Sweeneythebass Posted May 10, 2017 Share Posted May 10, 2017 (edited) I play in what has been described as a folk-funk band playing my 51p reissue. So I'm looking in the most part for some nice warm mellow lows to drive the outfit but enough clarity and punch for some funk fingerstyle too. Now my Hartke HA2000 has given up the ghost (on sale here!) I'm looking for a replacement on a tight budget, I dont need huge power as I usually DI on most gigs and my cabs ( 1x12, 1x15) are 200w rated (so max 400w @ 4ohms). With the Hartke HA2000 I got the sound i was after but only after much EQ'ing and addition of the 115. One option is a replacement Hartke. Pros: I do like the tube pre-amp, compression and the versatility of the EQ., I know what I'm getting here. Cons; weight vs small modern heads. I've never tried any of the lighweight heads so need opinions ! The few options i've so far considered: LM250 Black line (Brand new £239) Fender Rumble 350 (used, Ebay £100 bid at the mo, with bag, no longer made?) TC BH250 (£240 Brand New) Hartke 3500/2500 (New £380/180) Edited May 10, 2017 by Sweeneythebass Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrn1989 Posted May 10, 2017 Share Posted May 10, 2017 I own a LM250 Blackline and its a great cheap head, with the addition of the VLE and VPF filters you can fine tune any sound you want, roll the VPF and the VLE up and it will give you the warm rounded tone you mention, then roll off the VLE to bring the brightness back. .........plus I think its the only one out of the bunch that has a DI volume, which can be very useful. I use mine mainly for recording but Ive gigged with x2 EBS 1x12 cabs outdoors and it did fine without any PA support for a 4 piece blues gig. Hope that helps @sweeneythbass. Would be a great choice but interested to see what other people think of it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sweeneythebass Posted May 10, 2017 Author Share Posted May 10, 2017 Hi @mrn1989 [quote name='mrn1989' timestamp='1494433549' post='3295971'] I own a LM250 Blackline and its a great cheap head, with the addition of the VLE and VPF filters you can fine tune any sound you want, roll the VPF and the VLE up and it will give you the warm rounded tone you mention, then roll off the VLE to bring the brightness back. .........plus I think its the only one out of the bunch that has a DI volume, which can be very useful. I use mine mainly for recording but Ive gigged with x2 EBS 1x12 cabs outdoors and it did fine without any PA support for a 4 piece blues gig. Hope that helps @sweeneythbass. Would be a great choice but interested to see what other people think of it [/quote] thanks for your input, I'm already leaning towards the Mark bass head! Anyone else with experience of the other heads? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lozz196 Posted May 10, 2017 Share Posted May 10, 2017 Markbass imo lends itself very nicely to Precision basses, a nice warm yet clear sound. You can pretty much get the sound wanted with just the filters as mrn1989 says. I`ve had a good few Markbass amps and was impressed with them. I had the TC BH250 for a while and that`s a nice little amp, plenty powerful with an efficient cab, and of course on-board tuner and compression never hurt. I know there are a lot of comments about TCs "true" power rating but this little amp certainly held its own. Hartke HA3500 - used them a couple of times and found them fine with the tube emulation on full, but a bit sterile without it. Fender Rumble - not used the heads but have had a couple of the smaller combos, again, pair very well with a Precision (well they should do really, shouldn`t they). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Starr Posted May 11, 2017 Share Posted May 11, 2017 (edited) FWIW because I'm not a great tone freak, I just want the job done. I have a Mark Bass Tube500 and a HA3500. the MB Tube was bought at a knock down price in a sale when the HA3500 started making strange noises after an admittedly long life. I quite like the MB it's light and does what it says on the tin, it's plenty loud enough, nice clean bass sound and I quite like the VPF control. The VLE is fairly useless, just a way of adjusting muddiness I find. The tone controls aren't quite at the frequencies that I'd find most useful and I can't tweak the bass the way I'd like, but flat is OK and I've an active bass with parametric mids so that's OK too. It weighs nothing and seems pretty tough. I use the tube input mainly but I'd happily buy the MB III as the effect is very subtle. However, I've cleaned up the pots on the Hartke and it does have more heft . In every sense of course, it weighs almost twice the weight of my speakers. I think it probably has little high pass filtering as the cones flap alarmingly if you boost the bass, especially compared with the MB. I tend to roll off the 30Hz on the graphic so that's not an issue for me. The sound is just more satisfying straight out of the box and it's hard to make it sound bad, the tone shaping is great, I just find a graphic more intuitive. So I use the MB almost exclusively at gigs, it's been utterly reliable and does the job really well, but when I do take the Hartke out it's a real treat. If the weight didn't bother me I'd use it more. Edited May 11, 2017 by Phil Starr Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elfrasho Posted May 11, 2017 Share Posted May 11, 2017 Lm250 is very decent. Had one Up until last week. Plenty control, it won't get you a 'hifi' type sound but based on your post I doubt you'd require it. Good solid tone. And more than loud enough for almost all normal use. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sweeneythebass Posted May 11, 2017 Author Share Posted May 11, 2017 Thanks for the input fellas, much appreciated ;-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sweeneythebass Posted May 11, 2017 Author Share Posted May 11, 2017 Okay so an Aguilar Tone Hammer 350 just popped up in the classified section, for a good price Any opinions on how this fits in with the other heads mentioned? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elfrasho Posted May 11, 2017 Share Posted May 11, 2017 Must say.. that does look quite appealing. More money though. In fact twice as much.. I sold my 2nd hand lm250 for 155 quid. But if money isn't an issue then I'd certainly be keen on that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lozz196 Posted May 11, 2017 Share Posted May 11, 2017 Tonehammer plus Precision equals vintagey excellentness. Not sure about the funk aspects, though but for the rest, a perfect amp. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
isteen Posted May 12, 2017 Share Posted May 12, 2017 Don't avoid giving the little 250 watt Reidmar a chance, or the heavy but nicely warm sounding Hartke LH 500 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sweeneythebass Posted May 12, 2017 Author Share Posted May 12, 2017 Hmmm thanks for the input guys very helpful. If I find a LM250 2nd hand I'd go for it, not much luck so far so brand new is £240/250 which is why I'm considering the TH350 as at £300 (albeit used) it's not far off. Anyway the EBS reidmar or the LH500 haven't been on the radar. More research needed! Thanks again fellas 👍 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrn1989 Posted May 12, 2017 Share Posted May 12, 2017 +1000 the Reidmar, great amp does everything if you pair it with right cabs and spend some time tinkering. I went from a Markbass Tube 800 to a Aguilar TH500 and settled with the Reidmar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sweeneythebass Posted May 14, 2017 Author Share Posted May 14, 2017 Redimar 250 on ebay at the mo. Any thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrn1989 Posted May 16, 2017 Share Posted May 16, 2017 trumps all of the other mentioned heads imo....... pushes much more power too with the digital 475w output Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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