Bass Amp Newbie Advice

[Rick05]

Hi All,

 

Thanks for checking out this topic, apologies in advance as I maybe asking a lot of basic questions so wanted to put in a bit of background first.
 

In the past I have mainly played gigs and rehearsed in places that have already had an amp, or I have used a DI input, so mainly focused my spending on basses and my effects board. I do own a small fender rumble 40W and a very old 250W trace Elliott GP7SM combo, but it weighs a ton and isn’t really ideal to cart around, so thinking of selling this and investing in something better and lighter.

 

Currently I am in a heavy rock band that are starting to play bigger gigs where I think it would be better to bring my own amp and am looking at the best options.

 

I really like my pedal board setup and especially the tone I get from my darkglass x ultra so I think I need an amp with a good transparent sound rather than any distortion itself.

 

At this stage I’m not sure if a combo or head and cab would be best? My thinking would be a head and cab so I do have the option one if it’s required, but please correct me if that’s not right.

 

Looking around at reviews the Aguilar tonehammer 500 looked a good option but not sure what cab would be best suited. Though if there are other head suggestions I am happy all recommendations.

 

Thanks again for reading through all of this and any and all advice is welcome.

 

Thanks,

 

Rick

 

 

 

 

[Lozz196]

I wouldn’t put the Tonehammer as a transparent amp, although it is a very good amp. For what’s required I’d suggest an Ashdown RM500 as there’s an eq on/off selector, possibly the nearest to what you want to do, and is in fact what I used to do, just plug bass to pedalboard into amp, all eq bypassed. Either DI from what’s on the pedalboard or from the amp.

[chris_b]

Separates are easier to transport, carry and upgrade. 500 - 800 watts will cover any volume requirement. 2 good 112's or 210's should cover different gigging requirements. Buying used will be more cost effective. What's your budget?

[Waddycall]

What about a power amp and cab? This is my latest arrangement although I haven’t tried it in anger yet.. If you have the tone you like from a board mounted preamp you just need to make it louder.

[Rick05]

10 hours ago, Lozz196 said:

I wouldn’t put the Tonehammer as a transparent amp, although it is a very good amp. For what’s required I’d suggest an Ashdown RM500 as there’s an eq on/off selector, possibly the nearest to what you want to do, and is in fact what I used to do, just plug bass to pedalboard into amp, all eq bypassed. Either DI from what’s on the pedalboard or from the amp.

Thanks so much. That Ashdown looks like a great option, what cab would you suggest to pair with this?

[Rick05]

8 hours ago, chris_b said:

Separates are easier to transport, carry and upgrade. 500 - 800 watts will cover any volume requirement. 2 good 112's or 210's should cover different gigging requirements. Buying used will be more cost effective. What's your budget?

Thanks. At the moment if hopefully star with one cab and see how it goes as Iv not yet played a venue where 2 are required. My budget is flexible but £1500 for both a head and cab would be ideal. What do you recommend?

[Rick05]

1 hour ago, Waddycall said:

What about a power amp and cab? This is my latest arrangement although I haven’t tried it in anger yet.. If you have the tone you like from a board mounted preamp you just need to make it louder.

Awesome, what power and amp and cab do you have? I think that sounds good, but I would like the option of having an EQable head if I ever don’t need the board. 

[Reggaebass]

I’m probably not a lot of help to you as I don’t play heavy rock , I use a tube amp myself but I’ve also got the RM500 which is great, and I would say it will cover all genres, they are amazing value, there’s a thread here if you wanted to have a read up 🙂

 

[Waddycall]

50 minutes ago, Rick05 said:

Awesome, what power and amp and cab do you have? I think that sounds good, but I would like the option of having an EQable head if I ever don’t need the board. 

I have a QSC RMX850 (which I paid too much for) feeding a Vanderkley 210 LNT. The power amp thing is a new venture for me so I’m sure there are others who’ll be able to advise better. I’m interested to see how I get on with mine and may end up adding a channel strip to give some easy eq adjustment without colouring the sound. I’m using an old line 6 bass pod xt live for preamp as it’s has amp modelling , eq, compression and effects all in one. If I get on with this arrangement I might upgrade to a lighter power amp.

i like being able to amplify the sound I hear in my headphones for practice.

be aware that I think I’m subconsciously convincing myself to build a full rack set up!

Edited February 27, 2022 by Waddycall

[Lozz196]

2 hours ago, Rick05 said:

Thanks so much. That Ashdown looks like a great option, what cab would you suggest to pair with this?

Well as transparent is what you’re after Barefaced would be a good call. They’re incredibly powerful and will take whatever is thrown at them, plus lightweight too. There are usually some up for grabs on here. I’d avoid the 1x10, 2x10 & 4x10 though, these are their vintage range and are voiced like old school cabs.

[Rick05]

1 hour ago, Lozz196 said:

Well as transparent is what you’re after Barefaced would be a good call. They’re incredibly powerful and will take whatever is thrown at them, plus lightweight too. There are usually some up for grabs on here. I’d avoid the 1x10, 2x10 & 4x10 though, these are their vintage range and are voiced like old school cabs.

Awesome, I’ll take a look at the range. Which one would you recommend? 

[Rick05]

3 hours ago, Waddycall said:

I have a QSC RMX850 (which I paid too much for) feeding a Vanderkley 210 LNT. The power amp thing is a new venture for me so I’m sure there are others who’ll be able to advise better. I’m interested to see how I get on with mine and may end up adding a channel strip to give some easy eq adjustment without colouring the sound. I’m using an old line 6 bass pod xt live for preamp as it’s has amp modelling , eq, compression and effects all in one. If I get on with this arrangement I might upgrade to a lighter power amp.

i like being able to amplify the sound I hear in my headphones for practice.

be aware that I think I’m subconsciously convincing myself to build a full rack set up!

Nice! I’ll take a look but this seems to be a rabbit hole I might not want to go down at this stage but your setup does sound awesome 

[Lozz196]

34 minutes ago, Rick05 said:

Awesome, I’ll take a look at the range. Which one would you recommend? 

As you’re looking at doing bigger stages I’d look at one of the 212 models, Super Twin or if you want a tweeter Big Twin 2. If a Super12 or Super12T comes up on here I’d grab that. 

[Reggaebass]

A super 12 was for sale here the other day 

[Rick05]

On 27/02/2022 at 13:01, Lozz196 said:

As you’re looking at doing bigger stages I’d look at one of the 212 models, Super Twin or if you want a tweeter Big Twin 2. If a Super12 or Super12T comes up on here I’d grab that. 

Hi Again,

 

iv been doing a bit of shopping around and tried out a barefaced big baby 2 and 500watt amp. I tried an Aguilar tonehammer and darkglass microtubes 900W and the darkglass was incredible. 
 

I think a 500 W darkglass and the barefaced big baby 2 would be a great combo. 

 

[Rick05]

Thought I would just update this topic.

 

In the end I went with the darkglass microtubes 900 v2 and a Vanderkley 112 MNT.

 

the darkglass has such an amazing clean tone and it really was a bit above others I tried. The distortion circuit is also amazing and looking forward to seeing how I can make more use of it.
 

The Vanderkley was recommended by a number of people and really clear when using the low b string and sounds massive.