kick I was after. Orange amps tend to go into distortion easily, if you like the core tone that's great but putting pedals on top of that isn't going to work too well. Nothing beats testing a load of amps & cabs - when I was buying my rig I planned a couple of day trips to check out well stocked music shops. Also worth going to a bass bash if there's one local to you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
camdoug1990 Posted January 13, 2015 Author Share Posted January 13, 2015 [quote name='Reverend' timestamp='1421166889' post='2657934'] GK MB500 with the right cabs goes pretty damn loud without distortion, so I can only imagine the MB800 being more than capable. IMO it's more about finding a cab or cabs that can handle the volume without breaking up. Staying clean at volume is all about having bags of headroom, so don't go cheap with your cab choice! [/quote] im going to get a cab to match the head so it depends what i end up going for Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Low End Bee Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 (edited) I have a TC and Mark Bass heads. I also used to own a Terror which I ony got rid of as it was an early one with the super hot DI problem. Those three would all work if you approached them in the right way. The TC is great and works well with effects. I use the Mark Bass as a back up but always have a little Bass Big Muff dialled in as it's a bit too clean for me otherwise. You don't need pedals with a Terror. Wind the wick up and enjoy the one great sound. I'm gassing for one again now! No idea about the GK. Let's not get into a what's punk or not discussion though...... Edited January 13, 2015 by Low End Bee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
camdoug1990 Posted January 13, 2015 Author Share Posted January 13, 2015 [quote name='Bradwell' timestamp='1421166980' post='2657937'] Where are you based? People may be able to suggest some good local music shops. I'm using an Eden WT800 which is great for having loads of clean headroom and works well with pedals up front. I tried Markbass (can't remember which one though) and found it lacked the low end kick I was after. Orange amps tend to go into distortion easily, if you like the core tone that's great but putting pedals on top of that isn't going to work too well. Nothing beats testing a load of amps & cabs - when I was buying my rig I planned a couple of day trips to check out well stocked music shops. Also worth going to a bass bash if there's one local to you. [/quote] castleford,w yorks. yeah i was edging away from the orange, if i hadnt got these pedals thats what i would have gone with for the natural overdrive Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
camdoug1990 Posted January 13, 2015 Author Share Posted January 13, 2015 [quote name='Low End Bee' timestamp='1421167370' post='2657946'] I have a TC and Mark Bass heads. I also used to own a Terror which I ony got rid of as it was an early one with the super hot DI problem. Those three would all work if you approached them in the right way. The TC is great and works well with effects. I use the Mark Bass as a back up but always have a little Bass Big Muff dialled in as it's a bit too clean for me otherwise. You don't need pedals with a Terror. Wind the wick up and enjoy the one great sound. I'm gassing for one again now! No idea about the GK. Let's not get into a what's punk or not discussion though...... [/quote] i was expecting the whats punk discussion to have reared its ugly head by now im thinkng tc or gk atm, only thing putting me off the gk is that it looks like an asda dvd player and i that light id have to strap it to the cab else it would blow off if i sneezed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Low End Bee Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 PS I used to stick overdrive and fuzz in front of the Terror for a couple of songs. Just turned filth into super filth. Good though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bradwell Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 [quote name='camdoug1990' timestamp='1421167392' post='2657948'] castleford,w yorks. yeah i was edging away from the orange, if i hadnt got these pedals thats what i would have gone with for the natural overdrive [/quote] PMT in Leeds? The one in Manchester stocks TC Electronic gear and they usually have a fair selection from other brands and some S/H gear. I borrowed a RH450 a while ago, nicely designed piece of kit and I found the more traditional tone controls suited me more than Markbass gear I've used. When I mentioned mentioned my Eden, I didn't register the word Micro in the original post - it's definitely not. But they do a WTX500 that weighs under 2kg. Not sure there's many stockists in the UK though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lozz196 Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 (edited) All of those listed will do the job, but if wanting clean with huge headroom and maximum portability/lightweight, it has to be the GK MB800 for me. The MB500 I had was amazingly loud and could be kept very clean if wanted. Edited January 13, 2015 by Lozz196 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jakester Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 I have an GK MB500 and 212 cab (funnily enough, you can view them in the classifieds... ) and although I don't play punk, I've never struggled for volume playing just with back line. I played rock - QOTSA etc. With that cab the MB500 is pushing out 350w at 8ohms, and I've never needed to put it up above about half-way, so I dread to think what would happen if I put another cab in the mix and got the full 500w... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Rumble Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 Aguilar Tonehammer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
