Bass amp Guru's: In search for TOOL TONE in a decent bass amp. Please Advise.

[sevoflurane]

Just wanted to get some input from some of the Bass Guru’s out there. Just yesterday, my wife gave me a sweet Peavey T40... thanks to the people who contributed to these and many other threads:

Tool/Justin Chancellors tone.

Peavey T-40 Club

I’m in the pursuit of Justin Chancellors tone (or similar- does not have to be exact) and am trying to get a quality amp that will be used for home recording. Besides Tool I also play a lot of Alice in Chains, some bluesy stuff and I even go as far as Megadeath and Old Metallica (Cliff Burton/ Master of Puppets)... for the most part though TOOL is the guitar, drum and bass sound I try to emulate the most.

I have NO Clue about bass amps as I am mainly a guitar player. My two favorite companies are Mesa Boogie and Diezel but I have no idea how they hold up on the bass side of things. A couple of questions:

1. HOW USEFUL is the Bi-amp function? I know nothing about it.
2. How important is a high frequency tweeter in a bass amp?
3. Will a 1x15 give me a better, cleaner bottom end, low frequency compared to 4x10’S? Does a chorus pedal sound better on 1X15 vs. 4x12?

Here is a picture of my playing space/recording space. I want the amp to be powerful enough to keep up with the Mesa Dual Rectifier when the master is at 14:00:




If I can, I want to keep it under $650 used or new.



This is what I’ve thought of so far:

400RB 115

or

400RB 2x10



Any thoughts on the line 6? On the guitar side of things, they have some pretty decent products:



Also thinking of seperates although i don't think it's necessary for what I'm trying to accomplish.

Also, a quiet amp is important to me.

Many Thx in advance and happy holidays.

[sevoflurane]

quiet... meaning little in the way of buzzing, fans, etc...

TONE is more imprtant than how LOUD it can get although I don't mind both...

[JimiLL]

Id say go for the GK.... at Sansamp Pedal/Pre AMp would do wonders too

[KsPiNeSh]

If you're anting to hang with that Dual Rec at 2:00 (14:00), assuming it's a normal gain structure the job will be much easier with more speakers than those combos have to offer. Perhaps consider a 400RB or even 700RB) with one of their 410 cabs.

[Chowowbus]

Justin Chancellor uses GK 2001's for his rigs.
I would stick to GK. They all seem to have "similar sounds".
You might try and find a backline 600 and a used cab with that cash. I assure you that little 300 watt amp can get real close. I used one for about 2 years gigging before I switched to an MB500.
A GK amp with that T-40 will sound dope..
Other than your amp..looks like you have most of your stuff..I dont see a flanger on your board tho!

[RickenBoogie]

The kinda volume yopu're looking for will only be achieved with bigger speaker cabs, 410 and up. I'd suggest a used head, and put your money into a good bass cab. Those combo's are fine, but it doesn't matter how much wattage they offer, the lack of spkrs will kill you, volume-wise.

[rpsands]

I think I copped the tone pretty decently here:
http://63.134.202.170/audio/basschorusdist-15-6.mp3

That's a Behringer chorus into an MXR M80 distortion, I think with some highs added. Into a fEarful 15/6.

Don't mind the playing or the lame imitation of the riffs, played slowly 'cos I don't know'em that well :P

[impactwrench]

Sounds good to me, and I'm not that much of a tool fan!

Backline 600 has the distortion section of a 2001RB built in too. Sounds like that might be your answer.