I need a bass rig!

[FILTHnFEAR]

Looking to get into playing some bass. One just for the fun of it, and two it'll open up some options for jamming with others.

I am blessed atm to have 3 different drummers to jam with. I'm a decent guitarist but I know a couple guys that are really good, and I wanna try things out on the bass with them.

I'm not looking to break the bank, but I'm gonna need something that's loud and punchy. It'll be garage jamming, no PA, caveman drummers, and half stack guitar amps.

Looking to stick with solid state, no tubes. I've heard good things about old Ampeg's (SVT's in particular) and Peavey's but I honestly know fuck all about bass amps. I'd like to go the head and cab route, or maybe a preamp into a loud clean power amp? Idk...

What say you?

 

[budda]

Budget?

 

[Crungy]

Hartke LH500'S are pretty cheap and loud with a 4x10. Aguilar Tone Hammer 500's are light and sound fucking awesome with almost any cab with 10" speakers. The Behringer BX3000T is a surprisingly good amp, I picked one up on the way to an out of state gig because I forgot my Hartke. It's loud too.

I'd shoot for a 4x10 cab if there's going to be volume at the jams. Any of those heads should be good, or really anything over 300 watts.

 

[cardinal]

SVT is definitely tube and a back breaker.

Depends on your budget. Can't really go wrong with Aguilar stuff or Gallen Krueger.

Probably look around yourself locally for a nice cab. They are hard to even give away. Ampeg, Bag End, or Aguilar would be my choice if available.

If your guys can keep the volume down, you won't need a ton of power or speakers.

 

[ToolmasterOfBrainerd]

What you need is a Fender Rumble 40. I only know like 3 bassist, but they all own that amp. They're super lightweight, loud enough for practice, and as a guitarist I can't tell the difference whether they sound good or not.

 

[TedEH]

caveman drummers, and half stack guitar amps

It's worth remembering that bass takes a LOT more power when you're in a loudness war, and there's a lot of ways to shoot yourself in the foot in terms of headroom. So, some random advice, in no particular order:

- If you're going solid-state, up against a loud band, I'd personally get a lot of watts. Like an ungodly number of watts. A "loud" tube amp for bass is something like 300w, and a "loud" solid state head might be more like 1000w.
- If you can find something with a high-pass, it sounds counter-intuitive, but it'll protect your cabs. Don't set it for your "fundamental" (low E is I think 41hz on a standard tuned bass?), set it higher than that (like 80hz), remembering that a high-pass isn't a sharp cut-off, it's the starting point of a roll-off. You probably don't need as much below 50-80 as you think you do, and your cabs (and bandmates) will thank you.
- If you can see a lot of movement in your speakers while you're playing, that might be a sign the cab is not up to the job. Bass cabs tend to take a lot of abuse, and I've seen speakers destroyed by passing their excursion limits.
- If one speaker in your cab is damaged, it's almost certain that ALL the speakers in your cab are damaged.
- If you're buying used cabs, look at the cones before you buy. An abused cab will often show creases on the cones where they folded. Any creasing at all is a bad sign.

I know a lot of people will say that a single 4x10 is louder than you'll ever need, but it's not always the case. I tried several 4x10s before, in a loud band, next to two big ol' recto cabs, and they never quite cut it. I eventually ended up with a rig that uses two 4x10s - and they're "loud" Mesa cabs - even with these, I find that one on it's own just barely keeps up and you can tell the speakers are unhappy about it, whereas you put two of them together and suddenly you're in demolish-the-building territory while the speakers barely break a sweat. I don't know if it's a coupling thing between the cabs, or something to do with total cone surface area or something, but this setup is the first time I've felt confident I wasn't going to run out of headroom or have trouble being loud enough or abuse the cabs. YMMV.

 

[WarMachine]

https://www.zzounds.com/item--HARHALX5500?siid=274187
This is the way..

 

[FILTHnFEAR]

Thanks for the replies.

Budget wise, $700-$800 for a head and cab. I want at least a 410 to start with. Probably grab a 2nd 410 later on.

Gonna try and hit up GC and Music Go Round to see what they have in stock, as well as craigslist and FB marketplace.

 

[Crungy]

Good luck! Show us what you get when you find something 😁

 

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

Peavey would be killer bang for the buck. Idk if they're still affordable these days but you can probably hunt down a Peavey TX or TVX cab and some kinda Peavey head, or check out Gallien Krueger. You can probably get a Peavey T(V)X 410 + Gallien Krueger 700RB/800RB in your price range

 

[FILTHnFEAR]

Peavey would be killer bang for the buck. Idk if they're still affordable these days but you can probably hunt down a Peavey TX or TVX cab and some kinda Peavey head, or check out Gallien Krueger. You can probably get a Peavey T(V)X 410 + Gallien Krueger 700RB/800RB in your price range

I've seen several of those VX410's on GC used for around $400, just wasn't sure of the quality. Also some Gallien Krueger 500w compact heads. Might be a decent little starter setup. 🤔

Gotta hit up the stores and see what they have. Much rather play first as idk dick as far as want I really want in an amp.

 

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

I've seen several of those VX410's on GC used for around $400, just wasn't sure of the quality. Also some Gallien Krueger 500w compact heads. Might be a decent little starter setup. 🤔

Gotta hit up the stores and see what they have. Much rather play first as idk dick as far as want I really want in an amp.

You can probably find some SWR gear for the price too. Peavey, GK, and SWR really are great if you want loud AF SS amps with character.

 

[sonoftheoldnorth]

Look for used Genz Benz/Genzler gear?

 

[budda]

Ashdown?

 

[wheresthefbomb]

+1 Peavey, SWR, GK, all decently easy to find good used deals. Peavey Firebass specifically comes to mind, 700w and famously loud as piss. The older PV stuff is great but tends to have lower wattage.

Those Peavey 810s are pretty solid too, from what I hear.

 

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

Those Peavey 810s are pretty solid too, from what I hear.

If we're talking about the TX810 or TVX810s from the '80s and '90s like I was talkng about, then yeah, Billy Gould still uses his even to this day. And I'm not gonna argue with him one bit.

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

Orange Crush Bass 50 Glenn Hughes Limited Edition

50W 1x12" Bass Combo Amplifier with Active EQ and Parametric Mid Control - Deep Purple Vinyl

www.sweetwater.com

 

[Crungy]

+1 Peavey, SWR, GK, all decently easy to find good used deals. Peavey Firebass specifically comes to mind, 700w and famously loud as piss. The older PV stuff is great but tends to have lower wattage.

Those Peavey 810s are pretty solid too, from what I hear.

Oh man, how could I forget the Peavey Combo 300? A single Black Widow 15 and it's loud as fuuuuck. Those things were great, just a bitch to move.

 

[Grindspine]

You're in the Indy area. You should check out my Darkglass 900 v2 and Mesa 2x10 some time this spring.

 

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

+1 Peavey, SWR, GK, all decently easy to find good used deals. Peavey Firebass specifically comes to mind, 700w and famously loud as piss. The older PV stuff is great but tends to have lower wattage.

Oh also doesn't the old Peavey stuff tend to punch above it's weight volume-wise at least? Or am I thinking of GK in that regard lol