camdoug1990 Posted January 13, 2015 Author Share Posted January 13, 2015 [quote name='Captain Rumble' timestamp='1421178291' post='2658157'] Aguilar Tonehammer [/quote] funnily enough iv just been looking into those, im not sure though. still tipping to rh750 or mb800 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonesy64 Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 You need my Ampeg SVT3Pro Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirky Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 Plus 1 on the GK stuff. I have a MB Fusion and it's plenty loud, even with one 8ohm cab. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
molan Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 For hard rock you'd be hard pressed to beat either the GK MB500 or 800 heads. I think the power output of the GK800 is about twice that of the RH750 as well Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NancyJohnson Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 (edited) I bought a TC Electronic BH800 about a month ago. While I'm yet to try it out in a full band yet (roll on Thursday), my initial experience is that it's light, loud and transparent tonally if you want to use a pedal as your front end. You can also chuck a pedal in the rear aux-input to bypass the gain/tone controls and utilise the power. I'm in love with the Tone Print options as well (the ability to use a phone/device to input chorus/flange/dirt direct into the unit). *The edit bit. Interestingly, you can use the front and aux-in inputs simultaneously. So, in theory, I can use my Rickenbacker 4003 into two stompboxes (VT Bass & BDDI) into both the inputs. I'll be happy to report back my experiences before the weekend. P Edited January 13, 2015 by NancyJohnson Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
topheteatwo Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 [quote name='Jonesy64' timestamp='1421178536' post='2658162'] You need my Ampeg SVT3Pro [/quote] Get the SVT 3 if you're looking for an all round good punk head, I've used mine for about a year and a half and it's awesome for that sort of thing. If you want a more Converge/Nate Newton tone, the Orange is great with a change of higher gain tubes and higher gain pups, it gets that tone pretty close without having to buy an AD200 and a Terrorverb. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wateroftyne Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 [quote name='molan' timestamp='1421181692' post='2658226'] I think the power output of the GK800 is about twice that of the RH750 as well [/quote] *sharp intake of breath* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
camdoug1990 Posted January 14, 2015 Author Share Posted January 14, 2015 Think I might have settled now on an mb800 with mbe210 and mbe115. Any objections? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roland Rock Posted January 14, 2015 Share Posted January 14, 2015 You need one that has nofx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lozz196 Posted January 14, 2015 Share Posted January 14, 2015 [quote name='camdoug1990' timestamp='1421236240' post='2658690'] Think I might have settled now on an mb800 with mbe210 and mbe115. Any objections? [/quote] Well I`d probably go for two of the same cab - whether it`s the 210 or the 115. This way for rehearsals you may be able to get away with just the one cab (unless a very loud band), get your sound with that. Then for gigs take along both, no need to re-eq. That said, I`ve had a few rigs with 210/115 combinations and they`ve sounded great so the above is my preference for being lazy, more than being based on sound itself. The theory/science says that different speaker sizes shouldn`t be paired together, though that`s all way past my understanding. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JTUK Posted January 14, 2015 Share Posted January 14, 2015 I've never worried about mixing driver sizes myself..they either work or they don't and if a maker can't match them to suit the same cabs in their product range, I'd suggest they are in the wrong game. I wouldn't have much use for a single 115 myself but have used 210 and 115 together well enough. All bets are off if you mix with other product lines and makers tho.. IMO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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