Newb question

[Dangling Fury]

I consider myself a newb even tho I played bass throughout Highschool. Been playing guitar for last twenty years but decided a few months ago to pick the four string back up. So first thing I realized is I don't know shit about bass amps. 4 ohms v 8 ohms, and then there's the 2 ohm shit. I'm playing thru a behringer 450 and it's extremely loud but has a muddy tone to it and sounds like total shit with a fuzz. I'm also playing thru a fender 4x10. I paid about 200$ for this so I'm not complaining. I'm playing in a band we are getting close to gig ready and I don't wanna perform with this shitty head. But I'm on a 300$ max budget got kids b days christmas etcetera coming up. So there's a couple options at my local music dealerships. Apeg PF-300,Ampeg B2-RE, hartke LH500 are in that range. The cab I have is 1000 w @ 4 ohms. The B2-RE is barely used the others have a definite used look to them tried all of them out and they sound great. Just wondering if any of yall may have had any of these models at one time. Thanks for the help, it's greatly needed.


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[Dangling Fury]

PF 350


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[justJon]

*Disclaimer* I am a drummer *Disclaimer*


Having said that, I can hold my own on bass. I had and used one of the Ampeg B2-RE's a number of years ago. It was loud and clean, too clean for my tastes. I imagine it would take pedals well. At the time, it also seems Ampeg was having some QC problems, so it was hit or miss whether things would work as designed or not. If it works, and sounds good to your ear, it is good!

Only time you need to concern yourself with impedance (4 ohms/8 ohms, etc) is when/ if you're switching or combining cabinets. There are guys on here much more qualified than I to give you a quick class on that. Bottom line, you've got a cab you like, and it matches the output on your head, you're good to go.

[bbottom]

Before I give you any answers I have a few questions.

What kind of bass are you playing? What kind of band are you in? Are you opposed to buying used?

[Dangling Fury]

I play a schecter raiden special 4. Band is more traditional doom, nwobhm. No problem buying used its basically the only way I could go.


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[mortlock]

i heard the behringer gear is crap. ive never played through it so i cant really say for sure.

i love my ampeg gear. i have an old peavey mark vi head that is awesome. you can always find used peavey gear thats not bad on a budget.

[spookstrickland]

i heard the behringer gear is crap. ive never played through it so i cant really say for sure.

i love my ampeg gear. i have an old peavey mark vi head that is awesome. you can always find used peavey gear thats not bad on a budget.

I like Behringer amps...its not supper durable like peavey but sounds good....but i do like dark muddy tone...my buddy plays a behringer head through an ampeg 810 and it rumbles!

[bbottom]

I play a schecter raiden special 4. Band is more traditional doom, nwobhm. No problem buying used its basically the only way I could go.


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This is what I would do if I were you:

if you're playing in that sort of band then it's more about power than tone. Get an old Peavey solid state head (they are dirt cheap and have a ton of power). Also old acoustic heads can be had cheap if you look hard enough. Just make sure it's an old one and not the GC made garbage.

If you could scrape together another $200 pick up a used 500 watt Orange  terror head. I use one as a back up for my one band and the main head for another. They are pretty rad and have more power then you'll need.

Then I would get rid of your cab and get an old 2x15 cab. Again Peavey is a good way to go and you can find those things everywhere.  I would then trade your bass for a mexi P bass an old Ibanez lawsuit P bass or better yet a GnL SB2 tribute. I have two of the American version....and one American Sb1 and love them.  The tributes use the same pups as the American versions but are like 3/4 less. They are basically a P bass on steroids.

[Dangling Fury]

I play a schecter raiden special 4. Band is more traditional doom, nwobhm. No problem buying used its basically the only way I could go.


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This is what I would do if I were you:

if you're playing in that sort of band then it's more about power than tone. Get an old Peavey solid state head (they are dirt cheap and have a ton of power). Also old acoustic heads can be had cheap if you look hard enough. Just make sure it's an old one and not the GC made garbage.

If you could scrape together another $200 pick up a used 500 watt Orange  terror head. I use one as a back up for my one band and the main head for another. They are pretty rad and have more power then you'll need.

Then I would get rid of your cab and get an old 2x15 cab. Again Peavey is a good way to go and you can find those things everywhere.  I would then trade your bass for a mexi P bass an old Ibanez lawsuit P bass or better yet a GnL SB2 tribute. I have two of the American version....and one American Sb1 and love them.  The tributes use the same pups as the American versions but are like 3/4 less. They are basically a P bass on steroids.

thanks a ton dude it's def something I'll look at. Yeah you can find peavy stuff just about anywhere cheap. Maybe I'll post a few options I've found at the local dealerships around here and online.


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[bbottom]

no  sweat. Good luck

[giantchris]

I'd get the ampeg portaflex out of those options hands down.  The hartke head isn't actually bad but I feel like you could get a better head for $300 used especially if it looks like its been beat up.  I completely agree with the guy that said go 80s/90s solid state peavey head I think a firebass of mark IV would be right up your alley.  The old Acoustic control corp stuff is getting a lot harder to come by and my complaint with it is I don't think they have a line out so it won't quite be as good sounding front of house on the lows.  I could be wrong on that though.  Personally I really like the GK MB series if you saved up a bit more could get an MB500.  The Orange terror previously mentioned are great but I feel like they are overpriced for the value.

The 4x10 fender you have sounds like one of the 410 Rumbles which actually aren't bad cabs at all.  I personally prefer the sound of 15s for pretty much any form of music so an old Peavey 215D (make sure its a D the cab is deeper and lower voiced) or one of the tuck n roll kustom 2x15s with the two front ports could be had for 100-200$ and would sound great.  Personally I got a Goliath SR and two Epifani PS115s and I much prefer the 15s. 

[zachoff]

If you're worried about shows...
Take a picture of an Ampeg head, print it, and apply it to a piece of cardboard that will cover your current head.
DI from your bass into the board, and put the piece of cardboard in front of your amp.
I'm dead serious.

If you want to get better tone for practice or whatever...
Don't buy at music shops.  Craigslist is your friend.
Try and buy and sell lots of things until you find what you like all the while keeping the picture of the Ampeg for shows.  If you DI, people won't really know or care as long as your music and mix is good.  The FOH will take care of that.

If you want recommendations for a bass... Fender P is always a good place to start.

Once you figure out what you like, get picky.  At this point I don't think you should get picky.  You should make due with what you have and experiment until you find what you love... Your "tone".

[giantchris]

If you're worried about shows...
Take a picture of an Ampeg head, print it, and apply it to a piece of cardboard that will cover your current head.
DI from your bass into the board, and put the piece of cardboard in front of your amp.
I'm dead serious.

I'm not really a big Ampeg fan either.  Seems like everybody has them and they sound pretty generic to me. 

As far as DIing though, I just keep thinking back to I opened for Karma to Burn and Sierra earlier this year and they both used the same cabs but their own heads the Karma to Burn guy used an acoustic 470 that was just mic'd and the Sierra guy used an GK RB head mic'd and DIed from the head and his sounded so much better FoH it wasn't really comparable.  The Acoustic's tone was better but it was obviously lacking in the low end. 

Obviously the sound guy can run a clean DI box and blend it with the mic'd vintage head but I feel like you're putting a lot of faith in the sound guy there because a fair amount of them seem to suck.  At least around here.  Personally I don't like running a completely clean DI front of house because I feel like it isn't necessarily your tone, and like I said you're assuming the engineer is going to mix it in and knows how to do that.  I've played, and been to, shows where the engineers just wanted to run a clean DI box when I was using my Sunn and were cunts about micing too, and/or mic'd it to shut me up but didn't send any signal FoH.  I started bringing a Tech 21 Oxford or Leeds to all my shows to run into a clean DI if the FoH guy wants to do that instead of off the amp and I feel it massively improved the live sound.   

If you're playing bigger shows at nice places none of this is even a problem though.  I just had a big run of shows with this problem and said fuck it and started bringing my Yorkville head instead of the Sunn because the DI out sounded so much better on the Yorkville. 

[zachoff]

FWIW, I love my Ampeg rig.

The take a picture and apply it to cardboard comment wasn't meant as a slag to Ampeg.  It was meant as a "people in the crowd won't give a shit" comment.  When I play with my Ampeg/810 rig I won't DI because it's awesome.  That said, I spent a lot of time and money getting that rig & I don't think the OP is there yet.

Like you said, most FOH guys aren't concerned with your "tone" and just want to get noise out there at a particular frequency...  That's why I recommended the OP not care much about his Behringer head and Fender cab.  At this point, go DI and he'll probably be alright.

FWIW, here's what I think will change sound in order of most to least: technique, cab, bass, head.  Pedals are in there somewhere too, but didn't gather if he's using them or not.

[Dangling Fury]

I use a big muff fuzz for bass


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[Danny G]

The only problem with running a less powerful rig and having FOH do the rest, is that I've never had my bass pumped into my monitors and have it NOT sound distractingly Ass-Tacular.


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[Lumpy]

Big Muff will only add to your mud problem, in my opinion.

[Dangling Fury]

Bugera 5500 for 300$ good deal?


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[bbottom]

I'd stay away from Bugera stuff....but that's me

[Dylan Thomas]

Big Muff will only add to your mud problem, in my opinion.

I'd be inclined to agree with this. Big Muffs are distinctive sounding, and if that's what you're going for, cool.  However, they definitely sound muddy.

[Dangling Fury]

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[Dangling Fury]

Jap P bass for 275$ on Craigslist, worth it?


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[bbottom]

Jap P bass for 275$ on Craigslist, worth it?


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link?

[mortlock]

Jap P bass for 275$ on Craigslist, worth it?


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if its a fender and not a squire and if its in good condish. id say probably worth it.

[Submarine]

Jap P bass for 275$ on Craigslist, worth it?


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if its a fender and not a squire and if its in good condish. id say probably worth it.

Ditto